If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Suggestions to help with a Bad Dog?

I stumbled across this video of a newly adopted dog and it made me smile as I recalled our picking up Toby as a rescue from the pound.  I needed to think of the positives of Toby because this week he has tried our patience and has been a Bad Dog!!!

First, I was angry because I came home from work one afternoon and he had done a bit of counter surfing.  We had a sausage and biscuit left over after eating breakfast.  I just left it on the island and suggested Mike have it for a snack mid-morning.  He did and just left the plate with the paper towel where we had drained the sausage sitting there.  Then, he was in a rush and just popped into the kitchen for cheese and crackers for lunch/snack later in the day.  There on the counter he left the zipper bag that had been the storage container for the sliced cheddar and a couple of the thin slices of parchment that separated the cheese slices.  In our absence, Toby had snitched the paper towel and the zipper bag and parchment papers and chewed it to bits, leaving a trail all over the kitchen.  So, I walked in the back door to that mess.  Welcome home!  NOT

Another afternoon I walked in the door to this:

Again, counter surfing, chewing things into bits, and leaving a mess all over the floor. This time Toby had polished off a bag of potato chips that were clipped closed.  However, look closely...

Yep, that is even a butcher knife on the floor that Mike had used to slice up a stick of balogna.

Mike and I were both so mad at Toby.  We were also frustrated with ourselves for leaving food on the counter - even though we had left it closed up and he had never bothered something that wasn't just sitting out and ready for him to snatch.

The very next day I came home to find a similar mess of chewed up bits spread all over the kitchen floor and more spread all over the floor in the laundry hallway.  That day Toby had discovered the bread/snack basket on the counter and snatched  a couple of bags out of the basket.  He had also snatched an empty corn chip bag out of the trash can in the laundry hallway and chewed it to bits.

His behavior has become so inappropriate and frustrating lately and we don't know how to train/correct it!  He has broken his crate door and scraped his side badly escaping from it when he heard Mike's truck come in the driveway and go to the barn mid-day.  Now, this mess-making when we are not in the house.  I am at a loss and am ultra-frustrated - to the point that I'm wondering if he doesn't need a new home where there is somebody to give him more attention during the day.  Ideas?  Please help!

No comments:

Post a Comment