anxiety issues, destructive, need advice!

[dakotasmommy]

My gsd will be 2 in march. She came from a home where there wasn't a lot of socialization or proper training. We've had her since August and she has come a long way but we still have 2 issues we can't seem to fix.

She cannot be left alone ever, even if its for under an hour, she goes out of her way to find something of ours and chews it up. First it was my flipflops, then she went for the bathroom trash, now because we shut all doors and put everything away, she climbs onto the table or counter to get something to chew. She has plenty of toys, chewies, and bones, but she puts them all in a pile in the corner or by the kitchen door and takes something of ours. She knows its bad, once we come home we don't get greeted by her, she puts her ears down and tail between her legs and sits at the back door. I want to be able to let her stay out and not put her in the crate when we go out and at bedtime but I'm concerned she'll get sick from swallowing something she chewed, she's ruining things, and its just not good behavior. We tried giving her a blanket with our scent, within 5 minutes she destroys any blanket or stuffed animal. She used to have a piece of carpet in her crate but she dug a hole in it and chewed the edges so now she has a hard thick piece of wood in the crate so she can't destroy the real carpet. She's not allowed in our room but if we leave her out at night she jumps on the bedroom door which forces it open.

The jumping is our second issue. She has apparently always had the habit to run and jump on the door when she wants to come in, until we got her she was never taught that this was bad and no matter what we try she still body slams our house when she wants to come in. She's breaking our door bc she uses such force and its an older home. We use a squirt bottle with her training. We've found it to be very effective in getting her attention, she doesn't like it, and it has stopped all her bad behavior except these two things. I've had shepherds or pit bulls my whole life, but bc they had extensive training from the start, we never had these issues so I have no idea what to do. Any advice?

[jetscarbie]

She knows its bad, once we come home we don't get greeted by her, she puts her ears down and tail between her legs and sits at the back door

Poor baby girl.

You might try not having anything in her crate except some water and maybe a kong toy....and putting her in the crate when you are not home.

I have found that exercising a dog really helps with keeping the destruction down. Exercise and lots of mental games. GSD's love mental games. They love having something to do.

Hopefully other members will jump in and give you some good advice.

[Rott-n-GSDs]

It doesn't sound like anxiety to me, it sounds like normal bored behavior. Some dogs never outgrow that destructive puppy phase, and need to be confined/crated when someone isn't there to supervise. I would make sure she's good and tired when you leave, and then put her in a create with a frozen stuffed kong.

How much exercise is she getting? What kind of exercise?