Any Tips on Controlling a 14 mo-old dog

[sq764]

Our yellow lab just turned 14 months old and we still cannot keep him out of the cage when we go to work. I feel bad locking him up in it, but he has so much energy..

The problem is that when we leave, he seems to ram the front of the cage to try and get it open, which is causing a big cut on the bridge of his nose.. My wife and I are at a loss what to do.. Do we let him out and risk him making a freaking mess or do we leave him in the cage and risk him splitting his nose wide open??

Any suggestions?? (By the way, he's 70 lbs already)

[so.cal.fan]

You can't leave him in a cage!
If you have a place to construct a dog run, that is an option.
There are also pet sitters, where you can take your dog during the day.
I take care of 3 dogs four days a week, two of them are "special needs kids".
If your dog has separation anxiety, talk to your vet about medication.
Please email me and perhaps we can think of some solution.
You sound like a concerned person who needs some options here.
I'm sure you'll find the best one.
Good luck,
So. Cal. Fan
Sierra Madre, California (Dog Country)

[sq764]

I am not frustrated or overly concerned, just want to do what's best for him.. If we block him off in a room, he will destroy it.

How do you determine seperation anxiety? We think he has it, since he will follow us from room to room and freaks out when we leave, but I would not put a dog on medication..

Any ideas to train him to not destroy things when we leave??

[Show Me the Wire]

sq764


Buy your pet a pet. Another dog will keep him company.

Why is drug usage not an option? Your dog might enjoy a nice doggy downer or puppy upper now and then.

Regards,
Show Me the Wire

[sq764]

Now you sound like my wife.. She begs me to get her another dog for x-mas.. I want to, but 2 reasons why I won't.. 1) We are gone from like 7:30 to 6 or 7 most days and 2) we don't have a fenced in backyard for him..

I would love to get another lab pup for him to play with, but is that fair to the new pup??

[Show Me the Wire]

sq764:

You are right if your wife thought of it first it probably is not a good idea....lol.

With your schedule it sounds like your puppy is bored. Also, I believe labs need a good amount of exercise. Is it possible to get a dog sitter or someone to come in and check on him periodically during the day? If not I vote for doggy downers.

Regards,
Show Me the Wire

[keilan]

Not near enough information about the dog's background or your relationship with the dog for anyone to give you good advice. What I can tell you is this " dog's are den animals " and he will find safety and security in his crate. But you can't expect him to spend the entire day in there while you and the Mrs. are at work. I don't expect this happens but I'm not sure how long he is left alone.

From reading your post it appears your dog is experiencing some anxiety and may be bored. ( too much time on his hands, sorry paws ). There are just too many scenario's to list without knowing much more about the dog and his environment.

Obviously you care about the well being of this animal or you wouldn't have asked for help.

There are a few suggestions:

1) Seek out a professional in this area. Consult with your Veterinarian - or Behaviour Animal Therapist.
2) Start reading books on training owners/ dogs.
3) E-mail me for additional info.

Good Luck

[Show Me the Wire]

Drat, I didn't know there was criteria for the advice. If I knew I had to provide good advice I wouldn't have offered any advice.

Yes, by all means seek out professional advice and maybe some family counseling, then let the D.V.M. write a script for doggy downers.

Regards,
Show Me the Wire

Try to unlearn one thing each and every day.

[sq764]

Well, here are a few things that I must include:

1) I know we don't give him the exercise he needs,
2) He is a great dog, very intelligent, very trusting and very loyal, 3) I think he looks to me as the dominant one and my wife as the, um, not so dominant one,
4) I will not put my dog on drugs,
5) I can see he is bored and misses us while we are gone at work,
6) I would love to get him a companion if it was logical..

Hope that helps..

[smf]

sq,

I vote to get him a sitter, like SCF sez. I've offered my nextdoor neighbor to let his black Lab stay in my house (while they're gone to work) during the sub freezing wind chill days we have here. Poor thing sits outside on the south side of her house (facing my kitchen window), freezing & shivering. Kills me to watch her get that cold, I usually take her some milkbones between races and calm her down.

If you can "introduce" the dog to a person that stays at home (in your neighborhood) during most days, perhaps they'll do it for free. When people get attatched to dogs it's like having a nephew/ niece or sumthin.

[Dave Schwartz]

SQ,

When we were struggling with our dog I found this link very helpful. Perhaps you can glean some ideas from it yourself.

http://www.nevadahumanesociety.org/handouts.htm

Note "Seperation Anxiety."

Regards,
Dave Schwartz

[keilan]

SMTW -- my post in part should have read " I would need further information before I could offer specific advice "

I was not commenting or referring to your post or any other.

[so.cal.fan]

smf:
"I vote to get him a sitter, like SCF sez. I've offered my nextdoor neighbor to let his black Lab stay in my house (while they're gone to work) during the sub freezing wind chill days we have here. Poor thing sits outside on the south side of her house (facing my kitchen window), freezing & shivering. Kills me to watch her get that cold, I usually take her some milkbones between races and calm her down".

Next time I am down in Texas, I just may "rescue" that dog!
If I send you a "sweater" for her, will your chucklehead neighbor let her wear it?

