I Can't Do It Anymore

[megan_]

I'm allowed to vent Sheridan. I have owned this dog for 8 years and tried to do the right thing for him. I think I have put up with a lot more than many dog owners would with his antics. I'm just over it.

Yes - you are allowed to vent! And you're allowed to vent without being told that it is just "stuff".

I don't have destructive dogs and I don't know how I would cope with one. Not because I am materialistic, but I wouldn't cope with the disorder and disobedience well.

[Parkeyre]

Best of luck at the vet.

[Sheridan]

I'm allowed to vent Sheridan. I have owned this dog for 8 years and tried to do the right thing for him. I think I have put up with a lot more than many dog owners would with his antics. I'm just over it.

Yes, sure, but you're blaming your dog as if he's a person. He isn't. He's a dog. He's not doing it deliberately to piss you off.

[lovemesideways]

I don't care about some of the stuff. But all the other items I need for my rescues - cat collars, bulk cat food, paperwork, etc. All the fabric I use to make show curtains and donut beds - thats all wrecked. Our garage is set up like a games room - there's a pool table, couches, rugs, etc. He has pissed on the legs of the pool table and on the computer and the rug, pulled the cushions off the couches and pissed on them, etc. If he had just eaten the cat food I could understand it. I just don't get why he has to ruin everything.

He probably had a fantastic game of it all! Destruction is just so much fun!

[Gayle.]

You should be able to claim the damage on your home insurance. Doesn't replace your treasures though, or clean up the mess. Little butthead he is.

[k9angel]

Ok imagine your garage caught fire... that's what happened to your stuff. Or any alternate way of looking at it.

I get very attached to my stuff too, chronic hoarder. But sometimes I wish I could let it all go. Uni notes I'm looking at you.

The cat food would still smell like cat food even if the bag was sealed tight, they pack it in a factory full of cat food - the smell would be on the outside of the bag as well as the inside and probably permate through the bag as well. Not sure that's why he wanted to get in there though.

Somehow you have to make the garage an unpleasant place for him to be in, so he doesn't want to go in there. Find out what smell he dislikes and lace the place with that. And tastes. Crib stop?

He definitely reads like a candidate for a heavy duty cage/run, sedatives, and maybe the attention of a skilled behaviourist for retraining.

I used to use Curry powder or pepper for my 2 youngest huskies. I would leave them inside when I went to work (hadnt heard of crate training back then) they destroyed so many thngs, but they were pups and didnt understand that they were doing wrong. The curry/pepper sprinkled over the place worked a treat. It not only kept them safe from eating something they shouldnt, but also kept my belongings safe. Although the place did smell like an indian restaurant when I got home from work, but it was a small price to pay. I recommended this to my vet when he adopted Axle from me as they had rabbits in a cage and Axle was showing some interest in them. I told them to srinkle curry powder around the perimeters of the cage. It worked and although he still watched them from time to time, he never apprached the cage again.

[Dobeliscious]

I agree, vent all you like, there are lots of caring eyes/ears here.

I hope everything goes all right at the vet.

[Little Gifts]

I was always told that when you build a chicken coop you drape the wire down in front and cover it in dirt as foxes will stop digging once their toenails hit the wire. One of my dogs got very destructive on the house if he ever got into a panic (which was often). He has peeled back the corners of metal screen doors and manged to bust open a key locked metal garage door. So using the fox and wire idea (outside only) we put some heavy duty hooks into the walls across some of our 'danger' areas and hung sheets of wire (cheap cut offs) and draped them slightly over the ground and put some concrete blocks on top. He tried numerous times but never managed to break through any of the wired off areas - just shifted the wire and blocks around generally. Slighty irritating for the humans to move the wire when we needed to get into those areas but we came to terms with it.

Also what about trying a muzzle? My current young girl has to wear one if we have to go out and can't get her babysat as she eats whatever she can get her hands on (pillows, doonas, etc) if left inside without human supervision (she's almost 3 and is not suitable to crate). We have never left her more than 3 hours muzzled though.

[OSoSwift]

Oh Bugger Kirty all you need is a dog with bloat.

Hope all goes well for you at the vets. I know what it feels like to be presented with a dog with blost. Your heart hits the floor.

Oh and vent away and call him lots of names on here for all you like.

[Guest Willow]

Vent all you like, you poor thing....at least if you are venting on here, you aren't ripping the legs off your dog, or doing anything else that seems right in the heat of the moment, but you might regret later.

