Can't leave my dog on his own

I have tried to leave my dog out of his cage in the hallway and he can't do it. He has ripped carpet apart, managed to get tea towels off the kitchen worktop and destroy it and yesterday he managed to get a book of a shelf and destroy it. I have reprimanded him when I have got home and given him a small smack on the nose. He is 10 months old, is this natural and is it just a case of perserverance? Bare in mind my parents let him sleep in their bed EVERY NIGHT which is a bit annoying and I am pretty sure this has a lot to do with it, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi there.
first off, what breed is your dog?

second - telling him off when you get home won't do any good - he won't connect the punishment with what he did and he will just start to associate you coming home with him being told off. I would also strongly suggest that you don't smack him at all - there really is no need.

At 10 months he is young and boisterous. He will have lots of energy and there is a good chance that he is bored. He doesn't yet understand what he is and isn't allowed to do.

How long do you leave him for and what do you with him (in terms of exercise/training/mental stimulation) before you go. Do you leave him with anything that he is allowed to play with/chew?

sorry, lots of questions!

Hi Jimmy

Just a couple of things....

Reprimanding your dog after the 'event' will have no effect on him. He will not know why you are telling him off or smacking him, so it is pointless doing it.

How long is he left for? If it's a few hours, have you built up to this point by leaving and coming back for longer periods of time?

A 10 month old puppy will chew and rag things around, especially if they're bored when you are not there. make sure when you go out, anything that is 'destructable' is put away or out of reach.

You can stop some of this by leaving him with interesting (but safe) toys or chews. A carrot, a stuffed Kong etc are brilliant things to occupy your dogs mind. A nice walk or training session before you go out would be good too.

I doubt sleeping in your parents bed has anything to do with his behaviour. My dogs sleep in the kitchen, yet still managed to tear up post and tea towels etc when they were younger!

Well the last incident was yersterday and he was left for about an hour and a half or so. I left one or two toys and some fresh water. I hadn't taken him for a walk yesterday as I had planned to do so when I got home, I might try again today but this time I may take him for a walk first, the heat here at the moment is putting me off taking him for an extended walk as it would knacker him.

PS: the breed is staffordshire bull terrier so that explains the extra energy he has to go on "adventures" whilst I am out

Well, you are sensible to worry about the heat for walking him, but you don't always have to leave the house to wear a dog out . I don't have much experience of staffies, so not sure what kind of games particularly 'float their boat', but I guess games of tuggy? If so, you can turn the game into a training session which should help to tire him. For instance (assuming that you have a 'tuggy' toy of some sort (e.g. rope toy?).

Play 'find it'. he has to find the tuggy before you play with it with him. Start out simple (e.g. leave it in the middle of another room - say 'find it' - take him into the other room and when he gets near the tuggy get all excited, pick it up and start the game. you can gradually start putting the tuggy in more difficult places so that he has to use his nose to find it.

'leave it' or 'drop' - it is important that he learns to leave the toy when you say. If he's enjoying the game, he may be reluctant to do so, but if he won't release it when you say, you don't carry on playing.

You'll be surprised how sessions like this can tire him as much as a walk.

Do you have a kong for him? If so, I would fill it with something tasty before you go out and leave it with him. I'd also not be out too long to start with so that he gets used to short spells.

Sorry this is so long- so much to try and tell you and probably still forgotten loads of important stuff!

Yea thanks for the input, he doesn't quite understand leave it after fetching, once he fetches he doesn't like to return it which again is a bit annoying. I'm going to try and take him for a long walk before I leave him this should help.

Hi, i have the same problem, We got honey our rescue pup now approx 9/10 months old, she was left for a few hours one day while we were out, she chewed the draught excluder on the door, she chewed table legs, ripped up tea towels, oven gloves, ripped my ugg boots up

we bought her a crate and now we have to put her in it when we out as she cant be trusted,we have started trying leaving her for short periods and hiding everything she can destroy but she still finds something, she has a kong and other puzzle toys that she has to get treat out of but still she chews.

Hope you and I get over this problem soon.

Good luck x

I think some dogs are just happier being crated whilst you are out especially if they are used to it. I would go back to the crate with a stuffed kong. He may just feel insecure when you are not there.

Have you taken him to classes? If not you could go and they will help you with training him to leave things and give you advise about other problems you may come up against as well.

I'd leave him in his cage with plenty pf water and a well stuffed black kong, or you could try leaving him out with the kong. You'll need to make it easy for him at first to get the food out them gradually more dfficult.

rune

My brother's SBT didn't understand leaving the ball after fetching it either (I fostered her for 9 months before he adopted her).

What we used to do is throw the ball (or other toy) for her, she would bring it back then we would ignore her until she dropped it.

Then we would take a step toward the toy while saying 'Mine!' in quite a strong voice. If she went to snatch the ball we would stop and ignore her again until she dropped it. It's no good trying to get it out of their mouth because they are too strong

Once she was leaving the ball and not trying to snatch it, we would say 'Back!' while taking a step forward (so we would be standing over the ball). Once she'd taken a step back, we would get her to sit.

Then we would pick up the ball. If she went to snatch the ball at any point we would stop and just ignore her.

Now she brings anything back (even sticks which is her most favourite thing) and waits for my brother to throw it. This took a good year to achieve. It's not easy, but if you're consistent it's worth it to be able to play fetch