help im at the end of my tether with my dog

[samandkat]

I have a 6 year old lurcher and she is driving me round the bend so far in the last 5 months she has rip down one blind three net curtains one pair of thick curtains ripped up one lino and one carpet and trashed my kitchen every day she is left alone for around 4 hours every day and only does this when on her own and she goes for long walks so i dont understand why she does this i also rescued her from the pound five months ago so we dont know what background she has any help would be most welcome thanks

It sounds like she has separation anxiety - she probably thinks you're not coming back. When she destroys things, do you scold her? Because that could be counter productive. I don't really have much advice but you could try a DAP collar or diffuser - they emit dog pheremones which are produced by a whelping bitch and these are very calming, worked quite well for our rescue rottie when he was having difficulties settling.

Kong toys are good too, give them only when you go out and interchange them so that her mind is occupied and distracted from chewing. If she has a strong chew instinct, always make sure she has plenty of chew toys.

My rescue JRT has chewed: A pair of £160 glasses to destruction (they were a week old!!!), two mobile phone leads, a lap top lead, untold pens, the rug in the living room and my BED!!! I have just got very good at locking doors of rooms that i dont want him in, I also keep anything of interest of him or of value to me out of his way - he hasn't done any damage for a while now, we have had him about a year. But he was certainly a weapon of mass desstruction at first - he has calmed down now he has settled. We do have another dog though.

If she only does this when she's alone its likely to be separation anxiety. Because you don't know her history, it would be best to start from scratch - e.g. put her in a safe place to be left, try and exercise her just before so she's tired and not totally wired when you leave her. Leave a little radio or some background noise on, leave some chews or treats hidden around the room, a kong or two stuffed with treats or paste and try to start again with small amounts of time, start with a few mins and work from there. Maybe for a while get a sitter or neighbour to pop in half way through. When you come in, if the dog goes crazy, don't pay it any attention, as otherwise it reinforces them as thinking they were right to worry. Ignore the completely till they give up, then call them over to you and make a small fuss of them. And in the meantime try and get anything edible out of her reach!!...It's difficult without seeing the dog. Hope you figure something out!

Thanks i think i may try walking her before i go out and see what happens