A very expensive puppy

July 19, 2015 7:51 PM

My puppy just caused hundreds of dollars in damages. Help?

My 4mo border collie/pug mix, Mina, is the sweetest dog. She is also very high energy and smart, which leads to a lot of trouble. I have not been crating her during the day, but had started considering it because she regularly grabs and tears apart books, gets into and eats trash, and knocks things over.

I'm about to finish a 10-day vacation and a friend of mine agreed to watch her at his place because she can't go to a kennel right now (hookworms). The second day, he left for a few hours, and he returned to a torn apart house - TV knocked over, laptop pulled down from the desk, broken trash can, trash everywhere. He was rattled, but everything was okay. The next day, he went to my place and got her crate. He crated her every time he left the house. All was okay until today (day 9 of my trip), when she broke out of her crate and completely totaled his apartment. She scratched the floors, knocked over his laptop which is now unusable, and knocked over his TV, which may be permanently damaged. I am paying him to watch her and will now be paying for a new computer as well as the TV if needed and some other small things she chewed like shoes and books.

I haven't been able to take her to obedience classes yet due to travel. We start those in early August, but that won't really help the separation issues. I guess I need a new crate that she can't break out of. But what else? She gets two long walks a day and has tons of toys for playing. I try to give her a Kong when I leave the house to keep her occupied, but she figures them out in 2 minutes. I work 9-5.

I need to feel comfortable leaving her alone, and right now I'm terrified to walk in the door every evening. What else can I do?

posted by anotheraccount to Pets & Animals (24 answers total)

Check Yelp and local rescue/humane groups for a trainer recommendation, get a vet appointment for drugs. She could easily kill herself in that kind of panic.

You may need to talk to the vet and local doggy daycares to see if you can't get her in somewhere regardless of worms.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:58 PM on July 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Better crate, used diligently. (We once left our dog with a dog sitter, saying that she had to be crated any time she was left alone. We didn't feel bad in the slightest when dogsitter ignored us and the dog peed all over.)

9-5 is a long time for all but the lowest energy dogs, and a really long time for a puppy. She probably needs a midday walk, as expensive/time-consuming as that is.
posted by supercres at 8:01 PM on July 19, 2015 [7 favorites]

Doggie daycare everyday. 9-5 is way way too long for any puppy to be left alone, let alone a border collie cross who needs a fairly high level of activity/stimulation.
posted by peanut butter milkshake at 8:02 PM on July 19, 2015 [42 favorites]

When I had a puppy who chewed, I had to crate her anytime I left the house as well. With a real, quality large crate - it would have been absolutely impossible for her to break out (made of metal bars, spring loaded hook lock). Also even if I was home I would keep her confined, like with baby gates. Keep trash cans in cabinets and put child safe locks on cabinets. Keep valuables out of reach. Basically puppy proof like you were baby proofing.

I also think that doggy daycare is probably the best idea until she is an adult. Unfortunately my experience is that high energy dogs like this don't get 'mature' and calm down until they are quite a bit older. Mine wasn't what I would call calm-ish till she was maybe 4 years old. Plenty of destroyed stuff and overnights at the vet with charcoal treatment after eating something she shouldn't...
posted by treehorn+bunny at 8:03 PM on July 19, 2015 [6 favorites]

My knowledge of border collies is that they really need activity. Doggy daycare for sure.
posted by k8t at 8:05 PM on July 19, 2015 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Two long walks a day is about 35% of what a puppy needs (especially a high-energy breed like a border collie). 9-5 is way too long for a puppy to go without a break (and unless you have a very short commute, it will actually be longer each day).

You need to work on EXHAUSTING the dog every day with exercise, getting a crate that is completely secure and getting a dog walker for mid-day. And, honestly, consider if this is the right dog for you at this time in your life. It may be a poor match.
posted by kate blank at 8:12 PM on July 19, 2015 [33 favorites]

Response by poster: Not going to threadsit, but she does get a fairly long midday walk everyday. She can't go to doggie daycare until the worms clear up, which should hopefully be in the next few weeks. Even so, I really cannot afford to send her to daycare every single day.
posted by anotheraccount at 8:12 PM on July 19, 2015

