# 6 Month old pup. Trusted out of crate all day. Destroys house. Back in crate. VIDEO



## ImJaxon (Jan 21, 2013)

So our wonderful little Jaxon has been earning some trust lately. So, we've started to leave him out of the crate for a few reasons, one being we don't want his left ear to not become erect. So, we've heard, out of the crate = better chance of ear going up.

Fast forward.

Doing great for a week or so. Nothing destroyed. 


THEN!

Over the course of the next week, etc:

Expensive recliner chair, cord eaten. (Chair was unplugged of course). 
Figures out how to open the bathroom door which is always shut. Tears up the bathroom like it was a tornado happened in the house.
Tore apart a roll of paper towels.
Gets up onto the counters and steals things that aren't his.
Destroys the door jams by chewing.
Destroys a banister railing by chewing. 

These are just a few examples.

Here's a video: just for fun!!!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=155465804612906&set=vb.100004484616626&type=2&theater

Hopefully this will work.


So, I go home today and find the recliner now chewed up on the fabric part. He knows he did something wrong and follows me to the recliner. He looks at the chair, then at me. I grab him and push his nose into the chair and yell at him. Maybe not the right thing to do, but that's what I did. Called him a bad boy in a low loud tone.

When I left to go back to work I put him back in the crate. 

How can he earn his way back out now?

:help:


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I can't see the video


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## mego (Jan 27, 2013)

I'd just wait several more months and give freedom in moderation. You said you let him out ALL day. That's too much too soon, let him free while you're gone for 10 minutes picking up some groceries, if nothing's destroyed, okay good. Then maybe an hour, etc. Until you can consistently trust him in those little trips do not leave him out all day.


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## mebully21 (Nov 18, 2011)

lol! some 6 month old pups cant be left loose all day.. get a taller crate if you are worried about his ears. (think of a 16 yr old human given the keys to your hot rod and a wad of cash- total mayhem will occur...)


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## ImJaxon (Jan 21, 2013)

Lolllllll so true!


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## NietzschesMomma (Jan 20, 2013)

The page you requested cannot be displayed right now. It may be temporarily unavailable, the link you clicked on may have expired, or you may not have permission to view this page.

(if desired, you need to set the video to public so that everyone can see it...)


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

ImJaxon said:


> So, I go home today and find the recliner now chewed up on the fabric part. He knows he did something wrong and follows me to the recliner. He looks at the chair, then at me. *I grab him and push his nose into the chair and yell at him. Maybe not the right thing to do, but that's what I did.* Called him a bad boy in a low loud tone.
> 
> When I left to go back to work I put him back in the crate.
> 
> ...


Definitely not the right thing to do...He just learned that when you come home you are mad at him. Dogs really are in the minute and I think you read too much into his looking at the chair.

He has a long way to go before he can earn his way out. And it needs to be in short durations working up to long ones. The first instance of destruction, he would have been back in the crate and not given a whole week to learn what great fun it is to destroy things, I think this is going to make it even harder for him to not destroy things.

He was not being bad; he was just having a grand old time being a dog who does not clearly understand the rules.


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## Jrnabors (Sep 7, 2012)

Mine's nearly a year and still destroys everything. Major pain. The bad generally outweighs the good in our dog.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Not his fault, your fault. You need to shove your nose in the recliner and yell at yourself, "NO!" several times, and for good measure, take the ripped up paper towels and slap yourself upside the head with them. 

You are going from no freedom, no chance to get into trouble, no chance to do anything wrong to handing him the keys to the house and car and giving him the day to do his worst. You set him up. Really. He chews because he is bored, maybe lonely for you, and because it is a self-rewarding behavior. 

The best thing to do now is to give him _some_ freedom for short periods of time. The rest of the time, you teach him what he can have and what he can't have. Puppy proof a single room and install a good extra-tall baby gate in the door, and leave him in there during the day, and when you get home, ignore him for a few minutes. Keep comings and goings very low key. WAIT if possible until he quiets down, and then come in and take him out to do his business, a bit of training, etc, and the rest of the evening in with you learning what he can do. 

