Destructive GSD

Question
Hello,

Please help! My 1-year old (spayed) female GSD is destroying my house! She
is literally tearing off the siding in huge chunks. I leave her in the fenced
backyard while
I'm at work and it seems that she would rather tear off the cedar siding than
play with her toys. The backyard is covered with all sorts of toys, kongs, non-
splintering bones, ect... She is also gnawing on the deck and gets branches
off the trees. Could she have a taste for wood???? She will go straight for the
siding the second she is unsupervised, even for just a minute. She goes to
doggie daycare 3/week, goes to the dogpark all the time, and receives tons of
attention. Does she need even more stimulation? Why on Earth would she
even think to rip off the siding??? She is a great dog with a wonderful
temperament, but it has just been recently that she has become so
destructive- and it is only outside.

Also, how long is it comfortable for a GSD stay outside in the winter (about
40 degrees)? She has a dogloo with blankets - is that enough?

Answer
There may not be that good of solution to this problem, and it may get worse as she continues to mature.  Have you discussed this with the vet?  I don't see it as likely that it is physical, but still needs to be checked.  You could leave her in day care all week.  Then evenings and weekends, when you have to leave her alone, crate her.  

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.

Try to give her more time in the house with you.  Just let her out enough to relieve herself, and then bring her in.  

There is the product, Bitter Apple.  It is meant for protecting things inside the house.  Coasting the bottom of the whole house would take a lot, but might work.