You might want to look into alternatives to doggy daycare - working from home; paying a non-professional dog walker like a teenager, college student or retiree (although I wouldn't really recommend this unless you really trust them); getting a roommate that wants to share dog responsibility; see if your workplace is interested in becoming dog friendly...
You've got a high energy breed and I fear this won't be sustainable. Sorry for being a negative Nancy.
posted by k8t at 8:18 PM on July 19, 2015 [10 favorites]

I too don't want to be negative but this may not be the best dog for you. Maybe same breed but an older dog or a smaller more chill puppy would be better for you. I mean, this dog risks hurting herself if this is what she gets up to when left alone, if you can't do doggie daycare or make alternate arrangements.
posted by kat518 at 8:26 PM on July 19, 2015 [32 favorites]

I'm really sorry, but it doesn't sound like you have the means to support an active dog. Collie mixes are part working dog -- this means they're significantly more active than other dogs and a long walk midday is not enough to satisfy their need for exercise and play. You're doing a disservice to this pup if you need her to stay in a crate 9-5 every work day and can't afford to put her at a doggy daycare where she can get all her needs met. Can you afford to have someone walk her twice a day instead, in the mornings and afternoons and then you walk her in the evenings? If so that might be a feasible middle ground but even still her breed makes her more of a candidate for pup with free reign over a yard, not a crate. :( I'm really sorry, this must be really upsetting for everyone involved.
posted by Hermione Granger at 8:31 PM on July 19, 2015 [19 favorites]

Best answer: I have a border collie mix. She still will tear up stuff while alone, and she is 1.5 years old, so you need to be thinking about long term solutions, as this is not going to fix itself any time soon. First, secure crate and some kind of puzzle treat helps. I freeze peanut butter in Kongs, keeps her occupied for a while and she loves it. Crate plus big, real bone would work for a while. We had to totally train ourselves to put up ALL our stuff or it would get destroyed. Not sure of your housing situation, but she hated her crate and adding a pet door helped a lot. She loves paper, so anything on top of our desks and in our office trash cans are still regularly torn to pieces.

I'm retired, so my Bella gets lots of attention and exercise. Adding a very long walk in the morning helps tremendously, I mean a 30 to 45 minute walk. Consider taking up running to amp up the excercise level for her. Dog park or play dates are also a necessity. We don't use day care, but after a full day of play dates, she's pretty calm the next day. I trade off with a friend, maybe you could find someone who works from home to do that. Training really engages them, and ten minutes of focused training followed by a stuffed Kong will help, too.

With this breed, you need to sit down and figure out how to fit as many 15 to 30 minute workouts/training/stimulation sessions throughout your day as possible. For instance, add a ten-minute tennis ball excercise to the mid-day walk.

It can be done, but these smart, active dogs really are lifestyle changing companions. Good luck!
posted by raisingsand at 8:47 PM on July 19, 2015 [2 favorites]

My old University actually had a program where students would walk neighborhood dogs for free. It benefited the students because they were homesick and missed their dogs, and it benefited the neighbors because it was free. Could you look into something like this? I'm feeling sorry for your dog who really, really sounds like it needs to be around people all day. You need to figure something out - maybe craigslist for someone who misses having a dog? maybe a trade off with someone who works nights? Anything? I think this requires serious creativity.
posted by Toddles at 9:13 PM on July 19, 2015

You have the wrong life for your dog, or the wrong dog for your life. It's your choice as to what changes and what stays the same, but if you want to keep the dog, it will require more than tweaks to how you live your life. Get rid of furniture that you value, or put it in storage. Think seriously about changing your job. Don't make any vacation plans for a while.
posted by holgate at 9:50 PM on July 19, 2015 [11 favorites]

I have a border collie/lab mix that is now pushing 11. I got her when she was about 9 mos old. Here are things that worked for us, despite living in 7 houses in 4 cities and 3 different states over the years:

- routine and crate training. Dogs thrive on knowing what's going to happen and when. This could be massive exercise in the morning, feeding at the same time, walking at the same time, etc and then crating for a few hours, even if that means no buffer in the crate b/c they chew everything to shreds. Right now you have a high energy dog that is left alone without knowing what she's supposed to do or not do. So she does whatever her instinct kicks in. This can be extremely dangerous for her. Please find a way to acclimate her to a crate.

