Destructive chewing Questions

Taking it all in her stride there and watching what they get up to

She's very cute. Hopefully she will copy the Labs and have a good recall. I never had any problem with Ed's recall but it's something that the two middle-aged girls were never taught. Tally is about 90% reliable, it's the other 10% that causes the problems.
ps. They usually love shoes, socks and undies - things with the strongest human scent.

Well we have had a couple of run around with her and she’s very food oriented and she does come back when my son calls her and sits at his feet , so he’s doing a good job with her so far. She does like to chase after beau when he’s running after his ball, but he is really not i to dog on dog playing, he just leaves her to it and she nips buddy’s ears at the minute so he like no you hurt me get off

I must admit our previous dog spoiled us, he was a rescue - husky/labrador X - big boy. We adopted him at age 2 and he lived to 16 and a half. He was a gentle soul, very laid back and really low maintenance, loved everybody. And before him we had a beautiful girl who lived to 14. So Rosie is our first ‘puppy’ in 30 years. But we rescued her from death row, so even with all the chewing etc, she’s worth it.

I forgot to mention that we also have 2 rescue cats, and Rosie being a heeler tries to round them up but the 3 of them are getting along really well.

Same here with our old dog, he was 4 years old when I had him, he was no trouble at all, but unfortunately we lost him in November last year at 14/15 years old and I still miss him now. There was not one bad bone in his body. So the one I have now is on the total end of the spectrum to what the other one was. Slowly but surely he is coming along into behaving like he should with just a little hint of stubbornness now, but not as often as it was and he doesn’t boss the cats around now like he used to as they give him a swipe so he backs off

A few things I've learned over the years:

1. Never compare your dogs. One will always fail and that's not fair. Instead, focus on what you love about your current dog for him/herself. Tornado-dog is nothing like my perfect Moose-dog - but he is so happy and full of life that he brings joy every where he goes. That he isn't perfectly behaved doesn't lessen him in any way - it just reinforces that joy. He is different from Moose-dog but not less.

2. I determine what each individual dog's motivation for life is and use that. In general, these needs follow breed standards. A beagle is most often motivated by food, a shepgerd by pleasing their person, a golden by being social, ajack russell by having fun, and border collie by perfection, etc. Individual dogs will vary but this is a good starting point. Once I know that, I use that to encourage behaviors that I want. This pretty much removes "stubborn" from the vocabulary because it's not that the dog is digging in his heels to be obstinate (eg, stubborn), it's simply that you haven't found the right motivation to convince him that doing what you want is something he should want to do.

3. There aren't "bad" or "good" behaviors. Dogs are simply being dogs and doing what is normal behavior for dogs. Instead, there are times and circumstances when those behaviors are undesirable. For example, chewing is a perfectly normal behavior for a puppy; chewing on the table leg is undesirable. So, I focus on redirecting that behavior to appropriate settings. He's not a bad dog because he chewed the table leg - he was simply being a dog. I redirect him to a chew so he can be a dog in a way that I find appropriate.

4. Love your dog for who she is not what she may become. Don't wish yourself through this hyper active puppyhood. Embrace it. If your puppy is happy and healthy and not putting himself in dangerous situations, then don't sweat the small stuff. To this day, Tornado-dog steals containers, wrappers, etc, off the kitchen counters and brings them into the living room. I could stress over the mess and get frustrated that I am constantly picking things up. Instead, I call it his treasure trove and laugh. So what if there is currently an empty cheese wrapper on my living room floor - Tornado-dog is immensely proud of himself for having stolen it behind my back. I pick my battles. Going outside in the rain and peeing is non-negotiable. Not stealing an empty wrapper is no biggie.

I love this philosophy - thanks so much for reminding me of how I can be the owner my dog needs. She is amazing and because she looks fully grown at 8 months, I forget (in my frustration) that she is still a puppy and trying to figure out a big scary world. She’s already proven to be extremely smart and trainable and picks things up very quickly. I just have to implement all the good ideas that have been shared here, stay consistent in how I communicate with her, be patient, keep calm and as you say ‘not sweat the small stuff’.

And don't sweat if you fail in all that sometimes. None of us are perfect - dogs, people, nor {heaven forbid it be said} cats...

Haha got that right. My cats Muffin & Crumpet were a challenge from Day 1 and still haven’t grown out of it.