Binky the shredder-help!

[Binky]

Ahhhhhh!!!  I need advice please.  Binky will be 9 months old next week and, until last week, she has been really well behaved.  However, she has become really destructive whenever she's left alone.  I work from home most of the time so the animals are rarely alone for more than 2-3 hours.  I used to gate Binky in the kitchen when I left the house, but we started leaving her free in the house about a month ago and she was doing fine. 
Last weekend, we were gone for about four hours and came home to a house COVERED in feathers.  Binky had destroyed our down comforter- it would have been funny if it wasn't such a mess- the cats were swooping around, chasing feathers...the dogs were all sneezing like crazy.  Anyway, I thought it was a one time thing, but two days later, I came home and she had ripped apart our other comforter (not down, fortunately).  She had also torn up a 6 inch strip of our Burber carpet and shredded three magazines!  I couldn't believe it.  Then, while I was upstairs for maybe 10 minutes, she managed to destroy a pair of my shoes (my favorites of course). 
I have started gating her in the kitchen again but am wondering why she has suddenly started this.  She has tons of toys and the other animals to play with, so I can't imagine why she would do this.  Is this a normal Pyr phase?  It's gotten so that I can't even leave the room for a few minutes without her destroying something- she shredded a bunch of paperwork I was working on in a matter of minutes when I went to use the bathroom!  Does anyone know why this would happen?  Any advice?  Thanks.

[doggylover]

I don't really think this is a big issue (let me clarify that:  it isn't a big issue in terms of difficulty to correct...it's obviously a HUGE issue in that you can't live in a house that looks like it went through a food processor). 

I think the puppy is doing this now because it just occured to him.  He is a mischevious little puppy with new found freedom.  Perhaps just being allowed the run of the house kept him entertained for the fist month of his freedom, now the inherant excitement has worn off and he is looking for some fun times!

I don't think this is something to worry about, even 1%.  We had a rule when we had our demon puppy (actually I think 'demon puppy' is redundant...I've never seen a pup who wasn't looking for trouble) that he was NEVER EVER allowed free reign until he was 100% trustworthy, and past his puppy-antics.  That meant that if we left the room for a drink of water, he was crated for 2 minutes.  If we weren't in the room, with half an eyeball on him, he was crated.  This is not so different than how people who work at home handle very young children.  If they aren't in the same room, the child is in a playpin or some other baby-containment contraption. 

We did this for 2 years and by the time we allowed him to stay in the house for the day while we worked (9-10 hours at most)without being crated, he was wonderful.  It really didn't enter his head to do anything because he was used to sleeping and entertaining himself with his own toys. 

As a side note, we started giving him gradually increasing freedom at age 2, and worked up to the full run of the house for the full day. 

I hope this helps!
 ;)Ronda

[doggylover]

OOPS...I said 'he', and your baby is a girl! 
Sorry!!!!!

[ilovebabe]

my year old lab/german sheperd does the same thing and i am also wondering what i can do to help her with the problem because i hate to leave her in a kennel while i am gone. she loves the couch and the bed and if we could get past the eating stuff she would be so much happier being out and being able to sleep on the bed when she wants instead of in a kennel
thanks bunches
marissa

[ZoesMama]

I think the puppy is doing this now because it just occured to him.  He is a mischevious little puppy with new found freedom.  Perhaps just being allowed the run of the house kept him entertained for the fist month of his freedom, now the inherant excitement has worn off and he is looking for some fun times!

;)Ronda

I agree with Ronda.  It's a puppy thing and it's probably become a habit...a very fun habit for puppy.  I bet if you go back to the crate or gating-off for a while, you could break her of the habit.  Just have to keep a close eye for awhile longer...

[macybean]

She and Sadie would have a ball. Sadie's almost two, and only started shredding at about 1.5-y-old after some changes to our lifestyle. She had been left out all the time at her first home and was used to someone being home all the time at my home. I had to start crating her during the day (or baby-gating her into the kitchen with Riley who today decided he'd like to start pooping inside again at almost 9 months old... I think he must know I am having sad thoughts about him... heh... It's just very random).

At any rate, Sadie would shred blinds, books, magazines, boxes, dvds, remotes, cell phones... She was world-class. I didn't like crating her during the day, so I was putting it off. But it got to be a safety thing for her, too, nevermind that we had nothing left below four feet high at my house. She's fine with the crate and knows everything's great when I get home, instead of trying not to look at me, b/c she knows she's torn up another pair of flip flops or a shelf of books.

