Suggestions for a bored dog

[CzeCze]

So after I took my dogs on a nice long walk around the neighborhod, which included some running around in a park and then a short trail - I discovered my 4 year old male Havanese had ripped a hole through the carpet with his teeth!!!

I heard some noise and I thought it was just him tearing up some packing tissue paper that had fallen on the ground when I opened up a box (omg, yes, my housekeeping skills sound awesome, LAY OFF MANG!!). My female dog enjoys tearing paper up for fun and I don't mind her doing this when it's cardboard or other waste paper.

So I didn't think twice when I heard what sounded like paper being torn up.

But then I looked down and BAM! He's gnawing at the carpet and there's a big hole!

Bah! He normally isn't destructive or a chewer (that's the female) and we had just come back from a long walk. Why is he doing this and how can I redirect his energy?

My brother says that the dog is "always bored" now but he gets the same and actually more interaction/stimulation/exercise with me than he did when it was just my brother. They both sleep a lot...but they're dogs... what else would they do?

Another issue is this dog isn't fixed and has a liver issue which prevents him from getting surgery. At 4 years, he's kinda passed the age of getting spayed. That limits places he can go. Otherwise, I wanted to try agility training with him. He's extremely smart and intuitive, probably the smartest dog that I've met and he really enjoys people and showing off.

It makes me sad to think the poor bugger is bored out of his mind.

 

[CzeCze]

I'm going to bump this.

>_<

Also, I gave my other dog a haircut and the hair was still in the room when my dog started chewing the carpet...correlation?

 

[Agent Jelly]

Kong toys are wonderful. You don't have to buy the kong brand of stuff to put in it. My doggy loves it when I put peanut butter in her kong. Plus they hold up very well. Also dry hide treats are great, my dog tears through the largest ones in 20 minutes though... so they aren't a good investment typically, but a nice treat. You can also buy cattle bones from pet stores and walmart. they last a long time, but make sure they do not splinter and when they start to throw them away.

 

[CzeCze]

Kong toys are wonderful. You don't have to buy the kong brand of stuff to put in it. My doggy loves it when I put peanut butter in her kong. Plus they hold up very well. Also dry hide treats are great, my dog tears through the largest ones in 20 minutes though... so they aren't a good investment typically, but a nice treat. You can also buy cattle bones from pet stores and walmart. they last a long time, but make sure they do not splinter and when they start to throw them away.

Thanks! I usually do have bones (nice quality bones that are left over from rib bbqs) around the house and I know what you mean about how some edible chews don't last long at all.

I thought about it and I think the male was acting out and chewing the carpet because I used to let him run around outside in the front but the last time he did that he "ran away" for the rest of the evening and I had to walk around at the freaking crack of dawn to look for him. Bugger was digging up the rest of the neighborhood or something and was filthy. I'm trying to take him out for walks more often to compensate. I'm going to see if I can take them to a 'small dog meet up' on the weekends so he can no-homo hump a bunch of male dogs and get his "stimulation cap" each week.

 

[CzeCze]

Kong toys are wonderful. You don't have to buy the kong brand of stuff to put in it. My doggy loves it when I put peanut butter in her kong. Plus they hold up very well. Also dry hide treats are great, my dog tears through the largest ones in 20 minutes though... so they aren't a good investment typically, but a nice treat. You can also buy cattle bones from pet stores and walmart. they last a long time, but make sure they do not splinter and when they start to throw them away.

Thanks! I usually do have bones (nice quality bones that are left over from rib bbqs) around the house and I know what you mean about how some edible chews don't last long at all.

I thought about it and I think the male was acting out and chewing the carpet because I used to let him run around outside in the front but the last time he did that he "ran away" for the rest of the evening and I had to walk around at the freaking crack of dawn to look for him. Bugger was digging up the rest of the neighborhood or something and was filthy. I'm trying to take him out for walks more often to compensate. I'm going to see if I can take them to a 'small dog meet up' on the weekends so he can no-homo hump a bunch of male dogs and get his "stimulation cap" each week.

 

[Agent Jelly]

Thanks! I usually do have bones (nice quality bones that are left over from rib bbqs) around the house and I know what you mean about how some edible chews don't last long at all.

I thought about it and I think the male was acting out and chewing the carpet because I used to let him run around outside in the front but the last time he did that he "ran away" for the rest of the evening and I had to walk around at the freaking crack of dawn to look for him. Bugger was digging up the rest of the neighborhood or something and was filthy. I'm trying to take him out for walks more often to compensate. I'm going to see if I can take them to a 'small dog meet up' on the weekends so he can no-homo hump a bunch of male dogs and get his "stimulation cap" each week.

