Very hyper dog

Question
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: Your original dog has been with you and respects you as the leader. The new dog does not. If the pit mix has the bone structure of a true Pit Bull terrier, it can bite through most anything it can fit in its mouth. The problem is the jaw is not the same as other dogs and can lock when biting to where you cannot break the mouth grip. Its asctive because it is bored. That is why it is destroying everything in sight and wants to continue fighting with the Collie mix. The Collie is generally a more quiet breed so they are not compatible. I would hazard a guess that the reason it was tossed out of a car is the ornwer couldn't or didn't train it.

You need to get the pit mix under control. That means traditional obedience training, not just "trick" training of a few basic commands. You also need to segregate the dogs and begin the noting in life is free with the pit. No food, treats, toys attention unless it obays a command first. Until it respects you as pack leader it will continue to do wehat it wants (destroy and target the other dog).

The yper activity can also be from the stress of its prior life up to being tossed out of a car. This would explain the desire to be on the bed with you or close to you because of its fear of abondonment. That should fade as you do obedience training. Untilthe pit mix calms down I would not let it be with the collie for play. It oculd turn ugly real quick.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the response. What else can I do to make her less bored? Im sure the NILIF training will help, but did you mean bored in terms of exercise or mental stimulation? And, until she is trained, what should I do with her at night? I could put her in the big walk-in closet with the baby-gate up so she could still se us. Everything is up off the ground so she cant reach anything to destroy.

Answer
Bored mentally. The physical activity is its own response to needing something to do. So lots of exercise and play activity with humans is needed, less with your Collie. When play gets too rough, stop the activity and make the dog calm down. Dogs often have a threshold where play turns from play to agression. That point is where you are no longer in control.  I do a version of keep away, where two people toss a toy back and forth. Each time you have the toy you look at the dog and say "my toy" then the dog is asked, Fido want the toy?  Take it. At that point the dog gets to fetch, or play with the toy for a short while. Then take the toy back (practice the command give or release) This works at several levels, teaching the dog patience, it has to sit stay to get the toy, and its your toy, the dog only gets it when you are done that reinforces NILIF.

Regards,
Henry Ruhwiedel
Westwind Kennels LLC