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Chaska Got In Trouble


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I know sometimes when we leave home and chaska has to stay in his crate that he gets upset. When we come home has pulled the blanket that covers his crate through the crate. He doesn't always do this but if you can hear him barking before you get in the truck you can bet when you get back home the blanket is in the crate.

 

Well this morning he did something different. I was still in bed and my wife and two youngest were all in the basement getting the girls ready for the day. Daily routine. Chaska is always left upstairs to roam as he usually does. I will usually hear him give out a bark or two because he wants to go down and be with them. This morning was no different until I got up and discovered the mess he had made. He had got into one of my wifes big potted plants and totally destroyed it. He had pulled alot of the plant out of the pot and only chewed on a piece or two. From the looks of the plant pieces it looks like he just used his teeth to pluck them out and scatter them all over the floor.

 

Starting to wonder if this is part of some sort of separation anxiety. Other than the blanket issue which I don't think much of but have noticed it this is the first time he acted like that or done something like that. Needless to say he is in timeout as I type this.

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Wow, that is a toughie.. Dogs live so much in the now- Hard to reprimand them After the fact and have them understand it. Makes as much sense trying to teach them to sit by telling them to sit, and praising them 10 minutes After they sit...

 

My first thought was- why was he allowed free run of an unsupervised part of the house. And why can he not be with them while they are in the basement? Making it part of his routine and and making it fun will likely also reduce his concern about the basement. So it could be a win/win.

 

And if you know he messes with the blanket on his crate, why do you leave it there? You are only allowing him more opportunities to do things you don't want, when you are not there to tell him otherwise.

 

Sorry to be such a hard-ass, but that is just my personal take on puppy raising. :)

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Sorry, Roy, but I am with Anna on this one. You took this pup to be a part of your family and now you're alienating him from his family. You can't reprimand him after the fact. Remember he is still a pup, he's learning. You're confusing him with sometimes letting him be a family member and sometimes not. After raising 8 of these critters, I know a bit about them. I'm gonna be a hard ass too and put this back on you, not the pup.

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He has taken little snips off this plant before and has been told that it is not for him. He had done real good up until today. As soon as I picked up a handful of this plant that was on the floor you could tell he knew he had done wrong before I even said anything. Yes he is still a pup and is learning. He did wrong and he knew it. You all know just as well as I do that you can tell when they know something whether it be right or wrong.

 

As far as why was he left unsupervised. He had earned his freedom around the house up to this point. The reason he wasn't down stairs is that we are working with him trying to get him to go up and down the stairs. He is having hesitations with this. We have been working with him on it, we are just not there yet. He does have the run of the house on the main floor and he can go in any room he likes. There are times where I do get up and check on him to see what he is doing and usually he is looking out a window or he is chewing on a bone. He has done really good with earning his run of the house. I really don't have any complaints with him. I do have to give him some lead to see if he will respond the way he is taught. Today has been the only day that anything has not been the way he has been taught up to this point. Him being unsupervised is no different in my eyes as him being able to be out of crate when we are all sleeping. He has done exceptional with that. Usually I wake up if he is up in the middle of the night but not always.

 

Some or none of you may not agree with what is being said but that is my view. I am not saying that there may be some fault on my part. We all are not perfect by any means. So if you want to be a hard ass as you say then so be it. That is fine. Just part of it I guess. I thought I would share what my experience was today.

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And don't forget he got a HUGE clue from your body language as you found the scene of the destruction. These dogs are sensitive to body language more than most. So of course he looked chagrined. If he Knew it was an off limits item, he would t have destroyed the plant. just saying.... :)

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He's what, 6 or 7 months now, yes? Waki sort of lost his mind for a little while at that age. By that I mean he wanted to be independent off lead but had no good judgement. Didn't listen at all. He also was really good at finding things he wasn't suppose to chew on and had to be watched like a two year old. I do think this is a "terrible two" phase. How it manifested for us is unique to Waki's brain and temperment but I would just be aware that from now until about a year from now you are likely to get some tween and teen age dog craziness. What he does may not make sense - or at least any sense that we can figure out. Watch for patterns in the crazy so you can predict, prevent and redirect.

 

So hopefully the plant is not toxic. Keep an eye out for the runs or any acting odd.

 

PS Waki's brain has really grown. He takes pride now in showing he can do it - get in the car off lead, go to the barn, hang out while we are working in the yard, go in when told. We still use "special pants" (gps tag with circle of trust and soon it will be hunting season so he'll have hot orange to wear). He's nearly 2. They do come out the other side.

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I cannot put anything in Chhaya's crate when we leave the house....she shreds anything that's in there. So for her safety she has nothing to lay on....I hate it but it is what it is......maybe she will someday be able to have a blanket again but right now....no! She is almost 4yrs old.....

