Rescued dog, difficult behaviour

Question
About 3 months ago I rescued a dog from a puppy mill. She had just turned a year old and had spent her entire life in a dog run with very little human interaction. She was not house trained (in fact she had never been in a house), no socialized. She is a female (now spayed) chihuahua crossed with possibly an italian greyhound or a min pin. (14lbs)

We are still working on the house training, as long as we are mindful her accidents are fewer and farther between now.

I have a question about what I think is her separation anxiety. We kennel her at night and when we are out, as she is very destructive with her chewing. She has chewed everything from shoes to our couch. I feel bad about the kenneling as we have another dog who is never kenneled. She does not like her kennel and she cries during the night still.

She is very fearful as well (NO aggression what so ever though) and dislikes being picked up. She submissive pees almost anytime you approach her. She is fine as long as she is the one doing the approaching and will cuddle on your lap and enjoys being pet and scratched. I realize that these things take time I just want to do everything that I can to help her. She has come a long way from when I first brought her home and she was afraid of literally everything.

Any advice to help us rehabilitate this dog would be greatly appreciated.


Answer
Dear Tanya,

You are doing a great job and as a dog lover I thank you!  

You need to chew train her as instructed at http://www.dogdaysusa.com/mouthtraining.cfm#chewing and you need to puppy-proof your home as instructed at http://www.dogdaysusa.com/newpuppyhomesafe.cfm  

The main gist of these articles will show you that

1) You must remove her access to inappropriate chewables whenever you aren't watching her.  Don't leave her in a room with upholstery or shoes; get a baby gate if you need one to do so.

2) You must teach her what's ok to chew and what isn't.  The fastest way to do this is to feed her exclusively from Kong toys as instructed in the articles, and leave her with several stuffed kongs whenever you leave the house.

Also very important is to never make an emotional scene when you arrive home after you've been away.  Don't even say hello to her when you come in.  Just get her, bring her out for pottying, and praise and treat her only for pottying outside and/or after you've been home for 5 minutes.  No emotional displays when you're leaving either.

To address her fear and submissive peeing issues, go to http://www.dogdaysusa.com/urination.cfm and put all of the items into practice to increase her confidence.

Good luck and thanks for writing!
Suzanne Harris, BSc, CPDT
http://www.dogdaysUSA.com