HI

Can anyone help?  We have two 7 month old pups, one male, one female.  Their mother is a giant schnauzer and father is a lab/collie cross.  They are beautiful pups but they are destroying the kitchen.  I have used a crate when they were younger as a house training aid, but during the day whilst we are at work they are clawing holes in the wall plaster and chewing door frames and now cupboard doors.  I have tried spray deterrants, chilli etc which work to a certain extent, but as soon as I spray one area they move to another area - it is impossible to spray the whole kitchen!!!  Also, these don't work for the scatching.  I don't want to keep the pups in a crate as I don't think it is fair to keep them in there for such long periods of time 5 days a week.  It seems to be the female that is scratching and the male that is chewing.

Has anyone any suggestions?

You don't mention precisely how long these dogs are being left however I would venture to suggest that they are bored out of their minds and so in the absence of human company and leadership, training and exercising opportunities they are, like children, finding their own amusement and going self employed.

To rectify this situation you must think of how you can provide opportunities for the dogs to be physically and mentally occupied in your absence by for example:

Employing a dog walker/sitter
Providing mentally stimulating activities such as stuffed kongs, cardboard box parcels to rip up
Buster cubes that will produce food when played with

Might I also suggest that if they are not already neutered at least one of them should be fairly soon as they are approaching sexual maturity.................

Both dogs have been neutered and they have stuffed kongs, buster toys, chew toys, pull toys etc.  They can be left alone for up to 7 hours, which is why we got two dogs so that they would have each other for company.

We are currently living in temporary accomodationand and our long term plan is to have a house where they can be outside during the day with a doggie door into a nice warm shed.  I know many people frown upon peolpe having dogs if they are at work all day - but I have many friends that work, with dogs that are happy and content.

They're doing exactly what you wanted them to do, I'm afraid - keeping each other company while they keep themselves occupied by destroying things! Partners in crime! Dogs can't read a book or watch TV to pass the time - they have to physically do things, especially when they're puppies.

So are you saying that there is nothing we can do to resolve this?

You could get someone to come in at lunchtime and walk them for you. That would break up their day and give them less time to be bored. It would also encourage them to sleep more afterwards.
:)

This is something that I have thought about and intially I came home at lunch time myself, but I am unable to do this in the long term  unfortunately I don't have a friend or family member that can do this for me and when I have looked into hiring this service it does work out to be expensive.  But perhaps this is what is needed regardless of the expense.

Thanks for your advise - I suppose this was my own evaluation of the situation as well.

Although I work all day I am lucky in that my husband works from home now so the boys dont get left on their own much.  There is the rare occasion where he will be called out all day and I then have to go home at lunch time to give them a good run and would never consider leaving them for 7 hours.  For two young pups I would personally consider this much too long.

One of mine was chewer, whether we were there or not, and the one thing that rectified it was vicks vapour rub.  You can rub it on as a thin film on anything wood and it stays there for ages.  The dogs dont like the smell nor the consistency.  It worked for me.