- when they're that young, they need a ton of energy exertion. Not just straight exercise, but work her brain too. It's still developing, so challenge her, via games in the house, puzzle balls, etc. She's also likely teething, so freeze ropes, etc. so she can get those chew instincts that are causing her pain taken care of. It's not her fault that her jaws hurt and she wants to gnaw on things.

- I'm sure you're treating the hookworms, so once they're taken care of, even if you can't do daycare, playdates with friends that have young active dogs can burn off a lot of energy. If you can, make it a regular 2-3x a week thing with dogs she likes.

- If you're going to be traveling again soon/frequently, have a friend stay with her at your place and keep the same routine or find a vet/boarding place that can handle her needs. Even as well as my dog acclimates to change, I wouldn't just shove her in someone else's place and expect her be okay for several days.

I highly recommend reading Lynn Donaldson's Culture Clash for both your and her sakes.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:30 PM on July 19, 2015 [7 favorites]

Best answer: Oh, man. This is hard. Our impossibly high-energy sled dog mutt was a nightmare last year when he was 4-8 months old. Now we have a relatively well-behaved 1.5 year-old high-energy non-nightmare. Here's what worked for us.

-group obedience classes from a good trainer. Even though he had all the skills we learned in the class before we got there, practicing good training technique and working on the skills with a lot of distractions was confidence-building for us and for the dog. This also gave focus to our 3x daily 10-15 minute training sessions. Our trainer would have been willing to come to us for private sessions, if we had asked and paid for it, and was really good about answering quick troubleshooting queries before and after class.

-puppy playdates. We have lots of friends with dogs and went to their houses. We had our neighbor's dog over to wrestle. We found a dog meetup in town at a fenced-in baseball field and went. We learned that places like Petco sometimes have puppy socialization hangout time. A tired dog is a good dog...ours is basically exhausted by the end of each day, and this is a good thing.

-crating when the dog can't be trusted alone in the house, for his own safety. We don't have to do this anymore, but there was a period of time when he was eating absolutely everything. We had to get a separate crate for the car after he destroyed a seatbelt (not doing this to start was a very, very expensive mistake). You might try baby gates and a puppy-proofed smaller room or bathroom if you can't do this.

-puppy-proofing. All our trash is enclosed/has lids. The kitty litter (yum) is gated off. All cords were hidden. Progressively higher shelves were cleared. Books stopped living half-read on the bed. Etc.

-dog parks and other off-leash time. Our dog can. not. get. tired. on leash. It sucks, but it's true for him. It took a long time for his recall to be good enough that we could handle unfenced dog parks, but there are two inconvenient fenced parks we could use. We do not have a fenced yard but went to my parent's fenced yard, abandoned ballparks and ice rinks for endless games of fetch and frisbee (if you can teach your dog to fetch, do it! Ours loves fetch but also loves some games and tricks associated with fetch, and helping him learn this was the best way to keep it interesting for all of us).

-we are lucky (and unlucky) in that our schedules do not line up well with each other, which meant that the dog wasn't generally alone for more than 4 hours. We kept the dog always in the same room as us for 8 months, probably. We had dog daycare for days that we both worked; you may not have to do this every day, if your dog comes home as exhausted from daycare as ours does. When we go out of town, we board him at the daycare place so he gets the level of activity he is used to; it is really too much to ask of even our friends with dogs right now, and probably will be for another year.

-Kongs need to be frozen to last a long time. If you google the right terms you'll be able to keep her a little more entertained. Here's some basic ideas from the ASPCA.

Getting a high-energy job is a total lifestyle change. Ours has been for the better- we're more active, we love our dog, he loves us (and all other dogs, and all other people) and has turned into a really great dog most of the time. We hike and mountain bike with him and leave him alone in the house uncrated without fear. If you had told me at this point last year that I would be enjoying life with him as much as I do I would have laughed in your face, then burst into tears. This will probably get better as she gets older, but you're going to have to come up with a campaign to totally exhaust her mentally and physically every day and secure her and your house better in the interim.
posted by charmedimsure at 12:28 AM on July 20, 2015 [7 favorites]

I have a border collie mix who is now two, and has finally stopped tearing everything apart - yeah! He has also begun to respond to training, after two really frustrating years, where my youngest daughter eventually refused to walk him.

In the beginning, we puppy-proofed everything in the kitchen, and he was there when he was alone, but then he ate part of the wall.

