Anyone here know of a good place to send my roommate's dog for some house training. He's a miniature dachsund (sp?) mix that's about a year old now. Anyways, he likes to chew up stuff, A LOT. I've told my roommate that he needs to do something about it but his exuse is always, he's just a puppy. Well, I'm honestly sick and tired of it. My roommate is out of town right now and I'm watching the dog. So, tonight I decide to go to the apartment complex's gym. So, instead of putting the dog in his cage, I figure I'll be a nice guy and put him in the hallway to my bedroom. This hallway has a door leading to my bedroom, one to my bathroom, one to the common area, and one to the washer/dryer room. I close all the doors and leave him with a chew toy. I figured he'd be fine for about 45 minutes in there since there wouldn't be anything to chew. Well, I get back, and open the door and to my amazement, he found something besides his toy to chew. The carpet. He managed to pull the whole square of the hallway's carpet up and rip it to bits around the edges. He also managed to pull out some of the coaxial cable going to my tv from under the bedroom door and chew it to bits. I've seen PetSmart has a training program, but I don't know how much it costs. I'm willing to go in halfway if my roommate will do this, otherwise I may end up killing this darned mutt. Cliff Notes: Roomate's dog chews up all kinda chit. Chewed up hallway carpet in my apartment's hallway. I'm very angry. Want to find a good, yet not too expensive training place so that he will be a better indoor pet.
You could try watching "The Dog Whisperer" as your cliff notes. I was wondering if the dog has always been a chewer or if it could be because it's cutting its' adult teeth, and if it's a puppy with lots of energy it may need lots of walking and trips to a dog park.
Buy chew toys, marrow bones, so the dog can hopefuly redirect that chewing away from furniture etc... Usual that destructive behavior is related to insufficient mental stimulation. A Set exercise routine would be good. We walk our dogs (5 border collies)every morning and night and seems to wear them out enough, so they are mellow through out the day. Another thing to try is to crate train the dog. When you are unable to supervise him have him go into the crate. This should not be used as punishment, but as a way to keep him out of trouble. Also make sure the dog isnt being treated as a 'human'. You guys must be the "leader" and the dog the follower. Not feeding the dog from the table, allowing the dog to sit on your lap (can be seen as dominance from a dogs perspective), etc... Set up some boundries and rules and make sure they are followed. Most dog training is gonna run about 80-100 for a 6 week session. My wife does all our dog training, so I am not sure what is available for training in the Atlanta area. A dachsund is from the hound group and bred to work, so keep that in mind.
This is a very good idea. Put the dog in a crate for the next 2 weeks whenever he can't be supervised. Like he said above, this is not punishment. And then try leaving out again. If he chews, back in the crate when he can't be supervised. Keep doing that until he figures out what what he needs to do to stay out. No yelling at him after the fact. That does the reverse of what you think. The only time you raise your voice at a dog is to correct an unwanted behavior when you catch them in the act of doing it. All the voice is used for is to change the behavior. No hitting or hurting at all. Basically if you find him chewing something shout No real sharp like a drill instructer. If he stops the behavior then praise him. If not keep on the verbal like a DI until the behavior changes. It doesn't matter what you say as long as you have that deep sharp voice. You can pull him off what he is doing while doing the verbal and then praise once the behavior stops. When I say praise I mean talking to the dog like you would a baby in the high pitched voice. Hope this helps. There is so mutch to training that it would take a while, but this should help with the chewing. Andy