# Anyone else have a dog like this one? I'm really tired of his shenanigans :(



## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

Well my oldest is a food hound and SNEAKY. 

First week I had him, he stole a steak off the stove. He once OPENED the glovebox of my car and ate an entire 1 lb bag of beef jerky, He ate his dinner off the counter twice. He took CLEAN plastic containers off the counter and ate them. He once opened a cupboard and ate an entire sack (A big one) of training treats. He has stolen many things off the counter and table. He can't seem to find a FULL spot in his stomach! He is always hungry!

Tonight he ripped open my BRAND NEW treat bag belt hanger holder thing and ate all the treats. 

HE KNEW he was in trouble when I saw him with it. It was sitting on the bar between the kitchen and the living room and he grabbed it off. 

I had JUST finished feeding them. I just took it away, and put him out back. 


I'm so fed up with this dog. I love him to death but he does nothing but make me regret saving him. He is almost 9 years old and I've had him for 7.5 years. 7.5 years of playing his games.

Sorry for the slight rant but I'm really sick of my dog! and mad at myself for not putting it on top of the fridge. :redface:


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

Sprocket said:


> and mad at myself for not putting it on top of the fridge. :redface:


hahaha... and herein lies the problem :tongue:

But I get what ya mean. Some dogs are too smart for their own good. They know what to do to make you happy with them, and get rewards. But they also know how much they can get away with, without being severely punished. And sometimes it's worth the risk lol


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

hmbutler said:


> hahaha... and herein lies the problem :tongue:
> 
> But I get what ya mean. Some dogs are too smart for their own good. They know what to do to make you happy with them, and get rewards. But they also know how much they can get away with, without being severely punished. And sometimes it's worth the risk lol


I know its all MY FAULT  WAH HAHA. 

I just wish he SPOKE ENGLISH! I JUST Bought that thing and I LOVE IT! Now its ruined. Damn dog has A GREAT LIFE and is still ungrateful!. We are going camping this weekend, and he sleeps on the bed every night, he gets treats and walks, and play time and fun, and cuddles and the best food money can buy...but he still wants more...

I thought rescues were suppose to be grateful? LOL


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I have one of those. She's constantly getting into trouble, the reason why she's earned the name sh*thead. 

The best thing you can do is keep EVERYTHING edible, slightly edible, inedible but contained edibles at some point under strict lock and key. When they get into something they shouldn't, its technically you're fault as the owner. I know because every time I come home to trash spread all over I know its my fault for not putting the trash up before we leave. 

I can definitely sympathize! And on top of the naughtiness of getting into things she's an escape artist....thats a whole other ball game!


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

YES... this little girl right here!:










She can open any garbage, jump on the counter (mind you she is 11lb!), she has eaten a pound of butter at once, she was pooping just melted butter for a day and a half. She ate a bag of peanuts once, well they came out whole. She is completely untrustworthy around food and will do anything to gorge herself.. she is the definition of "bad dog!"... unfortunately she is as cute as a button and I love her to bits :biggrin:


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

DaneMama said:


> I have one of those. She's constantly getting into trouble, the reason why she's earned the name sh*thead.
> 
> The best thing you can do is keep EVERYTHING edible, slightly edible, inedible but contained edibles at some point under strict lock and key. When they get into something they shouldn't, its technically you're fault as the owner. I know because every time I come home to trash spread all over I know its my fault for not putting the trash up before we leave.
> 
> I can definitely sympathize! And on top of the naughtiness of getting into things she's an escape artist....thats a whole other ball game!


On top of this dogs naughtiness, he is EVIL! haha

I can't ever leave him with people because he will bite them. HE will come up to you, and growl at you while you pet him. He is just an ornery old man!


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

Caty M said:


> YES... this little girl right here!:
> 
> 
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Biggest issue right there in bold! 

I came into the room to THIS a few weeks ago..









What the heck am I suppose to do with this face? I feel SO bad for him but the other half of me wants to give him to my mom. I left him with her once for 3 months (I was couch surfing) and she said he waited by the door for 2 days when I left...


