Dear all,

My friend has a rehomed PMD who was 5 months when she got him (returned from first home) and is now 10 months old.  Obviously, he is now the size of a small pony, which makes his quirkyness even more severe.  He has the adorable puppy chewing phase off to a tee, but proper large items!  ie:  opens drawers, drags contents out, and then chews contents.  After such a delectable meal, he then proceeds to empty his bowels on the floor. 

Why isn't he in a room where minimal damage can be done I hear you ask..... ah, well, he is.  In the kitchen, with a stair gate separating the kitchen from the carpeted (well, half carpeted now) dining room.  He nudges the bottom of the stair gate, until it gives way, does his michievousness, and then sneaks back in the kitchen, with the stair gate closing behind him 'as if nothing had happened'.  Whilst I can be mildly humerous about this, it is driving my friend mad.  She has previously (successfully) trained a English Mastiff, and a British Bulldog, but the PMD is not responding to anything.  He is walked daily, and she is a SAHM so it's not as though he is left for any period of time longer than the school run. 

Oh, and he barks and howls constantly! 

Any help would be gratefully received,

Clare

Is he the only dog in the house? I have a trio of naughty boys thanks to introducing a puppy--the carpet is a goner after 2 weeks, and I mean the whole downstairs of the house. Today's casualties were a mountaineering glove, a toilet roll and a red ink cartridge that looks like CSI Doghouse visited my cream (ex-cream carpet). The bowel movements on the carpet are just that little bit extra to show they can.The baby goes into a crate while I am out (I work from home but in a normal week I might have to spend 3 hours away for 2 days a week), and if his screams are indicative of his behaviour while we're out I hope my neighbours are deaf. These are welshies, so dwarfed by your friend's My Little Pony...but a lot of young dogs do seem to go through their hooligan phase with the utmost enjoyment, and for some it lasts a long, long time. What they really want is your company. My three boys curl up anywhere they can be in contact with me, and will sleep for hours quite happily. The minute I leave them I am sure they are thinking what can we do to get her as excited as she got last time...

Good luck to your friend. You can lock drawers, hide stuff and hope to win, but I think you end up whetting their appetite for the game. Happy to stand corrected, of course.

He sounds like a bored puppy to me. Obviously he can't be walked too much because of his growing bones but I'd think lots of training, lots of mind games and of course positive things to chew and play with would help a lot. I've never had a puppy that naughty but I am used to high drive collies so do keep them active.

I'd start by making the stair gate dog proof, lindam do good dog gates (from argos). I'd get a couple of kongs and put his dinner or treats in them. Do some training, anything at all - obedience, htm etc

What is he fed on? Perhaps a lower protein food too might help?

He is walked short walks daily, as he does suffer with his legs :-( 

The other dog is the British Bulldog, and they get on most of the time (bar the puppy-rank-structure) so it's not as though he's on his own.  The BB is crated when she goes out, the PMD is in the kitchen. 

I will ask about the diet, and update :-) 

Clare

Some years ago my mother took on a PMD he was about six months old when she got him.
With all puppies they go through the chewing phase but i think its magnified when they are larger breed and can therefore chew larger objects. I know my mothers ate his way through a dining table and most of the chairs!
Keeping him occupied with chews and kongs will probably help as suggested. If he is left for long periods then its understandable that he's getting bored. From what i remember of my mothers they can be quite stuborn.

All i can say is try and do as much training with him as possible, maybe look at joining a training class, as sadly my mothers over exhuberant boy ended up being kicked to death by a horse whilst out walking. He was only two years old.

Oooo that's sad :-(   I had a very 'playful' ridgeback, who also used to aggravate/play with horses - to the point where I was dragged (with him on lead - billy not silly the second time) head first through the mud for about 50 yards! so I know how scary it can be with big dogs and horses.  He also chewed 2 sofas, 2 beds, the bathroom wall, and all the banisters, so I can empathise with my friend, but the PMD just has every 'unfortunate trait' that a dog can have - bar being aggressive. 