Also before going in the morning, a good long walk and maybe a good game of fetch, so that he is good and tired out before you leave him in his place. 

Tractor supply sells a sturdy 10'x5' kennel in panels, that you can set up in a basement or garage. Your dog will be safe there. 

What is scary about just giving him the run of the house, is that there are thing in our houses that are dangerous for puppies to eat, stuffing, stuff off of counters, stuff in walls, cleaning stuff, blinds, cords, and so much more. Puppy proof an area, or make him a day-time area where he can have a safe, raw, bone, or a hard rubber toy or two, and a bucket of water, and maybe a cot. Then when you come home, the only thing he can possibly destroy is what is in his area. 

And no one gets punished, and no one feels guilty about it.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

Shasta is almost three and I still don't trust her out of the crate when we're gone. She sleeps in our room at night out of her crate but thats as far as it goes being unsupervised.


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## ImJaxon (Jan 21, 2013)

Great advice here. Thanks!!!!


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## julie87 (Aug 19, 2012)

Im sure your intentions were good by letting the dog have his freedom and I understand your concern about his ears, same thing with mine. Sounds like he kept himself busy and did some remodeling around the house lol  I had my share of it, mine usually will steal fruit out of fruit bowl and drag it all over the living room, after I get home I pick up the fruit (with bite marks on it) and I put it back in the fruit bowl and I get on with my day. I would rather have her do a little remodeling then have her locked up. Yes she is safer in crate, but her crazy puppy months are over and now she sleeps during the day or she will just roam the house and play with her toys. with time they learn what not to do...But at 6 months he is better off in the crate, for his own sake.


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## ZAYDA (Apr 22, 2010)

Been there & done that. I was told leaving a puppy in the house @ that age is like leaving a 5 year old in the house alone. Everything can be fine for days but then one day the house will be burned to the ground. I never forgot it.


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## ImJaxon (Jan 21, 2013)

Yes, we learned the toughest lesson today. He played home entertainment center repair man. He didn't do a good job.

Completely dismantled the entertainment center. Ate the DirecTV cords. Ate the XBOX Kinect. Ate the cable to the Internet router. Ate the subwoofer for the home theatre system. 

We have learned our lesson. 

LOL.

It's just stuff. We aren't that concerned about that.

What I'm shocked at is how he moved a very, very heavy entertainment system and got at all the cords. We were very lucky that he started by unplugging the wall unit from the wall. 

Very lucky. Lesson learned. 

Puppy now gets to live in the crate when we're not at home. No more of this nonsense. 

He gets snipped next weekend too.


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## julie87 (Aug 19, 2012)

He gets snipped next week too lol that just made me laugh  

And yeah mine steals cantopes how can she even drag it off the table, those things are big. Yes she still does


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## ImJaxon (Jan 21, 2013)

We go home for lunch everyday, as we only work about 1.5 miles away from home. Today when I went in the house he was sitting in the crate with both ears down looking so dejected and sad.  I literally don't know what to do with him at this point. Poor guy. 

I leave him out, he parties it up in the house and destroys everything Project X style.

I can't leave him in the yard, he'll eat our flowers and dig all the dirt out of the flowerbeds.

I can't put him in a kennel outside or he'll bark his face off all day at the squirrels and rabbits and piss off the neighbors.

I don't have any rooms in the house to confine him to, as our home is open concept and no door jams for gates. 

I can't leave him in the garage for many reasons. Way too much fun in there for him to have, and it's really hot in summer.

He's literally his own worst enemy right now.

He is at the top of his class at doggie obedience classes each week. Wins all the prizes. Is a model dog, until we leave him alone for more than 15 minutes alone.

LOL.

We play with him all the time. We take him to doggie day care to run with 100 other dogs for 10 hours a day. He's having a grand old time. We take him on walks for 45 minutes.

