I'm having a bit of trouble with my puppy 'Carny'. She's a 6-month-old Bernese Mountain Dog cross Malinois.
When we're out, Carny stays in the kitchen with my other dog, specifically to keep any mischief to a minimum. I leave her with toys, dry food, water, her bed, an old t-shirt with my scent, and a nightlight so she isn't left in the dark...
Basically, I'm doing my absolute best to make sure she feels settled.
Unfortunately, every time we leave, Carny chews holes in the wall around the door, as if she can't stand being shut in. But if I give her free run of the house, she'll attack other walls and furniture, which has already happened before.
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I’m just adding this just in case, as we’ve talked about physical and mental stimulation, but you also need to think about training them to manage their emotions—staying calm, dealing with frustration and so on... It’ll help for when they’re left home alone, too... Make sure to do it gradually... don’t overwhelm them... Because if you increase their exercise without teaching them how to settle, you also risk them becoming hyperactive.
Don't forget she's part Malinois, a breed with bags of energy, and she's still young; letting her out in the garden is only really enough for her to stretch her legs a bit.
If your boyfriend isn't working, he could take her out more often and work on some separation training.
Give her some mental stimulation too – things like enrichment games and snuffle mats...
White vinegar works well to stop the walls getting stained. Make sure to focus on the spots they've already damaged because they often like to finish what they've started or keep going in the same place—just like digging the same hole in the garden 😉. And definitely no bleach. If you’re cleaning, use natural black soap and white vinegar.
Anyway, that’s my recipe, but there are plenty of others!
Having two dogs is really brilliant, but when they’re completely different ages, they have different temperaments and exercise needs, which can also change depending on the time of year... Best of luck. I only did it for 3 weeks last summer while dog-sitting a friend's Boxer; it was great but I also did separate walks alongside the ones we did together. It helps to make sure they aren't always on top of each other and gives you a chance to work on the bond with your dog (or keep it going for the older one...), as well as training and socialisation tailored to their specific needs and issues. I was doing about 3 to 3.5 hours of walks a day for the two Boxers. In the middle of a heatwave, for Boxers, that’s a fair amount. So, for a Malinois cross who has more stamina to begin with, they’re going to need even more exercise. Not to mention the mental stimulation.
Day to day, for ours, it’s around 2 to 2.5 hours a day. Of course, you can also spend half-days outdoors, but with plenty of breaks. Lots of doggy pals to play with too, ball games, tug-of-war, fun training games...
To keep them occupied while they're healing up, try toys, deer antlers to chew on, puzzle games, or a bit of quiet scent work in the garden...
Hi, so the problem is that we’ve got a second dog who’s much older and we take him out for walks too, but he’s very excitable and we’re really worried about bumping into other dogs because he’s a rescue we found in a right state on the street—he was beaten... I’ll spare you the details, but he can sometimes be aggressive with other dogs, especially males. When I say “we try”, it’s mostly depending on the weather. I join group walks with her once a week, and we also play with her in the garden. I’m going to try and go for longer walks. Plus, Carny isn’t kept on a lead except by the road, which lets her burn off twice as much steam. Otherwise, I’ll take her out on her own for longer.
I’m avoiding walks at the moment because she’s just had her operation (been spayed), so I need to avoid getting her too worked up.
Other than that, she’s no trouble at all on walks.
Hi there,
Ours used to chew the walls too, despite separation training, plenty of exercise and keeping things calm... Anyway, it happened when she was around 4 months old and then again during her "teenage" phase at about a year old.
Try putting some vinegar on the walls 😉 and work on the "leave it" command while you're actually there to help them understand.
However, please don't take this the wrong way, but an hour's walk isn't really enough considering your dog's age and breed mix... Having a garden won't make up for it because it's the same environment every day... Familiarity takes away the novelty and surprise, which might be why they feel the need to let off steam elsewhere...
Also, when you say "we try", is that because you're short on time or because you're running into other issues while out on walks?
Even with the repellent spray properly applied, she still kept at the same holes? She’s a persistent little thing, isn’t she! :-)
Actually, for my girl, I think it was a bit of a mix of teething (at 5 months) plus her first few times being left home alone for a bit longer.
We only had one little hole near the door, so the stress was definitely centred around the door as well – basically just the puppy trying to get back to her humans, I suppose.
Mind you, for mine it was only a very brief phase, I didn't even have time to get worried about it. She’s never really been the type to chew the furniture or be destructive.
She doesn't do it all the time, but it’s been going on for about two months now. I did wonder if it could be her teeth, but I’ll have to see how things go. I’ve tried a deterrent spray and even used pepper, but neither of those worked. I’m going to check with my vet to see if they’ve got something that might be a bit more effective.
My dog chewed a little hole in the plasterboard back when her adult teeth were coming through, but it was just a passing phase and we had no more issues after that.
The main thing is to stop it from becoming a "habit"... you could try using a deterrent spray on the patches she’s already started on to discourage her and see if that’s enough to nip it in the bud.
