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I love my dog, but some times she can be a real a*hole
Today at 11 I actually got a call to go substitute teach, they needed me there at 12. Well the weather was super nasty for the last couple of days, and she doesn't have a dog house, because she spends 95% of her time indoors. I chained her up where she could reach the covered patio if it started to rain. I get home, and she has completely torn up the bottom half of the screen door. I was only gone for 3 hours.
While I was freaking out trying to figure out how much her little destructive spree is going to cost, and how were we going to fix it, she had the audacity to take a nap. She didn't even have the decency to sit there and look repentant while I was trying to figure out what to do.
Fortunately it should only take a couple hours and $20 to fix the door, and my mom is going to drop off one of their extra doghouses, later this week, so things are working out.
Re: I love my dog, but some times she can be a real a*hole
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I am sorry about your screen door. You might look into taking the bottom portion and lining it with a rubber or something. That way when she claws at it it won't tear.
I'm going to say this next part as nicely as possible. It is not a good idea to chain your dog up in general. I know that it is better than the dog digging under the fence and getting out, but the chain can twist and strangle the dog when you aren't there to free her. Do you have the ability to crate train your dog for when you are gone? That way she is inside (out of the nasty weather) and you can be gone for a short while. I won't say any more about the chain thing.
The Pets board might be lurking though and there are some strong opinions about it. You might get flamed. I don't know.
Because she scratches at doors, and can do damage, obviously I didn't realize she could still reach the door, I, and gets into trash. No, We don't have a crate. Yes she can go more than 3 hours without peeing, but why if she doesn't have to. She has to be tied because she'll run off, because this yard doesn't have a fence, and it's not our property to install one on. And a dog house will solve the problem by allowing me to tie her up in the yard, not near the door, so that she won't be sitting around getting rained on for the 3-7 hours that I may occasionally get to work, on the odd occasion that those two events should happen to coincide.
When I say chain I mean one of these dealybobs.It's pretty light weight, and she's very mobile with it on.
This. A dog that spends 95% of the time inside is an INSIDE DOG. Can you imagine how frantic she must have been to get into the house??? ESPECIALLY SINCE THE WEATHER WAS BAD???
My dog - an INSIDE DOG - would freaking lose it if I left him outside for 3 hours. Lose. it. Regardless of the weather.
Get a crate if she's not trustworthy in the house. Don't leave her tied up, unsupervised, while you're away. There are so many things wrong with your post, and the dog TRYING TO GET BACK INSIDE THE HOUSE is not one of them.
I hear what you are saying (about your yard) but crate training your dog would solve ALL the problems you listed above. She wouldn't get rained on, would be in a safe enclosure for the limited time you are gone, and wouldn't have access to the trash.
I know you are going to do what you do, and I don't want to get into it with you about it. However, I am strongly against chaining or tethering dogs in a yard. It can be very bad news for the dog if it gets twisted around the neck. Its just not a safe practice in general. You would be much better off keeping the dog indoors and teaching it to crate train. I promise it would be a million times easier on you and the dog.
Good luck.
I don't want to flame you, but I think the crate is a great idea. My dog is a complete outside dog. He spends all of his time outside, except for at night when he is crated.
Even so, when it is wet and rainy and cold, he prefers his crate (even to being inside).
I think that would be a much better solution to your problem. And you won't have to worry about wet and dirty dog in your house.
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Hmm... looking in my window again?
Source: twoscottiesgal.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest
Why did you delete what you wrote about your dog being a working farm dog? There's a HUGE difference between a farm dog who's out working with your husband all day and a dog that's simply left in the backyard. Or chained up outside for three hours in bad weather.
Mandy was pointing that out, and while you may get it, the OP probably does not.
Sorry, I changed my answer to be snarky, I thought "WTF, My dog is HAPPY!! He's got 40 acres (and then some) to call his own!"
He had to be tied for a while when we first moved and I hated it. I think that dogs that are tied up and ignored are terrible.
It was cold and rainy one day and I tried to bring him into the mud room where at least it was warm and he didn't relax once. He'd rather be outside playing or in his own crate. He's the first dog we've ever crate trained, and I'm a firm believer.
I'm sorry. Like I said to Mandy, I wrote it, then got all defensive about it. I've been flamed for having a working dog too.
For anyone who missed it, my dog is a cattle dog. He spends all day outside with the cattle and DH and loves it. He gets full run of the farm. He's crate trained at night.
No flames for your dog
I have no doubt that he much prefers being outside and working... He has your DH as a companion, and he has a purpose.
My shih tzu, on the other hand, is perfectly content to laze around the house all day. He'd be a liability on a farm, not an asset!
We have a border collie. He's pretty awesome. I know there are a lot of people with border collies in the house, but I can't even imagine! I tried to give him a bath last weekend (he had gotten into something really smelly) and brought him into the house for that. He freaked! DS thought he was in heaven-- his dog! In the house!
