crazy cocker spaniel!

Question
Hi my partner and I bought a cocker spaniel puppy five months ago and give her lot of love and attention. We both work so she can be left on her own for 8 hours some days, however my partner works shifts so this is not every day. she is taken for a long walk every day but just doesnt seem to calm down! She tries to eat everything she can even glass ornaments. She jumps around the room and will only settle when she has a dog chew (which will last 2 seconds even for the super long strong ones!!!). We are disciplined with her and have tried all different ways to tell her no - dog shakers etc. She will end up locked in the kitchen as she is too boystrous to even sit with us!!! What can we do? we have given her lots of toys but she does not seem interested and usually destroys anything material, including her bed! we love her lots and want to be able to spend more time with her but she will not sleep or sit!

Answer
Read the book Marley and Me.  It will be absolutely no help, but you will laugh your head off.

The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  Behaving like you are in charge, is more effective than harsh punishments.  A good obedience class may work better for what sounds like a more difficult dog.  Some classes are worthless.  

The pet stores are full of toys that many dogs will quickly chew up into
pieces they could choke on or cause intestinal blockages.  If you are not
there to watch, stick to sturdy stuff such as Nylabones and Kongs.  Keep a
close eye on chew toys and quickly discard anything that is coming apart in
pieces.  Rawhide is especially bad because it swells after being swallowed.
These problems are the worst with, but not limited to, large, aggressive
chewers such as Labs.

Ropes from the pets' store quickly turn to hazardous shreds.   Ones I made
lasted much better.   Go to a hardware or home center that sells rope by the
foot.  Buy 2' of 3/4" poly rope.   Melt the ends, and tie  knots in it.   Get
them as tight as possible, put it in a vise and pound it with a hammer.  Watch
carefully, and be ready to discard when it comes apart.

I guess there are dogs that won't quickly destroy 3/4 of what you find in a pet store.  The last time I went to a Petsmart, I was very disappointed with their selection.  Nylabone makes a wide variety of durable chews, rings, knots, dinosaurs, ''Y'' bones many dogs find very attractive.  We even have a Nylabone Frisbee and a Nylabone set of baby like teething keys.  the trick is to find them.  I have found www.vetvax.com good to deal with.  For the strongest chewers, look for the Galileo bones.  

When you are not around, she needs to be in a crate.  
It is only natural that a puppy resists its crate at first.  What the puppy
wants more than anything else is to be others, you, anyone else in the
household, and any other pets.  In our modern society, even if we are home,
other things distract us from the attention an uncrated puppy must have.   The
only real solution is to crate the dog when you aren't around.  The dog may be
happier in its den than loose in the house.  It relaxes, it feels safe in its
den.  It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving
its self.  Dogs that have been crated all along do very well.  Many of them
will rest in their crates even when the door is open.  I think the plastic
ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling.  Metal ones can be put
in a corner or covered with something the dog can't pull in and chew.  Select
a crate just big enough for the full grown dog to stretch out in.

Leave it some toys.  Perhaps a Kong filled with peanut butter.  Don't leave
anything in the crate the dog might chew up.  It will do fine without even any
bedding.  You will come home to a safe dog and a house you can enjoy.

A dog that has not been crated since it was little, may take some work.
Start out just putting its toys and treats in the crate.  Praise it for going
in.  Feed it in the crate.  This is also an easy way to maintain order at
feeding time for more than one dog.

The "shut the puppy in a safe room" is a fallacy.  Very few houses even have a
safe room.  How many of us have a room with a hard surfaced floor and nothing
else?  Most rooms have electrical cords to chew if nothing else.  In addition
to destroying anything a bored puppy finds to chew, it may choke or have
intestinal  blockage from the pieces.  I had a friend that left her dog in a
"safe" room.  It ate a hole in the floor covering.  The safe rooms fail to
give the dog the comfort of the enclosed space their instinct requires.  Nor
do they restrict activity extending the time the dog can go without relieving
itself.