How do I convince him?
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sweetaimers21 asked:
Well we have a 6 month old Rotweiler German shepherd mix. She chews and destroys everything right in front of us. We dont leave anything out but she grabs things out of our hands, jumps up on tables, countertops, shelves, computer desks, stove top and steals things out of closets and pulls clothes out of hampers. We’ve tried using a baby gate and she jumps over, When we first adopted her from the animal shelter the lady told us to get a crate and crate train her. We were against it. Being animal lovers we didnt want to confine her into a small crate and the idea of it sounded awful! But I asked on here what to do and nearly everyone said to crate train. The answers made crate training sound like the best solution and actually not mean or awful for the dog. So my question to you is how do I convince my husband this? He is still completely against it and refuses to get one… saying she will eventually learn and stop. But its my things that are getting destroyed and he doesnt care.
if we did the crate training… if i could convince him… we’d only put her in there when we are gone (which is hardly ever that at least one of us isnt here since he works days and i work evenings) and maybe when she is so hyper and needs to calm down. She sleeps in bed with us and stays there all night. She doesnt do any damage at night. We keep the door shut.
Baby Gear
Well we have a 6 month old Rotweiler German shepherd mix. She chews and destroys everything right in front of us. We dont leave anything out but she grabs things out of our hands, jumps up on tables, countertops, shelves, computer desks, stove top and steals things out of closets and pulls clothes out of hampers. We’ve tried using a baby gate and she jumps over, When we first adopted her from the animal shelter the lady told us to get a crate and crate train her. We were against it. Being animal lovers we didnt want to confine her into a small crate and the idea of it sounded awful! But I asked on here what to do and nearly everyone said to crate train. The answers made crate training sound like the best solution and actually not mean or awful for the dog. So my question to you is how do I convince my husband this? He is still completely against it and refuses to get one… saying she will eventually learn and stop. But its my things that are getting destroyed and he doesnt care.
if we did the crate training… if i could convince him… we’d only put her in there when we are gone (which is hardly ever that at least one of us isnt here since he works days and i work evenings) and maybe when she is so hyper and needs to calm down. She sleeps in bed with us and stays there all night. She doesnt do any damage at night. We keep the door shut.
Baby Gear
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I would buy a crate put the dog in it. It’s your house things too. Your husband’s way is not working. What’s that saying? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over over again expecting different results? Time to try something else.
Baby Ornaments
well..first off, if you guys really dont agree with it, maybe call a specialist that can help give you guys tips on how to control her. But if not, crate training would be a good idea, but maybe only when you guys arent home or are sleeping, so she doesnt feel like you guys are neglecting her. And definitely make sure the crate is big enough for her to move around a little bit. : )
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Sounds like the problem is a communication problem between the two of you. (I am a crating fan and my husband is too – he was convinced after our last pup). Ask him if he considers what’s happening is acceptable. (I suspect not). If the answer is no, ask him what he thinks an appropriate solution would be. If he has no answers, then suggest to try it your way for awhile since he doesn’t have any better ideas. Put the burden on him to find a solution. He can’t just say no and not have an alternative than allowing this to continue. This a good crate training site.
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crate training is an accepted way to house train a dog but will not help curb the dogs destructive nature except by confinement so they can’t get to things to destroy them. and this is not good rots and Germans are both stubborn breeds and take experience handlers to curb bad behavior. I would suggest professional training. This mixture could be a fine pet but only if obedient
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Start by neutering the husband so he doesn’t reproduce his own stupidity.
A crate is every dog owners BEST training tool. Dogs have a natural instinct to DEN, and the den becomes their safe zone, their own place to well, DEN. All dogs, no matter what breed, should be crate trained.
After you buy your crate, take your dog to an obedience class and start giving it the greatest gift in the world…some manners. Pet Smart has classes, lor ook up dog trainers in google, or even the phone book.
You are ruining that dog’s life by not giving it the tools to succeed and be a good canne citizen. Either get a crate or give the dog back to the breeder or shelter so another family can do it right.
Build Your Earth-Friendly Nursery
Dogs are den animals. The crate gives them their own, secure place-their own little den.
My puppy crawls into his on his own to sleep-I leave the door of it open for him during the day when he is not in it. It gives him a sense of security, and is his own, personal place where he can go and rest without being disturbed or bothered by anyone.
You don’t need to constantly crate the dog-only when you cannot watch her, or at night if she is destroying things while you are asleep. She may whine, as it may be frightening the first night-but if she whines, you cannot give her attention or she will develop a habit of whining, knowing that it will result in your attention. Instead, reward her when she is quiet.
You can condition her to the crate during the day-leave the door open, and put some toys in there for her to go in and get. When she goes in, tell her she’s a good girl! Do not ever use the crate for punishment-like I said, the crate should be a comfort, pleasent thing for the dog, not somewhere where she should be confined to when she is bad.
She WILL eventually learn and stop, but the crate can help speed up the process and save you some stress. It won’t hurt to try, right? Tell him to just have a go at it and see how it works out. It will not destroy your dog’s character or make her love you any less.
Maybe send him on vacation and go out and buy a crate while he is gone =] lol
In regards to everything else;
Keep doors shut to block her out of rooms until she can be trusted. For the counter/table-surfing, remove everything from the counters/tables that you can and place one object on there with a string tied to it and attached to an empty can filled with pennies. When she grabs it and tries to take off with it, the can will crash and make a loud noise. It may take a while for her to realize every time I jump on the counter-this…THING attacks me! but she will get there eventually. You can also set her up-put something on the counter, and hide around a corner. When she jumps up to get it, pop out of behind the counter and say NO! OFF!
Also try and keep things off of the counters/tables. Believe me, I know how difficult this is-my family’s kitchen counter has everything on it-newspapers, bowls of fruit, the coffee pot, teacups, spoons, a container of sugar, etc. But if you remove things for her to get whie she is up there, it will eventually get boring.
Counter/table-surfing is a self-rewarding behaviour. By jumping up and getting an object, she is rewarding herself. So by eliminating the reward, the jumpin-up on the counter gets pretty pointless.
Exercise her as much as you can-take her on long walks, hikes, jogs, the dog park, good games of fetch, even ask a friend to bring a dog over and play with her. Both rotties and shepherds are working dogs, and being such they are very very smart and active, which means they do need exercise and stimulation otherwise they will find other things to keep themselves occupied with. Take her to the pet store and find some toys she reallllly likes, and bring them home for her. When she is playing with them, tell her shes a good girl. Try to deter her energy into good things-even training.
Baby Ornaments
Oh God if I hadn’t crate-trained my pomeranian puppy I got just last year, he’d be unbearable right now. I also have a 7-year-old pom that I crate-trained and he’s perfectly well-behaved. All he does is sleep all day and night, the lazy dog. The puppy is still hyper-active, but I have to put him in the cage in the middle of the day or else he’d never nap!