Is your dog fixed? Do you keep him on a chain? Sometimes either of those can be reasons why dogs will run away. My dog wouldn't run away... shes jumped the fence before to explore and whenever I call her name she comes a running. Sometimes I wish she'd run away! haha... I love her most of the time though!

 

[CzeCze]

Is your dog fixed? Do you keep him on a chain? Sometimes either of those can be reasons why dogs will run away. My dog wouldn't run away... shes jumped the fence before to explore and whenever I call her name she comes a running. Sometimes I wish she'd run away! haha... I love her most of the time though!

Haha...

No, he's not fixed. And we don't keep them chained. They have a doggie door so they can run around the back yard as they please.

They are similar to your dog in that usually they are under great voice control. I took them to Carmel beach (which is off leash) and they were the best behaved dogs there, no joke. Both stayed within a few feet walking distance next to or in front of me and would come back as soon as I called them. Other dogs were running away and completely ignoring their owners, causing the owners to run back for their dogs.

They both seem very happy to live here but the male dog needs a lot more stimulation than the girl dog does. She's kinda lazy and more sedentary and while she's very friendly, she prefers being right next to a person. The male dog goes nuts whenever we go to a new place. I think because he's not fixed he also feels a need to explore and 'mark' his territory.

He's run away before, regularly even when we had this failing doggie gate issue - but he would come back very soon within minutes. I think we often didn't even know he'd ran away because he was back so soon we assumed he had just run to the backyard. (they use a doggie door). Then we discovered the issue and blocked his exit.

I know this last time he was planning on coming back right away, but I guess he went nuts in someone's garden first. I need to teach him new tricks or give him a "job" to keep him occupied. He's really too smart and too curious for his own good.

 

[Agent Jelly]

Haha...

No, he's not fixed. And we don't keep them chained. They have a doggie door so they can run around the back yard as they please.

They are similar to your dog in that usually they are under great voice control. I took them to Carmel beach (which is off leash) and they were the best behaved dogs there, no joke. Both stayed within a few feet walking distance next to or in front of me and would come back as soon as I called them. Other dogs were running away and completely ignoring their owners, causing the owners to run back for their dogs.

They both seem very happy to live here but the male dog needs a lot more stimulation than the girl dog does. She's kinda lazy and more sedentary and while she's very friendly, she prefers being right next to a person. The male dog goes nuts whenever we go to a new place. I think because he's not fixed he also feels a need to explore and 'mark' his territory.

He's run away before, regularly even when we had this failing doggie gate issue - but he would come back very soon within minutes. I think we often didn't even know he'd ran away because he was back so soon we assumed he had just run to the backyard. (they use a doggie door). Then we discovered the issue and blocked his exit.

I know this last time he was planning on coming back right away, but I guess he went nuts in someone's garden first. I need to teach him new tricks or give him a "job" to keep him occupied. He's really too smart and too curious for his own good.

I would really suggest getting him fixed then, that will eliminate a lot the behavior I think. Hes probably really horny and smells another dog in heat They say it is better to wait 1-2 years though so they wont forever act a puppy, I didn't know that until recently and I got my dog fixed at 6 months.

 

[CzeCze]

Really? I didn't know that about getting fixed early. My current 2 dogs have had 2 litters and my aunts took the first whole litter. My one aunt said the vet recommended getting the dogs fixed ASAP because pregnancy can occur so young (which happened to my female dog). Her dogs do still act kinda like puppies if I think about it, but they are barely 2 years old now.

OMG, yes my male dog is a horny little bugger. I bought him a chenille bolster pillow (roughly same size or bit bigger than him) to use as his "doggy girlfriend". He likes it a lot.

I agree fixing him would help, probably won't be for a while or ever. He's already past 4 years and supposedly vets advise against dogs getting fixed past 4 years old. He also has the liver issue and vets won't operate him for now.

I guess I'll set up an agility mini-course in the the back yard and teach him some new tricks...

 

[Agent Jelly]

Yeah I didn't know it until I bought a dog training book at borders (at their close out sale). It said that if you want your dog to have more protective qualities to wait after shes been in heat twice. My dog is larger so I guess that means she could be in heat once a year. So I imagine a male dog who is bigger you would just wait till a year or two. Bigger was more than 40 lbs I think.

Yeah I wouldn't suggest it then because of the age factor. Just help him get all of his lust out by running around. Not too much else you can do. Agility sounds great for a bored dog, or new tricks. It helps them bond I think. I need to get my dog a lot of toys here soon. I am having a baby in 3 weeks (looks almost certain i am having a csection at this point), and I don't want her bored and terrorizing my underwear or pillows. She is banned from the doggy door because she'd drag out all of my dirty laundry and chew on it outside. She also destroyed my digital camera and my $40 make up brush... This was 9 months ago but I still remember it like yesterday! haha... Shes been a lot better since then.