He's not left for long periods of time, my friend does the school run in the morning, and afternoon (when the 'events' usually happen - or at night) and other than that, the poor lamb doesn't even have an evening off, so it's not as though the PMD is lacking in company, doggified or humanfied. 

He is such a darling, looks like a huge polar bear, but at that size, it's a struggle! 

Clarey xx

Hiya,

Mental stimulation is so important at that age especially when they can't have too much in the way of exercise, several short sessions a day of training and play, plus things like treat balls and kongs, scattering food on the lawn so he has to use his nose and find his grub, he may be a bit on the bored side, do you know how much time she spends with him doing various things each day? 

Also dogs can chew when they are in discomfort so if he does have problems with his legs then it could be a contributing factor.  Also at ten months his teeth could be bothering him as when all their adult teeth have been through for a while thay can go through a phase between about 7 and ten months usually where there adult teeth are settling into their gums which can be uncomfortable and again chewing is more common when this is going on.

Re the barking and howling when you say all the time what do you mean, at home, out on walks, when he is left alone or with people about?

Agree with whats been said about tiring the mind and I know this might be weird but with the stair gate my dad drilled holes into my door frame we took off the end stops and the metal tightens into the wood now making it dog proof for my 2 large dogs who like your friends did exactly the same, also its easy to repair if needed with some filler.

I have a baby gate that screws into the wall.  I wonder if she is only leaving him for the school run could she not crate him ? or take him with her ? I remember after one of our Afghans ate the living room carpet my dad had to start taking him to work !!!

if she cant catch him in the act quickly enough after he has eaten... why not feed him outside , then she wont get the mess inside the house!!

> He nudges the bottom of the stair gate, until it gives way, does his michievousness, and then sneaks back in the kitchen, with the stair gate closing behind him 'as if nothing had happened'. 

Why doesn't she ditch the stair gate and shut the kitchen door? If he is anything like my Mastiff, he will lay behind the door making it hard to get back in, but if you know he will do this, you are pre-armed with tasty treats and simply push the door enough to get a hand in, then lob the treat accross the room, dog follows treat and you can then get back in :)

My Mastiff would have chewed my house (and me) to pieces if I didn't spend so much time on short training sessions and given him plenty to keep himself occupied. Company is good, but it doesn't give any mental stimulation. Buster enjoyed cardboard boxes with treats hidden in, so he had to chew his way into the box to get to the treats, this was great for keeping him occupied when I was on the school run or when I couldn't give him much attention (ie, with visitors in/when cooking etc..).

Big dogs cause big damage... my PMD together with my lurcher once pulled lots of fluff out of the sofa and then turned the three seater upside down... Imagine my surprise when I came home to a sitting room full of "snow" and an upside down sofa!

I would agree with the others to offer mental stimulation too, clicker training for example does tire them out as well. I would suggest good training classes too just to give the dog something to do (though you need to make sure that they understand about pyreneans as they are not like your average breed when training). Stuffed kongs instead of food from the bowl would also help satisfy the chewing instinct and give him something to do for a while.

The barking and howling is quite typical, pyreneans are not quiet dogs at the best of time! They are very vocal and if a grass blade moves at the horizon, they will alert you to it! That's unfortunately something that your friend will have to live with, though of course she can teach the pup to be quiet when asked - but that'll only last until the next grass blade moves!
They are also prone to separation anxiety and often bark when the owner is away too - together with the fact that they are on higher alert also when the owner is away which in itself makes them bark more too!

Pyreneans are different to other breeds, they are extremely independent and will do what THEY think is the right thing! That's what they are bred for and that can't be changed - though of course training is possible and necessary, compliance cannot always be achieved totally. Having said that, pyreneans do grow up at some point and actually become very calm laid back dogs... (though the guarding and therefore barking of course remains).

Vera

Update whilst on the phone to PMD mummy. 

New stairgate bought, made of wood, pretty solid, have to climb over if you are human, apparently I would be knackered because I only have 27" legs!  Cheers Paula! 

Barking and howling now reduced to when the door goes, so all good on that front. Not sure about when she leaves for the school run.