So until he stopped a couple of months ago, I brought him with me to work every single day. He would sit in the car with open windows, and I would take breaks every three hours and drive out to an abandoned industrial area where he could run free. I live in a cold place and I have a long summer holiday, so the car is rarely too hot, but I'm not going to get a good price for that car when I sell it.

I limit the fetch-playing because he gets too excited.

He has been hard to train because he doesn't respond to treats when he is excited, which until recently was all the time he was awake, and the local puppy school wouldn't let him into class because he was so disruptive. I have practiced at night, in an empty parking lot, instead.

Now, everything is good. So time is your friend as well as training even when it seems hopeless.
posted by mumimor at 1:08 AM on July 20, 2015

The only traveling you should be doing when you have a 4 month old puppy should be for work. If you have any more traveling scheduled for pleasure I would see if you can reschedule it for at least 6 months from now.

Honestly, this really just sounds like normal puppy behavior, especially for a border collie mix. She should be taken out at least every 5 hours at this point if not more frequently. A good reference on how long she can go without a walk is her age in months +1 (although that only works up to 8 months) but if you can swing more frequently that will be better.

Lots and lots of active positive reinforcement training. And make sure she enjoys her crate. I'm presuming this crate is a larger metal one like this where she has just enough room to turn around and lie down. She is too young to be hanging around an apartment unsupervised right now so aside from when you are out of the house, she should also be sleeping in her crate, eating her delicious dinner in there, or hanging out in there when you can't keep an attentive eye on her.

I also second the suggestion to read Culture Clash. This can be the dog for you. At the same time, you will really need to spend the next 8 months very invested in the positive training of your puppy. She is too young to know how to act like a grown up trained dog right now. It will be a lot of work, but it will be worth it in the long run.
posted by donut_princess at 5:36 AM on July 20, 2015 [4 favorites]

Mostly, you're just fighting defensively until she grows out of it. The rule right now should be, if she isn't under your direct supervision she is getting into trouble. This goes double for a high energy dog. All you can do is try to get her as much exercise as you can (this includes training and play-time). Doggy day-care is great because she can run around with other dogs with just as much energy as her (and even if they don't, there is always another dog around who is ready to play) but it's expensive, I get it, but when you can do it, it's great. A tired puppy is a well-behaved puppy and nothing else will come close to tiring her out for any meaningful length of time.

Otherwise just do the stuff people in this thread have suggested. Get a better crate and if you can't give her your attention/supervision, she goes in the crate with a treat. Remember that the crate is like her den, it's calm and safe and cozy and going in there will signal that it's quiet time now. Try to train her to chew appropriate things. Anytime she is chewing or even thinking about chewing on something she shouldn't, take that thing away and give her one of her chew toys instead. Some people find it helpful to find chews that they can keep in their pocket so that they always have one on hand.

Don't expect any of this to pay-off anytime soon. She is going to calm down a little bit over the next few months and then a TON more as she goes from 1yo to 2yo and then a bit more from 2 to 3. The training that you do now will REALLY payoff then. I promise, keep at it and one day you're going to realize that she hasn't misbehaved for a while and she is actually a pretty well trained dog and it will all have been totally worth it.

I will also warn you to remember these times well because when your dog start to snap out of their adolescence, you'll start to forget how big of a PITA this all is and think about getting her a friend to play with. You probably should, it would probably be awesome to have two dogs (though there is some disagreement whether it's more or less than twice as much work) but you'll have to go through all of this again. You'll be better prepared and have a better idea of what you're getting into but make sure you assess how much work it is without being biased by nostalgia. Then get a 2nd dog. :)
posted by VTX at 6:31 AM on July 20, 2015 [3 favorites]

This comment is about how to increase the energy-intensiveness of play times to wear her out more in less time.

If you don't have an area for off-leash play, get a 30-ft training lead and 2+ toys she likes (mine loves the 99-cent squeaky toys) and alternate chucking them for her. For mine, dropping toy #1 gets toy #2 thrown.

My BC mix was 18 months when we got her and holy cow does she ever have energy. This game wears her out in about 10 minutes. I'm also planning to make a flirt pole.

Have her hips checked by the vet before taking up running - they typically recommend no running for dogs under a year, especially on hard surfaces such as concrete.