Thanks to all the nice men on this board who want to help dogs!
You are all going to get good Karma for this!;)

[hurrikane]

I think the only way you can attack this problem is to be the dog.
How about this weekend you sit in the cage for 11 hours and when the dog gets home he can check to see if you have cuts on your nose. Only then will you have some idea of what the dog is going through.

[andicap]

Best book on the market are the barbara wodehouse (woodhouse?) dog training books. "There are no bad dogs."

[sq764]

hurrikane, I can't imagine that you can compare dogs and humans. As opposed to putting him in the cage, he destroys the house. We let him stay out and he got into everything he could get his paws on.

We cannot chain him outside, as that is cruel, particularly in the Winter..

[hurrikane]

Sq,
I was joking. I know the problem. My son had a beagle..talk about bad and loud. Only solution was another dog. Good luck. My neighbor takes her dogs to a pet sitter. You should check it out. they play with other dogs all day and get lots of exercise.
By the way. Raining this weekend so I should have time to look things over.

[GR1@HTR]

I've got my little bitch trained pretty well. I toss in a few treats and she runs in her box and stays. When I get home, 10 hours later I give her more treats when she gets out.

When I first got her, she was whying and barking real bad being stuck at home. The vet suggested a shock collar and it worked wonders. Sounds bad but every time she barked she got a little shock (equivalent to sticking a 9volt battery to your tongue). Now she is a perfect little mut, listens to every thing I say, walks w/o a leash, chases rabbits when I tell her and stops when I tell her to.

Solution: Shock Collar and Treats!

[sq764]

That's the odd thing - We have him in a routine that after I get dressed for work, grab my laptop bag and my keys, he runs right into his cage and I break up a treat into the cage. He is silent as can be.

The problem happens somewhere in between when I leave and when my wife gets back home..

He also is not thrilled when we leave at other times (not for work). He flips out..

[Tom]

Originally posted by GR1
I've got my little bitch trained pretty well. I toss in a few treats and she runs in her box and stays. When I get home, 10 hours later I give her more treats when she gets out.

Solution: Shock Collar and Treats!

This will work on wives, too. <G>

[GR1@HTR]

Tom,

Hehe...No, at least not w/ my last one...

SQ,

Is your kennel in an area where the dog is used to being? I had my kennel stuffed away in a corner and the dog didn't like it. Now I have this big ass kennel box in my bedroom in front of the TV. I keep the TV on during the day to keep here company. She seems to enjoy the animal planet and TVG....Also I keep lots of toys and bones in there for here. Actually I should of said used to keep lots of toys in there for her. About 2 weeks ago I let her roam freely in the house. So far so good. I tried it once when she was 6 months old and she did good for about 3 days until one day I came home and she ate both cables to my satelite dish, lamp plug, laptop wire, and playstation controller all in one sitting...

BTW, I got a web cam the last week so I can spy on my dog during the day from work. It's pretty cool. I call it MajorCam (named after my bitch).

[hurrikane]

Hey GR1...I think maybe it's time to start dating again. :D

[ranchwest]

Something that helps is toys.

I like a toy called "Kong". It is a very hard rubbery object that looks like stacked doughnuts of narrowing width. It is almost impossible to destroy and it does help bored dogs.

Of course, this can only be a small part of the overall picture, but I think you might be surprised how much this can help.

[GR1@HTR]

Yeah, the Kong Rocks! I invested in 48 Dingo Bones that I bought on the net for about $2/bone. They normally sell for about $5/bone. The Dingo Bone is the Kong of all chewables. I leave at 700AM, drop a Dingo, and get home about 430 to find that there are still a few Dingo particles left on my carpet. The Dingo is a 12 hour time release bone...

[rrbauer]

I suggest sending the owner to obedience school!

:)

[sq764]

We got him a new bigger cage the other day, and got him the cushion that goes with the cage. We figured the cushion would be chewed up the first day, but he hasn't chewed it at all. He is a new dog.. I think he is more calm now and as of about a month ago, we started giving him greenies, (even though they are freaking expensive).. He loves them and they calm him..

ANyone know where to get greenies wholesale?

[so.cal.fan]

I second that RRBAUER!

[GR1@HTR]

We tried that, but I had problems holding my urine while in the box cage...Especially when I got a little excited.

[Boris]

SQ,

I have been through all this first hand. My yellow lab is almost 4. Had the exact same issues when he was a puppy. My brother, a vet for 20 years, said training the dog to "crate" is the best thing. You just have to make sure you have enough crate for the dog to be comfortable. After a while, you won't even need to lock the door, just close it over. One thing he told me that has really helped is this. Labs, as I'm sure you have figured out, are very social and like to be where you are. They will experience separation anxiety when you leave the house. But they are dogs, not people - i.e. they have no concept of time. In most cases, any damage they do will be done in the first hour after you leave. They pick up on the routine of how you leave the house and this sets them off. What he recommended, which I did and it helped a lot, was to leave the house for about 5 minutes and then return. Do this in your normal "leaving routine" many times. After a while, your dog will learn that when you leave, you come back. This helps them to not freak out every time you pick up the keys. Praise the dog upon your return. Sounds simple but had a great effect on my hound. Also, giving the treat to a puppy before you leave is a no no. He told me to ignore the dog for several minutes before I leave and then give them the attention when I returned. You can try that this weekend for a change of pace.

Good Luck