Right now he's just unable to deplete all his puppy energy I guess.


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## m1953 (May 7, 2012)

Being in a crate or not will have absolutely nothing to do with ears standing or not.


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## mego (Jan 27, 2013)

I think he meant the ears were just folded back or whatever looking sad.

You can try a large xpen? I bought this heavy-duty one Amazon.com: BestPet® Black 40" Heavy Duty Pet Playpen Dog Exercise Pen Cat Fence B: Pet Supplies that's 40 inches tall but I think they have a taller one, he may be able to escape though, but it's really big and successful here at my place.
I would honestly not worry about the sad puppy face, he'll get used to it, I mean he went from whole house freedom to back in the cage - boo, just give him a good exercise before and after and he'll be perfectly okay


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## GusGus (Oct 24, 2012)

Gus is 1.5 years and gets run of the main rooms now and left with something of HIS to chew on. Still at his age if he's left alone for over 6-7 hours he will find something else to chew up, so I don't leave him alone that long. our 5 month old dobe is ALWAYS crated when we leave.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

My first GSD I did everything wrong with. I thought crates were cruel. The ten week old puppy would be kept in the kitchen by a baby gate. Every day he would take everything that wasn't nailed down and chew most of it, and leave it all in a huge pile on the floor in the kitchen. He would also chew the tiles in the kitchen, and he would add a few turds and some urine. 

Every day after a rough day at work, I would get home to this mess, and blow my top, so much so that the poor pup would piddle when I came in. 

One day he broke through the baby gate and ate my couch, literally. 

This was the dog I had longed for all my life, the intelligent, highly trainable, beautiful, loyal German Shepherd Dog. He was in fact, a bi-color, drop eared, stubborn as an ox, super high energy, impossible to train, and somewhat aggressive German Shepherd Dog, that needed training and exercise that I could not give him while working full time and finishing college. Be that as it may be. 

Finally, I had had enough and chained him in the back yard. 

He dragged the chain through a circle and created a mud pit. So that now I came home after a long day at work to a very muddy puppy. When he was covered in mud, I fed him and watered him and did not bother to take him off the chain. 

One day he broke off the chain and ran in front of a truck and got hit. It shattered the long bone in his leg. My neighbor and I took him to the vet. I felt awful. 

To put a rod in, it would cost $2000 and this was back around 20 years ago or so. I did not have it. I could barely pay the rent, my job was always having wage freezes, and kept asking us to take voluntary time off. So the vet told me to get a crate, large enough for him to stand, lay down, turn around and eat in, no larger. And to leave him in the crate for 8 weeks, letting him out twice a day, on lead to potty. 

I thought this would be awful. 

It was not. 

He actually did not mind the crate at all, even after he was healed. The leg healed crooked, but it healed. I got another six years out of him. And he was back in the house, because when I wasn't there, he was crated. Eventually, I moved and put a kennel up so that when I left in the morning, I kenneled him outside. But he was fine in the crate. He was safe kenneled or crated. 

He was not safe loose, either outside or inside when he was a puppy. When he got older I could leave him loose in the house. But I always felt better with him if he was contained in some way. I think he was happier have clear boundaries, whether crated or kenneled.


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## ImJaxon (Jan 21, 2013)

Selzer I agree 100%. Thanks for that.


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## volcano (Jan 14, 2013)

My girl spends most of the time in her crate, even when im home and shes at my feet. There has been little destruction, She chewed a corner off a rug and a doormat. Outside she got into a tote and tore up a bag of soil and spread it around, shes a gardener. That showed me how good an idea crating is. She only had a few minutes alone and got into whatever trouble she could. 
And thats a good thing, you dont want to correct that, just channel it into non destruction, and itd be hard to do without constant correction if she was out loose.


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## ImJaxon (Jan 21, 2013)

Hahaha, yah Jaxon is quite the gardner too. We can't leave him alone for even 2 minutes outside or he's into the flower bed digging and pulling off the flowers from the garden. HAHA.


