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New Destruct Behavior

1K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  voodoolamb 
#1 ·
So I have a white German Shepherd who's name is Snowflake ❄ and she turned 2 in March. I moved from a second floor apartment to a house 9 months ago. I had to hide train her al over again because she would put everything in the house out of place and constantly bark at the door and windows when she saw or heard anyone walk by. Snowflake does not usually bark at all unless she's at the dog park playing. I have been house training her by sectioning the house off with baby gates. She started with 1 room and got up to 3 rooms. I had to put her down to 2 rooms because she started the same behaviors again. It's been about 3 months and recently in the past 2 days she has been displaying the same destructive behavior. She puts her head down and looks at me out the corner of her eye when I walk in with a surprised sad face. I don't want to crate while I'm not home but I work 8-16 hrs days. Not sure what to do to stop the destruction but it's starting to get to the valuable stuff which I can't allow. What do I do? And sidenote, otherwise she is very well trained and well tempered, I can walk on the main street without a leash on her and she'll stay with me, she won't cross the street without permission, she won't go after other dogs, and she follows commands very well, she's just destructive when I'm not home.... ?
 
#2 ·
It almost seems to me that Snowflake has agoraphobia (fear of all that space in a house) since she was fine in the apartment. If you have a backyard, you may want to consider an outdoor kennel. She would be in a small space and yet have more freedom than in a crate. Otherwise, I would use one small room for her and make it dog proof. She could have her toys and bed, food and water in that room. Since you are work long days, you may want to consider, for some days a doggy daycare or a dog walker who could come in a noon and walk her. Perhaps if she has more activities, she will be too tired out to destroy things.
 
#3 ·
Your dog is alone too much with nothing to do. She isn't afraid of your house, she is bored and builds frustration from energy without exercise no way to burn it off. I agree, get someone to play with her. Off leash running in a large space is better than a leashed walk, but anything is better than being alone and confined all day.
 
#4 ·
How much exercise is she getting with you working such long hours?

Around a year old is when my pup really needed to have his exercise level upped otherwise he was INSANE. It took me a while to find that sweet spot for exercise, my guy needs atleast 2 hours off leash running time a few days a week (we do off leash hikes in the woods) and about 20 - 30 minutes twice a day of sprinting (we play ball in the back yard).

Each dog is different in their needs, but exercise is the first place I would start with destructive behavior.
 
#11 ·
I removed a bunch of posts because of bickering. There was just too much to edit. If someone is trying to incite conflict, do us all a favor and ignore them. You can report the issue, but if you start responding to them you just add to the problem. Report and IGNORE.

Thank you
ADMIN Lisa
 
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