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

perhapes you could get one of those doggy alarms? you put it up on each side of the doorway and when the dog passes thru it makes a high pitched tone perhapes that would be enough to scare him out of the kitchen altogether?
cesar is deff a food theif when everyone is in the living room he sneaks out into the kitchen so i put coins in a tin can and would sneak out after him real quietly and watch him from behind the wall the second he would stick his nose into the trash i would shake the can and scare the living daylights outta him though he still hasnt quite trash surfing he HAS quite sneaking out there to do it!


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## RachelsaurusRexU (Sep 4, 2010)

Caty M said:


> YES... this little girl right here!:
> 
> 
> 
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That is a GORGEOUS picture of her! Wow!


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

Thanks! She is tough to take pictures of, since she is so quick! Mostly I get frames and frames of faces like so:


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## RachelsaurusRexU (Sep 4, 2010)

Hahaha I love it!


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

Caty M said:


> YES... this little girl right here!:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I always imagined iggys to be dainty and picky! Hahaha.


I have two parts to add to this:

1. Buck is definitely a food hound... literally. Haha. He gets 2 lbs of food per day and will beg for Dude's food and act like he hasn't eaten for days RIGHT after he has just eaten. We still have our bag of Pedigree from several months ago that we use sparingly as training treats and even one piece of kibble will make him whine and shake in anticipation. For some reason he will not go into the kitchen when I am not looking (so at least I know he hangs on to his training!) even if I have the door open and am thawing their food (bulk) on the floor. He will sit and look longingly at it but he won't go get it. However, during feeding times he gets so wound up that he has recently started jumping up into the air in front of me. Not on me, just leaping up into the air in front of me almost like he just can't contain himself. We are currently working on lowering the excitement level before he gets to have his food.

2. Back when I lived with my mom Dude was strictly an outdoor dog. My mom would NOT allow him inside. He spent most of his time confined to the side yard with a wrought iron pen built into the garage so he could go in and out of the garage and side yard as he pleased. He was generally let out into the whole back yard for several hours a day. Our brittany, Hoss, was an indoor dog but spent the day outside with Dude. We used to keep the big garbage cans in the side yard with Dude... until they learned how to get into it. We would sometimes come home to find 2 bags of garbage strewn about the side yard and both dogs would hide when they saw me because they knew they were in trouble (and people don't think dogs remember what they did wrong!). We couldn't figure out how they did it until one day, my mom was doing laundry (the window of which looks out into the side yard) and she heard some noise that sounded like the garbage cans being moved around. She called me into the laundry room and we watched them. Dude would get up on his back legs with his front paws on the can. He would use his nose to flip the lid up and stick one paw in so it couldn't close all the way. He would then reach his head in, grab a bag of garbage, toss it down to the ground to Hoss and get another one out and toss it down to the ground. They would each then proceed to rip up their own bag of garbage.

I definitely know how troublesome things like all of this can be!


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

yup, got one of those. I call him the terrible dog. I dont know what it is, but it almost feels like he goes out of his way sometimes to do something bad while I'm gone, even if its only for an hour. I was so mad when I bought this really nice training belt to hold treats when it was on clearance, and he somehow snatched it off the counter and tore it up because there were couple treats left in there. Now I dont know if it'll ever go on sale because its too expensive to buy again.. sigh. 
He's stolen butter off the counter. One time he knocked down a whole pan of freshly baked banana nut bread when I was gone for 20 mins. He gained like 5 lbs in one evening. 
The funny thing is that he always acts so guilty when he pulls stunts like these. Always does that guilty dog smile and flops on his back acting all submissive. As much pain in the butt as he is, I still love my boy.


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

That's the biggest mystery, why do they do it if they know that it's bad?

I know some one did something bad when I open the door and no one is there to greet me. I would often find Sprocket under the table hiding. He gets the biggest saddest eyes and moves real slow :tongue:. Mikey does the same thing except the tip of his tail twitches. 

