paper shredder...

[Brandi]

OK, I need some advice.  My Smudge is a 14 month f2 doodle.  She was one of the easiest puppies to raise.  She never chewed, very laid back, total lover bug.  She is crate trained and a few times a week we leave her out at nighttime and she does fine. She is crated when we leave which is usually only a couple hrs at a time.  She is low key in the house.  Her one and only drawback is, she is a paper shredder.  The only time she does it, is when we go outside, we can't even go to the mailbox and back without my little paper shredder finding paper somewhere and shredding in little bitty pieces, EVERYWHERE. Today I was outside literally not 5 minutes and came in, OMG, she had shredded several magazines the local newspaper, and a book.  Literally you couldn't see the floor at all.  She doesn't chew anything else up, never destroyed anything of value, only paper.  Quite a while ago someone posted an article on "Poodles and paper".  I laughed through that whole article thinking "yep, that my Smudge" lol  In that article they claimed that it is a "poodle thing" and has nothing to do with separation anxiety or anything, it's just  the poodles "artistic ways" particularly the standard poodles are famous for this form of "art".

Anybody else out there happen to have a paper shredder?? I need some advice because I can't correct something I can't catch her doing...Looks like im gonna have to take her outside with me every time or put her in her crate.  I have high hopes of someday letting her have free roam of the house...but it'll be a long time before I trust her. My other doodle was a dream to raise, never crated, never chewed, had full run of the house while I worked 9 hrs a day.  Needless to say I was lucky with her.  Now someone is here almost all the time, so Smudge doesn't spend much time in her crate really at all and is an angel 99.99999% of the time.   Do u guyz think she may grow out of this?? I welcome any and all suggestions anyone has lol

[Carlos and Chloe]

I can relate slightly.  Our chloe does the same thing but only with tissues, paper towels, toilet paper or napkins.  I can leave a stack of regular papers and magazines next to her and she won't bother with it...but a box of kleenex and all of the sudden a million tiny pieces everywhere.

[Barbie]

Ha-ha ... I can so relate to that. It definitely must be a Poodle thing. Zeus (my 5 mo. old Chowdoodle) keeps stealing my toilet paper off the roll. The first time he did it, I was like, "What it the world do ya have hanging from your mouth, little boy?" I finally caught him today (3 times), but "NO" works with everything but toilet paper.

I thought about buying the bitter stuff, but then it'd make my TP unsuable. I just remembered seeing (a few years ago) a plastic toilet paper spindle on Carol Wright or somewhere that made noises, like Santa saying "Ho-ho-ho" then laughing.  I'm going to see if I can still find something like that. It'd probably scare Zeus and make him stay away from my TP. I'll keep an extra roll within my reach, but out of his, just so I don't have to listen to it every time I go potty.

Update: OMD, it only took me 2 seconds to find this: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200365151_200365151  It's perfect! I can record my own voice saying, "NO, Zeus!" and he'll hear it every time he messes with my TP. Too funny!

[shelly]

WOW!  I was just about to say what a good idea about buying the Santa roll, and voila!  These people think of everything! You should buy a few hundred and sell them... you'd make millions!  LOL  Let us know how it works!

[Barbie]

Will do. I'll mosey on over to a local NT store in a few days to get one. I hate paying more for shipping than the item itself - lol.

[Lisa {Zoe's Mom]]

I had to laugh when I read your post though it's not funny, it just reminded me of Zoe. Zoe is a paper shredder.  Only from the trash though. When I leave her home I must put the trash can up on the counter or outside.  She will take an item or two off the top and shred it.  It's a poodle spite thing I'm convinced.  It usually only happes when I leave her and I could've taken her with me [like she can sense that, ya know?].  I can't catch her because I am not there.  So, I try, try, try to remember trash can up or out.  Only one time did I catch her, months ago......I gave her the bad in that tone that makes her hunker down..........obviously she has short term memory when she wants...... :}

 

Though an idea you might try is have someone hide in another room for a few minutes. keep smudge eyed on you so the other person becomes non-exsistent. then walk to the mailbox.  Have the other person keep watch on smudge and when the paper shredding starts, startle the dickens out of smudge and say no, bad, whatever your correction word is in that "tone" of voice that says I mean it.  Couple times of that and maybe she will be cured....... Tried with Zoe but, the way the house is set up you can't hide without her seeing you unless your in a bedroom.  Then you'd never see her.....

 

Good luck!