Mastiff cant be trusted in the house!

[rebeccadrane]

hi my name is rebecca drane
iam 24 years old and live in kent with my boyfriend and my 4 dogs. i have a siberian husky aged 2and a half and a south african boerboel age 18 months and a chinese crested age 6 months and a 14week old belgum shepard. BIG FAMILY!

they all get on well and are crate tained!

my mastiff SAMSON is a lovely boy and we go dog training with him every week and he listens and behaves fantastic! excellent with people,dogs and kids! couldnt ask for a better dog! iam always home all day so none of the dogs are ever left on there own! only if i go shopping for a few hours.

the thing is! is that they all get crated when we leave the house, but we would like to leave Samson out to look after the house. we never crate the chinese crested she is alway out as we can trust her not to eat the sofa! lol! she is a very very good girl! so the rest of the boys are crated and are very happy and never bark! as my lady next door always keeps a ear and eye on them for me!( she is lovely!)

we have moved house and we tryed to leave samson out for a few hours and he had toys and chews out and had a very long walk! we got back and it looked like world war 3! he had eatten my sofa pillows!!!! and plants!

now we went back to useing the crate for him! and we tryed again for 45mins! SAME THING HAPPEN! more sofa pillow and a rug! i get so upset with him because i love him so so much! my boyfrend gets mad! and we fight!

as my house is all open planed the crates are in the front room with samson and the other dogs! how can i train samson not to eat my house when i leave him! i have tryed kongs and chews and he has my chinese crested for company and he can still see my husky in the crate and the other pup! what can i do! will he out grow eatting the house? i thought he would not be so puppyish at 18 months! he is nearly 2 years old!

does any one have any tips with mastiffs? i have thought about putting a muzzle on him so he cant chew the sofa! would that work or make it worst?

thankyou for your time! sorry for any bad spelling! :)

rebecca and family!

[Karen]

It sounds like separation anxiety - and also, as a Mastiff, he is still a puppy at that age. There are many threads on separation anxiety here, do a search, and you will find many helpful results!

This is NOT an insurmountable problem, I promise!

[Giselle]

It sounds like separation anxiety - and also, as a Mastiff, he is still a puppy at that age. There are many threads on separation anxiety here, do a search, and you will find many helpful results!

This is NOT an insurmountable problem, I promise!
Exactly my thoughts!

There are a lot of factors going against you:
1) You just moved, and Samson is no doubt incredibly stressed and anxious
2) He is a puppy. An 18-month-old dog is still a baby.
3) Because he's a baby, he's naturally mouthy and energetic. When confined, he's going to mouth things and get into trouble.

I think a muzzle is a fantastic idea, but I'm a little confused. You say you crate him, but it sounds like he escapes from the crate?? If by "crating", you mean just leaving the door open for him, then I suggest you lock him in the crate and begin "alone training". Search this forum for "alone training". It's been covered many times :)

[Taz_Zoee]

Giselle, she said she can crate him, but would like to leave him out to look after the house.
I'm just glad he's not chewing on the Chinese Crested. ;) :p That was a joke. :)
I'm thinking you may just need to crate him until he grows out of the puppy stage. That may be cheaper for you than replacing sofa cushions.

BTW - welcome to PT and we would love to see pictures of your family. :D :D

[rebeccadrane]

hi
thankyou for the help! i think i just have to hang in there with Samson and hopefully he got grows it!

when i crate him he is in a crate with the door shut. i wanted him too be free and look after the house. he has the tv on the chinese crested for company and toys and chews and kongs! and he can look out the window and he still chews up the sofa! its up setting because he does so well on dog training every week. thinking about starting agiatiy with him as my husky is fantastic at it!

if you would like to see some photos of my boys and my little girl! i have a silly web page with loads of photos on there with them

http://-Big-Dogs-.piczo.com

hope you like my photos i havent made a page for my youngest puppy yet! but i will do soon!

thankyou for all your help!

rebecca drane and family!
http://-Big-Dogs-.piczo.com

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Welcome to PT! Great looking family you have there ;)

[mikkehla]

Could possibly be the puppy stage, but to me, sounds like separation anxiety. When we adopted Honeygirl, she suffered from sepration anxiety. Her anxiety resulted in eaten shoes, chewed up cardboard boxes, etc., and that was only the small stuff! Her anxiety also resulted in over $4000 in damage to our apartment and she scratched and scratched at the solid oak door and chewed up some carpteing. If he is crate trained, I highly suggest you keep him crated while gone. If it is separation anxiety, you need to work with him, by gradually working him up to being home alone. For example, begin by putting on your coat or shoes and picking up your keys to make him think you are leaving, then take them off and go about your business. Do this many times as you want him to learn that you putting on your shoes for example isn't a clue that you are leaving. Then, starting leaving him in very small spurts to begin with like leaving for 1 minute, then 2 minutes, then 5 minutes..... 1/2 hour, 1 hour, etc. You don't need to actually go anywhere besides out the door then then wait a certain amount of time and then go in so he gradually learns that when you leave, you will come back. Also setting a routine for every time you leave the house might help too, for example, telling him to watch the house, he gets a certain toy every time you leave, etc.

Separation anxiety can be very difficult to overcome and is very trying and difficult. It took over a year to break Honeygirl of her separation anxiety. We tried everything imaginable: drugs, scent deterrents, treats but nothing worked. She eventually got use to us leaving and being home alone for a while. However, she does still have episodes, especially if left in a different house than our own, like at my dad's.

Just incase anyone is wondering - we did attempt to crate train Honeygirl, but being that we adopted her at approximately 3 years old and knew nothing of her history, the crate stressed her out emensly and I thought she was going to hurt herself in the crate when trying to escape.

Hope this helps!

[rebeccadrane]

hi mikkehla
thankyou for your reply, the thing with Samson is that he is excellent in the crate! doesnt make a noise!dosent chew his bed! and be in there for hours! just want the same thing with the house! I think you are right about him being a big puppy still i think his body and muscles are big and strong but him mind is still only a tiny puppy!i think he just needs time, i will try doing what you said about getting ready and try leavng him for short times.
i will let you all know how it gose!
thankyou for your time
rebecca and family!