Able now to feed both dogs in one room with no aggression, so brucey bonus there. 

No door on the kitchen, and he's slightly claustrophobic, as the dining room door was closed once and he ate it.  so even if there was a door, that wouldn't be an option. 

lots of treats, and kongs, and toys, and things to occupy him, but we think it's the challenge.  ie:  all cereal boxes kept in one of the lower cupboards will now be moved to the upper cupboards - when new cereal is purchased, and old cereal is swept up off the floor.  Child locks not an option, as he has the strength of 10 men on spinach!

As an example of his manic separation anxiety, in the time it takes to go for a tiddle (human tiddle) Boomer managed to empty his bowels, eat Paula's scarf and knock over a couple of chairs just for good measure. 

Taking him to school is not an option, as he would go mental being tied up outside the gates, (children still v small) and would not allow anyone else in the school, seeing as he would take up half the road! 

His training is daily, and he learns very quickly, it's just the behaviour when left for any period of time - seconds even!   If he could audition for James Bond, we'd be rich! apart from the poo! 

Any further advice will be tried and updated as to it's success, thank you all loads,

Clarey

I feel so sorry for your friend, but sorry have to say, you have made me smile, I know it's not meant to be funny x

to be fair, this post has made me (and Paula) chuckle lots..... not because inaminate objects have been trashed, but because, we are SO not alone.... :-)

My first Leo trashed the house when young.
She would often re-organise the lounge(2 sofas, coffeetable, and 2 x 1 seaters)... Luckily she didn't really eat the furniture, just little chewing but relating to things she destroyed around the house, the lounge furniture just had little marks and we think these came from moving the furniture not trying to eat it.
So we often came home to a sofa in the hallway and everything moved about a little in the lounge.

She would also pee when left alone so there definately was some separation anxiety there, left for 5 minutes was enough...
However she never whined or barked, just made herself busy.

She would also check all kitchen cupboards and take what ever she felt she would fancy...
sometimes she ate it, sometimes just spread it all around the house (e.g. bag of potatoes, pasta, plastic utensils etc)
When Childlock was used, she pulled the doors off their hinges to get in so we soon stopped using childlocks.
Obviously everything edable was moved to the top cupboards, but she did check the bottom shelves of the top cupboards too!!
We knew what she had "checked" as she did not close the doors afterwards :)...

She got herself stuck in our utility room by closing the door after herself... She tried to get out through the door and as that did not work she pulled wooden panels off the wall, obviously her thinking was to go through next to the door as the door was so hard!

She did grow out of all of her habits and never destroyed anything again after she grew a brain (she must have been about 1.5 years old)
She was very clever dog and one of the kind, said in a positive way!

I would think a wooden stairgate would be a nice little snack for a PMD prone to wrecking things! At least with the normal ones he would have trouble biting them even if he could nudge the bottom. How about a metal kennel door (full size) so he could see through, and which could be fixed properly until the chewing phase subsides and then removed?

Something along these lines (http://www.reeveskennels.co.uk/images/runs/1m%20gated.jpg)

I know a lady with a very full on GSD who uses a wrought iron gate (the garden gate type) to keep him from moving rooms - looks quite nice too!

And i thought my dogs were bad!...gonna show this to the OH so he appreciates our dogs more!!

My 'full on' GSD took the wrought iron gate off it's hinges when the ring on his collar got stuck on one of the curved bits on the gate. He had only been outside a moment, next thing I heard this loud noise & saw him in the back garden with it stuck round his neck, his head was at a very odd angle. It wasn't funny at the time, could have choked him if I hadn't been there to get it off!

Hi Beardy, a friend of mine lost her GSD puppy when it got caught in a wrought iron gate - tragic.  Since that I have lined all my gates with a fine but strong wire mesh from the inside of the gate so they just can't get any thing caught in it.

Oh dear, there are some sad stories here, and I didn't mean to rake up sad memories, but thanking you all for your input and advice. 

Haven't talked to stressed friend this week (pesky kids and animals taking up all our coffee morning time!!) but will update accordingly.

Thank you again,

Clare