[doggylover]

my year old lab/german sheperd does the same thing and i am also wondering what i can do to help her with the problem because i hate to leave her in a kennel while i am gone. she loves the couch and the bed and if we could get past the eating stuff she would be so much happier being out and being able to sleep on the bed when she wants instead of in a kennel
thanks bunches
marissa

This was my first reaction to crating as well, based on my thinking 'I' wouldn't like to be crated, so I didn't want to crate my dog.  The problem with that is that it is human thinking about a dog-thinking kind of issue.  Your dog probably does a lot of nasty things you wouldn't do...dogs just like different stuff than we do (like chewing on their own butts and eating long dead animal carcuses they find in the yard.) 
Dogs LOVE the crate.  It is their den.  If you put something in there that smells like you, he will be just as happy (or possibly more happy) than he is lollygagging on your bed during the day. 
This is obviously just my opinion, and I understand that we all have different philosophy's about how to train our dogs, I probably do lots of things with my dog that you would find crazy (like hand feeding)...I just thought it might help if you thought about the crate from a different perspective. 
 

[Gypsy Jazmine]

We used to call Samson our chipper shredder...lol ...He's perfect now as far as tearing things up he shouldn't thank goodness!...It may be that free roam of the house may be too much responsibility for Binky...Gatein g her in small area for 2 to 3 hours certainly isn't too long & might be a relief to her as she might just be anxious...I can't imagine what my house would look like if I let Rosie & Pippin loose in the whole house unattended...I shudder to think!

[smsmith]

[quote author=doggylover
This was my first reaction to crating as well, based on my thinking 'I' wouldn't like to be crated, so I didn't want to crate my dog.  The problem with that is that it is human thinking about a dog-thinking kind of issue.  Your dog probably does a lot of nasty things you wouldn't do...dogs just like different stuff than we do (like chewing on their own butts and eating long dead animal carcuses they find in the yard.) 
Dogs LOVE the crate.  It is their den.  If you put something in there that smells like you, he will be just as happy (or possibly more happy) than he is lollygagging on your bed during the day. 
This is obviously just my opinion, and I understand that we all have different philosophy's about how to train our dogs, I probably do lots of things with my dog that you would find crazy (like hand feeding)...I just thought it might help if you thought about the crate from a different perspective. 
 

I wholeheartedly agree, Gypsy!  Even though I do not own a crate for Einstein, I've had dogs in the past who were crate-trained and they LOVED it.  For one thing, it's a strict rule that while a dog is in the crate, no one can YELL at them.  It's smaller, making them feel snug -- and we're so nice we give them crates they can see out of!

Einstein sits in front of a window looking out on the street most of the day.  One of my neighbors told me she felt sorry for him, having to sit inside all day.  What would she have me do, chain him up in the yard all day?  People are so weird. From what I can see, he's having a great time sitting there -- he barks his head off at anything he wants to, he is constantly entertained by the cats and squirrels, and the highlight of his day is the mailman, who must walk right up to the window to put mail in our mailbox. 

My point is, what seems cruel to some is a blessing for others.  Just think how much better your relationship would be if you could leave the pup for several hours and not come home to a mess (or leave for a few minutes, for that matter).

If Einstein crosses a very fine line we've got going right now, I'll break down and buy a crate for him.  He seems to chew mostly when he's stressed -- like when the landlord comes to repair something.  So far he hasn't chewed up anything valuable (mostly because I keep those items either up high or behind a closed door).  But if it's on the floor he figures he has dibs on it. 

For sure next puppy -- I'm crate-training!  It's a good safety-valve too when people come over to the house -- you just say "kennel!" and the dog races to get in!  If I had visitors very often, I'd surely make Einstein do that.  He's pretty overwhelming to new people who aren't used to dogs, especially big dogs.

[Binky]

Thanks everyone!  I have decided to gate her in the kitchen while we're gone and that seems to be working.  I have also gated off the upstairs so she cen't sneak up while I'm working.  I've never heard of a dog hormone surge, but that does make sense-it's just so odd that she would start this so suddenly and that may be the explanation!  I guess we'll just have to keep everything off the floor (and off the coffee table and the bedside tables...) for a few more months!

[Gypsy Jazmine]

On the crate note we have had problems since we brought the crate back into the family room for Rosie...The problem is it is really hard to get Samson out of it when Rosie wants in!!