puppy-proofing house

[tlkng1]

My now 3 year old lab gave me quite the time when she was a puppy. I crated her for about 2 weeks until she was housebroken, and, to her credit, it wsn't my training that did it (I did come home to let her out of the crate every few hours if I had to); she not only housetrained herself but also chose a spot in a back area (not the lawn) to do what she needs to do. She never really got used to the crate even though I did all the pre-crate training with her. I gave up on the crate after she was housebroken and let her have the run of the house.

I thought I had puppy proofed the house. I actually got down on puppy level and anything I could reach went further up out of reach. In the year it took to get her pst the chew stage, she managed to "kill" 4 pillows, 6 remotes, a comforter and three pairs of showes. (Just three shoes but one shoe from each of three pairs). I know the cats were adding to her play on the chew front because I put one remote all the way on TOP of the refrigerator and she still murdered it...the cat must have knocked it down.

No matter how much you puppy prof, they are going to find the one thing you missed. Diligence and observation are about the only two ways to keep the destruction to a bare minimum until the little one figures out what is and isn't allowed.

Nothing like a puppy to keep things interesting

Enjoy the experience..there is nothing like it.

Terese

[EdEarl]

1)Get down on the floor and crawl around so you can see what the puppy will see. Everything you see that you don't want messed with, RELOCATE.
2)Get a childs gate for every room you don't want the puppy to access to, or get a gate for the only room it will be in. It needs to be restricted in the house until it learns how to behave.
3)Register for a puppy or basic obedience class NOW.

[kuritsa18]

I totally agree with edearl!!!

Your puppy still chews stuff because she has learned it is accpetable and she can get away with it. you have to catch your puppy chewing something and punish her right then for chewing. If you come after the fact or find something later that she has chewed then punish she won't learn. Dogs have different thinking than humans and cannot make the same action - punishment connection as people can make. I agree she needs to be kept in a separate area of the house where she has access to nothing other than toys or chew things untill she learns to behave propperly. She needs to go into her crate if you leave the house or cannot watch her; basic puppy training. It doesn't matter if she doesn't like her crate because she will get used to it. just use possitive re-enforcement for her being in their. For my dog I would give her a cookie everytime she went in so she learned to associate the crate with the cookie and then after a while would go in by herself and now has no problem. It might take some time but don't give up because that is what she wants and is trying to get you to do. you don't want her to get into something and can cause even more damage or end up eating something and hurting herself. I also agree to take her to training classes so she learns propper behaviour and that you are the "pack leader". If you establish this she will have more respect and obedience for what you say.

Another thing to consider is how much exercise she gets and is there enough accepatble things for to chew on such as toys, raw hides, ect. A dog can have chewing problems if they are bored or don't have enough or adequete chew toys. i would suggest a lot more exercise and a lot more toys. You have to change the toys once in a while too to keep their attention because they will get bored of the same old things. Also, try taking her to doggy day care. This will give her lots of interection with other dogs and exercise and play time to release some energy.