sneaky dog

Question
My dog is is a 1 year old mixed breed. When I or any of my family members are at home with her she is very well behaved she listens to every command, and is very calm and loving. The problems we are having with her is that when we leave her on her leash for any period of time be it ten minutes or more she gets out of her collar and usually destroys something. this happens when we are not at home She is never left alone for more than 2 hours at a time because we are a family of 6 and all have different schedules so someone is usually around. I have tried just confining her to an area with a gate or closing a door and she has ripped up half of my kitchen floor and destroyed various other family belongings. No matter how tight I make the collar she gets off of it and she knows she is wrong because when you find her she goes low to the ground with her ears down. Also when she is left in a room for five minutes or more she steals food off the kitchen table or jumps on the furniture or pulls cushions off the furniture to lay down on.

Answer
It sounds as though you have an anxious dog with some separation anxiety.  Please read "I'll Be Home Soon- Preventing and Treating Separation Anxiety" by Patricia McConnell.  There's also a great DVD by Trish King on Anxiety - Tawzer Dog Videos will have it.  If you continue to have problems, ask a behaviorist for help (find one at the Animal Behavior Society web page).  She does not "know she is wrong".  Destruction of items is an anxiety reducing behavior - all she knows is that when you get home, you are angry (they read the slightest body language on our part), and that makes her even MORE anxious, so she flattens her ears, and tries "appeasment" behaviors to make you back off and not kill her LOL.  Do get better educated about this issue, because it takes some skill and commitment on the part of the owner to correct.  Good luck!