As you can see, we're pretty attached to him (even though he is dirty and smelly most of the time).
The weather was super nasty for the last two days and the sky looked like it might rain more today, but it wasn't thundering or really windy, but there were mud and puddles all over the place, from the previous rains.
When she was younger she was pretty much an outside dog. As she's aged I've been thrilled to be able to let her be an indoor dog, which she's taken to amazingly well (she pretty much housebroke herself), but she still doesn't handle being indoors alone well.
She gets really scared when she's left alone in a closed area. I used to try to leave her in my room at parents, but she would get so worked up that I would go upstairs to quiet her down and you could see in her eyes that she was scared.
I haven't tried crating because she freaked out so much in the bedroom, I figured that putting her in a smaller space would be worse, and honestly I'd always assumed that it was more of a thing for smaller dogs (I'd always assumed it was kind of like the dog version of swaddling) and she weighs about 45lbs. But, apparently it's something to consider..
When she has to be alone she seems to generally be happier outdoors, even today when I got home she wasn't barking or whining. She was sitting in the wet grass, getting dripped on from a tree and smiling. She's normally pretty calm when she's outside, which is why I wasn't worried about her getting tangled in her chain.
Any tips you have on crate training an older dog would be appreciated, as well as crate recommendations.
Buy a crate that's big enough for her to comfortably stretch out and that will also fit her food/water bowls. Put a comfy bed in there. You may want to cover the top and two/three sides of the crate with a blanket to make it more cavelike.
Make her associate the crate with THE BEST THING EVER - give her a yummy treat such as a bone (long lasting) when you put her in there. Never make it a punishment. She'll come to think of the crate as her safe little cave and she'll actually like it.
You can start getting her used to it by having her sleep in it with its door open - the crate should become her new bed. Practice closing the door while you're there with her. Give her a treat, close the door, and praise her. Leave the room for a short while and come back. Work up to longer periods away.
Gradually she'll realize the following:
- my crate is my den/cave and I feel safe there
- when my owner leaves me, she always comes back
- I get yummy treats when I'm in there - yay!
Her current separation anxiety, and subsequent destructive activity, could be because the house is simply overwhelming to her when you're not there. But by reducing her surroundings to a crate, she'll feel safe when you leave. And you'll both be happier
Good luck and kudos to you for being so receptive!
If she is freaking out that badly, it may be separation anxiety. If all else fails, medicating her so you can positively reinforce appropriate behavior is a much safer option than leaving her outside alone.
Ditto everything Pumpkin said. Crates can be really happy places for dogs. We crate trained our dog when we got him at ~2 years old in about two weeks. At first, we had him in the crate frequently. Even if we were home, he was in the crate. We would do treat drivebys every few minutes. If he whined, we ignored him (and we didn't treat him within a minute after a whine). If he barked, we ignored him.
Now, he adores his crate. He won't eat unless he's safely shut in it (i.e., if we put him in his crate to eat dinner and don't latch the door, he steps around his bowl and walks out without eating). He's safe in there, both from whatever could befall him in the backyard, and from anything he might get into in the house.
Bad things can happen to dogs left outdoors unattended. The dog could jump the fence, be stolen, be attacked by another dog passing by and have nowhere to go because she's chained, be stung by a bee or insect (we've had two fosters who were stung by bees while we were with them in the backyard...things would've been life threatening if we hadn't gotten them immediate medical attention), etc.
Does your dog like Kongs? My dog is way too smart, so he loves things that are puzzles like that. A stuffed Kong in the crate is a great way to keep the dog's mind off of being in there (at first, when she doesn't like it so much), as well as to keep her from being bored. We stuff Kongs with kibble for the dogs for whom it's high enough value. We also cut up Natural Balance rolls into cubes, cut up cheese, maybe throw in some pieces of carrot, etc. Top it with a dollop of peanut butter, and your dog will be happy for a while.
Oh, and I have a 60-pound dog who is happily crate trained. And a 95-pound dog who loves his crate. We've fostered 25 retired racing greyhounds, all between 55 and 100 pounds, and all have been crate trained.
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Our 75+ lb lab does really well in a crate. She feels safe there and it is "her" place to go when she is tired, scared or wants some time to herself. We have a soft blanket for her and she gets one of her favorite chew toys. If you get a crate, you have to make it the most positive experience for your dog with lots of treats. You have to let her get used to going in it on her own (with incentives like treats) so she feels comfortable. I do think a crate would help a lot in your case as it seems like your dog experiences a lot of anxiety about being alone.
QFT. Crate training is a good idea in this situation.
I got a neighbor alerting me to the fact that she'd tangled herself around a shrub in our yard and fallen into a dug out that allowed light to our basement windows. She was literally choking.
It mortified me, she was fine, just shaken up. But she has never been chained since. Things you don't anticipate can happen with chained animals and they have no way of helping themselves if they do.
I'd invest $50 in a crate if you want to keep your pooch out of the trash and warm inside. Consider this a lesson learned.