Behaviour problems

Question
Hi,

Our one year old (dodgy breed, unsure whether cross of BullMastiff and Rottie as his RSPCA papers claim) or Rhodesian Ridgeback (which he look slike), is a delight. Mostly. He also drives us insane. His name is unfortunately Chewy and he firmly live sup to it. When we took him for basic obedience training at about 6 months, he didn't learn a stich and was only interested in getting to teh other dogs. They told us some dogs needed to be older, and despite us trying so hard with the treats and not smacking etc, Chewy listens only selectively, usually only when there is a treat involved. Now, we don't think we could manage him in a group training setting anyway. He's not aggressive with people but is over-exuberant and tends to knock down people because he wants to lick them to death. He objects to being left alone, even if it's for a couple of hours - and demonstrates his displeasure by destroying shoes, slippers and cushions. Walking him is a nightmare - I'm built small and Chewy wants to be in control. We are too scared to let him come in contact with other dogs because he just goes wild when he sees them and we don't know whether we will attack. He does get a lot of exercise ( we have a pool that he does not want to swim in but splashes around and runs a lot in the yard - for a few hours everyday), is on a Purina diet with the occassional table-scrap and has ample love and attention from my two sons and me. He's also recently started mouthing during play with me and the boys. What are we doing wrong, and what can we do to make it better? I'd really like him to be sociable with other dogs, to walk and run with him in the park without him going berserk everytime someone walks past or trying to shoot off behind cars, trucks and bikes. And I'd also really like to be able to leave him alone for a couple of hours without him destroying something. Thanks, Tara  

Answer
I think the type of training you need for him,is to find a trainer that can come to your house,so that they can see what he is doing,and correct him in that environment. A large dog can hurt someone by jumping up too hard esp an older person or a child-and a trainer coming to your house can show you the method that would work best with your dog.

Now for chewing,there is a product called 'Bitter apple' that you spray on things you don't want chewed and it works,as dogs hate the taste and they soon learn to stop chewing. It can be found at any pet supply store,if you can't find that brand,just tell ther staff at the store what you are looking for.

Something else that might be a good training device is something called a 'prong' collar,and is helpful in training strong dogs-it looks worse than it actually is,what it does is that it feels like another dog grabbing it by the neck like the mother would