Dog Trouble

[demonstarfox]

My 6 month old dog is really sweet and smart, and my family loves her a lot. Problem is, she's way too hyper. We can hardly control her, and she's very destructive.

My mom left her in our new car for 20 minutes, and she destroyed pretty much everything she could reach. There were teeth marks everywhere.

We try to exercise her, but we only have so much time in the day. The only way we can stop her from doing this is to lock her in a crate, which we don't want to do, because having her in there all day would be cruel.

At this point, the only humane solution would be to give her to a family who can give her all the attention and exercise that she needs. I love her, and I don't want that, so I'm asking you guys: Can you think of any way to fix this problem?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

You'd have to research the breed before you could start looking at solutions or at least talk to someone with a lot of experience with the breed. Problem is that what's a 'bad habit' for some breeds that can be trained out is more or less bred into the bone for other breeds. Mostly has to do with what they were originally bred for - behviours that are related to what the breed was created for are near impossible to stop.

 

[demonstarfox]

Well, we originally thought she was a Shepard-black lab mix, but my mom now thinks that she's some other breed. Would a picture help?

 

[aba1]

First it sounds like she needs to be worn out which I guess you already realize how long do you guys walk her for? if she is really playful you could take her out and play with a ball that can really wear a dog down just break out a tennis racket and start hitting the ball accross the park and after 10-20 min of running laps she should be pritty tired.

Second you need to train her so she knows she cannot damage things I recomend going to a class for that they can probably help you she just needs to understand whats ok to play with and what is not.

Third it sounds like she is quite young and young dogs tend to have a bit more energy not a absurd amount but a bit more. Have you taken her to get fixed? that can help calm some dogs.

 

[Falconsgyre]

If you really can't spare the time and energy to take care of a dog, you don't have a whole lot of options- the only humane thing to would be to give her to someone who does. However, you might be exaggerating or misdiagnosing the extent of her hyperactivity. Six months is about the time I've heard most new dog owners start having second thoughts, if you raised her from a puppy, so if you can get through this, it'll probably be okay.

First question: does your dog destroy things in your presence, or only when she's alone? If this happens only when she's alone, it's not hyperactivity; she probably has a form of separation anxiety, which can be treated and shouldn't be something that makes you give her up.

Second, how much time do you actually have to spend with your dog? Is she alone for more than 6 hours a day? Can you spare at least 1 hour each day to exercise her? All in all, she should be getting at least 2-3 hours of attention total from your family in order to be happy.

Third, it's the middle of summer. Please, please do not ever leave your dog in the car alone in hot weather, especially not for 20 minutes.

Fourth, do you have a fenced in yard? If you do, that's a good place for her to work out some of her energy. If not, check to see if you have any local dog parks, since that's another good way to work out energy. Otherwise, you're going to need to go jogging with her for about half an hour each day or something similar. Teaching her to fetch is good, too, if you're not very athletic yourself. At six months, she's got a lot of energy. She will calm down somewhat when she's older, but that's not going to be for maybe another year or so.

Fifth, where did you get her? If she's a mixed breed dog, I'm guessing from the shelter, so what was her history like?

Sixth, dogs often also need to be worn down mentally. Try teaching her tricks if you haven't already.

Sixth, if you can "hardly control her," there might be other issues. Is she possessive over food or toys? Does she come when called? How reliably does she follow commands?

 

[demonstarfox]

OK, quick thing about #3: I live in Washington state, and we don't have too many really hot days. In fact, it was raining when she was in the car.

Other than that, I really appreciate your advice. I'll pass it on to my mom, and see what she thinks of it.

 

[SeeIn2D]

OK, quick thing about #3: I live in Washington state, and we don't have too many really hot days. In fact, it was raining when she was in the car.

Other than that, I really appreciate your advice. I'll pass it on to my mom, and see what she thinks of it.

Well my family has two shetland sheepdogs and one of them is somehow neurotic, but the other one is like a loose cannon. I would actually seriously suggest watching the Dog Whisperer and watching what he does. Basically just by watching that guy we used his techniques to effectively train the rambunctious dog, and the other one which was essentially turned rambunctious by her.

My direct advice to you would be to basically put her in a situation where she will do what you don't want him/her to do. An example could be shredding papers. Give them the materials to do that bad thing, obviously making sure you don't care about these objects because they WILL get damaged. Walk away, and come back a minute later and basically catch the dog in the act and scold them. Then when it seems like they've received the message give them a reward of some kind like a treat or pat on the head. This will make the dog associate good behavior with good things. This will not be a one time deal though, you have to have the initiative to do this regularly and eventually the dog will stop or at least the behavior will be reprehensible a lot less of the time.

 

[lettucethesallad]

We try to exercise her, but we only have so much time in the day. The only way we can stop her from doing this is to lock her in a crate, which we don't want to do, because having her in there all day would be cruel.

This is why you do research on a breed's energy levels before getting one. Most dogs need around an hour of good exercise a day, some even more. Both shepherds and labs are pretty high-energy dogs because of their intended purpose (herding and retrieving/hunting). Go biking with her, or rollerblading. The increased speed will make her tire faster. Or go out to the park or other open area and play fetch. Anything where your dog is kept busy and active, both mentally and physically, will take away that pent up energy.

 

[Pappeska]

Be careful of too "hard" exercise, like jogging or biking on asphalt, since the dog is so young. Also, if you think you are giving her an adequate amount of exercise and she's still not able to calm down, have you tried making her use her brain a bit more? Buy a kong or a similar toy and fill it with liverpaste or peanut butter.

General good behaviour is a must for any dog, but teaching her tricks is also a way to tire her and have fun.

If you can't get something like a kong, try placing a really good treat under a paper cup or something and make her work out how to get it from under it. (She might try pawing at the cup or simply ripping it to shreds, you don't really want her to do the last thing).

And like others have said, she's also at an age with a lot of energy!

 

[Adam Galli]

The dog is still a puppy and will have ALOT of energy. When my dog was a puppy she would get major bursts of enery and run full pelt around the house for about ten minutes. She too would chew up every thing she could get her teeth on. Its something that will get sorted out as the dog gets older and better trained. Getting the dog fixed will help but age and training will help out the most. Just keep up with the exercise and training and be prepared for her to destroy things, usually the things you like the most lol.

Keeping her locked in a crate is a good idea for you and the dog. The dog may hate the crate or the dog may love the crate, as my dog did. Keeping her in a crate for now will keep her from tearing apart your house and getting into things that could potentially kill her. Undoubtedly, you'll sleep more soundly at night knowing your favorite pair of sneekers won't be eaten.

Getting her some squeeky toys is great for when she is teething and will somewhat help to stop her from wrecking your home. While is won't stop her from eating things she shouldn't the squeeky toy may keep her entertained for a long time with the squeeking. Find out what kind of toys she perfers. For example my dog will not play with rubber toys but she loves stuffed animal toys. At her age buy cheap ones so it won't be such a big deal when she has it torn up and in peices all around your home. If she develops a particular fondness toward one toy be ready to buy a new one soon or just have a back up on hand. A word of caution with squeeky toy: be prepared for round the clock squeeking and don't leave alone with a toy.