As many of you who've been following this blog or any of my other social networks know, I recently moved. Not only did we change location, but we also moved from a house in the suburbs to an apartment in the city. Needless to say, the amount of space we have was cut exponentially.
Now, this really wouldn't be a problem. It's actually quite nice if you ask me. But someone in the family seems to be less than pleased. At least, I'm assuming that's the cause of the most recent development.
One of our dogs, the youngest, has developed some new behavior issues. Not only has he started chewing on the furniture (so far we've caught him before he's ruined anything), but he's been stealing things. And shoes are the least of it. He did ruin a pair of slippers, but he's also danced around with a couple bras in his mouth, multiple pairs of socks, underwear, and plastic water bottles. Yep, water bottles. They don't even need to be empty. This morning, I must have left a cabinet or a door open, because every few minutes he'd have a new one in his mouth. Luckily, we got them away before he sprayed water all over the house.
The logical conclusion is that he's not getting enough exersize. But believe me, that cannot be the case. We're at the dog park or beach at least once a day, more often two, and boy do those dogs get run ragged. They end up sleeping half the day away. But as soon as he's up, he's back to his bad behavior.
So, that's what I've been dealing with. My biggest concern is not that he'll destroy something, but that he'll eat something and get sick. We've already had to deal with that when he ate a rock and needed surgery to get it out. Not the smartest dog in the world, hehe. At the moment, I don't have a good idea to stop the behavior. Right now, we've resorted to blocking him in the kitchen while we're away, and keeping a close eye on him when we're home.
Anyone else had to deal with this kind of thing? How did you take care of the problem?
I really don't think its from lack of exercise. The stress of moving can get to pets too. When we got our house all we did was move across town but our dog was still nutty for a while. TLC, chew toys, and patience are about the only things I can think might help, it's what helped our dog. He needed time to adjust. I don't remember how long it took but it wasn't very long. Oh and gating your dog in a safe room while you're gone is excellent. We put ours in his "house" (a doggie crate) when we leave and he goes right to sleep. I bet the longer you're in your new home, your dog will settle down as he gets used to the new place and new routine. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sonya. I didn't even think about the stress, but that's a really good point. We've been trying to buy more toys for him, but the other one steals them, lol. She might be the smaller of the two, but she's definitely the boss. Hopefully we can find some that he likes and she doesn't. :)
ReplyDeleteI had a puppy who had insecurity issues. He was almost 18 months old before he got over it.
ReplyDeleteHe DID destroy two leather sofas, two oriental rugs and sheetrock!
It took me a while to realize he was insecure. For three months, that dog never left my side. Never. At first, I did it to protect my stuff, but I also ended up being his security blanket.
By the second month, I started noticing that he would look for me rather than look for something to chew on. By the third month, I could leave him alone without him destroying anything.
He is an absolute dream now.
You realize he may just be seriously annoyed with you? He may have liked his old yard, had a friend in the neighborhood he didn't want to leave, or had a very special bone buried somewhere that he didn't get to dig up and bring along. A lot of children act out after going through a move they didn't want to make, and our furbabies are no different.
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