Bit of a problem, we have started leaving the hall door open while we out to keep the air moving and the house cool for the dog (we used to just leave him in the large kitchen).

At first everything was fine, about a week ago he started attacking the post, now hes moved onto the wallpaper and started stripping it off the walls.

We did have this problem with my (late) house rabbit but she seemed to just grow out of the habbit.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to stop this? I have thought of using bitter apple spray, but that dosn't have a very long affect and I (altough have no evidence) don't think he is doing it the minute I leave the house.

It could be due to you having left the house , Its said that if a dog frets when you leave it thinks your in its care and therefore its a bit like being in charge of a child that leaves the house and you cant leave also to find where its gone so he is panicing . try making no fuss when you leave dont even fuss him and tell him you ,l be back soon , he needs to understand that its your choice to leave the house and he has no reason to question that . and then when you arrive back home try not to fuss him imediately as this gives him a signal that he is the top dog as you greet him first before anyone else . Start by practicing leaving the house as normal , leave it 5 mins and come back in , dont speak or give him eye contact then after 5 mins reward him and fuss him , do this again leaving it 10 mins and so on each time you leave do so without making a fuss talking to him or giving him eye contact the same on returning , untill you call him and fuss him after 5 mins . it should desensitise him to you leaving the house as he will see you leaving as a possitive thing as he will get to learn that on your arrival he will be rewarded .

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why don't you just crate him??? my border used to have the run of the house till he started chewing everything in sight,,,so we bought him a crate and he dosn't mind it,,,

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Keep Dreaming Smudge! HAHAHA

We crated him as a baby and he stills sleeps in their at night (although hes always dry at night now so we leave the door open for him)

We don't fuss at him when we leave the house, never have done as we took him to puupy class when he was young and they said it will just upset the dog and encorage it to miss behave.

In the kitchen and breakfast room he always behaves, I just don't want him to get to hot.

I think we may be getting into destructive teenage years tough as he has started digging a lot in the garden and being very conifenent with other dogs (hes now 8.5months)

think you might be right hun about the teenage years,,,my border is the same hes nearly 2 so he thinks hes indestructable i.e. digging big holes in the garden,,,chewing his toys (to tiny little bits),,,marking when on walks,,,bullying other dogs etc. hes dead naughty but to cute to get told off,,,

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Keep Dreaming Smudge! HAHAHA

Hi I have two GSDS at 12mths old , we made the mistake of taking them everywhere we went, now we cannot leave them indoors at all, which is very restricting , we tried crates next to each other as they scrap if in one big one, they screamed that much my next door complained we have tried rooms with dog gates between and no better, so during this hot weather we have to stay in as its to hot to take them in van , with our last one we gave her treats and lots of toys and started going out for 5 mins at a time , building it up this worked, but she was restricted to one room i also left jumpers dirty ones with my smell on , hope this helps a little, but i have to say none of this has worked with the two we now have .

why don't you buy a kennel (or two) and tie them up outside??? thats what i do with my border he stays outside all day and goes in his crate at night.

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Keep Dreaming Smudge! HAHAHA

maybe its boredom while your out i thing the cage idea would be best as long as its not to long its not good to leave in cage for hours on end

Could you maybe put a child gate across the kitchen door way? At least that way the air can still move round the house. We did this when we had our lab, we actually needed two gates, one on top of the other, but it worked well.

I think we are definatly in the teenage years....
Archie has learnt how to slam the kitchen door behind him!!!
Next he will be painting his crate black and smoking behind the bike sheads.

We have decided to remove the wallpaper and paint the hall, just need to get him to stop chewing the front door!

p.s family are unhappy about gating Kitchen door as it will make it differult for my sister (in a wheelchair) when shes over