It's an awful shock to see all your stuff destroyed.

I've been competely at the end of my rope with a dog before too....it's a horrible, horrible feeling.

I hope things go ok at the vets.

I agree....maybe a veterinary behaviourist could help.....perhaps there is a medication he could be put on for a time while you work on some behaviour modification.

Good luck with everything. Have a good cry about your stuff, punch the walls a bit, then have something string to drink & get someone to help you clean up so you don't feel like you're doing it all on your own.

[westielover]

Lab x GSP Gosh it would be like having a perpetual puppy!!!!

I was speaking to a lady a couple of months back about her lab - he was 2 year old and huge in stature. She was CALMLY telling me about his antics and how there is no garden anymore - it's just a dirt mine field. Apprantly the dog also knows how to open pantry doors and tupperware lids and helps him self to food of whatever he can get into. On top of that the dog does zoomies around the house and has left 2 gaping holes in her walls in the downstairs living room & hallway. Meanwhile, my jaw has dropped to the floor listening to all of this, she's chattering away about his antics as cool a cucumber and the dog is quietly standing a few metres away observing the other dogs running around the oval. I said - surely you're not talking about this quiet dog here - but she was!! I was gobsmacked at how naughty the dog was and how calm this woman was!!!

I am blessed to have 4 dogs who have access to the house 24x7 and never destroy anything (touch wood!!).

Oh Kirty - here's hoping that your dog will be okay and that he stops being so naughty. I reckon that kind of destruction would stress me out a bit. He's lucky you haven't dumped him at the pound like most other people probably would. Try to focus on his good traits (after you calm down ).

[dogbesotted]

So looks like Champa has bloat. He has bloated heaps of time before and his tummy has settled on its own, but he is drooling this time which I've never seen in him before so we are off to the vet.

oh dear Kirty.. thats the last thing you and Champa need. hope all goes well for you both.

are you sure that champer has not been reading "Marley and me"???? Noaughty dogs are so wearing. maybe the Innotek boundary set is the way to go.. BUT it does require an initial commitemt to training.... esp with welll established patterns. Is Champer an inside dog at all?? maybe a dap infuser might calm him a bit ...

good luck and hugs

Helen

[Inka3095]

Kirty

I'm currently feeling very cheesed off with my foster beagle as I accidently left the spare room door open for about.. oh... 3 seconds while I took some rubbish outside. Came back, she was ensconced on the spare bed, and had already removed a nose and an eye from a stuffed toy I've owned for years and was quite attached to However, that was my fault, not hers, the opportunity was there and she took it. You just can't turn your back for a second with some dogs. Others are little angels.

You must be so frustrated... Not only does he destroy your stuff, but then goes and gets sick from munching on it all. Hope the vet doesn't cost you too much. Wish we could send them to work off their debts sometimes lol. Good luck.

[labsrule]

it's a terrible feeling when they go on a destructive rampage In the first 6months of adopting my oldest lab boy, Thomas, when he was 10 years old (he is now 14) I came home on 3 occasions to the following acts of destruction:

1. I came home and opened up the auto garage door to drive into the garage and here was Thomas sitting in amongst all these chewed up cardboard boxes and paper in the garage ;) These were large packing boxes, that I had kept after moving in and stored in the garage, so they were not flimsy carboard boxes, but he managed to topple them all over as they were all stacked 2 or 3 deep and had chewed up/destroyed them along with the packing paper stored in them by the time I got home. There were about 12 of these boxes and not one survived. Thank god I had no belongings stored in them, otherwise they would have been history. He had opened the sliding door from the laundy to garage as the door between the kitchen and laundry had blown open as didn't take much to open this door.
   
2. I came home and thought an intruder had broken in as my office was trashed :D all the paper/documents and other items on my desk were strewn on the floor and half chewed up and all the books, photos etc on my bookcase were on the floor and my office was in complete disarray with other items strewn around/destroyed/moved. I found a computer cable chewed in half, chair tipped up and a large plastic box containing documents had half of the lid and side chewed off and black dog hair in amongst the docs so I realised it must have been Thomas who was sitting calmly with my other lab boy on the couch by the time I got home.
   
