Our newest addition is a shameless cutpurse and demolitionist. She's approximately 9 months old per the vet's best guess. 50% Golden retriever, 25% boxer, 25% American Staffordshire Terrier per the DNA test. She's smart, has pretty darn good recall that's getting better with training, is progressing nicely on Leave It, she chases a ball but doesn't return it so that's another thing we're working on, and has a generally happy-go-lucky attitude. Separation anxiety and sticky paws are her main issues.
We did a 25-minute 1½ mile walk this morning so while we weren't running, we were definitely at a brisk pace and there was no sniffing or playing, despite oodles of stimuli everywhere (even a sandhill crane who was hanging out on the side of the road mocking us). Then she ate her breakfast from her Kong Wobbler (mental exercise). Then she played with my super hyper dog for 20 minutes (good old fashioned rough housing), and finally she had a rawhide in her crate to work on desensitizing her separation anxiety. This chick should be ready for a few minutes of chilling out.
Not so much. I turned my back on her for Maybe three minutes and she was nose deep into the peanut butter I left open in the kitchen (my fault - totally forgot it was there), happily gorging herself. That'll be fun later . . .. This girl goes from fine to menace as soon as I'm out of view. Sometimes it's as little as ten seconds before she's on my desk - which has no food items - searching for something to get into. As I'm figuring out what she's apt to snatch I put it away.
I can't leave her outside with psycho boy because she digs or tears up whatever she can find (we've lost irrigation, has manure fertilizer spread all over the pool area, screens punched out so she could get to the pool, to name a few). My boy is also given to getting too rough so I have to supervise their play until he learns where the limit is. It's flippin' hot in Florida and although we have an acre with plenty of shade it's not good to let them out together because they don't know when to stop. My boy stays outside - he hates being inside - but he also doesn't tear stuff up, dig holes, etc . . . so he Can stay outside.
I have to get a handle on this. I work out of the home and I have to be able to work, or go to the restroom, without her going destroying what she deems worth her time to destruct. Normally she follows me to the bathroom and it's a 60 / 40 chance she's going to get into trouble there. The toilet is separated from the rest of the bathroom and it Should be good desensitization for me to have that door closed for 20 seconds, but it proves to be too much sometimes. We're managing what we can, but this girl has impressive reach for being only mid thigh high so we're adjusting as we discover what else she's able to reach. I see all these people brag that their dog wouldn't Dare take something that wasn't meant for them, and I have to wonder how on Earth they accomplished that. When asked, they only respond, "it's called training." Gee, thanks, that's helpful.
Currently she's chilling under my desk, but as soon as I get up to get something off the printer she's going to be wanting to be entertained. I've got lavender pumping through a diffuser and relaxing piano music playing, which I think helps. Aside from hardcore exercise, which I'm not able to participate in (arthritic back) I feel I've tried the majority of suggestions so I felt it's time to ask an expert.