Gunner is too young to get it.

I'd really love to know WHY they do it. They know it's bad, but do it Anyway...

I still adore my boys (they are all laying on my bed right now...), but they are like perpetual children. Haha


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Sprocket said:


> That's the biggest mystery, why do they do it if they know that it's bad?
> 
> I know some one did something bad when I open the door and no one is there to greet me. I would often find Sprocket under the table hiding. He gets the biggest saddest eyes and moves real slow :tongue:. Mikey does the same thing except the tip of his tail twitches.
> 
> ...


Because the reward is better than the punishment. Every time they steal something off the counter the reward is HUGE...steak, a whole chicken, a stick of butter. What's the punishment? If its not caught red pawed in the moment it doesn't count. If you punish them later, they make the connection but its not enough to keep them from doing it again. They have been punished in the past, which makes them fearful and appear to be "ashamed" of the crime. 

Same thing with tearing things up. The fun of doing far outweighs the punishment they get for it. 

The real issue is....why punish a dog for something they will do anyways because its worth it? The answer is it makes us people feel better, but doesn't do any good because if it did do any good...they wouldn't even dare do it again.* Thats why managing a dog's environment is the BEST way to combat things like getting on the counter, tearing things up, etc.* An effective punishment should only have to be used once or twice to stop a behavior all together...the issue with that is HUGE fallout rates. Fallout rates meaning your dog would NEVER be the same. Example below...

A lot of people think setting dogs up with a booby trap (mouse traps on the counter, etc) is a good idea, but a lot of the time it will create a fearful dog of his surroundings. Why? Because random "attacks" will occur at any moment! Rarely do booby traps fix the problem anyways. Dogs figure out when booby traps are set and either wait for the opportune moment when we forget to set them OR they find a way around them. Smart dogs will test their environment constantly...

Fallout: 

Akasha and Shiloh were playing in the living room of our old house. Akasha was maybe 6 months old at the time. Their play got pretty rough (we usually don't allow them to play like that in the house), and one of them bumped a cabinet with a HUGE mirror on top, maybe weighs 50 pounds or so. The mirror toppled over and landed on Akasha. That was a HUGE punishment to her (even though it wasn't a true "punishment" for doing something- just an accident), and refused to go in the living room for the longest time. Ceiling fans would be the death of her...she was convinced. Her fallout from that single event is still with her. She was never a fearful dog before that, but now she's very cautious. Shiloh was right there when it happened, but she was un-phased by it...I know that some dogs would still be scarred if it had fallen but not hit them. 

Another example is of bomb sniffing dogs trained for WWII. They would put a landmine in the center of a circle marked with an invisible line. The dogs were supposed to sniff the bomb but not get so close to get blown to bits. So they set up very loud speakers around that would blast a horrific, loud noise down on the dog if they crossed the line. This punishment was VERY effective because its success rate of keeping dogs at a safe distance was nearly 100%. BUT....the euthanasia rate was upwards of 60% because the majority of dogs exposed to that punishment were "ruined" in their training. They became so fearful of everything that they couldn't perform their job at all. 

Punishment: 

How are we to know if the punishment "fits" the crime but doesn't cause fallout? There's really no way to know for sure because every dog is an individual and handle things like punishment differently. As seen in the examples above. Unfortunately people use punishments and don't realize the fallout they produce until the damage is done. Fixing fallout is a LOT harder than managing a dog's environment. 

In conclusion, keeping everything well managed is the key. You know how your dogs get into trouble...so that makes your job of "manager" a lot easier. Whatever they get into, put away WELL. However they escape your yard, prevent it. ETC...


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

So should I throw away my couch? Haha

I usually do manage their environment pretty well. The top of our fridge is stacked with "goodies". They know it too :tongue:

Oh the wonderful life of dogs


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Sprocket said:


> So should I throw away my couch?


No, but maybe limit their access to it when you're not at home. I've dealt with couch eaters before and it sucks!


