I hate my son's dog - Page 2

Policemom,

My guys love their crates too, because they associate them with something good....food.  I started early by feeding them in their crates ONLY.  Then they stay in them for at least an hour to let them digest their food well.  They also get their raw bones in their crates which keeps my carpets/floors nice and clean.  They also stayed in them at night until they were about 9 months old and I had proof that they understood what was "theirs" to play with and what was not.  Of course, they have lots of toys & chew bones available also.  I know many people keep them in crates alot longer, but I wanted my dogs for security reasons and didn't feel very secure with them in the crates at night, although they are kept in the bedroom at night.  I feel very blessed as they have never chewed up things around the house, but were taught from very early "no, that does not belong to you -bad" whenever they started looking at something intently.  Even the pup now runs to her crate when she comes in the house and looks forward to her quiet time. 

Hope it works out for you.

Agreed crate the dog!  That dog needs to earn it's freedom.  All of mine adore their crates and will go in them on their own.

I have learned my lesson and now have a crate.  I had dogs as a kid which never needed to be crated.  Of course they weren't GSDS!  Back then dogs were free to roam the neighborhood with all the kids.  Ah the good old days.  We never had a dog or puppy that had any destructive habits so this is all new to me.  It was a real shock today because I thought he was thru with his puppy chewing.  Guess he got a bug up his wazoo.  So anyway, back then, crating was almost unheard of.  I remember my cousin had a dog and everyone talked about how "cruel" it was to have it in a crate.  But now I have seen the light!  I guess he'll just have to get used to it.  And you know, neutering my son might not be such a bad idea either.  Thanks everyone.  Ya'll are great.

 CRATE is the only way you will have a house left.

 CRATE is the only way you will have a house left.

Good job!  Crates are  god sent.  My 2 1/2 year old is still crated while we are at work.  We've done maybe 4 hours loose with the other guys, but it's too big of a jump for me to go to the full 10 hours we are gone.  Although, she'd probably be fine at this point.  She knows when it's crate time in the A.M. and goes right to it.  Of course it helps that she usually gets a cookie for doing so.  :)  It' a neat party trick in my house, when I send them from the other side of the house for dinner to their crates.  And everytime I get a new one, they seem to pick it up quickly from the other dogs.  Sometimes the little one will go their "thinking" she's gonna get a snack.  She also banks herself off of the bed to get to the crate over top of one of the other dogs.  No one can tell me that crating is cruel!

policemom I also never had to use a crate for any of my pups even though they were stationed around the house for them to go into to sleep, with the doors open. Then came Ivan!! What a jerk, it was like an awakening!! If he got left in the house most anything he targeted belonged to me . Unless you might count the down comforter as not really mine! What a frickin' mess. So I crated him in a #500. When I came home from work he had the cushions shredded in it, lesson #1, no bedding! It was also feeling like a sauna from his frolicking in the crate sooo I bought a huge wire crate. He demolished the nice heavy plastic pan that goes in it and bent the wire so the door barely will close  but nothing in the house got damaged!! That was a plus! Luckily I don't work anymore, just at home.... Then the storm subsided.... at around 3 years old Ivan was OK left loose in the house and I hope Murphy cannot read this post!

Ah yes the good old puppy stages.  Gotta love them.  Even though I use a crate and would never do without it I've still had some episodes even outside in the yard that I wanna just kick that little buggers butt.  I bought this beautiful chase lounger for my deck- this was to be my "queens chair" to sun myself on.  I paid big bucks for this chair and couldn't wait for the first day I could enjoy it.  First nice day my hubby went to cut grass and I put the dogs up on the deck and closed the gate to keep them away from the mower; I went inside to cook and by the time I came back out that little jerk had a nice big perfectly square chunk taken out of the chair's upholstery.  I wanted to kill him.  2 weeks later he ate threw the swimming pool filter hoses.  Water was shootin out everywhere and this little retard was trying to snap at the water shooting out like it was a game.

So that just goes to show you that even outside you gotta monitor the situation cause in 2.3 seconds they can chew the studs off the house if you let em.   Now I've decided to invest in an outdoor kennel/run because I can only see things getting worse from here. lol 

LOL thanks Agar, I needed a good laugh.