 

Maybe it's a way that they express "I don't like this the way it is". Here is why I say this.....my Mom was diagnosed with cancer....long story short Saturday mornings are cleaning day at Moms...when I would leave the house Chhaya would bawl, howl cry, scratch at the door even with my daughter, her husband and my husband being there. She never does that any other time. She may cry if I leave to go to the store but doesn't act like that. I started to take her and Koda with me and put them in the mudroom and a gate across the doorway (Mom is very weak and I can't have them bumping into her)....they can see what I'm doing and lay quietly. I never thought they would be that calm....they both proved me soooo wrong! (trust) As long as they are with me at Moms they are fine.....they definitly need to be with you.....some more than others. There are times that you need to go away or be seperated from them and that is good.....trust is a big thing with them....and they are a pack animal.....keep working with Chaska....it will work out and all will be good.....remember tough love....we all learn from experiences!

 

Thanks for sharing your story....I forgot some of the challenges I had with Chhaya!!!! You just reminded me!!!

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Yeah- Kne is a bare-crate dog too. I think she shreds because she gets bored. Both my guys take rope toys apart, and skin tennis balls in seconds! And she is a fretful girl.. :) so to relieve stress- she shreds. You should have heard my muttered epithets when I tried to give her a cushion with a beautiful hand made heavy denim cover... Sigh. Won't make that mistake again. lol

 

I am hoping she grows out of it, because she is getting a little bit of 'kennel-elbow'

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As long as Chhaya has plenty of exercise she doesn't do much shredding....walks or a horse ride or lots of chuck-it ball before kennel time works wonders! When I know we are going away I make time to get Chhaya and Koda excerise.... a tired dog is a good dog!

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Maria, that's a beautiful story about the dogs with your Mom and how you are tenderly caring for her. Ofcourse the dogs are picking up on your emotions (scent, body language, etc) as you were preparing to leave for a beautiful but extremely emotional event and this is why they were only going nuts for that particular event. They want to help.

 

I am fortunate to have a giant "outdoor crate" complete with 2 play mates. Eat a stick, dig a hole. Ok no problem (except when I fall into a new hole). If you can have a well fenced and secure (as in no one can break in) yard area that's really great for when you are gone. Exercise is also great advice. There are times we take both GSDs to the vet for laser treatment (oldness) and I put the little one in the house vs in the fenced area all by himself. He naps but it's good to tire him out as insurance...

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I've got to support the general consensus here too. I've had a fair amount of trouble with Squint but it seems phased, if that makes any sense. She'll go for weeks or months with any trouble at all and then, with no warning whatsoever she'll shit in the living room overnight. She's done this several times but they're very spaced out and don't seem to have a detectable pattern or illness or anything to it. I've tried modifying her eating time so that she processes earlier but this only works sometimes as she'll only eat when she's hungry which means she'll go a day or two without eating in some cases. In recent weeks she's been voracious and seems to be growing again (of course it's probably my imagination as she's nearing 2 years old also (she's Waki's sister) but she seems...I don't know....longer?)

 

There have been some extenuating circumstances in recent months as we have some house guests who are staying with us short term while working out new employment arrangements and they come complete with a old goofy bloodhound called Odin. Odin's a joy to be around. Very well balanced and respectful and you guessed it, Lili's in love! Can't get enough Odin.

 

Ida though? Not so much. In fact they had a serious altercation about two weeks into the program, back in mid-July that scared the hell out of all of us. Odin's a big guy, probably 90+ Lbs! Ida's a big girl at about 80 Lbs. Odin had been very good with Ida for the first two weeks but she was always tense and growly. Well, eventually Odin lost his patience with this and pounced on her one night after dinner. No real damage although he did draw blood from her right ear...although again, nothing serious. Basically kicked the old lady's ass a little bit for being growly with him all the time. Well, long story short we've segregated the two 'families'; one upstairs (us and our dogs) and the other downstairs (them and their dog). It's been tense but at least there's not the chance that we'll have fights going on all the time.

 

This leads back to Lili and her 'upset' routine. I believe that this is contributing to the bathroom issues because her whole world is upside down with the house guests. She's got to get her 3-5 miles a day otherwise it's problematic and most often little, smelly morning surprises are how she indicates her displeasure with our disrupted household structure. I'm trying as best as I can to keep a normal schedule with walks to and from work (about six miles one way) and routine interaction with both of our dogs but Lili occasionally needs to 'protest' it seems.

 

Patience is the key. That and keeping them in close contact. We're considering reintroducing the crate at night which she hasn't used since she was 16 weeks old! Gotta do something!

 

Any ideas?

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I bet she is still growing. Waki had a spirt just about a month ago. I mean it's not a huge change - he is a little dog but definitely he got taller.

 

Ha ha they are so funny when they fall for another dog. Waki loves a super noisey sheltie that he sometimes meets in the park.

 

The poop can be marking her territory, even with her love she'd want him to know this is mine. Crates are good. Take some of your shaving cream - assuming it's different from your guests and put a dab on yourself and "mark" miss Lilli, miss Ida then make a scene of putting a dab where she has been marking and then wipe your feet (shoes off) over the spot the way they do to rub their scent onto a spot. This is a very loud way to announce "this is mine". Hopefully Dad marked so she doesn't have to.

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