What should I do about my misbehaved dog?

Question

I have a white german shepard and she has had some anxiety issues whenever we leave. I don't know what to do to help her. We have tried putting her in different parts of the house when we leave just for a short time. but she sttill gets so upset and shreds things. It's starting to worry us and put a damper on our furniture. What can we do to help her?

Answer 1

IMO, your girl has Seperation Anxiety. This topic has numerous sites you can search for on the net and find helpful suggestions.

My own suggestion is crating and noise.

Crating for a dog, unless you make it so, is not punishment. A crate is a dog's space, their 'bedroom'. A crate is a safe spot in the world, where nothing can harm them.

Noise...leave a radio or the tv on when you leave to make your home as loud as it is when you are there. When you shut everything off as you leave, suddenly the house is echoing with emptiness and everyone is gone and the dog panics.

Most dogs with SA do the damage within 15 minutes of the humans leaving the home.

You can try 'practice' leaves. Get ready to go, as normal, but come back in 2 minutes later. Drop your keys, take off your jacket sit down.

Also, make leave-taking as calm and uneventful as possible. Don't make an issue out of it, don't have prolonged 'goodbyes' with the dog.

Do look into the numerous sites on SA available on the net, along with crate-training. IMO, crates have saved thousands of dogs, as when you leave the dog crated, you come home to a tidy house, let the dog out of the crate with some loving, instead of a horror-filled gasp as you enter a destruction scene that the uncrated dog created.

Answer 2

I know that people are going to disagree with me, but try using a [prong collar. I know that they look barbaric and cruel, but they really are not and will more likely mimic a mother's bite for disciplining. I use one when I walk my Aussie mix, and she is a completely different dog with it on. Also, there was a study of Prong Collars in Germany some time ago and the results were as follows: 100 dogs were in the study. 50 used choke and 50 used prong. The dogs were studied for their entire lives. As dogs died, autopsies were performed. Of the 50 which had chokes, 48 had injuries to the neck, trachea, or back. 2 of those were determined to be genetic. The other 46 were caused by trauma. Of the 50 which had prongs, 2 had injuries in the neck area, 1 was determined to be genetic. 1 was caused by trauma. I've added the link for more information, which I hope you find helpful. Frankly, I prefer to walk my dog when she's wearing a prong collar. She's a completely different dog when she's wearing it. You have to remember that the collar is only to be used only as a training tool and the dog shouldn't wear it all the time. I'm adding the link as well, which will give you instructions on properly fitting such a collar. Also, Petmart sells little rubber tips that you can place on the end of each prong. Good luck :-)

Answer 3

Keep her in a crate or small confined area with a baby gate where she can't get into anything. I give my 14 week old Bichonpoo a Kong Toy with Peanut Butter and a treat inside so she has something to do. Initially I would leave her alone for only 10 minutes while I walked to the driveway to get the newspaper. Then after a few days of doing this I extended the time to 15 minutes and did this for a few minutes. I gradually made the time longer. Now I can leave her for up to about 4 hours without a problem. (Maybe longer but I have not tried) The idea is to start out without small intervals of time and build it up. She needs to know that you are going to return. And keep her confined don't put temptation in her path.

Answer 4

First I would suggest getting a crate to put the dog in when you're gone. It helped my dog a lot, plus now she is on a schedule and it helps with potty training. She likes it. Also I have put the radio on for her and she likes that too. It keeps her calm and I have had good success with it. Also to help with the leaving thing...It would be best not to make a big deal of you leaving. It only causes the anxiety to be worse because they know that you are leaving. If you can desensitize the dog to you leaving, then it won't be such a big deal. You can do that by doing little things suggesting that you're leaving....For example, you can put your shoes on and then take them off. Gradually when the dog gets used to that you can move to the next thing...like putting on a coat or opening the door. Once she gets used to that, the anxiety will diminish because it's something that you have always done.

Answer 5

Most white shepards are little unusual anyway. But try dog obedience classes to start, if that doesn't work, a dog therapist can help with separation anxiety issues. SA is a hard one to deal without professional help.

Answer 6

On one of the dog whisperer's shows, he said dogs that freak out when you leave do so because they think they are the pack leader and should be telling you when you can come or go. So they get really stressed when you aren't doing what you're told! His recommendation would be obedience training...in the meantime, I would definitely use a crate.

Answer 7

Yup, put her in a crate..... But you don't want her to freak out in there as well.I had a dog that chewed on himself when he stressed. My vet suggested getting a....I can't remember the name. But I can describe it, it is a red hard rubber ball or cone that is hollow. You can put treats inside and the dogs has to work to get the treat out. I always kept a jar of P-nut butter for my dog, a teaspoon of P-nut butter and he was busy trying to lick it out for hours.


I found a site using the name from the entry above me. They are right. It was what I was thinking as well.
Good luck.

Answer 8

My dogs were doing the same thing, we finally put a dog door in a basement room we don't use, we have a fenced in yard, and made that room into a doggie play room, we move their beds & food down there when we are gone and they have their own toybox to get stuff out of. we only put stuff in that room that we don't care about. They are really enjoying their own space down there. my puppy goes down there even when we are home, just to get away i think. If you have a room that you can make a dog room. I would totally recommend it.

Answer 9

You should really consider crating her when you have to leave as this will prevent the destructive behavior.

Another idea is if you have to be gone for more than an hour or so, to see if you have a friend who might come take your dog out for a walk/romp at the park.

Answer 10

Well.....I know it sounds crazy but I knew someone with a problem worse then this. If you go to the vet they can probaly give you some K-9 valume. Its like a pain pill except it realy calms it down. Its nothing that makes it pass out it just calms it down.