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

DaneMama said:


> No, but maybe limit their access to it when you're not at home. I've dealt with couch eaters before and it sucks!


He's only done it twice within the same week. He seems to does it when he's happy. It's like a joyous tossing of the fluff. 

I am working on dog proofing the small garage so they can have access to it from the outside and be able to spend their day in there. I just gotta get the stuff in there up on the shelves!


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

I guess I'm lucky. None of ours are like that. That might end though come Saturday. We will be bringing Shadow home. I sure hope the crate works its "magic"! LOL!!


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

This thread has completely encompassed why I think a crate is the absolute safest place for some dogs if they aren't supervised. I look at all that couch stuffing and see an obstruction waiting to happen. Granted some dogs will get into mischief every now and then, I think dogs who have made a habit out of it NEED to not be put in the position of doing it continually. 

Zailey would be one of these dogs. I tried to do away with her crate and got poop by the door every time. Then she chewed a corner off the desk, and it was over.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Years ago we went through three living room suits before we finally decided to try crate training. I don't know why we didn't do it years before.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I used to have to crate bailey because she was the couch eater. Luckily she was able to be done with her kennel after about 1.5 years. Unfortunately Shiloh can't be kenneled, she would hurt herself getting out or trying to get out. So managing her environment is the best we can do with her


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Is Shiloh that way because she's a hybrid, or just because thats the way she is?


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

I mean about the crate part, sorry that wasn't clear.


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## bernadettelevis (Feb 2, 2011)

oh my i have one of those dogs.

He will eat anything edible he can find. He can open trashcans and doors. He is really good in the house when left alone, as long as there is NOTHING edible in reach.
He ate a whole bag of raw rice once. A big one! We had "Rice-poop" for a few days.
Also when i'm in the stable with my horse, if i can't supervise him 100% he is on the leash. He eats everything.
He destroyed two very expensive jackets because i forgot a treat in them plus a few treat-belts.

He doesn't even have a bad concsience when he does it. He stops when he sees me but that's it.

So now when he is left alone, i put everything edible away and lock the doors  hahaha i just love my dog (most of the time )


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

just out of curiousity, what do you do to make your displeasure known....

for me, it's maaaaaaaleeeeeeeeyaaaaaaahhhhhhh.....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO or UTTTTTTTT OHHHHHHH

i have never given her a reason to stop what she's doing. fortunately for me, her biggest and worst habit is constant whining......


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## leilaquinn (Sep 7, 2011)

YES I have one of those dogs! The last time my mom baby sat him she kept sending me pictures of empty containers that had food in them the last time they checked. An empy butter dish on the counter, a bowl of pistachios (in shells!) on the coffee table, a plate that held some whole meal on the table. All licked clean, and pictures a a smiling happy pit bull boy. I asked why she kept walking away when his response was so predictable, and she said she just couldn't believe he is THAT bad:biggrin1:! The dogs I grew up with were both the kinds of dogs who wouldn't touch a whole cake left on the living room floor if you asked them not to and then went to the movies. They were both great dogs (Birdie still is at 15!) but had and have their own less than pleasent qualities. i know Luigi would probably have to slip into a coma before I could trust him not to steal occationally, as has been said, for some dogs the reward is just totally worth the disaproval or whatever happens after. pretty much the only times I've ever "hit" the dog (not even hard enough to make a toddler sad) were a few light but startling butt slaps after sneaking up on him with his face on the counter, and those smacks were purely for my sanity having to live with him, he never minded, but I love to see him jump when he's in that blissed out food stealing trance:heh:. He will eat out of the foster cat's litter box if i forget the baby gate. He once ate a whole muffin pan's worth of blueberry muffins off the top of the stove, he did it so carefully that the tim wasn't disturbed and my husband and I didn;t realize till the morning because we both thought the other one had put them away after they cooled. Boys and squeemish people, sorry, buthe once pooped out two whole tampons I love my special boy, he is naughty but also hysterical and sweet, which for what ever reason some times seems to go hand in hand with good natured naughtiness, certainly not always, but more than 50 % of the time in my experience. 

