We had 3 bitches oldest being 6 and youngest 3 when we took on an unwanted male pup earlier this year. Girls have always been fantastic - laid back, etc etc. We have had males before we just prefer bitches. He is a sweet puppy and is now 6 months. The only problem we have with him is separation anxiety. We never envisaged this with 3 other dogs for company. Even if we go out of the room else where in the house he will get into mischief. We have given extra exercise before we go out, and increased his training. Given him extra one to one training. He has done a fair bit of damage to furniture. Has anyone any suggestions? In all aspects he is a loving happy dog and is actually quite obedient. He never looks sorry or shameful - he is told off verbally and put out of the room for 5 - 10 mins and then ignored for 10 mins. However that is only if caught in the act. Brandy

How long have you had him? Where is he left when you have to leave him?

>He never looks sorry or shameful

That's actually good - dogs don't 'do' sorry and shameful; they 'do' fear - not what you want from your dog.

We have had him from he was 7 weeks.  He gets on well with the other dogs.  The older two mother him whilst the younger is his fun-chum.  He has no reason to be fearful.  We train with positive reinforcement.  He is so good in other ways.  We just want to help him and stop the house being slowly but surely destroyed  We have tried Dap spray and Rescue Remedy.  I personally think that it is because one member of the family is in the house 24 x 7 except for a few hours 2-3 times a week.  Have you any ideas on how to help resolve this?
Brandy

What makes you think it is separation anxiety and not just him having fun doing doggy things like digging and chewing?

Separation anxiety will show up with stress signs other than destructiveness.

I know plenty of canine adolescents that have caused major destruction without having SA.  It's there so it is chewed.

Hes not chewing things, he is actually destroying them.  He takes cushions off the suite, rips them open and you come back to a "foam" covering all over the floor.  He has ripped open the bottom of one of the the chairs and it is always this one particular person's chair that he goes for.  He does dig - yes, but out in the garden, dont mind that.  I wouldnt like to think that he was having fun trashing the furniture, bit of an expensive hobby.  However supposing it is a fun thing, how can we resolve it?
Brandy

Remove the opportunity.  Some dogs love trashing stuff, given any soft toy they relish in ripping it apart etc.  This may mean using baby gates keeping away from soft furnishings.  If he is likely to chew or dig at other stuff then a playpen or large crate with things he can rip up.  Packaging, milk cartons etc.  He may simply have a low boredom threshold.

Fully agree. My two youngest (Malinois 18 months and Golden 9 months) have chewed a hole in the kitchen wall all the way down to the bricks. They do this if it is raining and they have to stay indoors for horus because of it -it's not separation anxiety at all, in fact they do it when we are at home. It's just boredom. I've just bought a huge box of roasted meaty bones for them on such occasions -bit better to chew than the wall LOL.

I can emphasise with you Marianne with the hole dug in the wall back to the bare brick.  Happened years ago with a young Lab bitch we had, cost me a fortune to get replastered and decorated.  Living at home at the time, made it worse:rolleyes:  She must have got it out of her system that day as she never did it again.  Do yours not want to "bury" the bones?  Our pup will "bury" anything like a bone or chew behind chairs and sofas, he has even been known to put them into plant pots [big plants]

We will try what you suggest Brainless, anything is worth a try.  We dont really want to get a crate as they take up so much room but it may come to it.  I have suggested before now putting him and his bed in the kitchen but my other half has always rejected that idea but I will let them see your answers.  In one sense it is good to know that we are not the only ones.

A few more months and he will be old enough to start agility...

Brandy

I have to say that (fingers crossed) our puppy has never chewed anything!!

Do you think that if he was going to do it he would have started by now? (8 months)

I wouldnt allow him to have run of the house while you are out. My three dogs have the hall and kitchen area other doors are shut and  a stair gate to keep them down stairs, plenty of toys , if he is ripping things up I would crate him or pen him (you can always fold them away if short of space) when you cant be around to keep an eye on him.
They will get to know the routine ,hopefully he will grown out of it .

I agree with removing the opportunity for him to chew anything. Do not leave him unsupervised. If you see him chewing something, tell him a firm 'No' then give him one of his own toys to chew. He will soon get the message about what it is ok to chew and what it isn't.

If there are times you have to leave him, I woul dsuggest crate training him, and leaving him in the crate if you go out. It will prevent damage to your things, but also mean your pup is safe, as he could harm himself if he swallows something he shouldn't, or chokes.

I also agree it sounds like normal behaviour for a puppy. :-)

Ditto, it is very simple, crate him when your not there, there is no way if I had a destructive pup it would be free to wander and destroy, when you are there distract the behaviour with play.

He is still a puppy, some pups do go through a destructive stage, you just need to make sure that he is only chewing and ripping up things that are appropriate and safe and not personal to you, it is not a behaviour that will just stop, he will outgrow it.

The 3 girls although some will mother and perhaps have the odd chase and roll around with him, do not ease his need to chew and rip and tug, (well maybe their ears get a good seeing to once in a while :-D ) Some breeds are more boisterous than others.

The behaviour will outgrow itself in the mean time protect your home, (and your pup) until it does. I have always found knuckle bones great for pups to chew and knaw, and the soft toys for playing, running and eventually ripping up, with a good game of tug in between.

If he is destructive I would not venture with a dog gate just yet, as he is likely to rip up lino or carpets the safest and best place for him is in a crate. :-)

'Do you think that if he was going to do it he would have started by now? (8 months)'

i would not be so sure, my friends springer started to chew at about this age and he really started to destroy her houses including carpets and settees. our dog never really chewed  much but a few times at about 10 months we did come back to a bit of out skirten board chewed.

I have to agree the pups I have known have usually started their major house remodelling sessions at about 9 months of age.  Until then they seemed happy with trashing small things.

Each of my Friends dobes did some Major damage to their home at about this stage even though they had grown out of a lot of puppy stuff.

Even though I had been going in through the day her bitch had turned the kitchen lino into a skate ramp when she was at Crufts one year with one of the others.

I was told that the big back teeth are settling at this age making pups very chewy at this age.

Restricting their space can keep them calmer.  If he has the run of the house he may be winding himself up or reacting to external stimulus.

When I am not at home my dogs are always shut in the kitchen.  There they cannot see out to where people pass by and I keep a Radio or the TV on so they are not distracted by outside noise.

Both with toilet training and destruction it is a big mistake to allow puppies too much freedom unsupervised in the house.

hi just been reading your posts. i have a seven month bitch who we are also having a nightmare with for destroying beds. she is kept in a big kennel and run outside when we go to work and everytime we come back she has totally destroyed her bed, we are sick of keep coming back to fluff covering the kennel. however our bitch is also kept with my dog so i dont think that is the problem, i just think alot of puppys enjoy totally destroying things, i guess they get bored really easily no matter how many toys you leave them with.

Mine have the rigid plastic beds both in the kennel (x 4) and kit5chen (x2) and I ahve actually caught the pup nonchalantly chewing the corner of one fo teh kitchen beds while lying in it.

yes my friend also noticed that it did not matter if she left him for 30 minutes or 3 hours he still chewed. apparatly it is in the first hour when a dog chews as this is when they are most bored.