Dog Behaviour Problems: Your dog's behaviour

Destructive behaviour, Chewing, Digging:

Question: Our 5-month old golden retriever has started digging enormous holes all over our garden. Why is he doing this and how can we stop him?

Answer: There could be a number of reasons. It could be that he can hear small animals, such as moles, below the surface and is frantically trying to reach them. He could be digging for fun, or because he is bored and digging is better than doing nothing.

There are a few things you need to do to tackle this. Firstly, try to identify the cause and remove it. This is not easy if it is small burrowing animals he is trying to reach, but it is easy if he is digging because he is bored.

At 5 months, he will have plenty of energy and a need to explore his environment.

Make sure he is getting at least 2 walks a day and try to go to different places. Try to spend more time playing with him and training him (using reward-based methods).

Give him plenty of things he can chew while he is in the garden. Create a ‘digging area’ for him that is clearly marked out, and bury bones and chews in this area for him to find. Encourage him to dig there, fill in all the other holes, and supervise him from a distance when he is in the garden. If he begins to dig elsewhere, take him to his digging pit and encourage him to dig until he find ‘buried treasure’.

Eventually he will learn that it is more rewarding to dig in your chosen place and will give up destroying the garden.

You may like to read The Perfect Puppy which has more information on understanding your dog's behaviour.

Also see Gwen Bailey's article on Ingredients for the Perfect Puppy

Question: My German shepherd, Casey is now 11 months old. She was rescued through the NCDL at four months and has been with us ever since. I am at home all day and have a close relationship with Casey. I only leave her for short periods of time to go out shopping and for other essential trips.

The problem is that when we leave Casey on her own in the house, she rips up the vinyl tiles on the floor and chews the wooden doorframe and steps. She also barks and whines.

We have been told that this might be separation anxiety and are keen to sort it out before it gets any worse. We have already cut the protein in her diet on our vet's advice and she is well exercised. When I leave her, she is confined to the hall for her own safety and has her bed and plenty of toys to play with. Please help we feel as though we cannot leave the house as it upsets her so much. Is this something she will grow out of or is there something we can do?

Answer: If it is fear that is causing the problem, she will not grow out of it. The symptoms you describe point towards fear being the cause and there may be a number of reasons for this. She may be frightened of something in the house (e.g. heating turning on/off), or something outside the house she thinks may be coming in to get her while you are not there, or, more likely, she may just be afraid of being alone.

The solution lies in either desensitising her to her fears, thereby reducing her anxiety, or teaching her to be left alone by doing it slowly and gradually, firstly when you are there in the house with her, and then by going out and leaving her. NCDL have their own in-house behaviourist who can help you, so please contact the centre where you got her.

Also, a leaflet called ‘Alone at Home’ is available from The Blue Cross. Please send a s.a.e. (and a donation) to: The Blue Cross, Shilton Road, Burford, Oxon OX18 4PF

You may like to read The Rescue Dog which has more information on understanding & correcting this behaviour.

Question: What is the best way to stop the dog chewing the door when we are out?

Answer: There are many reasons why dogs chew doors when they are left alone at home. It could be that your dog is lonely, worried about being alone, bored, frightened of something in the house, or wanting to get to something outside of the house, such as the dog next-door.

If you want to stop them doing it, first you have to find out why. Then the answer becomes fairly obvious.

Give bored dogs more to do, teach a dog that is worried about being alone how to tolerate it (with short, gradually-increasing absences over a period of time), desensitise a frightened dog to whatever it is he/she is scared of, etc.

If you are unable to work out the cause or the solution to your problem, contact a pet behaviour counsellor who will help you to help your dog feel more settled when left alone.

You may like to read Good Dog Behaviour has more information on understanding & helping correct this behaviour.

Please see Gwen Bailey's article on Chewing & How to Survive It

Question: We have recently discovered that I am expecting a baby and have since noticed a difference in our basset hound's behaviour. George now chews everything in sight and has started getting boisterous towards me. Is there anything I can do to stop this behaviour?

