Hyper Dog

Question
She is a about 1.5 years, (pit mix) vet checked last weekend, UTD on all vaccines, heartgard, and flea preventative. We have had her since May 5. We got her from a girl her who saw her thrown out of a moving vehicle. The girl got some weight on her and vaccines/spayed. The girl was on the fence about keeping her since she had 2 small doxies and this dog is so rambunctious and about 40 pounds now.

Our other dog, Benny, is about 4, a border collie/smooth collie mix. He is an angel, he never misbehaves, and always listens perfectly. The two of them really enjoy wrestling with each other for 10 minutes or more.

Okay, now the female is named Chupacabra (Chupa). Yep, like the mythical Mexican blood-sucking creature :) The first night we brought her home, her and Benny wrestled for about three hours, on and off. She destroyed 75% of Bennys toys (he has actually never destroyed one in the year we've had him). Her jaws are so strong she can pop a tennis ball in one chomp, shes destroyed all the indestructible toys. For the first four days we had her, I never saw her sleeping. Hence, the name Chupacabra :)

House-training isn't a problem, she's already got that down. I was just hoping for some training tips on "come" and "settle". I'm pretty good with basic commands and shes got almost all of them, except stay. Thy both get plenty of exercise, they go to they dog park every other day and have a big, fenced yard.

When we leave the house, Chupa goes in the crate, while Benny gets to roam the house. I think this has led to her avoidance of me when I call her. She will just sit and look at me like she wants to come, but doesn't want to go in the crate. I give her toys in there, so shes not scared of it. She just wants to be left out with Benny, but theres too many things for her to chew on (including the cat).

When the dogs start to wrestle, after a while Benny gets tired and doesn't want to play anymore, but Chupa doesn't know when to stop. Benny will snap at her for a second, but she keeps playing with him! How do we teach a settle/calm command?

At night when my boyfriend and I are sleeping, the dogs are allowed in our room with a baby gate at the door, un-crated. For about the first hour, Chupa will not just lay down and go to sleep. She wants to jump up on the bed where Benny is and wrestle some more! My boyfriend yells "CHUPA" but it doesn't do anything except scare me and Benny. Id like to crate her at night but don't want her to get a complex that we like Benny more than her. She likes sleeping in bed with us, and I want her to be happy and have the same freedoms as Benny. What is the best thing to do in a situation like this?


Answer
First, when she is being obnoxious, ignore her. No yelling, nothing. Blow her off. If you have to walk out of the room to do this, or put her in time out, do it. Keep her on a leash at all times so that she can be quickly brought under control. Praise and treat her when she is calm and only when she is calm. She gets no pets, nothing, unless she is calm. If she's jumping on the bed, make her get off the bed until she behaves. If she's giving Benny a hard time, put her in the other room till she calms down. Don't worry that crate training will give her a complex. If she's trained right she'll love her crate and pity Benny he doesn't have one. Check out this article http://www.thegooddogjournal.com/2008/11/crate-training-without-trauma.html