Chewing!!

Question
My dh and I have a 11 month old terrier mix who we adopted back in August.  We had a hard time housebreaking her but she seems to have gotten it now.  Now we are having a problem with her chewing EVERYTHING when we aren't home.  She had not done this the first 3 months.  We came home last week to a destroyed house and even today we were gone 45 minutes and she managed to chew stuff up.  We have a crate which we have been locking her in on and off, but now we have to lock her in when were not home. Why has she started doing this all of a sudden? She is very attached to my dh and I (no kids yet), we spend the whole weekend with her, this past weekend we took her to the park and a dog park...How can we stop this? My dh says its anxiety for when were not home. Is locking her up in the crate the only way? We can't put up gates b/c she jumps/climbs over them and we dont' have actual doors to shut. (live in a 2 family house w/accordian doors). We feel bad locking her up, but we don't know any other way.

Answer
Thanks for the question. Separation anxiety has four hallmarks or four types of behaviors that only occur when you are gone.  - inside elimination, excessive vocalization, salivation, and destructive behaviors DIRECTED at entry and exit points.

My guess is that she needs less freedom and more scheduled exercise sessions.  

Provide regular daily exercise. Put her on a loose schedule. For example you might walk her for 30 minutes two times per day, once in the morning 7-9 am and once in the afternoon /evening 4-7 pm. It's not necessary to keep a rigid schedule as in 7 am and 5 pm. Dogs like routines. An exercise schedule will help her relax.

Give her something to do when she is placed in her crate. Get a Kong, place a strip of duct tape over the small opening to seal it off. Fill it with dog food and a few treats. Add water and a tsp. of chicken broth. Place it upright in your freezer and let it freeze. After she is in her crate and you are about to leave, get out the Kong, remove the tape and give it to her.

My pup Bentley didn't get free run of any area or room until he was 2 years old. He always got into something, regardless of all my efforts to help him relax.

Use the crate. It protects her and your house. When you start to let her out when yo are gone, do it in small pieces - for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, et cetera. Close doors to keep her from being too stimulated by a whole house of goodies!

Dogs don't reach social maturity until they are 18-36 months old. She'll settle when she is older. Hang in there!

Happy Training
AT
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