Porscha the Staffy X.

She is a sweety, full of bouncy licky staffy love - however she is a terror. She has shredded two tennis balls today (in bits) and eaten the OHs bluetooth dongle. (she didn't swallow :P )

She has loads of lovely toys but insists on eating pens, paper and bin diving. Any tips?

hehe - the joys of dog ownership :D

this is exactly the reason that Brude's breeder suggested that we should crate train - for the safety of the dog!

hehe - the joys of dog ownership :D

this is exactly the reason that Brude's breeder suggested that we should crate train - for the safety of the dog!

lol - she's a star apart from the nicking of stuff that isn't hers with the intention of letting us know she has it, (She will hang around with it hanging out of her mouth til we notice) then legging it and having a good chew before spitting it out.

Oh and whats with the bed hogging! I know, I know... she shouldnt be on the bed :rolleyes:

oooo you're just asking for trouble aren't you? :D

seriously - show your dog she's the dog - she's playing the usual status games with you ;)

I know but she was a rescue and totally undisciplined when we got her so every good thing counteracts the bad stuff. She stopped weeing in the house (bonus) and biting everyone (even better) and is even walking to heel nicely.

I just give in to her cute little wobbly face :hihi:

undisciplined rescues are particularly difficult to impose rules on, but they need rules more than your average dog!

If they're undisciplined they've already got an over inflated idea of who's calling the shots

By showing you something you want but she has, she's training you :P

lol - she's a star apart from the nicking of stuff that isn't hers with the intention of letting us know she has it, (She will hang around with it hanging out of her mouth til we notice) then legging it and having a good chew before spitting it out.

Oh and whats with the bed hogging! I know, I know... she shouldnt be on the bed :rolleyes:

i hope this is not going in my caravan ms fox:hihi:

another case of dog training owner lol, seriously you must treat her as a dog & not a baby otherwise youll mess her up even more . Imagine me with my 11 telling me what to do,its bad enough with the wife and kids lol

Oooh she sounds just like T! I could leave Takara as a pup and she wouldn't chew a thing (she'd have a merry time pulling stuff off the work tops, mind) but when I was in, if I wasn't paying her attention she'd grab something and run off with it so I chased her.

In fact.. we went to the beach on Sunday and when I wasn't paying her any attention, she grabbed a jelly fish and threatened to eat it so that I paid her some attention... :rolleyes:

She's not telling you she's boss or anything like it Fox, she's simply learned that it's REALLY fun to grab stuff and run off with it! She doesn't see it as you telling her off, she sees it as a way to initiate a game of chase and lots of puppy-owner interaction.

I'm afraid it's a case of keeping anything she can damage well out of reach (we had everything on top of shelves and bins on tables for the first year of Takara's life!) and if she gets hold of anything just ignoring her.

Tips:
1. Make sure she knows where HER stuff is
2. Make sure you pay her plenty of attention so that she does get it but on your terms
3. Leave something that isn't her's but isn't important to you within reach (a good one is an old sock on a radiator as long as she isn't going to try swallowing!) and when she grabs it and taunts you with it - just totally ignore her. This way, she'll learn that she gets no attention from you when she tries it.

When Takara was a pup I was always given the advice: If she's chewing the furniture or has something that's not hers, swap it for something that's her's. Great stuff - unless you have an intelligent dog in which case the dog trains you to get it a toy when they grab something of yours or chew the furniture.
Instead, I stopped her, took her with me to her toy box and allowed her to pick her own toy, then walk back into the lounge with her and the toy.

Now, if we are eating or have visitors and she is trying to behave she trots over to her toy box and gets something, then comes in and lays down with it :lol:

Oh just for the record, Takara did learn that it wasn't reinforcing and also grew out of it and now we can leave anything that's not actually food or has had food in it and she simply doesn't bother with it :)

unfortunatley in my eyes the tennis ball shreadding is unstopable trust me i have a staff X who is 7 and a tennis ball has never lasted longer than 5 mins.

Fingers crossed the daft dobermutt has never felt the urge to chew property. Tell a lie- she ripped a folding door off its hinges when she was on IAMS and it sent her hyper, but other than that, we've not had to worry about mangled shoes, phones or Ipods, but you do have my sympathy.

Now you know what she's capable of, hopefully you'll know not to leave stuff where she can get to it, to be on the safe side. Have you tried a KONG? If you stuff one with cheese and chewies and get her used to taking her jaw action out on that instead, it might help to eas the problem. I've still got Ailsa's but she was never all that bothered about using it and it's still in pretty good nick (I used to wash it in the dishwasher) so if you want it, you can have it foxy xk

i hope this is not going in my caravan ms fox:hihi:

lol - No we have a very reliable live in dog sitter. :D

edit: thanks Katkin, she has a Kong. She loves it but its not as much fun as my stuff :hihi:

have a look at what you're feeding her too

high protein foods can make a dog more hyperactive than is comfortable for family living

Bakers is around 23% which is too high. You could do with something nearer to 18%

have a look at what you're feeding her too

high protein foods can make a dog more hyperactive than is comfortable for family living

Bakers is around 23% which is too high. You could do with something nearer to 18%

She has butchers meat with a wag mixer.

hehe - no wonder she's a handful!

gradually swap her over to something that won't make her quite so wappy :thumbsup:

The IAMs really sent Ailsa hyper and switching her to Burns made all the difference- a much chilled out dobe now and she doesn't make half as much pooh either