Answer: This could be due to a change in the way you smell (pregnant mothers produce different hormones which alter their scent) or could be due to changes in the way you have been acting towards him since you heard the news. Has he come from a family that gave him up when they had a baby? If so, he could be anticipating a repeat performance and be becoming very insecure as a result.

It is more likely, however, that your attitude towards him has changed slightly and your focus has moved away from him towards your forthcoming event. Dogs are very sensitive to changes in their owner’s attitude and perhaps he is picking this up and becoming insecure because of it.

Either way, he needs lots of reassurance that he is still part of the family.

Don’t do this when he is demanding attention, but wait until he is being good. Then give him at least 10 minutes of undivided love, attention and play. If you do this often throughout the day, you should see results quite quickly. (If you cannot do this, it is important that you decide now whether or not you want to keep him so that you can find a good home for him while you still have lots of time.)

Try to get him into routines that you will find easy to cope when the baby comes, reducing the amount of attention you give him gradually until it matches that which you will be able to give him when the baby arrives. When that time comes, remember to try to find enough time and attention for him despite all the exhaustion and activity that will be normal to that time.

Question: Our Labrador, Jake is now seven months old and very destructive. He is only left on his own for half an hour a day but, during this time, will destroy anything he can get his teeth into. Could you tell me what might be causing this behaviour and how I can put a stop to it?

Answer: This is normal for 7 month old Labradors and you can expect it to continue until he is about 12 months. Sorry! Unfortunately, Labradors were bred to use their mouths and be good at picking things up. All puppies go through an adolescent chewing stage between 7-12 months, but in some it is worse than others.

To get through it more easily, ensure he has plenty of new and interesting things to chew every time you leave him. These can be anything from Kongs stuffed with food he has to chew and lick out, to rawhide chews, to deep fried marrow bones.

Try to leave 3 different things every day, pick them up when you come home, and don’t present the same things again from a few days so they stay nice and interesting.

This does involve quite an expense in toys and chews, but it is worth it not to have your home damaged. Pick up anything loose that he can chew instead and do not leave him in a place where he can chew expensive or dangerous items. It is also important to exercise him well, both physically and mentally, taking him to new places to explore and teach him tricks and games.

This phase does end, I promise, but until then a useful booklet called ‘Chewing – how to survive it’ is available for a donation and a s.a.e. from: The Blue Cross, Shilton Road, Burford, Oxon, OX18 4PF

You may like to read The Perfect Puppy which has more information on understanding & correcting this behaviour.

Please see Gwen Bailey's articles on Chewing & How to Survive It and Ingredients for the Perfect Puppy

Question: Our 9-month old puppy keeps pulling out and destroying plants in our garden. Have you any suggestions as to how we can stop this?

Answer: It is natural for a 9 month old puppy to go off exploring their environment and venturing further from home. As you have to keep your puppy within the confines of the garden, he is finding things to do use up his energy and desire to explore.

To stop him destroying the plants, you will need to give him something else to do instead. What will work depends on what sort of dog he is and what he likes to do. If he likes to chew, give him objects that will take him a long time to deal with such as a strong toy that has been stuffed with cream cheese or meat paste.

Rawhide chews are usually dealt with quickly, so hide them inside a cardboard box so he has to work out how to get to it.

Give him a special digging area and teach him find items you have buried there. Suspend toys from trees and tuck small bits of treat inside them to get him interacting with them (be careful he can’t harm himself when doing this).

You will need to keep an eye on him while he is out there to check he is not doing anything he shouldn’t, but if you give him plenty of new, interesting things to do, he will prefer to do those instead.

Make sure he has plenty of exercise and opportunity to explore on walks each day, and in about another 3 months or so, he should have calmed down!

You may like to read The Perfect Puppy which has more information on understanding & helping correct this behaviour.

