Hello,
New to the site, was told to check it out by my friend countrywolf07! Having some issues with our Lab/Chesapeake Bay Retriever. She is a year old and she is fixed, we got her when she was 9 months old and we believe she may have been abused. By this we mean she seems to like getting in trouble so she has to go in her kennel which is the only thing she seems to respond to (we hate it but don't know what else to do...) well, she will sit, shake, come, wait, and other commands (we're working on lay, off and stay). We have both worked full time as long as we have had her, and on top of that I have a part time job and I'm a full time student. We try to pay attention to her, but often can't let her into the main house due to her getting into everything. First off anyone have any advice on this? We let her out for an hour or more every evening, and sometimes most of the day on weekends, but she's just exhausting, even if we fill a kong with peanut butter she's up and into stuff as soon as she's satisfied she's gotten enough out. Moving on. About a month after we got her, we ran to the store after messing around with the screen door, and when we got back she'd eaten the entire left side of the door jamb... then 2 days later we went to buy a replacement door jamb kit and she ate the other side while we were gone. She got in trouble and all was good and dandy for about 2-3 weeks. I was home and ran upstairs to change my clothes and when I came back down (within maybe a 5-10 min time span) she had chewed the drywall off one side of the door (opposite the direction I had gone in). Me going upstairs to change is something i do every day and that day i didn't even take a 15-20 min nap as I might normally do... well yesterday, i came home, played with her for a bit, took her potty, told her and the cats that I would be home shortly and went to the dentist, when I came home she had eaten out kitchen cabinet... Now, I'm at wits end. She has toys (4 ropes, 3 kongs) and 2 balls (one kong tennis ball thing and one actual tennis ball). Does anyone know how to deal with separation anxiety? With her destructive behaviors and short attention span it's not possible to keep her with us at all times, but I don't feel right kenneling her if I want to go run on the treadmill, and at the same time I'm afraid she will hurt herself trying if I do. Any suggestions much appreciated. I'm a first time dog owner, my fiance has had dogs all his life.
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