Suddenly destructive

[Traci Henry]

Help!  I have a 14 month old golden doodle.  She has suddenly become destructive inside the house.  Today she ate a leather cover off my sons bible and knocked a plaque off the wall in his bathroom.  We had been crating her when we leave the house and have tried to let her have a little more freedom by confining her to the downstairs while we are gone (just an hour or two) at a time.  The first few times she was fine.  Recently though she has been into everything.  Earlier this week she ate my sons wallet and debit card, a pair of Bose head phones, Oakley sunglasses (these were not too bad).  These things were gotten off a chest that was about 4 feet high.  She has also gotten several other things also.  The last thing was a few minutes ago.  I was upstairs with her putting laundry in to wash.  She went into my sons room (she sleeps in here and her crate is in here also).  She goes in here all the time when we are upstairs no problem.  I walked in and she had gotten a leather case for a Nook and had chewed it all to pieces.  She has many chew toys to occupy her in every room of the house.  Any suggestions on what may be going on?  Thanks!

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

My first thought is that your doodle has learned that searching for goodies in higher areas of her living space yields high rewards, which in turn feeds her desire to search them out. The easiest solution is to keep valuables out of reach. You could also set up a booby trap to scare her with loud noises when she puts her nose in business where it shouldn't belong. There's several ways to do this, the easiest of which is to tape string to lots of empty pop cans with pennies in them (with the opening taped shut) as well as a 'bait' item (something leather would be ideal in her case, like a wallet). When she goes to nab the wallet she'd get a big surprise with a cascade of falling pop cans making an unexpected racket. It might be enough to deter her in the future. My feeling is, if its valuable to me, it stays out of reach.

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

Is she getting enough exercise?  Maybe she is bored and wants something to do so getting into trouble is the next best thing.

[Kurt Gustafson]

It does sound a bit likea combo of boredom and separation anxiety. I would take some of the chew toys away so she has some novel things to play with when you need to leave. When our Griff went through a phase like this we found that some loose treats in a 2 l juice bottle kept her occupied knocking it around to get the treats out [she destroyed her kongs in 5 minutes :(, but they would be a good idea too].

[Traci Henry]

Thanks everyone for your comments.  I will try the suggestion about the toys.  Yes, she gets plenty of exercise!  She loves to run around the backyard with my children playing football. Maybe we need to play football a little bit more.  Thanks again!

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

These dogs need an hours walk on leash and at least another half hour off leash running like the blazes and what you think is enough may actually not be? Playing and running in the yard may not be enough and they certainly need a change of scenery.  We do two walks a day and one of them is with off leash running and playing. A tired dog is a good dog (usually)  Also your pup is right in those teenage years where they can be very challenging and yours seems pretty smart and knows exactly where all the good stuff is.  IMO it is all down to training and that means every single day, Go back to basics at least 10 mins down, stay, leave it, sit, down stay etc etc etc. The NILIF works for us (nothing in life is free) my boys always have to do something to get privilages. Also I would go back to crating or an exPen  if you can't supervise and make sure you leave nothing at all within reach.  My shoes were all on top of the kitchen cabinets for ages!! Good luck.

[Lynette Main]

I have a 14 month rescued Labradoodle. He loves to chew. He loves the woodpile best of all of his toys.Find something you doodle really to play with or chew and get lots of them.Zane loves the small logs and as long as he chews them and not MY things were ok. Have fun its tough when they are babies and still chewing..

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

Good ideas and suggestions above-

Quincy loves his bully sticks and spends hours chewing on them.  Make sure you get odor free if you try that route.