Is there anyway of not crating a Beagle

izzydogsam

usernameisvalid wrote: »

How can two different species share a pack?

Agree that you should not be making a fuss of the dog on leaving or entering the house but to suggest its taking out its frustration at being left behind on the sofa????

Dogs are canines, they do not have the same thinking capacity of humans. They do not think " you do this so I shall do that" A dog will eat through a sofa out of sheer boredom if there is nothing else for it to do and if its full of pent up energy - not because its owners have decided to go out to the shops and left it home alone.

Got to disagree a little here I'm afraid. I've had a rescued GSD for last eight years or so. When we got him he suffered with separation anxiety, which basically meant he trashed the house whenever he was in it alone, whether it was for 15 mins or 3 hours, whether he was shattered from a long walk or not. He just couldn't cope with being alone. It took us a good 12-18 months to desensitise him and an awful lot of heartache

Not suggesting that separation anxiety is the case with this doggie cos he's still a baby really, but boredom is not always the cause of destructiveness, which is why, I think, one of the other posters (FC maybe?) asked whether the destructiveness occurred when the owner was present or not.

Raksha

I'm afraid I don't agree with dogs on treadmills DKLS - all you get is a physically fit dog whose had no release for his other needs

In my experience a lot of destructive behaviour is either a) simply because the dog can - the owners are always saying 'no' and 'stop' and 'leave' but not looking at *why* the dog is doing it, so when they aren't there, the dog knows he's not going to be stopped. or b) Self comforting/separation anxiety. To find out what your dog is thinking - try and record his actions while you are out - you'll be surprised what goes on when you're not there

mkbswimstar

Just to say we crate our beagle (shes nearly 1yr old) at night and she loves it in there, she takes 20 minutes in the morning to show her face once weve opened it up! Also when we are out we leave her in a small hallway with toys and bed. She did destoy the wallpaper and skirting boards when she was 6 months so we crated her in the day when we were out but this led to her being more stressed. Now shes in her hall, knows our routine and appears to be happy. Fingers crossed she is calming down, but still loves the peg basket! Been through 3 packs of pegs since getting her.

supersaver66

I would definately point to seperation anxiety, my dog suffers from this and she is 2 years old. Also dogs LIKE to chew! Doesn't mean they are bored, they just do! My dog will not chew her toys but looks for alternative things such as my washing line, the fence!

She is crated at night as she cant be trusted for 2 minutes, it may be so many other things but I would put my money on SA.

Its a horrible thing for a dog to have, we tried keeping her in the kitchen and she chewed off all the skirting boards even though she had chew toys in there with her.

mrcol1000

supersaver66 wrote: »

I would definately point to seperation anxiety, my dog suffers from this and she is 2 years old. Also dogs LIKE to chew! Doesn't mean they are bored, they just do! My dog will not chew her toys but looks for alternative things such as my washing line, the fence!

Doesn't chewing release some kind of chemical in their head that makes them happy and feel safe? I give my dog a long term chew once or twice a week and it lasts about 5mins.

supersaver66

That's what I thought also, she has every kind of chew toy there is but prefers to chew wood or anything that she shouldnt really! lol

mrcol1000

supersaver66 wrote: »

That's what I thought also, she has every kind of chew toy there is but prefers to chew wood or anything that she shouldnt really! lol

You just need to find one that the dog likes and make it more exicting than wood. I never just give my dog a chew I make it into a game before she gets it. Also I bulked brought a soft toy that she loves because sadly she is a bit rough with it and they last anything from a few days to a few weeks and she doesn't seem to work out how when she destroys one and pulls all the stuffing out the next day it magically becomes brand new again. But some toys especially rubber type ones she ignores. So you just need to make it exicting. Maybe you could coat it with something nice so the dog connects it with a nice taste?

foreign_correspondent

some dogs like dfferent sorts of chew toys than others - my mums dog likes anything she can run around with and rag, and one of those big rope knotted toys is a favourite - my dog is not interested unless it tastes nice!

Also as mrcol says, making it into a game is good - how often do you run round the room after the dog when she has something she shouldnt? - great fun for the dog! - How often do you interact with the dog when she is chewing a toy? generally we tend to leave them to it - much less fun for the dog!

Fire_Fox

I saw a rubber ball with a plaited rope joined on somewhere online the other day .... might have been eBay.

foreign_correspondent

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I saw a rubber ball with a plaited rope joined on somewhere online the other day .... might have been eBay.

ha ha ha - I had one of these - it was fab, you can throw it by the rope, and it flies for miles - a few months ago I was at my dads and I swung this to chuck it for the dogs... to my surprise, the ball came off the rope, and shot off at an odd trajectory and straight through the glass of my dad's greenhouse!

I had to yell at the dogs to stop them shooting through the greenhouse window in pursuit of the ball!

Great toys though, just be careful near glasshouses!