I am at my wit's end with one of my Goldens.
![Evil or Very Mad :evil:](./images/smilies/icon_evil.gif)
She's 10 months old. She's always had a lot of energy and chewing power. We moved last month, and that brought on more aggressive chewing and barking. I used to kennel her with my standard poodle, but had to separate them as the Golden was chewing off the poodle's hair. I did have a bark collar. DID have. I took it off of her when I let her out to play with the other dogs. I would take it off, and attach it to the kennel. When I would put her back in the kennel, I would put the collar back on her. Then ONE DAY, one of the dogs managed to rip the bark collar off of the kennel door, and they all ate it before I had realized/got it from them. The shock thing still works, there's just no collar for it
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
She barks occassionally during the day, which isn't that big of a deal, but barks at night on a consistent basis. It's not a "I'm bored and want out of my kennel" bark, she barks at stuff...our cats, strange noises, there was some wild animal (heard it, couldn't see it) in the woods the other night (oppossum?). I'm a light sleeper, and it wakes me and keeps me awake. We have 6 acres, but do have neighbors that can most likely hear barking. I don't want to get on their bad side. The only thing I've found that she can chew on and not literally consume, is a nylabone. Although it's already worn 3/4 the way down. I think I need to upgrade to the Galileo option. She can't destroy a kong, but isn't interested in them (none of my dogs are). Any other toy, she shreds and eats. I have enough vet bills from one of my other dogs eating something that didn't agree with him, I don't want a repeat. Oh, and I forgot to mention that since she doesn't have a poodle to chew on, she has since starting eating her own hair. Her long, pretty feathering on her hips is gone. I don't mean like chewing it to the skin. She still has hair, but it looks like a kid took scissors and cut her hair everywhere. This is what she was doing to my poodle. I spent an afternoon trying to even it up and make it look better, but she's since worked on it some more. She's also started to do it to the hair higher up on her legs, and the feathering on her tail. She's a mess!
![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)
I noticed something else. Most of the day, if I look out at the kennel, she's walking in circles, pacing. Like, "I want out, I want out, I want out..."
Ever since she started circling and eating her own hair, I've been on a mission to break her habits. In the morning, she plays with the other dogs while I clean the kennels and the poop out of the yard. Then we do retrieving work until all the dogs tongues are touching the ground. I then feed them and put them up so I can do my other chores. In the afternoon, we do the same routine, except instead of feeding them, I get them out individually for clicker training. I haven’t had much time in the past to work with her one-on-one and her high drive is thriving on this. In the evenings, after cleaning and playtime, I go running with the older dogs for 20-30 minutes, every other day. After which all the dogs go for a 30-45 minute off-lead walk in the fields/woods. On the days I don’t run, they get a longer walk. I don’t run them until they are 2 and have passed their OFA hip certifications. So she has a while before I will run her.
Today I received new dog toys I had ordered. I order a Buster Cube and a Giggly treat ball. Well, the treat ball lasted until she got all the treats out of it, then she ate the ball. So much for toys recommended for power chewers. I then gave her the Buster Cube, and so far so good.
Can ANYONE please point me into a better direction with this dog? I’m out of ideas!