Can't cope with my dog

[Lauren228]

So I have a Rottweiler x Doberman. She is 8 months old now an absolutely adore her but me an my parter are at our whits end now! We tried crate training her for 2 months an never liked it. Would scream the house down til we got complaints from the neighbours. So we started leaving her out of the cage. First 3/4 weeks there was wee & poop but we got over that as she was so young. Anyway, months down the line, 3 large crates, 2 new carpets, new kitchen flooring an a new Hoover down the line, I came home today to find she had chewed our month old sofa! We have spent a fortune an what we had in savings is now gone! She has destroyed every cage she's had an we have said one more serious Incident an we will have to rehome her! Has anyone got any advice at all on how to deal with this? I've had dogs all my life an my other dog is perfectly trained. My heart breaks at the thought of letting her go but I don't know what to do now!

How long is she left? What training methods do you use?

So she can be left anything from 2 hours to 6 hours. But 3 or 4 days a week at least one person is in the house. We haven't really got a training method as such for leaving her on her own, but she is always left with plenty of water, she's got company with our other dog an we make sure that she has access to toys, some that we fill with treats to keep her occupied. I we've tried leaving on the TV for sounds an voices but that's not seemed to make a difference. She's been brilliant for a couple of weeks now, so we thought we'd finally managed to crack our routine then this happened! I haven't even the spare money any more to pay for training as we've spent it all replacing things

6 hours is far far too long. The maximum for a settled and happy dog is about 4. How much exercise does she get? She sounds very anxious.

I understand 6 hours is a long time. But my partner went to the gym for an hour last night an she had all the curtains down. So it's really not about how long she's left.. She's walked about twice a day, sometimes more walks but we spend a lot of time in the garden ehere they chase each other around for hours, which continues in the house when they come back in too. She's a very active pup there's no doubt about that. I'm just at a loss at to what to do when we're not here. We tried crates, she breaks them, we spent £130 pounds on a crate an ended up having to padlock it as well as putting a baby gate in front of that to stop her getting out but she still got out an bent it all.

Hi
She sounds very anxious.
I got my dog when he was a year old. He was a nervous wreck.
I employed a dog whisperer for a few weeks. Amazing.
Still have to enforce the training occasionally 4 years on but once my boy learned who's boss/that he is a dog/pack mentality he became an absolute gem

I think I'd try & make a break for it if I was put in a cage crate too

Try a breed specific rescue.

Avoid gum tree -people will use her for fighting.

You are going to struggle to rehome her. a big powerful dog that folk are wary of (i say this as an ex rottie owner )

don't get another dog.

I would say don't give up on her!
Try everything.

Is she on a really good food OP. I find if I give my dogs pedigree chum dried all in one, they go nuts. t's far too 'good' if you like! I bought some over Christmas (because it was on offer) and the pair of them damn near drove me crackers and it was a while before I copped on that it was the food. Took them off it and back onto a more budget food (their normal tack) and they were both back to angelic within a week or so. They were whiney, anxious and couldn't seem to rest and as clingy as hell. Don't underestimate how animals can get 'steamed up' on good food. Lidl cheap and cheerful dry tack with a bit of tinned to make it interesting and the odd hard boiled egg now and again as a treat suits them it seems.

I'd say the food advice was opposite to what was needed - buy the best you possibly can (Pedigree Chum is far from that).

Stop buying stuff and spend the money on getting someone in to help.

Stop leaving her alone, she's a baby.

PP is right - you will struggle to rehome, so do all you can for her rather than worry about sofas.

You haven't crate trained her, that never involves letting them get upset enough to be screaming.

Putting them in a crate and waiting for them to get resigned to being in there isn't crate training.

food is a good point. we had a rescue rottie and he was bonkers. one of the things we did was change to alow protein food. we changed between chappie and james well beloved. it made a massive difference.

also try an adaptil plug in and or collar. it secretes a pheromone that is calming.

leave things for her to chew, stuffed kongs etc.

how fo you react when you come home to damage?

You have a giant baby dog its bored anxious and doesnt know what to do with its self could you afford a behaviourist

Thats true about food ours came on organic food made my dog bonkers with to much energy changed to chappie 3 dsys and he calmed down

OP, just want to sympathise. My dog decided to chew up the entire contents of my make up bag today. Over £100 worth of make up gone and I've just gone part time after mat leave so can't afford to replace it! He was only alone for an hour before my SIL came over to take him out for the day! So frustrating.

The dog doesn't know whether you are going to be gone for one hour or six. The anxiety level when you leave her is the same.

'About' two walks a day and/or some running about in the garden is not sufficient exercise. Young active dogs need 2 guaranteed walks at least, 30 mins to an hour with as much of that off lead as possible.

You really need to spend money on some specialist training help before this dog becomes unhomeable. It sounds like an anxiety issue combined with young dog exuberance. Your 'crate training' experiments probably contributed to the poor thing's separation anxiety to be honest.

You padlocked her in a crate? Really? That is NOT crate training.
You need to start as if she is a tiny puppy. Leaving her with a toy or game for five minutes. Praise when you return but not making a fuss when you leave.
Crate training involves making the crate a safe retreat for the dog and giving treats and toys when in it. Not barricading a dog in.

Thanks to those that back my view over the food. A DAP (dog appeasing pheromone) plug in or collar would help too.
Absolutely vital you don't tell her off if you get home and find something destroyed. It makes them more anxious. I took on a dog as his third home. He was very destructive in both previous homes. He wrecked my sofa and was cowering behind it when I got home after an hour at the shops. I reassured him it was OK (it wasn't but hey) I did this twice more over other things, I never made a fuss about going out but made a massive deal about being glad to see him when I came back and the destruction stopped within two weeks. I had him until he was 11 (PTS with splenic tumour) and he never chewed anything but his dinner. It's easy to accidentally give a dog the wrong message. If she is anxious about you telling her off when you get back, the anxiety may manifest itself as chewing stuff up. Good luck OP.

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