Also see Gwen Bailey's article on Ingredients for the Perfect Puppy

Please also see Training for Life (everyday life) easy & fun training classes you can do at home, including:

• Audio tape of noises your dog must learn to be unafraid of
• Video on how to raise a friendly, well balanced dog that can cope with everyday experiences in the modern world
• Explanation of training using rewards, toilet training, learning to be alone, chewing, adolescence, setting boundaries and saying ‘no, solving behaviour problems, tricks, games and having fun.

Question: We are trying to decide on a suitable breed of dog and our favourites are giant schnauzers and retrievers. Are either of these breeds particularly destructive? We want to be able to leave our new dog without worrying that they will chew the furniture.

Answer: Most puppies are destructive between 6 – 12 months when they would naturally be exploring their environments. Since they do this with their mouths, it is natural for them to chew things at this stage.

Gundogs tend to be slightly worse during this phase than others, Labradors in particular, as they were bred to use their mouths to hold things and this seems to give them a propensity to chew.

With good management, this chewing phase can be reduced (see the leaflet ‘Chewing: how to survive it’ available from The Blue Cross, Shilton Road, Burford, Oxon OX18 4PF, please send a donation and s.a.e.) You could consider a rescue dog instead that will have grown out of this stage, but make sure you get one that is not insecure or anxious as this may lead you into problems of chewing because of separation anxiety.

Dogs are not always predictable and you have to ask yourselves if chewed furniture really would be the end of the world if it happened.

You may like to read The Perfect Puppy which has more information on understanding & correcting this behaviour.

Please see Gwen Bailey's articles on Chewing & How to Survive It and Ingredients for the Perfect Puppy

Question: Our dog is nearly a year old and when unsupervised in the garden loves digging holes. However, this is not something we want to encourage! How can I stop this?

Answer: There are many reasons why a dog may did holes in the garden. Given his young age, I suspect that he is doing it to use up mental and physical energy. He is at an age when he would naturally travel away from the pack to explore by himself if he lived in the wild. Since he is confined to your house and garden, the energy that would be used is probably being diverted into digging holes instead.

To stop him, you will need to give him more to do and find more to interest him.

Give him different chews and toys regularly (picking them up after a short time so they stay new and interesting, and giving him a different one to play with/chew).

Take him out for interesting walk and spend more time playing and interacting with him in the garden (it doesn’t have to be for long, just a few minutes every half an hour). Or consider giving him his own digging pit where you bury tasty bones and chews for him to find.

Keep a careful watch on him when he is in the garden, and take him over to his digging pit whenever you see him digging elsewhere.

Gradually, he will get the idea that it is much more interesting to dig there as he never knows what he is going to find!

You may like to read Good Dog Behaviour has more information on understanding & helping correct this behaviour.

Question: Our 5-month old golden retriever has started digging enormous holes all over our garden. Why is he doing this and how can we stop him?

Answer: There could be a number of reasons. It could be that he can hear small animals, such as moles, below the surface and is frantically trying to reach them. He could be digging for fun, or because he is bored and digging is better than doing nothing. There are a few things you need to do to tackle this.

Firstly, try to identify the cause and remove it. This is not easy if it is small burrowing animals he is trying to reach, but it is easy if he is digging because he is bored. At 5 months, he will have plenty of energy and a need to explore his environment.

Make sure he is getting at least 2 walks a day and try to go to different places. Try to spend more time playing with him and training him (using reward-based methods). Give him plenty of things he can chew while he is in the garden.

Create a ‘digging area’ for him that is clearly marked out, and bury bones and chews in this area for him to find. Encourage him to dig there, fill in all the other holes, and supervise him from a distance when he is in the garden. If he begins to dig elsewhere, take him to his digging pit and encourage him to dig until he find ‘buried treasure’.

Eventually he will learn that it is more rewarding to dig in your chosen place and will give up destroying the garden.

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