3. I came home and about an hour later went into my bedroom and couldn't believe my eyes My kingsize bed had been dragged away from the wall to the other end of the room and was sitting against the wardrobe doors. The righthand side of the base facing the door of the bedroom was ripped off with material and foam strewn all around the room exposing the timber of the base. A large chunk of the base of the lefthand side at headboard end had been chewed off and half of the material and foam of the headboard had also been chewed off. All the blankets and sheets had been ripped off the bed and a small bookcase tipped over with breakages of items from this bookcase.
   

Thomas was very insecure when I adopted him, so he came with some issues including storm/loud noise phobia and his previous home he was actually harming himself to get away from the loud noise (gun fire from Holesworthy Army Base) or any stormy conditions. I am not sure what triggered these 3 random acts of destruction as from what I can gather there was no adverse weather conditions on any of those 3 days, so whether something spooked him when I wasn't home on these 3 occasions, I have no idea as he always seemed so calm and he seemed to settle very quickly after I adopted him. He is actually an ex police sniffer dog who when he was retired, lived in two homes and was mainly an outside dog. He seemed to adapt very quickly to his new life of an inside pampered pooch with me and my other black lab boy at the time. He has now been with me for just over 4 years, so haven't had any more destructive rampages for 3.5 years, thank god The funny thing is, he is and has always been such a gentle, soft natured soul that has that "butter wouldn't melt in my mouth look" Despite these 3 rampages , he truly is a wonderful and lovely boy and I love him dearly. Lucky he came to live with me

Hope things get better for you and hope your lovely boy is OK :D

[Bjelkier]

Sorry to hear that Kirty and I hope he is ok.

My dad has a Lab X GSP and the dog is a lunatic! Highly destructive and very clever, not a good mix.

Others have mentioned a heavy duty dog run and I agree with this

[fifi]

Oh Crap Kirty,

I hope the Champa is okay and they can tube him.

Its' okay to vent, One of my fosters destroyed the garage - an entire wall, doors, totally wrecked it and many other thngs.

Once Champa is recovered, then time to work on a way of containing or restricting his access to stuff when you can't supervise him.

fingers crossed he's okay.

hugs,

fifi

[corvus]

Hope he's okay.

My mum has a little dog a bit like that. He is also 8. He cannot be left in the yard when no one is home or he will get out one way or another. Inside he will jump on the table, open bags, and pull all the contents out and chew on them. He jumps the barrier on the family room door so he can get into the rest of the house where he recently found a packet of Neurofen Plus in a handbag on the dining table and ate it. If he sees a mouse he will spend all day digging whatever wall or skirting board he saw it near to pieces. Anything remotely of interest to him that goes in the garbage now goes into a small bin on the kitchen counter because it's the only place he can't get to. The kitchen tidy has no liner because he will pull it out and spread garbage all over the floor and pick through it. He does what he pleases and only does what he's asked when he knows there's something in it for him. He is wily as a fox, smart as a whip, and very opportunistic. He can't be fed near the other dogs or he'll bully them and take their food. So no one gets bones or chews that take a while to eat. He is a slippery little bugger and wriggles out doors and gates and then he takes off and decides to become deaf (although his recall is finally coming good. Hooray!). Basically, he is a liability. My parents have shifted their lives and routines around to manage him. He is annoying as hell, but he's also an impossibly charming little man. You learn not to leave anything out. It's like living in bear country. Lucky he's only little.

[Cosmolo]

I'm sorry Kirty I think some e collar/ containment or zone solutions would work well though.

[Souff]

OK, I have to confess that I howled with laughter at your first post, but boy, did I hear where you were coming from and I really do feel very very sorry for you, and now the bluddy dog has gone and given himself bloat.......

Others may not agree with me but I would probably try and find a way of giving this dog one helluva fright ..... something that is ONLY connected with the garage .... so that he NEVER EVER EVER wants to get into that garage again. I will not make evil suggestions online because it would no doubt create a hullabaloo with some people. Yes, I know, Souff is evil, but there is a message here that needs to get across permanently.

Hope the little wrecker is OK

Souff

[Aussienot]

I once had, and have now lost a destro dog. It was not one or two things but the continuos onslaught of destruction that wears you down. Once I left my new $800 leather jacket on the back of a chair for 30 seconds, . . . . I had to lock myself into the bathroom because I literally was going to kill him. So I understand your vent, not saying I condone it, but I understand it.

The hole left in my heart when he died was way worse than any other damage that he did.

Does it help you feel any better if the behaviour is anxiety based? Hopefully it's just a case of massive overeating and not true bloat.