Also, in regards to what Danemama said about fallout, Luigi is also a great example of that. he onced charged the baby gate when he was about 12 weeks old, we had just bought that one and had just leaned it against the door frame but hadn't attached it yet. back then there were TWO foster cats (please let there be none soon...) and he was still thrilled out of his mind to see them every time. he ran at the gate and it crashed down on top of his little puppy self, he already weighed more than that wooden gate and he was unharmed, but ever since if his toy goes any where near that particular gate he cries to have it retrieved for him, he thinks that gate ATTACKS if pea brain brown dogs get too close. It has worked to our advantage a bit, he respects all baby gates, even ones he could practically step over.

Interestingly (to me at leasthwell once when he was about 10 months old, the big bully cat who now has moved to his forever home got sick of being pestered to play, and rather than jump over the baby gate him self, as he had done probably hundreds of times, he turned 15 pounds of lean maine **** mix fury on that big sissy dog and chased LUIGI towards the baby gate. Luigi flew over that same gate like an antelope, didn't even touch it. Once the cat left the room he cried to be let back in the living room, clearly unaware that he had just crossed that impenitrable barrier moments before. The other 2 baby gates in the house he also flies over when in really focused zoomies, but acts like they are brick walls the rest of the time. i love my special ding dong!


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

magicre said:


> just out of curiousity, what do you do to make your displeasure known....
> 
> for me, it's maaaaaaaleeeeeeeeyaaaaaaahhhhhhh.....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO or UTTTTTTTT OHHHHHHH
> 
> i have never given her a reason to stop what she's doing. fortunately for me, her biggest and worst habit is constant whining......


I say "MIKEY! NO!", take item away, put dog outside. Then I leave him out there for a while cause if I see his eyes, I will crumble and feel bad


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Sprocket said:


> I say "MIKEY! NO!", take item away, put dog outside. Then I leave him out there for a while cause if I see his eyes, I will crumble and feel bad


Ain't that the truth?!
This was a picture I took of Annie, when she was learning not to chase the cat. 
"Annie, LEAVE ITTTTTT" 









Seriously, Annie? That's not fair.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Awww... thats so sad! "I'm sorry mom, I'll never do it again, I promise."


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

PuppyPaws said:


> Ain't that the truth?!
> This was a picture I took of Annie, when she was learning not to chase the cat.
> "Annie, LEAVE ITTTTTT"
> 
> ...


Haha that would be a tough face to go against. 

Last night I had to go out to the shop (unattached second large garage) to ask Drew a question. You have to go through the back yard to get there. Mikey was just sitting looking at me with his sweet little "mommy I love you" face, wagging his little tail...I gave in and hugged him.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Sprocket said:


> I thought rescues were suppose to be grateful? LOL


haha - I have heard that before. In my experience, they just know they are finally getting the life they deserved all along!

Snorkels especially - with her four teeth she got a bottom cabinet open and pulled out a box of Raisin Bran and gnawed through the cardboard. I was asleep on the couch and my husband was gone, so she had alot of time. Now, no food stored below waist high. She is at least very short.

Rebel ate a plate of chicken thighs, but I left them on the cabinet at eye level about 2 inches from the edge. I could hardly blame him - that was just too much temptation even for a dog that knows how to behave in the kitchen.


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

PuppyPaws said:


> Ain't that the truth?!
> This was a picture I took of Annie, when she was learning not to chase the cat.
> "Annie, LEAVE ITTTTTT"
> 
> ...


*GASPS* Oh linsey, how could you do that to this poor little angel??? hehe


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## BoxerParty (Nov 9, 2011)

PuppyPaws said:


> Ain't that the truth?!
> This was a picture I took of Annie, when she was learning not to chase the cat.
> "Annie, LEAVE ITTTTTT"
> 
> ...



