Frost - How to control a puppy (at home) when not in crate?

apshiba

Update for Frost.

I am having a unique problem with Frost. ( I envy you all whose puppy seem to be so well behaved when loose at home)

I walk/jog for 40 minutes every morning and evening. He is in crate from 8am to 2-3PM when my sons come back from school and take care of him. After he relieves, he is loose in the home while we are there. Many times, chewing on the nylabones, little bit of playing, petting etc.

The problem that I am having is, he gets bored (I think) and then tries to chew furniture, dry wall or edges of carpet. Whenever we catch him doing that, we say NO, give him timeout etc.

Not many toys survive his chewing. I am running out of options as to how to control him when he is loose in the house. Many times we put little bit of peanut butter on the bone - that will do the trick for 15 minutes.

How do you handle 8 month old Shiba at home?

KFontaine04

They are gonna CHEW. The best thing to do is replace the object being chewed. When he starts chewing something he isn't supposed to, say no and give him something he IS supposed to chew (i.e. the nylabone with peanut butter). He will get it eventually.

tobyshiba

holy crap. Your having these issues at 8 months old?

Toby was doing this at like ... 4-5 months old.

If you can't supervise him 100% of the time or have issues with him chewing everything, you could always get a pen, or gate him into a puppy-proof room where everyone else is. We have two baby gates. One to block the stairs, and one to block the porch ( where the cat's food is ) the rest of the house is blocked off with closed doors.

But, even with all of our hard work, Toby still beavered his way through kitchen table legs and chairs.

apshiba

thanks for tips.

I have been doing most of the tips.- rooms are always closed. I used to have a exercise pen. But one day he pushed it towards a wall and bored a hole in it. So we stopped putiing him there. May be I need to secure pen to a plywood base and put him there. (but then I dont want to restrict him while we are at home - he is already in crate for long duration.

I can get babygate to block the stairs - but the landing on the porch is his turf - many times he is sitting there. On one hand - I want him to be free at home on the other hand I want to be well bahved - Does this chewing stop after they grow like 1-2 year old?

tobyshiba

hmm, i'm unsure. Toby is only 10 months old and he's pretty much stopped chewing all together. I don't remember when he stopped, though.

Do you have a Premier Tug-n-jug? My Shiba mastered it, but when we first got it, it kept his busy for a very long time. He couldn't figure that thing out!

heem_infinite

my 17 week old is starting to calm down with his excessive chewing on things. he now likes to jump up on coaches and tables and lick beer bottles or whatever else he can. he still will chew on boxes or things he shouldn't though. i hope he isn't still doing this at 8 months old. i spray binaca in his mouth and he stops. these are some trying little dogs, my yorkipoo was never this difficult.

JessicaRabbit

I would really encourage (actually beg) you to not spray binaca into your dogs mouth. That could be causing some serious trauma to him. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop. If your dog is chewing on something you would rather he not, dissuade him by giving him something more desirable like a nylabone or marrow bone. Spraying something that is meant to be kept away from children because it burns is excessive. If your dog cannot be observed, Stephs suggestion of a play pen is a very good one too. That and perhaps in a few months you start taking your shiba with you on the forty minute jogs.

Ryu

Since we brought Ryu home as a tiny pup, we've stood by our standing rule that if we are not actively playing with him and he's not sleeping in our view, he goes in his crate/ex-pen. I felt bad in the beginning because he was in his crate all day while we were at work, but in reality, he just slept all day anyway. So, putting him in the ex-pen with a few stuffed kongs while we cooked, cleaned, etc was not a bad deal for him. Saved him from chewing our furniture and ultimately, IMO, saved him from getting into things that could harm him (i.e. remember the bottle of Excedrin Migraine incident!)

And Steph is right, you can never 100% supervise him all the time. We have four adults living in this house and we still can't keep one out of 8 eyes on him at all times

Don't worry, keeping him contained for a few months will be nothing compared to all the years he'll have running loose when he's MATURE

dlroberts

Absolutely agreed. I corral my pups into whatever part of the house I'm in. I have gates setup in at my office door, the kitchen door, and an x-pen setup to block the livingroom. They are always within my view while I'm home, and if not, they are either in their crate (if I'm going to be gone for a long time) or gated in the kitchen where the damage they can do is minimal. Joey, almost 10 months, will remain crated/gated for at least another year. Lucy is about to turn 2 and she'll soon be getting more freedom while I'm gone; however, she will be getting that freedom a little bit at a time over the course of a few months. She'll have to earn the privilege of having her freedom while not being supervised.

