Destructive Doodle

[Thuy & Hops]

Before leaving the apartment today, the boyfriend and I made sure the place was "dog-proof". Ipad, kindle, phones, purses, etc. were all out of a dog's reach. Approximately an hour later, we came home to a living room covered in tiny plastic pieces, which turned out to be the PS3 controller, and pages of torn paper. I instantly dropped to the floor and starting cleaning, without saying a single word to Hops, and he ran straight to his crate and stayed there until I called for him. How did he know he was in trouble? This was not even the worst thing he has destroyed, but I was more frustrated than ever since this was the fourth time, IN A ROW, that he'd destroyed something as soon as we left.

 

When Hops was around 5 months, I had to go back to teaching. On most days, Hops was crated from when I left for work until around noon, when my friend woud drop by to let him out for his potty break. He had freedom to the apartment from noon til when I got home from work. Every now and then he'd get into something he wasn't supposed to, but nothing too bad (some pictures below). He went to doggie daycare near where I work in Dallas on days my friend couldn't take him out.

 

Then came June and I could be at home every day. I'd hang out at the pool for a few hours, and I'd come home to a nice doggie greeting me at the door, with nothing destroyed. A couple days in July I had to attend professional development for 8 hours each day, and I'd come home to a peaceful sight. I was happy. I thought, "Hey, I can trust this dog now!" I was obviously wrong.

 

Something my boyfriend and I noticed--Hops was okay when he and I left the apartment at different times, but whenever we both left together, we'd stand downstairs and hear him whine and scream for about a minute. He did this for maybe the first 3-5 times we left him (uncrated). All the sudden he stopped. He knows now each time we're getting ready to leave him (grab our phones, keys, purse, shoes, etc.), and instead of waiting at the door so that we'd take him with us, he goes and lays down somewhere away from the door (usually the sofa) and just watches us leave. These are the days we'd come back with destructions.

 

An hour ago, I search "destructive" on DK to see if anyone else went through a similar experience with a non-destructive puppy who turned destructive around age one (Hops turns 1 next week). I found just what I was looking for and now I feel better. I'm hoping that this stage will pass before he turns 2. I want to now share some pictures I've taken with my phone of the destructions caused by my precious Hops. Anyone else with a young, destructive doodle--you are not alone!

 

 First time at around 6 months. We no longer have fake flowers at our apartment.

 

 Second time, probably around the same month. We no longer have decorative pillows inside the apartment.

 

This only took about an hour to clean up.

 

My dog ate my students' homework.

 

 Hiding in his crate after chewing on the handle of my purse.

 

Notice the missing carpet.

 

He's lucky that I find him absolutely adorable. (Notice how he dropped two ropes at my feet to ask me to play fetch)

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

Both my doodles have total run of the house when I am gone now.  They were both crated during the day while I was at work until about 6 months ago.  I began my quest for a no crate house about a year ago leaving them out at night, then day.  Both dog did great until last week my Sasha who is such a good girl and never does anything wrong, stole a hanger and chewed it into a million pieces, and took a magazine off the table and ripped that to shreds last week when I got home from work.  I don't know what got into her to do this.

 

Your dog is beautiful, such great markings.  He will grow out of this stage, it took my dogs until they were about 2 yrs old to grow out of the distructive stage. 

[Thuy & Hops]

Where did you get it at? I'm thinking about looking on Craigslist.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I got Calla's crate very inexpensively. I guess not too many people wanted pink crates : )

[Thuy & Hops]

I guess it's more crating for Hops then! He was estimated to reach around 40 pounds, but he's a bit over 60 pounds now so we were trying to get out of crating early. We'll definitely need to get him a larger crate, but I'm sure it'll end up saving us tons of money in the long run. :)  He still does his old tricks and some new ones every day, and this summer we've been working on ignoring people and other dogs on our walks, which he's doing pretty well. He's just a very bad boy when we're not around! Hops does have many chew toys, nylabones being his favorite. He never chews on anything else except his toys when we're around, so we can't even catch him in the act and tell him not to do it. Very frustrating. Thank you everyone for your suggestions!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Hops could not be cuter. I'm not much help here. My two get crated if I leave for more than a few minutes. Their crates are much bigger though.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Crate...crate...crate...we couldn't trust Peri until she was over 2 years old to be out of the crate, alone in the house.  This is so typical of these doods.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

I'd just add to make sure that he has plenty of toys that he knows are his.  My boys have their own toy box and they can help themselves at any time - we've never dog proofed the house and other than 1 shoe, haven't had a problem.  Like Laurie - I leave the t.v. on, and a shin bone to chew on.  Good luck!!

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

I agree with CRATE.  But, Hops is so cute.  I couldn't be mad at him for more than a second.

[Pam & Trixie]

The Pictures are funny, But not really. 

I too would go back to crating him at least for awhile...Some dogs take a lot longer to be trustworthy loose when we are gone.

 

He sure is a cutie : )

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

What a little stinker! Personally, I would go back to crating him. Sometimes, they really do feel safer in their crates. I don't crate my dogs any longer, but I still put peanut butter down for them when I leave and turn the TV on and fan on for them to mute outside noises. Good luck!! He is pretty darn cute!!