The 5 Best Dog Training Tips For You and Your Dog
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First things first-- if he chews wires, then your house could burn down and he could be shocked.
Sounds like he has separation anxiety, which is not a training issue, but an anxiety problem. Contact your veterinarian for a combination of medication (Clomicalm, an anti-anxiety medication) and behavior modification.
It's like biting your nails-- if you bite your nails, you don't have a fingernail problem, right? Dogs do this because they are anxious about being left alone.
An excellent booklet called "I'll Be Home Soon: the Prevention and Treatment of Separation Anxiety" by Patricia McConnell, Ph.D. can help you understand how to handle this problem.
Punishment of the behaviors only makes it worse, and fixing this is not a do-it-yourself project. You'll need professional help. Start with your veterinarian and talk about whether Clomicalm will help. Make sure that you do more than just give the meds, because meds alone are not as helpful as a combination of meds and behavior modification.
Good luck.
Clicker Dog Training is Extremely Reliable and Can Be Done by Anyone
- Crate train your dog. What are you going to do if the dog chews wires while you are gone, and electrocutes himself to death? It will be nobody's fault but your own for not proctecting your dog while you are not around.
http://www.inch.com/~dogs/cratetraining.… - chewing wires is dangerous
i would put like a small chain link fence around it. like 10 sq.feet. just big enough that you can still get in the if you need to
they have barkcollars..... it might work but it could be pretty mean
what kind of dog is it??? - I have dogs I would build a keenel or play area for when you go to work .When you get back show alot of attention and affection.Good luck.
- there are products that you can get at the pet store that taste very bitter to dogs. Put this on the parts that the dog chews. At the same time it is always great to have toys like Kongs, chews, rope toys, and/or bones. My dogs also like stuffed animals. So this is an alternate chew to the window. The crying and growling are a byproduct of separation anxiety. This occurs to many pets, dogs in particular.
I found some interesting reading material on different treatment options:
Treatment
Some methods for treating problem behaviour include: punishment crate-training, and obedience training. These methods are directed at the problem behaviour, however they fail to address the source of the problem. By ignoring the source of the problems, one undesirable behaviour may simply be replaced with another as the dog searches for an outlet for its anxiousness (Borchelt 1983). In addition, punishment is likely to be counter productive and will only increase a dog's anxiety with each departure. Therefore, punishment is not recommended as an acceptable method of treating separation anxiety.
Presently, the most accepted method for treating separation anxiety involves planned departures. This method involves gradually adjusting the dog to being alone by exposure to many short departures. Because the stress response occurs very shortly after the owner's departure (within 30 minutes), the dog should only be left alone for very short intervals at first (seconds to minutes) to ensure the owner returns before the onset of anxiety. Before the departure period can be increased, the owner must be certain that the dog is not stressed. The owner must closely watch the dog for signs of anxiety and ensure that the dog does not engage in an extended greeting. After the short departures have reached the 30 minute mark, the length of time the dog is left can be increased by larger increments. Once the dog can be left alone for 1.5 hours, it can usually be left all day. Departure and return should be made as quiet and uneventful as possible to avoid overstimulating the dog. The dog should not be given attention prior to departures nor given attention and praise upon returns. Excessive attention prior to departure and upon return seem to increase the anxiety during separation and it does NOT make it easier on the dog as most people suspect. Safety cues may also be used to associate with the short departures (Voith and Borchelt 1985). The T.V. or radio can be left on or an acceptable chew toy may be provided for the dog. However, it is very important that the safety cue is not an item that the dog already associates with anxiety. These cues help the dog relate to a previous safe period of isolation.
Antianxiety medications are sometimes used to suppress anxiety. These are often used on dogs with severe separation anxiety or when owners simply must leave the dog alone for an extended period while treatment is occurring. The use of drugs allows the dog to spend extended periods of time free of anxiety. However, in most cases, drugs do not offer a solution and should be used in combination with a treatment program. A vet should be consulted for further information on the safest and most effective anxiety- suppressing drugs.
In severe cases the owner may also have to take steps to weaken the dog's dependency upon a person. This requires the owner to ignore the dog for a period of time, sometimes up to three weeks (Flannigan, Personal comm.). This will not break the bond between owner and dog but it will decrease the dog's extreme dependency and allow it to tolerate its owner¹s absence without anxiety (Machum 1991). Ignoring your favourite pet may be difficult but it is important to keep in mind that a much more healthy and happy relationship will result.
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