Saturday, November 7, 2009

Need help with Diamond's destructiveness

I am at a loss for what to do about Diamond and her destructiveness.
When I left for work today I left a bag that had 2 books and a tupperware container that I had bought at the Goodwill on the couch. When I came home from work, I was gone literally less then 45 minutes, she had got the bag off the couch and chewed up everything in it.
This is not the first time she has done it. It is turning into an every day occurrence. She will find whatever she can and chew it up. She also does not care if we are home or not. If she sees a piece of paper, or really anything she wants, she will sit right in front of us and rip it up.
She has things to chew on so I am not sure what to do about it.
We used to kennel both her and Pulver when we left but she managed to rip the entire front of her kennel off. Broke it clean away from the rest of the kennel.
We tried the pheromone thing and that just seemed to make her worse.
I am at the point that the only thing I can think of is to muzzle her when we leave. Dustun is at the point that if I can't figure something out then he wants to find her a new home. We can't have her destroying whatever she feels like, whenever she feels like it. She is going to obedience but that won't help this issue, especially when we aren't home.
I don't like the idea of having to muzzle her, but like the idea of having to get rid of her even less. If anyone has any ideas I would really appreciate them.

Oh, and I realize that if I leave stuff out she may chew it up, but she will take stuff off the kitchen table, or take books off my bookshelf (yes, she has done that)
She has also gotten really bad at getting on the couch. This is a fairly new thing (since she broke her kennel) she will get on the couch when we are gone, or when we are in bed. I am not sure how to stop that. I can't shut her in a room because she will destroy the door, door jamb, and door knob trying to get out.

8 comments:

Lindsay said...

Sounds like a little boredom and possibly a little separation anxiety (SA) combined. Have you had any SA problems cropping up with her otherwise? My first suggestion is plenty of exercise. A tired dog, both physically and mentally, is a non-destructive dog.

Diamond said...

She has always been a kind of in your face dog. When we get home if we sit down on the couch she will push her face right into ours.
Dustun loves watching the agility dogs and has wanted to get her into that but since she can't walk on a leash there isn't much of a chance that she will listen without one right now.
I will see what I can do to wear her out but she hates being out in the rain, so that might be an issue..lol!

Moco said...

Maybe she needs Foley meds.

brooke said...

Uh oh. Darwin has never been super destructive (thank goodness) so I don't have much advice to offer other than the usual things you hear of, giving them toys and treats that they should be chewing. Crating her while youre gone or in bed would be the next thing. Those giant midwest crates seem to be pretty strong.
Is day care an option to tire her out? Darwin's not a fan of the rain either, and now that its fall in the NW, she's going to have to learn to like it. We got her a coat for the rain and that seems to help some. Our other friend said that we just need to play with her out in the rain, and she'll soon learn to not be so bothered about it.
Good luck! We hope you won't have to rehome her!

Peanut said...

Tie up her crate with 550 cord. We came home to Peanut out of his crate because he somehow got it collapsed. We tied it up with 550 cord and it seems to be holding. Or give her Foley meds like Moco says

Diamond said...

we can't crate her because she ripped the whole front panel off the crate. We took it back to the store and the rep for the company was there and he said he had never seen that happen.
We left the tv on today when we left so she had some noise, besides pulver, and everything seems to be in one piece.
I did think of daycare a couple times a week but I just can't afford it right now. :(

Life With Dogs said...

This is tough - I donated thousand of dollars in furniture to our first Lab. Sorry I don't have answers, but I can sympathize...

i said...

Like what Lindsay said, she could be bored and or suffering from separation anxiety. Try tiring her out with plenty of exercise and walks. In the meantime, you might want to keep most things out of her reach, hard as it may seem. Has she gone for obedience training?