# 9 month-old destroying house



## Venc (Mar 29, 2009)

Hi,

So I got my puppy to behave pretty well for a puppy, but now he has decided that he wants to do what he feels like and not pay attention to me.

He is crate trained and he sleeps fine there, but I don't like to lock him up too long there as it is not that big (42" long). I have tried many times to leave him outside while I'm gone but after a few days of doing that he decides to get destructive and chew something completely, knowing that it is bad!

At nights I haven't had a problem with him until tonight, that he decided to chew my bathroom's door frame, waking me up at 2:30am when I have to go to work at 7am. So I have decided even if it hurts me I'm going to have to leave him inside his crate at all times while I'm gone or sleeping.

To try to drain his energy I take him to the Dog park for as long as I can depending on how well he behaves. Normally 1+ hour.

What can I do to end this, as I'm either asleep or not home when he does it so I can't correct it effectively?

Thanks


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## Brightelf (Sep 5, 2001)

Congratulations! You have a totally normal GSD pre-teenager on your hands! You are smart to ask for ideas and solutions, so we know you must be a good owner to want to help him. This is do-able, do not worry! It will just take work on your part, and a few lifestyle changes.

*IMPORTANT: You need to understand and fully accept that your puppy absolutely, positively, without a doubt never chews when he "knows it's wrong." He does not "know it is wrong" when he chews.*

He chews because:
1. He is underexcersised (amazingly, 1 hour at the dog park doesn't even come close to cutting it for most of our GSDs, a working breed). He needs running after thrown balls, long walks, and very much MENTAL excersise.
2. He truly _craves _*mental excersise*-- get involved in training groups and classes. He needs you to also become much more involved at home with having him do training homework a few times each day, interwoven into your daily lives. Sounds like too much? He needs this to tire his brain out. He needs sits and downs on pavement at the shopping center, on wood bark chips at the park, on smooth stone walkways outside the bank, on cool grass at the bird sanctuary, and even on raised picnic tables-- basicls, ALL surfaces-- to tire that brain out.
3. He needs your arrivals and leavings to be so low-key and un-emotional, that they are boring. Arrive home, get your coat off, have a drink of juice.. THEN calmly greet him in a CASUAL manner. Leaving the house? Leave in a boring, ho-hum, casual manner.

This sounds like lots of work, huh? This is do-able, take heart. Many of us have done this-- GSDs stop being destructive when they have involved owners getting into training classes-- and totally re-vamping their lives at home to interweave training a few times daily into their living. GSDs stop being destructive when owners give them much more excersise-- both physical and MENTAL.

This is possible, if you are willing to invest more of yourself for your dog. The destruction will stop once the mind is tired, the body is tired, and training becomes a part of daily living, including making them hold a stay while you prepare dinner, sitting at the door for guests, (yes, a 9 month old CAN do this stuff!) and heeling from the house to the mailbox and back, and then doing all the variable surface work I mentioned in many locations. Boredome, anxiety, frustration goes away.. the dog becomes less destructive with physical and especially mental excersise.


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## debbiebrown (Apr 13, 2002)

i totally agree with Patti, a tired pup is a good pup. gsd's do need alot of daily physical exercise and mental stimulation. also at 9 months old i would not have trusted any of my pups left out when i am not home., even when well exercised. pups get bored, and by leaving him out your kind of setting him up for failure, and he's picking up bad habits trashing your house. get a bigger crate. or confine him to a safer area, leaving him with lots of chew toys like filled kongs etc.
i think you kind of have to start from square one and work up to trusting him again, starting to leave him for short periods and work to longer periods. i always make sure my dogs have been tired out before i leave the house. it is alot of work, but part of the responsibility of having them.

debbie


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## VALIUM (Nov 15, 2007)

I agree with above posts, also I'm glad to hear Patti's voice in the forum


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## k9sarneko (Jan 31, 2007)

I also think you got wonderful advise in the above posts. I think you are asking too much of a 9 month old pup. If you are worried about the crate being too small invest in a larger crate. If it is getting too small now it will certainly be too small in a couple of months and you will probably need it throughout the terrible teens. Make a commitment to the mental stimulation as well as continuing and adding to the physical exercise.

Take heart that this is normal, check the posts and you will find that these guys can do some amazing destruction when left to their own devises. He will grow out of this if you follow advise posted.


