Eating Everything!

brittany1984 · #1 16th November 2005, 09:57 PM

My boxer Duke is eating everything he finds on the floor. The other night I went out with my husband and he was all alone in the house for about 3 hours. He was really good except I walked in and saw that he ate the bottom lining to one of my old recliners off. Good thing it was an old one..lol.. It wasnt funny at the time. But all week long I have been catching him chewing on the corner of the recliner and I walk over and tell him no and tap him on the nose. He just looks at me and then ten mins later he is back and doing the same thing. He is 7.5 months old. Another night we went somewhere he opend a cabnit door that I had some papers in and he tore them all out and ate them all. I could put anything back together. And he eats my daughters toys all the time. We leave him in the house all the time cause i dont believe in leaving the dog out or chaining him up. He always seems to act up when we are gone for more then two ro three hours. He is potty trained so we never come home to any of that mess but its all the other now. How do i get him to stop it? He also has one more little problem. My 2year old daughter eats all the time so she always has something in her hand and duke chases her all around the house untill he snatches the food from her hand. I yell at him but it doesnt phase him he ignores me like he never even heard me. He is such a little brat sometimes.
Brittany.

DACpuppy · #2 16th November 2005, 10:09 PM

Sorry I don't have the answer for you just some sympathy. Rupert is starting to chew and I have a 7 month old skinbaby that acts like a hoover.

Indy B's Mom · #3 16th November 2005, 10:37 PM

You will need to crate Duke when you leave the house, he is still a baby. You would never leave your 2 year old home alone, you would get her a babysitter-so consider a crate your dogs babysitter. Another option would be gating off one room-kitchen or bathroom. As far as him stealing your daughter's food, why not have your daughter sit down to eat-it's much easier than you chasing him, while he's chasing her, then getting mad and yelling at him. I would also suggest some obedience classes-I just had a private lesson with Ty's trainer/behaviorist to go over some of his "teenage" behaviors and I have seen a huge improvement with Ty. I am not ashamed to admit that I was the one who needed trained on how to train Ty. Yelling and nose-tapping are not effective methods-you want to spend less time on telling him "no", and more time rewarding him for good behaviors. I hope some of this helps-since Ty is 8 months old and my daughter just turned 4 years old, I can relate to some of the craziness right now! Good luck!

brittany1984 · #4 17th November 2005, 10:41 AM

He has grown out of his crate. I just hate to go out and buy a new one because I want him to learn that if he stays in the house he has to be a good boy. When I leave for a little bit like a half hour to an hour and come back and he doesnt eat anything and everything is like it should be I praise him and give him lots of treats. And trying to get a 2 year old to sit while she has a cookie in her hand is a hard task..lol..if you can imagine. Duke loves my little girl. He is the best dog that i really ever had. ANyways thanks for the tips. I would really like to do the training thing but the nearest trainer is 1.5 hrs away. But thanks alot..
Brittany and DUke