Ugh, Boxers give the MOST INTENSE "you are a horrible person" faces EVER. My two are on "crate and rotate" right now since Lila is recovering from her spay (they can't be trusted not to wrestle unless they are both totally exhausted), and I swear that whichever dog is in his/her crate at the time makes a concerted effort to sigh repeatedly. They're probably singing "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen..." in their heads. :biggrin:


As for the snatching, Malcolm drives me CRAZY with his constant need to stick his head in the garbage. The best part is that there's usually not anything edible (by human standards) in there - just paper and tea leaves. He also likes to suck on my socks, and will chew on any receipt he finds lying around. What a weirdo. :twitch: 

Needless to say, my two lunatics are always crated if I'm not home. Lila might be fine unsupervised for a while, but there is a 100% chance that Malcolm would get into something if he weren't in his crate. (Then again, there was the time that he wrought havoc on his crate bed, and I can home to find him in a pile of foam, so I guess there are no guarantees. :biggrin: )


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

I just read through this whole thread and you all make me think now that Shade is an absolute angel! Here I was convinced that the poor boy was nonstop trouble and he's NOTHING compared to some of these stories!

He hasn't counter-surfed, eaten socks, or chewed the deck rails in almost 6 months. In fact, when we lost Chelsy last month, Shade graduated from his crate in the laundry room where he'd been sleeping with her and now has free roam of the house with Rocky. So far he's been perfect (oops, I'd better not jinx myself).

Okay, time to go and give the baby a hug for being such a good boy!


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

I'm with you Chowder. Maybe Mollie the moron isn't so bad after all. When she was a pup she went through a stage of chewing on the baseboards. I spent a few mornings frantically bogging and painting the corners before my lord here got up and noticed what she had done. Then she started jumping up and pulling down the blinds when we went out. Learn't that was because she wanted to see outside and got frustrated because I kept them shut thinking it would calm her down. So, opened blinds, no problem since. Thank you God!!
Reminds me though of my sister in laws husky. She ate the back out of their leather couch whilst 3 teenagers were sitting on the front watching telly. I laughed my head off and told her to thrash the kids, not the dog.


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## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

Most of the time, the pups are fine by themselves, but if we're "late" coming home..We will see a the results of a tempertantrum. Shredded "paper" (puppypads, especially, spread across beds) throughout the house, videogames unshelved and thrown around. I know that Blaise understands quite well what he's doing when he shreds items (particularly "paper" products). Don't know if I told this story before on here or not, but it's proof he's giving us a message with his "destructive" behavior. I had just gotten my first cell phone and my husband was showing me how to use the thing. Well, I guess Blaise was feeling unloved and ignored. He kept trying to get our attention, which was just not happening at that time. Finally he gave up, or so I thought. The next I knew, he smacking my leg with his front paw and talkgrowling, so I look down to tell him to go away. There's Blaise with a paper napkin in his mouth when he's sure he has our attention, Blaise spat the napkin on the floor between his feet. Grabs it and tears a chunk off, looks up at us and spits it out with this little hmmp sound and a "so there" expression. Then pranced his little rump out of the room. It's a good thing he's so sweet and cute. lol


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## leilaquinn (Sep 7, 2011)

Oh, I forgot to mention, Luigi CAN be left alone, he is only naughty when he knows you're near enough to react and give him attention for being bad. he spends about 6 hours alone a day sleeping on the couch!


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## NewYorkDogue (Sep 27, 2011)

I want to jump in on this thread-- but all I can add is that Mateo once chewed about 1/2 inch of the seam in a clog. And that took him over a month. Normally his shoe fetish manifests as picking up and carrying shoes or boots from one room to another. Or to his crate. Not chewing them. (Except the clog seam.)

But once I left my first dog (Black Lab) alone for about 2 hours when he was a puppy. He had discovered a bowl of fruit sitting on a low table and decided that he would help himself to a snack. When I came home I found four banana peels laying on the floor with the bananas gone. The thing is, they were _peeled_- like he had thumbs or something... Weird.


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