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## Keegan62 (Aug 17, 2008)

I would never leave Jack, who is 10 months now, outside of the crate when I am away or asleep He likes to chew bones way too much and I want to amke sure it's just the bones LOL those big teeth can so so much damage LOL

He is not ready for that yet and I believe he will not be for another 4-6 months HE is a puppy and I do not trust any puppy LOL

I would rather keep in the crate while I am away or asleep so he does not chew the couch and things I do not want him too no bad habit learned so I will not have to fix it lol

I am not a trainer or anything it's jsut what I need to do to keep him from getting in trouble

Good luck with him,,, Jack is harder to handle now at 10 months then before but this too will passLOL

For any dog ynder a year the temptation is way to great


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## Venc (Mar 29, 2009)

Thanks everyone for all your replies.

He has been in training but do to him getting hurt one way or another (he is very clumsy) and due to growing pain (limping for a month) I was not training him. I would certainly try to do what you guys advised.

I'm on an apt. but I'll be moving in a couple of months so I'll make sure to change his crate for a bigger one. I just bought him a toughchew bed (supposedly it should be very hard to destroy, we'll see) so it can be more comfortable for him while in his crate.

Now that I know what he has and I have rymadil, I would go back to training him often. He behaves pretty well and I'm able to take him out off-leash any time and he would pay attention (dog park is a different story). I have train him where he sits when I'm serving the food (which I'm changing from Royal Canine to Blue due to soft stool) and he stays sitting down in my room as I put the food down until I tell him to go eat.

Again thank you so much everyone!!


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I agree with the others. It is not so much the damage that he may do to your things, but the possible damage to himself. 

If you have a basement or a fenced yard, you can put up a kennel for him to be in when you are not right there to watch. However, if the dog is not getting the mental and physical exersize he needs, he will make a nuisance of himself one way or another. 

If at all possible, hire someone to take him out midday to potty and perferrably for a walk or a game of fetch. 

If my dogs were crated all day, I would not crate them at night. But I would baby gate them into my bedroom. If you do plenty with him in the evening and take him out again just before you go to sleep, he should make it through the night without being a destroyer, especially if you are in the room with him and the room is secure -- nothing that could hurt him accessible. 

Good luck with the pup. He is perfectly normal. If the crate is next to your bed, then crating him at night is not a problem. If the crate is in an unoccupied room, then I think that with all the day time crating, it is simply too much. In a pinch my dogs are ok in a 42 inch crate, so your puppy should be ok for a while. But a 48 inch crate will probably be more appropriate in the long run.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

when my dog had to be crated for a long
period of time i had someone come
in every 4 hours to to let him out. 

my dog use to wake one of us up at 4:00am
to go out. one of us always got up and let him out.
he slowly stopped waking us up.


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

Folks, I think we are forgetting that this dog has some issues and is on restricted excercise. ( See Venc's second post in this thread). I'd think looking at Kong Time might be worth it. It occupies the dog because they listen for the indication (it makes a noise) that it is about to release. The release time varies so it isn't something that the dog can predetermine.

Beware: Barker the Younger chewed crate pads for the first year & 1/2 or so...


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## Venc (Mar 29, 2009)

Hey middleofnowhere I looked at the KongTime mahine it looks interesting, but it is quite expensive and my dog is not a Kong lover either.
Also you are right he is kind of on restricted exercise as one vet told me to not make him run too much because he would probably be in pain and limping again, as it happen this weekend when I took him two days in a row to the dog park, and also to his training on Sunday.

Doggiedad I only work during the weekends as I go to school during the week, and when I'm working I use my brake time to go to my house and take him out, after around four hours of being working. I used to have somebody that would go there but I haven't talked to her the person in a while. The good thing is that he does not wakes me up at night, he only did it for about a month or so when I first got it, and he never whined at night either (that was the best)

selzer I used to leave him in the bathroom when I would go to work until he chew through two pipes and flooded the apt.

Ohh the crate is really close to my bed, there is only a night stand in between but he can see me perfectly. I'll probably get him a bigger crate but when i went and bought this one it was the biggest I found.

Another thing is that he is self-mutilating even though he had lots of exercise both physical and mental this Sunday, any recommendation on any medicine?

I got him some holistic spray called Neem as it was recommended in another thread. Would it work? or should I try Gold Bond Medicated powder to dry it? Or just plain old Neosporing?

