Quote:
Originally Posted by corneliusmom20
I just ordered a Medium-Large X-back harness.
I hope that'll be the right size...I ordered it from Tanzilla Harness Supplies in Whitehorse,Yukon.
Also on a side note, ive gone back to crating Chloe.
She's exercised reguarly, but she's eating everything in sight...whether its edible or not. She ate cling wrap...and now has the "runs".
Am i doing the right thing Stalk??
I just don't know what ot do anymore.
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How old is Chloe?
Is Chloe eating everything in sight while you are home, or while you are gone? If it's while you are gone, it's a owner-absent problem. With owner-absent problems, the best method of training is to train yourself to prevent it before it happens.
I need to know what kind of things she's chewing, where she is getting the stuff to chew, and so on.
If she is chewing stuff while you are home, then she needs to be taught the appropiate things to chew. The thing here is most people will correct the dog for chewing things. This correction, while preventing the issue from happening while you are there, will inevitably create owner-absent chewing issues. The dog does not learn that chewing on this is bad, it learns that chewing on this while you are around is bad, but it is OK while you are gone.
So what you want to do is to replace what she is chewing with the appropiate chew toy (Nylabone, rope toy (supervised), Kong, and so on). It is not a quick fix, in fact, it may take months, but you will have a happier dog and the likelihood of her chewing while you are gone is reduced.
Now, if she is chewing while you are gone, the best method is going to be crating her. You need to set her up for success, and by letting her loose where all these interesting chewable things are around, she is only going to reinforce herself every time she chews. So until you can reinforce that the other stuff is more appealing to chew, you will have difficulties.
One thing you must understand is that a dog spends 90% of it's waking time searching for food. When you take that away from a dog, what does he have left? Little else. So destructive behaviors are formed. What I did with Light and Dark, and what I do with Ollie and Kobe (when I fed them kibble) is that I have about 15 large Kongs. I get them all, plug the small hole on the top. then i mix the kibble with some water, and pour it into the kong. Some kibble gets mixed with yogurt (unsweetened) and some get mixed with peanut butter. It all goes into a tray.
Then I place it all in the freezer. Freeze overnight. In the morning, I will give them their kongs.
Given dogs are active during the dawn and during dusk properly exercised, what happens is when I leave for work at 6am, the dogs usually ignore the food for a bit. Around 7am, they start waking up and grabbing their food. they will work on it until about 9am, play with each other, and so on. by 10-11am, they are asleep during the day (as dogs are naturally meant to do.)
When i get home around 4pm, they are just barely waking up. I give them the rest of their meal in kongs, and they work on it until about 6-7pm. Then we go for their runs, play, do training. by 9pm they are just about getting ready for bed.
As you can see by this schedule, they have very little time to get in trouble. Most of their time is spent getting food, as it should be. So they are mentally stimulated, physically stimulated, and content dogs.
Do you want her to have free roam? Then you need to restrict her for a while. Crate her, do the kong method. after a few weeks, give her one room access, continue kongs. slowly build her up until she has house access. If she gets destructive, reduce freedom. Slowly but surely she will get used to it.
Hope this helps! I know it's a long answer, but your question has no simple answer.
