My dog wont stop chewing and scratching when i leave.?

Question

My puppy is now, 5 months old. I have him crate/potty trained pretty well. but however if i leave the house he goes NUTS. he scratches like crazy and howls, and chews at eh carpet through his cage. ive now got his caged elevated up so he cant chew, but i dont want to have to keep him locked in the cage his entire life. I understand i may have to. But what can i do to stop the howling. i keep getting calls. i have had him for about 4 months now, and it just wont stop. I have tried desensitizing him, but nothing works. i am wondering if he just gets so much pent up energy in the cage? it is big enough for him, and i give him PLENTY of chew toys, and he even chewed up his bed. i just dont know what to do, any help would be greatly appreciated. thank you.

Answer 1

leave tv on or buy more interesting toys.

Answer 2

Its probably because your dog is bored and lonely with you gone. Dogs are a lotlike their ancestors. Wolfs. Dogs are pack animals and can get Extremely lonely and super destructive when their Alpha (you) leaves. not all dogs get really destructive but a lot do. go to the store and get your dog one of those kong chew toys. the ones that are like a beehive. and fill it with peanut butter in the very center and cream cheese in the rest of it. put it in your freezer untill its frozen and about 1 minuet before you leave give it to your dog and stay there for 1/2 of a minuet so it gets really focused on the treat then leave the room and about 1/2 a minuet later leave. the first time you do this just walk out of the door and stay close to your house. if your dog dosent start to howl and wine then you will know that this trick worked. if the second you walk out of that door your dog looks up and starts howling then try to get it a companion. or have someone with a dog that your dog gets along with to take care of your dog while your gone.  usually the peanut butter/ cream cheese thing works though because your dog is totally focused on getting the tasty treat out of that little hole in the toy and is calm for a long time. hope it works for you.

Answer 3

your dog could be not getting enough action when it should, which can cause destructive behavior. also, it may be an anxiety thing. he might get nervous when you leave which can also lead to him chewing up your house.

i got my dog at 7 months old, and she did the same exact thing. a trainer told us to keep her in her crate when we left and she hated it, but it worked for the meantime. she eventually just grew out of it and she's very well behaved now.

Answer 4

leave the tv or radio on or u could buy him some toys.  hope i helped.

Answer 5

Get yourself a kong and fill it with canned dog food with kibble mixed in or peanut butter with kibble and then freeze it.  It will last a lot longer that way.  Give it to her just before you leave and it should keep her busy enough that she will sleep when she finishes it.  

It might be separation anxiety and you're on the right track with desensitizing her.  Desensitize her further by ignoring her a little more than normal for a while so she isn't so dependent on you.  Now add that to the kong and you might have a winning combination.

Answer 6

How long are you leaving him in the crate for when you leave?  In no way should he stay in there all day long without someone letting him out.

At 5 months, he's teething and even all the chews/toys in the world aren't good enough sometimes.  Put the crate on a hard surface (even a large sheet of plywood if you have carpet everywhere).

If the destruction while you're gone continues, have a discussion with your Vet about Separation Anxiety.

Answer 7

What kind of dog do you have?  My puppy grew out of the chewing stage at one year old.  Hang it there it will probably get better.  Yelling, won't help.  Do you give soft chew toys or hard bones (the sterilized kind from a pet store?)     How long does your puppy have to stay in his cage each day?  He may be having sepration anxiety.  Try taking all the soft things out of his house for a while.  Check some of the dog training books for more ideas about chewing.  Good luck.  Oh, you might want to leave a raido on for company when you have to leave him alone.  This helps sometimes.

Answer 8

Have you tried leaving the tv on while you are gone.  This seems to keep my dog from crying while I'm gone.  

Answer 9

Why doesn't your crate have a solid bottom in it.  that is there to protect the carpeting from him doing his little dog duties on the carpeting as well as to keep him from scratching at it.  I would suggest that you find  it and put in in his crate and lock it in place.  I have a crate for my dog too and it has a solid bottom that can be removed so that it can be cleaned.

Also get him a nice big pork bone to chew on that will keep him busy and he will forget about damaging your carpeting

Answer 10

tranquilizers or sleeping pills would help.