It has been suggested many times, but it truly is valuable advice: its easier to prevent a behavior then it is to modify it once its started.

tobyshiba

Even though it may seem like punishment to be in the crate ( and my relatives have told me i'm cruel ) the crate is the SAFEST place your dog can be, and if your dog is crate trained, then they will enjoy it because it is their den. Toby just sleeps all day, and really doesn't mind being in his crate, unless something is going on. I mean, if your in the kitchen doing something, gate up the area and let your puppy roam around in there. Your in there, your supervising. And if he does something bad, then you are right there to redirect/correct him.

Oh god yes. Don't use spray on your dog. I used to use bitter apple months ago, but it never worked. I happened to get it on my hands once ... aand my hand went into my mouth. Maaaan, that stuff tastes horrible! I never used it again.

sunyata

Agreed with Dave. Bella was crated until she was over a year old. And even once we stopped crating her, we limited her access to the house with doors or baby gates. And even still, she chewed through a few things. The chewing behaviour stopped for the most part between 6 and 8 months of age, but she is still a Shiba, and Shibas love trouble. Nola will be crated until she is at least a year. And as with Dave's pups, freedom must be earned by showing that she is capable of being loose without active supervision. (Bella just turned 3, and she is still not allowed in the living room with throw pillows unsupervised.)

MommyofNiko

Agreed about all of thee above. Try bitter apple instead if binaca.
It took us a great deal of time to find durable shiba chews. Kongs are great! We have Nylabones and marrow bones everywhere.
You have to watch them all the time as you know. The worse we have gotten from Niko is a hole licked in the hardwood-We thought she had a bone and some chewed leashes from leash training. Of course along with holes in the legs of pants, chewed towels and blankets and may many killed toys!

Honey's mom

Um....hi! What's a Premier Tug-n-jug? I googled it and couldnt find much of anything.

apshiba

Thanks everyone for tips.

Frost is completely cool with his crate. Part of the training everyday is "he has to go to crate on command to get a treat". When I go for work, I do give him kong. I think I have gulity feeling to crate him while we are at home. But may be we will not let him loose for 6 hours at a stretch (from 3 to 10pm). May be we will crate him in between when we cant watch him reliably.

I agree prevention is better than cure. May be his molar teeth are coming out? That is why he may have started chewing aggresively. When he was a little puppy he went thro intense chewing phase and then it lessened a bit.
Yesterday I put my kids on job to spray bitter apple everywhere that we can think of. I also got him few kong pastes. I will look into premier tug and jug toy. Yesterday I also let him loose in backyard at 7Pm and played with him for few minutes, got him to zoomie around to spend some energy.

I think I need to get couple of babygates so that we can constrain him where we are.

I have hope that, he will calm down after he becomes adult and we can trust him.

Honey's mom

(Never mind. I found it when I googled Tug A Jug toy. VERY interesting!!!)

MommyofNiko

Just a side note. Both of our pups have at least stayed in the kennel when we were away up to 2 years. Anything younger I would not let them free roam. And ONLY if you trust them. Up until them, never when you can not supervise them.

apshiba

Update on Frost.

I bought couple of congs and cong paste So that I can freeze the paste for a full day before giving to Frost in the evening. We are also putting him in the crate part of the evening when we cant keep an eye on him. The kong keeps him busy for sometime.

as a downside, I think he is getting used to having "food" all the time. If we dont give him something to chew on like "tasty - PB on nylabone" he gets cranky.

Honestly, how long a puppy can be out of crate at a stretch without break- he is 8 Months old. Earlier he used to stretch and snooze while we were around. Nowadays he almost never sleeps while we are around and is constantly looking for "something" to do.

I am really waiting for the day "when he will simply lay down and watch us". Is it possible?

tsukitsune

Abhay - my shibas haven't gotten there yet! But my 7 year old foster shiba is sort of there, but he's still a busy body.

Your question, I think, is how long can they be out of the crate? After a year old, mine are only crated if we are not home (gone shopping) and will be coming back with full hands, never more than 3-4 hours at a time.
If they are destructive after a year old, I don't crate them when I'm home, but I confine them to a room or two rooms with interactive toys until I can monitor and correct a destructive behavior.
Its illogical to think that you have to watch your shiba 24/7 but you do have to consider their safety and well being, your sanity, and the sanctity of your home 24/7. As long as he is getting proper exercise, interaction and stimulation daily, just train him to occupy himself with some toys in a confined area (not crate) when you are home but can't be right with him.
Right now he is in that 'teenager' phase where he is testing all his boundaries, this too shall pass, but make sure to let him understand that there will be down times and he has to be happy with toys and some treats in this time, while rewarding his patience and good behavior with a long walk or play session daily.