Dear Running: Your bitch’s young age still makes her an ideal candidate for long-lasting training that will fix this problem. What is not the right thing to do is use the shock collar. It will create more problems than it will solve. These extreme training tools are best left in the hands of professional trainers who know when to use them but more importantly when not to use them. I’m glad to hear that you have mastered the basic “come” command on a limited basis. Now, let’s take it one step further.

Room To Roam

You will need one piece of equipment – a 100-foot long rope. For the next few weeks whenever you take her outside put her on the 100-foot rope and let her go where she wants leaving the rope slack with you holding the end. If she gets close to the boundary use the come command, if she doesn’t respond immediately, reel her in. When she arrives at your side, praise, and reward with the yummiest treat like liver or steak. Then, walk away and let resume her wanderings.

Keeping her on the rope for several weeks, and always reinforcing the come command because you have her on a long lead will begin to sink in. She will learn that whenever you call her away from the property line she’ll be rewarded. Remember consistency is the key.

Dear Lisa: I have an English Bulldog. He is now 10 months old. He has a problem with chewing items throughout the house. As a puppy, he chewed and destroyed many pieces of furniture. He continued even after being scolded. I must tell you he is very stubborn. He has learned to behave better, but still continues this bad habit of chewing. He has lots of toys, which we don’t take out all at once. We do this so he doesn’t become bored. He has a crate where I leave him during the day while we are at work. When we get home, we let him roam until bedtime, when he must go back to the crate. We love our dog and would like to take him out of the crate altogether. We just don’t know what to do. – Bored Bully

Dear Bored: At 10 months of age, your puppy isn’t quite ready to be left unsupervised for long periods of time. I’ve had dogs I wouldn’t leave loose in the house until they were two years old and passed their “puppy hood” phase of mischief.

It appears that he does spend way too much time in his crate, all day when you are at work and then all night too. It might be a good idea to look into a professional pet sitter to come by during the day and let him out for some stretching and fun and games to break up his confinement.

Mental Stimulation

During the day you might want to include a Kong treat stuffed with a small amount of peanut butter or frozen vegetables that will keep him occupied in his crate. The Kong should be hard enough that he doesn’t destroy it. At night, I would add more one-on-one activities with your pet like training him in basic obedience, teach him some tricks, or play a game of hide and seek with bits of kibble around the house. His attempts at chewing may be an effort to get more attention, since you scold him when he’s bad. He thinks negative attention is better than no attention at all.

Finally, try some short-term “out of crate” time when you are away from the house. Leave for 10 minutes of unsupervised time and then return. Each time if he is good, extend the away time until you find out what his tolerance level is for being good. Also, try leaving him out at night, maybe in the bedroom with you, since dogs tend to sleep when their owners sleep. Eventually, he will become better with age and through experience know what is expected of him.

 

Lisa Peterson, a long-time breeder of Norwegian Elkhounds, is the Director of Club Communications at the American Kennel Club. Contact her at ask@lisa-peterson.com or Dogma Publishing, P.O. Box 307, Newtown, CT 06470.