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## Walperstyle (Nov 20, 2012)

haha. 

My guy is 8 months old. He still chews on his toys, but we did have some issues along the way.

One day I was up all night (much like tonite) and he went down stairs on his own, to a room that is normally closed where there was an antique clock on the ground. Naturally he likes to work his jaws, so he figured it would be OK on this clock. ...that is now not only a family heirloom, but has a story behind it we can tell, haha. 

Just the other day, same thing, He wandered in the bathroom and chewed on the wooden stick for the toilet plunger, as well as ate my Xbox Headset. 

It doesn't happen often...
*but these things happen when your dog is bored to death! *

Take the dog to the dog park for a few hours while you read a book or something. Let him get the energy out. That is what we do.
*
Remember too, that they don't have hands. So they basically Manipulate objects they are interested in with the mouth. Its a way of tasting, moving, or exploring. * I'm finding it easy to manipulate my dog to do anything. You just have to be patient, and don't take no for an answer. Eventually everything becomes Routine.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I have a bitch who will be four in July. 

I cannot leave her with a toy. She dismembers them and guts them and then will eat them. She's a sneaky bitch too. If one of her neighbors has a toy, within 24 hours it will be hers, and it will have gone through the process of being gutted and half-eaten. 

I love everything else about her, but she is a serial toy killer.


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## Rodimus80 (Jan 13, 2013)

My GSD is 9 and I crate him whenever I need to leave the house and no one is home and/or I cannot take him with me. No more then 4hrs ever. During the day he has free reign but it's mostly a illusion. I work from home so I am always watching. I have enough toys placed throughout the house to get his attention. At night he sleeps with my 8yr Daughter on her bed. He's gotten into a few things here and there but I blame myself. I got careless and he reminded me. lol


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## ImJaxon (Jan 21, 2013)

Yup, for sure rod, we learned our lesson. During the day he is crated for his own safety and the well being of our property.


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## Wolfiesmom (Apr 10, 2010)

Wolfie didn't earn his way out of the crate until he was about 18 months old, and starting with an hour at a time. Get a taller crate if you are concerned about the ears.


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## ImJaxon (Jan 21, 2013)

Yeah we are doing just that. Bigger crate and now taping the ear at 6 months!


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## ImJaxon (Jan 21, 2013)

I have changed the video settings to public sorry about that.


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## ImJaxon (Jan 21, 2013)

The ear is up. We had to tape it, but all is good now.


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## volcano (Jan 14, 2013)

My girl isnt even a chewer, but I have no doubt shed destroy my house if left out and bored. She jumped up into a potted tomato plant and dug it out, chewed a cooler, and always steals socks. She sleeps in crate Period.


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## Kittilicious (Sep 25, 2011)

Wow! He sure had a lot of fun  I am so glad that mine isn't like that. He was more destructive IN the crate than out.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I couldn't see the video before today, but I can relate. Mine broke out of his crate and went through the house like a tornado. He ate video games and took every toy in the house out and hid lots of them in shelves around the house. The first two times he broke out, he behaved nicely...third time not the charm. My guy will probably be in a crate for quite a while


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## Fade2Black (Apr 30, 2012)

My 5 month old puppy Havoc would do all that if I left him out alone in the house. Besides his crate which is big enough for him to move around. I have a 7 foot by 6 foot pen in my living room I started leaving him in when I wasn't home. Had his toys in there. Things were going real good. Can't do that now. He decided he wanted to dig. He magically made two one foot by one foot sections of carpet disappear. I would just move it to the basement but I have concrete floors down there. Want him on something softer....

At night at least he's learning he can sleep on my bed and not his crate if he stays up there not chewing on anything or jumping off. I usually start him in his crate for a while. Then I come up tell him its time to sleep. Then let him up.....


