Help, Dogs Chewing!!!

[beyond_me]

not everyone can afford a trainer!!!

[Dixieland Dancer]

But you have been given FREE advice from people on this board and your sister. Can you spare getting up 1/2 hour earlier or giving the dog an hour of your time in the evening? It is important. You may come home one day to find something chewed and your dog seriously ill or worse, dead from something it ate. You have to do SOMETHING!

Perhaps you can ask hubby if he will "walk with you" in the evenings and then each of you can "take a dog along" just because. However and whatever you do, you need to exercise and stimulate the dogs more.

[beyond_me]

Me and my hubby do take the dogs out for a walk at night. We were just walken, but now that we are in a little more better shape we jog with them, and play with them during the walk. Also when we get home when I'm cooking dinner my hubby plays with them. They adore playing with him. Cali not so much because I babied her and she likes to sit and watch but Roxy loves it and Spaz is learning. The morning though Cali wouldn't want to go out anyways, and I already do not get enough sleep. I'm about ready to fall asleep when I'm driving, and I drive a lot for work, so I need my sleep, but I do play with them in the morning and give them a lot of attention when I'm getting ready.
I know them chewing is very Dangerous!!! My sister has told me ways to stop my dogs from pulling and jumping, but I have a hard time doing those things, and have tried other things that are working. I am thankful for everyones advice, it helps give me ideas on what to do!!! That is what I am looking for. I have to do what works for me and my dogs. I know I can't keep doing what I have been doing, I have been changing, but it's not going to be over night. I have been a push over all my life with animals. It's going to take time for me to step up, and I am!They have been a lot better. They don't jump on the screen that keeps them in the kitchen anymore, which I use to never stop them, they are learning not to jump unless I say give ten, Cali isn't pulling much anymore, and they sit everytime I tell them to,and things are a lot better. Cali comes everytime I call her. Roxy not always, because my hubby is her alpha, she's jealouse of me, and Spaz just now knows her name so she'll be learning to also.
I have been around dogs my whole life, and do know a lot about them. I just have never had to be the one that was alpha, but I am learning!!!

[VTJess03]

Maybe if you can't afford to pay for obedience, you can find someone else in a similar situation and use the advice you have been given to be each others' obedience accountability. You could help them with the basic obedience that you have mastered, and you can ask them to make sure you are consistent with a particular technique that has been suggested to you or that you just need a little more practice with. It won't be as good as one-on-one with a professional trainer, but if you are careful and follow sound training techniques, it will provide each of you with an extra set of eyes to catch mistakes/bad habits before they become too far along to fix. (I would not recommend your husband though unless your relationship is very strong. Even with my loving hubby, this would strain our relationship and become a 'you're doing it wrong' blame-fest lol ).

[howlyip]

So far from what I have read in this forum is some ideas to help beyond_me with some chewing isues, but everybody has agreed that she needs to work on becoming the alpha in her dogs pack.

How about some ideas and tricks and training that she can do to become alpha first, rolled into some ideas on stopping chewing.

I myself understand not being able to afford a trainer, I had 4 dogs (3 rescues), worked 12 hours a day, and my husband wasn't fond of the dogs in the first place, just because one was potty training, one was digging and the other two barked.
How in the world would I be able to convince him we needed a trainer? I couldn't, so I joined up on a board like this and started getting tips. NOT ONCE, was I told to get rid of them. When someone is asking for help, help them, find the real issue, which in the case for beyond_me seems to be becoming the alpha, and from there learning some tricks.

There was someone who helped, saying that she goes through the door first, eat firsts, etc. All these are great but there has to other things to help speed this process along. I do agree that beyond_me needs to work on knowing that some things she may just need to suck up and do to get this to start working. Dogs are the most forgiving creatures I know, they also adapt extremely well if given the chance. They will love you no matter what. They desire to have someone be in charge, therefore making the rules set before them easier to follow. They won't have to worry if what they do is wrong, because they will learn exactly what is wrong and what is right.

Beyond_me, I suggest some reading that was brought up earlier, start to change your way of thinking on what dogs truly need to do it right. My dogs have had to learn some rules set forth by my husband, and they have adapted, even my 10 year old at the time. She stills loves me uncontrollably and always will.

So please, I think the question asked is, what are some tricks that will help beyond_me become alpha, and while this is going on, besides exercise what else can be done to help stop the chewing???

With these dogs being rescues, and so young, who knows what there life was like before. You are starting from scratch. It will happen, just become open to a few ideas, try them and see what happens.

[howlyip]

[URL=http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/nothingfree.htm]

[URL=http://www.sspca.org/Dogs_TANSTAAFL.html]

This shows the basics of NILIF "Nothing in life is free" It works, but it's a big change from where you are, but it works. I will try to find some more web sites on this to give you more information.

[bckrazy]

Hrm. Howlyip, I never said she should re-home them. But, she should ABSOLUTELY do something, soon. If it's really straining her marriage and her life, she wants to go forward in baby steps, and the dogs are unhappy/in danger, this should be taken pretty seriously.

I think that, since more exercise and time spent playing with the dogs is not do-able, they really need to be safe first and foremost. Chewing up wood and spa covers isn't safe!!! It'll result in painful chipped teeth or blockages, easily. I think the dogs should be in a secure, dog-proofed zone when not supervised. A dog run/pen or a secure area in the house with NOTHING there to chew on.

Honestly, a behaviorist costs about $75-100 per hour. Just one hour giving the behaviorist your history and situation, and him/her giving you advice for your personal situation, could help a LOT! Otherwise, read up on everything you can, get and plan, and DO IT. Could your husband run with the dogs in the morning before he leaves? Could you take them in the yard and play with them for 20-30 minutes and tire them out? Could you hire a private dog-walker, who charges reasonable fees for a number of dogs (I've seen some that charge $10 for a jog/walk, and small fees for each additional dog)? There are lots of things you can do to eliminate the strain on you and the strain on your dogs right now.

[catnapper]

not everyone can afford a trainer!!!

Sooo.... its cheaper to replace all the items they broke and destroyed from chewing and jumping than to pay for a trainer?

I'm going today to get my dog training certificate. I've worked hard the past few months and let me tell you, training is NOT as expensive as people initially think. Get past the fee for the class and realize that this could help you save your sanity and you'll come to enjoy living with your dogs again. If that happens, how can you put a price on that?

As for the tips... honestly I didn't read through this whole hoopla. There are dozens of ideas and theories as to how to get your dog to stop jumping up. All require the same thing: consistency, consistency, consistency.

And DD is right -- give them something in the crate to keep them busy. They need to be mentally stimulated, and something like a Kong (you don't load it with food, just a spoonful is plenty) is awesome to keep them entertained while you're not there. A dog that is mentally active instead of bored all the time will be less likely to have severe beahvioral issues