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Hi all

Sorry to be a pain but I need some help.

My puppy Molly is 7 months she is great and well behaved except for two things.

The main one is chewing this puppy has so many toys it is crazy does she want any of them...no she want's to chew eveything else and i mean everything!

I have tried all the usual things the no chew spray which was a total failure. I sprayed everything came down next morning to find Molly sitting next to an extremley chewed bottle with a look that just said "is that all you got ha!".

She goes on 2 long walks everyday once with my fiancee and then both of us take her when I get in. I have kept her food under 22% protein to keep her calm. She now has a little friend 13 week old Codey who is also a husky she has gotten calmer but the chewing is still going on and now Codey is starting up :(

The second area is her crate. I didn't have a crate for her until about 2 months ago as I use to think (in my stupidness) that they were crule but once our trainer explained the significance of the whole den concept I saw what a fantasic idea it is. Her crate is the right size has all her things in there plus water, food ect.

First we had her delibratly knocking her water bowl over. She would actually look us in the face as she did it. We invested in a non-spill bowl which is worth it's weight in gold. Only problem is the howling and the scratching at the base and the door. We have built the time up slowly and put her in there even if we are there and when we're out. She goes in fine but within 10 mins she is going crazy. Will she always do this have I made a rod for my own back that can never be removed.

Any advice is welcome

Thanks -x-

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The crate will just take some time. Does she cry only when you leave the room after 10 mins, or just after 10 mins if you're in the same room or not? If all of her toys are in there, she may feel crowded. So taking some out might help. Kissu did that himself. I left his crate open and he chose a few of his toys and put them in and kicked the rest out. And in my opinion it's best to leave the water bowl out of the crate. I've not had a problem leaving the food bowl in there.

Don't have much advice on the chewing. :/ Kissu is still teething and chewing on everything himself, but we've been working on it early. And luckily he does like all of his toys, too.

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That's the thing Molly just doesn't understand toys I have even gotten down on all fours with her to get her to understand (other half thought it was the funniest thing in the world). I have given her raw hide bones they are still intact and perfect condition 3 months later.

The howling is worst when we are in the room but we have tried to have her in for the whole of one night and one of my neighbours complained.

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Is her crate in the same room you sleep? Kissu is my first so I may not have went about it the best way, but what I did was put his crate by my bed. His crate for the first week and a half was for sleeping and eating only. He was fine sleeping in it cause I was right next to him. After a while he would start to go in it on his own if he wanted. We're still working on him not whining and howling when I leave the room, but it's gradually getting better.

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Hi,

With the crate it will take some time. The way I did it and I still do this is give Zihna treats when she is quiet in her crate and I totally ignore her when she is acting a fool, which really does not happen much anymore. Absolutely never...ever ever ever....let her out while she is howling, whining, or barking. Or she will think that she can act that way and be let out. Have you tried Kongs? My two love Kongs and they only get them when Zihna goes to bed. When Zihna see's her Kong she will run to her crate and wait inside for me to bring it to her. I stuff them with yummy treats and peanut butter.

Husky's are known to get bored quickly with their toys. Try putting them away and only leave out 2-3 of them, then you can exchange them every day. As far as the chewing. I had the bitter yuck spray too and the only one that was bothered by it was myself when I got it on my hands and accidentally touched my lip :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:.

When you catch her chew on something she is not supposed to, then tell her NO and hand her one of her chew toys. If she takes it then praise her (Lots). Also as far as the raw hide....my chow did not like rawhide either. What I did was get some peanut butter and I would spread some into the little openings on the side or where ever I could and it worked wonders. Ones he got started with the peanut butter he would not stop chewing on it. You can also put a little peanut butter on any other toy to get her more interested in it.

It is gonna take a little while especially since she is already 7 month and probably set in her ways. But they are very smart and I am sure she will catch on. If after a while you may see her chew on a chew toy on her own...praise her. Praise any good behavior you see they do and ignore or correct behavior you don't like as in stop making her chew on the chair by offering her a chew toy and praising her. They will learn. ;)

I dont keep food and water in Zihnas crate. But I feed mine on a schedule in the morning and in the evening. Water is always available outside the crate and at feeding time I put the food inside the crate and she will eat and the bowl comes out. Zihna likes to dig in her water bowl when she gets bored so I can't leave it in her crate lol. :lol:

Sometimes I just sit here watching TV and I keep some treats on top of the crate which is next to the couch and when I see her in there being a good girl I give her a treat just for being good. You will be surprised what they do for food. Try and find some treats that are really really yummy to them for the best results lol.... :lol:

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Is her crate in the same room you sleep? Kissu is my first so I may not have went about it the best way, but what I did was put his crate by my bed. His crate for the first week and a half was for sleeping and eating only. He was fine sleeping in it cause I was right next to him. After a while he would start to go in it on his own if he wanted. We're still working on him not whining and howling when I leave the room, but it's gradually getting better.

Yep I agree....I moved Zihnas crate into my bedroom at night time. It helped. During the day I put it back in the living room, so she was always where I was at. And I even sat next to the crate sometime until she was sleep.....lol.....that was when she was a baby though she is turning into a teenager now lol. Now the crate is always in the living room but my bedroom door is right there next to the crate and is always open when I am sleeping.