Mental games are also very energy-intensive. Thrown a bunch of tiny stinky treats and have her go find them. Use her senses. Short 5-minute training sessions with those same tiny stinky treats will have her working her brain between sessions and train her to be responsive to you.
posted by bookdragoness at 7:25 AM on July 20, 2015 [2 favorites]

I just wanted to comment on a couple of things.

Regarding the exercise comments: Yes, your puppy absolutely, unquestionably needs plenty of opportunities to run around and play, especially as a high-energy breed. However, it is just as if not even more important for her to be mentally stimulated. A dog that is exercised for hours a day will become more athletic - dogs condition very quickly - and often will eventually no longer be tired by hours a day. Then you're left with a crazy dog that can essentially run all day long.

Also, walking for 1-3 hours a day may not be good for your puppy's bones. She is still growing, and while exercise is important, repetitive motion injuries are possible and likely until her growth plates close (which, given her mix, could be any time between 1 and 2 years of age). I would suggest shorter walks, not longer ones, and instead getting her energy out using something like a flirt pole, tug toy (if she has her adult teeth), and other "energy-burst" activities rather than activities that are more endurance-based.

What I would most strongly recommend, however, is mental stimulation. Often the best way to tire a high-energy dog out is to mentally exercise them. Her biggest difficulty is probably going to be learning self-control. That is what you need to focus on. Obedience training is fantastic, but learning to leave things alone is much harder than learning to sit for a treat. Give her several training sessions a day, always ending before she gets frustrated. Her attention span might only be 30 seconds at first, but it will improve with time.

Instead of looking for a trainer, I suggest looking for a behaviorist. Your dog is tearing up the house because she is anxious. She may have a lot of energy with which to do it, but the motivation is probably mental, not physical. If you want to crate train (which I think is a great idea) then go for it, but don't do it by locking her in there and leaving her - that is teaching her that the crate is where she goes when her people go away, which makes the crate a scary place. Reintroduce the crate as a fun place, and don't lock her inside until you've dealt with her separation anxiety in other ways. Doggie daycare would be a good solution in the interim while you and a behaviorist work on this issue.

So, in short: Find a great behaviorist, consider doggie daycare for a short-term solution, make the crate a really awesome place to be, and teach her self-control as her most important "trick."

If I may, I also highly recommend dogforum.com as an excellent resource. Many of the folks there are experts (not a few are trainers/behaviorists/what have you), and many have very high energy dogs as well.
posted by Urban Winter at 10:18 AM on July 20, 2015 [4 favorites]

i just wanted to second the idea of getting a local retiree involved. my mum gets quite a bit of exercise from walking a neighbours dog. frankly, it's good for both of them.
posted by andrewcooke at 11:57 AM on July 20, 2015

About the crate: I had a 5-year-old shelter dog with separation anxiety, and she broke out of her collapsible crate two or three times, until I finally saw how she did it. Basically, she was hooking the front panel with her claws and shaking hard, and that made the rear panel unhook. So I put luggage locks at all collapsible points to stop that from happening again. (It took a while and daily training before she learned that, yes, I would always come back, before I was able to trust her out of the crate when I wasn't there.)
posted by bentley at 4:34 PM on July 20, 2015

A lunge whip (for horses) makes a good, fairly cheap, flirt pole. Just tie a toy to the end.

There are previous threads on askme about keeping a dog from escaping from the crate. Zip ties were recommended (but seem like a swallowing hazard to me, I think I would only use them in the corners where the dog can't really get to them)... I would use spring hooks or bolt snaps, if you buy in bulk the price is reasonable and then you can cover all edges of the crate with several snaps.

Also, you should figure out if she's more collie or more pug in her outlook on life, the two are basically 90 degree opposites. If she's more collie, teaching her a "Job" like "put all toys in this basket" will usually help a lot. If she's more pug, try praying, it could work....
posted by anaelith at 5:32 AM on July 23, 2015

nth'ing a flirt pole. The dog LOVES chasing it so making her work for the chance to chase it makes for a good combination of play and training and is therefore a good combination of mental and physical stimulation.

Here is a link for anyone who doesn't know what a Flirt Pole is.

I made mine out of a metal (and therefore hollow) broom stick by running a rope through the middle and tying a toy to the end and knotting off the other end so it's too big to pull through the opening. You just have to be careful about yanking it out of the dog's mouth as it might take some teeth with it (but this is true for any game where the dog tugs on something).
posted by VTX at 6:43 AM on July 24, 2015