over excitable patterdale terrier

Question
Hi, I have a male patterdale terrier who's 1 1/2 years old. He's a very loving dog but he has a few problems!
1 - As soon as friends or family come over he jumps up and gets really over excited. If I leave the house for even 5 minutes and come back he does exactly the same. We've tried ignoring him and treating him, but either way he doesn't give in!
2 - If we have to leave him home alone he constantly yelps and tries to scratch under the door to get out, when we do return we have problem 1 again. (I've read through some of your other answers and noticed you suggest a crate, although i have limited space, so would appreciate any other suggestions)
3 - He loves to chew - anything and everything!. He is getting a bit better but whenever our daughter has a rattle or a squeaky toy he wants it and he's very persistent.
We were hoping he would grow out of these habits but he doesn't seem to be.
He picked up basic commands (sit / stay / lie) really quickly and was house trained young.
Apart from these he is a very well behaved dog, when we go for walks he behaves perfectly, coming back when called e.t.c.
I really appreciate any help or advice you can give me.

Answer
Jody -

I know I'm not supposed to think this is amusing, but I am always amazed at what brat terriers can be... and that at 1-2 yrs old they become such "terrible teens."  Your guy is a teenager with all that brings along.

I'm gonna tackle #3 first because it justs tood out to me.  Terriers are hunters - and hunters of squeaky things to be exact.  The concept of not persisting in obtaining such a thing would never occur to them.  The best way to work on that is a command called "leave it" when combined with trading up.  The leave it command is easy to teach and is fairly well explained here:

http://www.loveyourdog.com/touch.html

There are some others there that will help you a ton too and are standard fare at my house, including "off" and "look at me"

http://www.loveyourdog.com/watch.html
http://www.loveyourdog.com/off.html

Trading up is the practice of offering something of higher "value" to the dog in exchange for the thing you want them to leave alone - a piece of meat or cheese in exchange for a toy.

He really sounds like he is expressing some separation anxiety based on how darned worked up he gets when you leave, and there's really no good way to address that without using a crate (which also prevents destructive behaviors) The crate can kept just about anywhere, including on the floor of a closet (with the door open)

I strongly encourage you to take him to obedience school and not necessarily so you can make him "obedient" but mostly so you can learn to think like he does and learn to shape his behaviors into something more desirable.  I always tell people to try to find someone with some terrier experience though, because many trainers who have never worked with them find them nerve wracking (They are not used to a dog who does things when *they* feel like it).

Here's another good site for some help with integrating dogs and children. Jen is awesome and can be very helpful by phone.

http://www.familypaws.com/

While this next link is about cairns, it's also true of most other terriers as well:

http://www.cairnrescue.com/general/index.htm#toto

I sure hope this helps - but I know 2 things for sure - He is acting like millions of teenaged terriers before him, and the outcome depends to a large extent on how you work to resolve the problems....

Now, go cube some cheese and get training !  LOL

-Beth