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Deffinatly agree with whats been said..

Chewing I stuck with a strict regiment of watching they like a halk when they went to chew something that wasnt theres Id say AH-AH MINE! and hand them a chew toy.. I found solid rubber toys and nylabones are favourite in my house I think they must feel nice to chew on and are less easily destroyed utterly! So praise her and play with her when she plays with a toy.

Getting her intersted in toys getting on the floor with her is a must and "playing" with the toy yourself just makeing out like its the most interesting thing ever and when she comes to investigate what your doing offering it to her and praiseing her for taking it.. maybe a happy excited voice "yeees goood toy, your toy!"

The crate.. make it like you said as den like and comfy as possible.. cover it with a blanket to make it dark and cosey, comfy bed in it with an old worn t-shirt or something of yours that smells like you (this will be comforting for her) I would'nt put food or water in there as this will just make her need to go toilet and she'll howl all the more.. but what I would do is have set meal times and feed in the crate when you do, this will make her accociate the crate with a good nice expereince and make her respect you as the food giver. (I always feed in crates and my dogs know this now... they have to be in their crate laying down calmly and giving me full eye contact before I give the OK to eat what I put in there for them :) They're very good at this now)

Like the others have said.. praise and reward when shes being calm and quite in the crate and ignor and dont let her out if she is being noisey... there is a 1minute wait for a dog to accociate cause and effect.. so when she quites down wait 1minute before praiseing the quite and letting her out otherwise she will accociate the praise with the noise.

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i had to resort to soaking things that mine loved to chew, with tabasco sauce...ie cane chairs and table in kitchen.....now neither of them will chew them at all...the table got demolished before i read about the sauce but it really worked wonders, i even rubbed it onto the bottoms of the kitchen cupboards...ok smells a bit but worth it..One of mine loves his crate, as he was put in it from day one. the other, a rescue dog, will only go in if i put her in it and prefers to lie on the cane chairs on a blanket, so i dont force the issue. However i think patience is prob the only answer

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I have never used a crate with any of my dogs, we leave all the doors in the house open so they can wonder around at night. Shaer sleeps on the floor near my head and talon on the floor at the bottom of the bed. Buck my first husky used to sleep curled up in lounge. Non of them are vocal at night. Only prob sometimes is getting up in the night and not falling over Talon (the big ox). Never had a chewing dog so no ideas on that one sorry.

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I have never used a crate with any of my dogs, we leave all the doors in the house open so they can wonder around at night. Shaer sleeps on the floor near my head and talon on the floor at the bottom of the bed. Buck my first husky used to sleep curled up in lounge. Non of them are vocal at night. Only prob sometimes is getting up in the night and not falling over Talon (the big ox). Never had a chewing dog so no ideas on that one sorry.

PS Talon would proably chew it if we put Tobasco sauce on things.:)

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PS Talon would proably chew it if we put Tobasco sauce on things.:)

LOL I had a German Shepard Rottie mix that used to dig out my cable for TV/Internet in the yard and chewed on it. I read about the Tabasco sauce too but it did not work with him lol....seemed like the spicier the more yummy it was to him!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Like the others have said.. praise and reward when shes being calm and quite in the crate and ignor and dont let her out if she is being noisey... there is a 1minute wait for a dog to accociate cause and effect.. so when she quites down wait 1minute before praiseing the quite and letting her out otherwise she will accociate the praise with the noise.

1 minute can be a long time for a dog that wants out of the crate lol. I think if she does not manage for her to be quiet that long she could start with a shorter time period and increase it until she gets the hint. If it was me...I would sit by the crate when she is fussing but turn my back or side to her and ignore her and wait. If she quiets down I would count to 5 or 10 to start with (now this all depends on the dog I would say) then turn to her: GOOD GIRL!!!! and give her a treat. Then see what happens and slowly increase the time for her to be quiet.

Another thing I noticed is that they will learn quicker if the reward is something really yummy. My dog trainer recommended chicken and brown rice dog food rolls. They look like this:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3262859

Zihna never came or paid attention to me when I called her. Now, after a bit of training with this stuff, she is addicted to this stuff and as soon as I walk in the yard she will look at me and wait for me to call her hoping I have a piece lol. So yummy yummy stuff will help to get her to do what you want her to do. ;)

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Hi everyone

Thank you all for the diffrent bits of advice I will certainly take it on board and try some of it out and you never know she might finally suss it all out ( i live in hope)

So thanks again from me I would say thanks from Molly but I have a feeling she knows I'm up to something as she is trying to catch my eye by staring me out almost as if to say don't even think about it Mummy I'm smarter than you lol

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Hi everyone

Thank you all for the diffrent bits of advice I will certainly take it on board and try some of it out and you never know she might finally suss it all out ( i live in hope)

So thanks again from me I would say thanks from Molly but I have a feeling she knows I'm up to something as she is trying to catch my eye by staring me out almost as if to say don't even think about it Mummy I'm smarter than you lol

LOL!!! Definitely keep us updated on the process.... :) And GOOD LUCK.... ;)

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