Hi Folks A question from a community member: I have a 8 1/2 month old male, intact GSP. When I am home or he is around other people or dogs he is fine. He is boisterous and playful, only barks when he is really excited and generally listens pretty well for a puppy his age. He is basically a good dog! However, when I am away he engages in what can charitably be called destructive behavior. He is crate trained and goes in on command. He has chewed up two dog mats placed in his crate. I tried to give him some more freedom by leaving him in my finished basement and even though I thought I had removed everything he could destroy, he still found a way to destroy the room. I put him back in his crate the next day and he managed to get a hold of a comforter off a bed and pull it into the crate through the wired bars and mangle it. There are numerous other instances that I wont go into, but you get the point. Outside of hunting season I exercise him as much as I can, half hour walk in the morning, walks at night and trips to the dog park or hikes in the woods 3-4 times a week. His exercise is admittedly a little lessened in the cold weather we have been having. I even bring him to the office with me, where he is fine. Is this some form of separation anxiety or just boredom? I try to limit him to 6 hours in the crate. (I got the biggest one possible.) Is this a phase of adolesense? Is there anything that I can do to keep him occupied during crate time? (he has plenty of toys with him. He chews them up pretty good too) Thanks! Please leave a comment. Admin
Posted on: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 17:55:53 +0000