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## 1sttimeforgsd (Jul 29, 2010)

Sorry I had to chuckle at the destroyed toilet paper monster, my boy strung mine all through the house but did not break it or tear it up one time while I was in the shower. I was lucky with my boy, or his two big sisters kept him from being destructive. Like others have said he was allowed out for small increments of time when we were gone until he was trustworthy at 10 or 11 months. Your handsome boy will get there, you just might have jumped the gun a little early.


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## ImJaxon (Jan 21, 2013)

yah we just went and got the little snoot an x-large Kong crate because he's growing so big. i feel much better now leaving him as the crate is pretty massive. we go maybe 20 minutes alone now, and so far so good. i'm not planning to have him run free for many years to come. haha.


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## Beka (Apr 17, 2013)

Hehehehe i giggled so much at the video, he is SO cute and he certainly knows he did something naughty 
I don't even trust my 7yo dog to be left out of his crate while im not home let alone my 6 month old pup haha! If i go out they are either in their crates or outside in their runs depending on the weather! They also both sleep in crates at night, always have and always will


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

My older dog could only be trusted out of her crate when she was 2 years old. My younger guy who is almost 4 years old is still crated during work days only. There is something about a work day that causes him to be destructive but we have no problems with him uncrated during evenings and weekends. I've started coming home at lunch and leaving him out of his crate for the afternoon and so far so good. Just be grateful your guy hasn't figured out how to escape from his crate. My guy did and we lost a lot of valuables in the process


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## AngieW (Nov 13, 2012)

Kylie is not entirely trustworthy yet at 11mo.

She is always in her crate for the night.

We are fortunate that I homeschool, so I am home most of the time. We are only all gone from the house for 2-3 hours at a time and that is usually just 2x/week, but occasionally is 3x/week. We have been able to leave her in the backyard for that time. I always have a frozen bone to give her when she is going to need to stay in the backyard for a while.

If we are home, then she is out of her crate. We don't allow her upstairs because of my 15yo's guinea pig and because there are far too many things upstairs that she could easily damage. She knows she is not allowed upstairs, although sometimes she will go halfway up and wait there for somebody to come down again.

I take her for a 1.5 mile walk every morning and usually take her for another long walk in the evening too. We'll play a game of fetch for a while in the afternoon, but we can only do that indoors because she won't bring anything back if we are outside. We also go to the dog park every weekend, except that we can't right now because of her paw pad injury.

She's definitely a lot easier now than she was 6 months ago. I'm hoping for her to be completely trustworthy by the time she is 2yo.


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## ImJaxon (Jan 21, 2013)

THanks for the information folks. 

Our new thing is jumping on our guests when they come over. Wheeeeeeee. 

We're getting through this one easier though.

Thanks


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## Lalaland (Dec 19, 2012)

LOL aww shame! that´s horrible but im sorry so funny xD
I have no good advise sorry


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## David Taggart (Nov 25, 2012)

My Unna was like that. Big thigh beef bones left in empty hallway helped a lot to divert her from less healthy chewable objects. Don't leave him in a crate, limited space makes dogs agressive. This principle was designed to bring up pit bulls as fighting dogs. They grow them in cages nowdays, but they used real pits before, only one man was allowed to come down into the pit to clean it, and, when the dog was out of it - he was ready to rip into pieces everything his teeth could reach. The reason your puppy behaved like that were his unexpressed negative emotions. What I recommend - make sure about times when he has the most of his physical exercise, he must live in expectation. Regularity is the answer, make him really nacked every morning. I say morning, because it is better to spare our dogs' hearts in hot summer evenings and not to exercise them at all, just walk. Better exercised - better behaved they are.
It is amazing what our darlings can do whilst we are away. They want to be busy. My tom cat had tried opening the fridge with his right paw many times, but in vain. Before he tried his left ... And, it started: the cat opens the fridge and the dog gobbles! You come home and start picking from the floor these nasty chewed bits of food, soup is all over, dog was jumping on your bed, it will smell of smoked salmon for ages...


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