Someone Please Help

[Starlite]

I recently got a 1 month old beagle/daschund mix. She is absolutely the most precious and lovable dog. I had been keeping her in my kitchen and then finally decided that if she was going to be a house dog that she would need to get the feel of the house. So I left her to roam when I went to work. I came home to find that she had dug a 3 inch around hole in my carpet and chewed an inch hole in my couch. I scolled her at the same time I was showing her what she did wrong. She was so scared that she peed everywhere. I felt so bad. That night she wouldn't go near the couch. The next day I kept her back in the kitchen. Then I decided to let her back out. I came home and she had again dug a hole in the same spot and tore another hole in the couch in the same spot where I had sewed it up. Of coarse I scolled her again. If you have any ideas that I can do to teach her not to do this anymore please respone. Thank You so much! http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/confused.gif

[Karen]

Yikes! Poor couch! I would, for a period of time, only let her roam about when you are home to watch her, and say "No!" when she starts to attack the furniture! Is the living room right off the kitchen, or is there another room between with less tempting furniture? How old is she now? One month old seems to be awfully young, and it's possible she's teething, so make sure she has plenty of okay things to chew on, that are tastier than the couch!

[Daisy's Mom]

Well if your dog is only one month old, that's a little young to give her the run of the house. They are too young to know what to do with themselves then. Actually at that young of an age, I think we were still keeping Daisy in her crate when we left. If you aren't crate-training her, you can do this. We made Daisy "prove herself" before we let her go where she wanted. We didn't want her to pee on the rugs (never had a problem with chewing, just peeing) so we would keep her in our tiled-floor kitchen, kept in their by a few baby gates. When she was finally a good girl with no more accidents, we started leaving her free to roam, gradually increasing the amount of time we let her go free. Finally we could just go off, worry free. Well, as long as we put the trash can out of reach, that is http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/wink.gif Good luck with your baby, I love daschunds!!!

[Angels3]

We had a sheltie pup who did the same thing when we were out. She always ripped up the same chair cushion in the sunroom. Our uni vet behavioral clinic told us it was separation anxiety...the stress of being separated from her owner. She was ripping up the same chair because it strongly had my scent on it...it was the chair I sat on. They gave us wonderful tips of how to deal with the problem. One was to let her have her special 'cave' or 'den' place to stay in & to leave something like a towel with her that strongly had my scent on it. I used to put a towel in my dirty clothes basket overnight.
But all the other tips are in a great article from the American Dog Trainers Network. Go to http://inch.com/~dog/directory.html Scroll all the way down to the heading PROBLEM SOLVING under which you'll find Separation Anxiety. Click on that & a brilliant article will come up. You can also find an article on puppy's chewing by scrolling down to the heading ARTICLES under which is Preventing Your Puppy's Destructive Chewing. Click on that. But read the separation anxiety article first. All those tips 'cured' our sheltie of destructive chewing while we were away from home. (But when we got a second sheltie, she was even better because they she had company & wasn't stressed when left alone.)

[This message has been edited by Angels3 (edited February 13, 2001).]

[Angels3]

Whoops! I just found you can no longer go straight to the Directory page of the American Dog Trainers Network. So alternatively go to http://www.inch.com/~dogs/training.html Then scroll a long way down to the very bottom. There's a green button labelled 'Directory'. Click on that...and the Directory page will come up. Then proceed as above.

[Starlite]

Thank you all so very much for the tips and ideas she is very well trained as for letting me know when she has to go to the bathroom. I think she just might be going through the teething puppy stage. I mean what can you expect they are just like little babies. I have to get up at night when she cries or has to go out. But I don't mind I love her. I hope she learns I just have to keep her in the kitchen when I am away and keep a very close watch on her when I am at home. Which she is always right next to me anyways. I have thought about obedience classes. Has anybody tried them?
Thanks again! http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/smile.gif

[denny]

[What is happening is that your dog is suffering from "seperation stress" and is is quite simply because she thinks she is "leader of the pack" This is lenghty to explain however a lady in England has written a book called the DOG LISTENER which explains the problem in detail.I have a copy it is by a lady called Jan Fennell and printed by harpers,available from amazon in England..If this does not make sense or you wish to discuss it do email me. good luck.QUOTE]Originally posted by Starlite:
I recently got a 1 month old beagle/daschund mix. She is absolutely the most precious and lovable dog. I had been keeping her in my kitchen and then finally decided that if she was going to be a house dog that she would need to get the feel of the house. So I left her to roam when I went to work. I came home to find that she had dug a 3 inch around hole in my carpet and chewed an inch hole in my couch. I scolled her at the same time I was showing her what she did wrong. She was so scared that she peed everywhere. I felt so bad. That night she wouldn't go near the couch. The next day I kept her back in the kitchen. Then I decided to let her back out. I came home and she had again dug a hole in the same spot and tore another hole in the couch in the same spot where I had sewed it up. Of coarse I scolled her again. If you have any ideas that I can do to teach her not to do this anymore please respone. Thank You so much! http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/confused.gif[/QUOTE]