Thanks


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## OkieAmazon (Jun 14, 2005)

Tracking is very mentally tiring and not physically demanding. I would start tracking with this pup.


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## Venc (Mar 29, 2009)

What do you mean? How would I do that?


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## Cooper&me (Dec 18, 2007)

Training does not have to be physical. Tracking is a GREAT idea. also teach the "find it" game.

If a dog can do an hour at the dog park then he can do more constructive training.

Crate him. It is kinder than setting him up for failure and possible injury. Despite what you said in the first post he does not KNOW right from wrong.

You have a bored teenager on your hands.


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

I may be reading your posts wrong........but are you training to train your dog by yourself? 

If that is true, I will say for me, with my GSD's, my house would be destroyed and I would be a freaked out nervous wreck. With the 'I don't know what I don't know' I'd just keep doing what I DID know, and I did not come onto this earth knowing how to train dogs in general, or GSD's in specific.

I can hold out until about 6 months with my knowledge and experience keeping up with my pups mental and physical needs, but after that, FORGET IT.

I have to go to the professionals WITH my dog to learn what I need to learn to then teach my dog what she needs to know. Dog classes aren't about teaching my dog. They are about teaching ME! And they aren't just about the end 'behaviors' I want for my dog, they are huge combination of mental stimulation for my pup with the car ride, new place, new people, new dogs, socialization, distractions...................

Obedience, rally, herding, tracking, flyball, frisbee, agility, clicker training, whatever is available. 

If you go to the AKC site (click here) and look along the left side of the page, there are a ton of events we can train and do with our dogs.

Here's tracking!


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## Venc (Mar 29, 2009)

He is being trained by the Breeder as they train their dogs and others for protection and obedience, and they show them all around the country. One of their dogs has been all around.

mjb03 I said that because when he sees me he runs to his crate and gives me the "I didn't do it" face. When he saw me turning towards him while he was chewing on the frame and realize that I was looking at him he ran straight to the crate without me saying a single word.

Does anyone know the best way to train him for tracking? That would be very interesting to do.

Ohh I have studied psychology and taken a a couple of Behavioral classes including a Lab in which I had to train a pigeon to do certain behaviors (I'm still in college). So I have some good theoretical background on behavioral training; but lacking some practical knowledge.


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

> Quoteoes anyone know the best way to train him for tracking? That would be very interesting to do.


I'm sorry, I must not be writing well tonight.

The best way to teach our dogs new things is find a great set of classes/club/trainer and attend the classes/club/meetings. That way you can learn and then so will the dog. The additional benefits of the car rides, trips to meet new people, at a new place, new dogs, as well as the mental and physical exercise should make a huge difference in your home life.

Did you go to the AKC site I posted? There is tons of information there. If you click the Tracking link there may be clubs and info for your area.


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## Venc (Mar 29, 2009)

Maggie you are very helpful, just wanted to say "Thank You"

Also wanted to thank everyone else for your help and all the replies!!!

Maggie I went to the site but I'm studying right now as Finals are coming quickly and I have a lot to study. I'll check it out more in depth later.

Right now he is half way ready for the basic obedience shows (the breeder showed me all the stuff he has to do) that is Stay while I walk away, call him and sit in front of me, sit and down, etc. I just need him to be able to do it without the leash (mostly the walking besides me as the other stuff he can).

The hardest thing has been making him walk besides me as he likes to walk in front of me and I don't let him. I was told to try and hold his favorite toy by my chest so he keeps his attention towards me.

I'm short on money as I have to pay for my car and other stuff, so I'll probably being doing most of the training myself other than the protection and obedience which is with a trainer.

Ohh and he loves the car for some reason he always wants to jump on the seat, even though he pissed on it yesterday (I was sooo mad) for the first time and the cover didn't help much

Thanks again!!


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## Jimdeez (Aug 15, 2008)

Id really have to agree with the mental stimulation part. You could probably take him to the park 4 times and he will still be destructive when left alone. My boys the same age and is the same, he goes to work with me(i run a vineyard) so hes loose in about 40 acres and is pooped and sleeps in the car on the ride home. An hour later hes ready to go again, so definately training and anything else to get him tired mentally is the way to go.


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## debbiebrown (Apr 13, 2002)

just out of curiousity what is his lineage? is he a workingline pup?

debbie


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## Venc (Mar 29, 2009)

Not sure. For Sports I think. On their training section they have "Schutzhund" and "KKL (Koerklasse)"


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