Advice on CHEWING

[jpsherar]

I have a two year old pit that I love dearly, but he has many issues. A little preliminary information: He was attacked by another dog when he was about 6 months old. Since then, he has not been able to get along with other dogs; I have stopped trying to allow him around other dogs. He has been crate trained since he entered my home. He goes into his crate willingly, and he even relaxes in there some times (although not often). I exercise him at least an hour and a half each day. Most days, I attach his collar to a arm on my bike for him to run. I usually have him do this for 45 minutes or an hour. I think play fetch with him up and down the stairs in my house for a short while (anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes). Lastly, I take him for a walk (usually around 30 minutes). Depending on my schedule, this will fluctuate. My best friend usually takes him for an hour and a half run on Saturdays. The little guy has exercise. As far as toys go, he's got a ton. He has about 4 or 5 nylabones at all times, a real bone, a raw hide chew every time I leave the house, tuff balls with feet that are hard to chew, and 2 kongs (sometimes filled with peanut butter, sometimes not). He does not have a back yard to play in, but I do not leave him for more than 6 hours at a time (I'm in school and working part time). Over the past 6 months, I have begun to try and let him out of his crate. I have puppy proofed the mess out of my house (after a lot of trial and error); it now looks like I have no possessions other than furniture. He chews on the rugs that I have on the floor, and they are now ripped. Tonight, he chew up the cushion on my Ikea chair. I'm extremely frustrated, and I don't know what to do other than to start crating him again. I really don't want to do that. I am also thinking about fencing in my back yard (even though I only rent and it would just be money down the drain), but I don't want to do that if he's going to continue to chew up my belongings. I'm feeling very frustrated and helpless. I'm tired of being scared of what I'm going to find when I get home. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Eric]

The following is from a friend of mine who's an excellent trainer!
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"The crate should be for denning at night and anytime he is left unattended until the owner gains leadership and trust. The exercising is good the play time is good, no problems there. Leaving toys and chewy things out for the dog all the time lets him know it ok to chew things unattended, when he is bored with the toy its time to move on to bigger and better things; no one is there to tell him not to. I believe toys should be shared with the dog only when you are there to enjoy it with the dog so you can bond with the dog as well as witness any adverse behaviors and correct them. 15 minutes of training time could be what turns over a new leaf in this relationship. Working a good watch me to begin with, puppy pushups (sit, down, sit, down, sit), and even a little temptation like placing a bone on the floor in front of them and telling them to leave it while you are there and can correct them. Leaving a dog unattended while you are gone is always a risk. When I'm trying to build trust with new dogs I start small. The big test is leaving them unattended for 5 minutes with something tempting after telling them to 'leave it' is a small risk but provides you the opportunity to address behaviors and make corrections. Over time you can increase the time left unattended.

As far as the dog aggression issue. I also have a dog that falls under that exact same situation. Honestly, I cant blame the dog for having trust issues after this type of experience, I still remember my dogs experience from 5 years ago very vividly and would never wish it on anyone's puppy. What has helped me tremendously has been attending classes specifically geared towards aggressive dogs. My mentor Duane Bryant actually does host this special class, kind of like a scared straight program for dogs. This class atmosphere has not only allowed me to learn how to correct my dog and control his outbursts for unwanted behavior but also by the end of the class program most dogs are able to 'let go' of their trust issues with other dogs and graduate to more advanced obedience classes, even evolving into off leash training classes. I am by no means going to tell you it's easy to correct this issue, but what I am telling you is it can be fixed or at least addressed. There are some cases of dogs that getting them to at least be tolerant of other dogs is as far as they are willing to go and in public, that is definately acceptable behavior."
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She did also have a couple questions about this... There isn't anything about whether or not you are attempting to correct the chewing behavior issue and if you are attempting to correct it, what are doing?

and also, she's wondering what training methods are doing? The excercize is good but if you add in like 15 minutes of training time a day you should notice a world's of a difference too!! I hope this helps you!! Keep us posted please

[jpsherar]

These are great suggestions. I looked at the NILIF post that you recommended as well, and I do all of that. I have him sit and wait until I give him a release command for everything. He has to sit and wait until I say "That'll do" before he can eat. I can walk in another room, and he won't chow down until he hears me. Same with getting in and out of the car, before he gets on the bed or couch. He still has problems with consistency on sitting (when there's no reward: food, going outside, getting a treat), so I am working with giving him more positive reinforcement on that. I think that working with him for 15 minutes on training will definitely help.

As far as the toys, I'm confused. I shouldn't let him free play with toys? Or I should train him to only play with them when I allow him at first, and then once I can trust him, I can let him play with them whenever? What's my little guy going to do when I'm working on school work or doing things around the house, and he's not sleepy? I am definitely going to start training with having him sit, down, sit, down, and then adding a toy that I don't want him to have while continuing his "push-ups." He often gets in a zone and won't listen when he's playing with a toy; it's hard to get him to drop it (although he has gotten much better since learning to play fetch), so that should help with that issue.

I have not had any ideas about what to do when he chews things up. I have just told him to go to his crate while I clean it up, so he's not in the way.

As for the dog aggression, I will see what classes I can sign up for in my area. I would love to get him in one; it will just depend on availability and cost.

Thanks so much for your help! This has made me feel much better, and I'm looking forward to starting with 5 minutes and working up. I know this will be a while off, but I'm not quite sure what I should do when/if he makes a mistake (when I've left) and chews something. What is the correct response from me?