This is Max, my problem child yellow lab.
We adopted him from a kill shelter over a year ago months after our epileptic beagle Gus died. For the first few months Max was the PERFECT DOG. Then the behavior problems started: pottying all over my rugs, breaking into the kitchen pantry, chewing or eating anything left out on a counter top or in the sink (including a George Foreman Grill...no kidding), tearing up blankets. We have tried everything. Crate training didn't work because he had a panic attack, shit all over himself, chewed through the metal cage and broke himself free. We tried keeping him in the bathroom, but he chewed through the water line going to the toilet, flooded the house and then smashed through the window to jump two stories into the back yard. By the way, he destroyed our heating unit during this little stint because the flooded water went through the vents and into the gas heater, rusting out some part that basically can't be replaced. We suffered through the whole winter without a heater because we're too poor to replace a $5000 unit. We tried keeping him outside but he manages to get out of the fence and runs wild through the neighborhood. We babygate him into the laundry room now - where our other dog is crated - but he still manages to get out of that and get into his usual amount of trouble. I had a birthday party for a friend of mine in the history department, and when we made an impromptu trip to the grocery store to get some mixers, and Max got out of the babygates (two put together, one on top of the other), ate the WHOLE birthday cake a friend made, a dozen cookies, homemade queso and tortilla chips, and a tub of Munchies. I was horrified.
So in sum, we've just been dealing with it because he's our dog. He's a real sweet dog, but he's becoming a bigger problem by the day. He never got out of the fence before when we were home, but lately he's been hopping the fence even when we're there! This has happened at least three times in the last week, and it happened AGAIN this morning before I went to campus. He usually makes his way home, but it drives me nuts while he's gone because I'm terrified he'll get hit by a car.
And so, here we are this morning, and Max is sitll missing. After driving around for hours, it seems like he's got some good hiding places, and I'm at a loss about what to do with him.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Laura, 99/365
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3 comments:
can you send him off to one of those intense doggy bootcamps? My neighbor did that for the dog they have and he is great. It was a 6 week program
If you have the time, and learn to work it correctly, a shock collar will work well. I've even seen Cesar Milan use one before-if you haven't watched him, I'd recommend him too. Also, our lab was terrible about escaping, digging and chewing, and my husband ran a length of electric fence at the top of the fence in the kennel (well, it was a picket fence splitting the yard so she didn't have free chewing access to everything, not a kennel really). He left it plugged in a few days. Took 2 zaps that we know of and the climbing and digging quit. We unplugged it after that, and only had to turn it on once every 6 months or so when she'd get brave enough to test it, which was usually after she saw us move it and not jump.
Sounds like he needs a lot of exercise. Labs are known for their intense high energy and if that energy isn't burned off then the behavior manifests. How often does he get walked? We had issues with one of our dogs doing the same thing and since we started increasing his walk time he's been a dream.
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