Terrible 2s

[Garyskids]

So...Diablo is officially 6 mos old, and over night he has gone from little angel to big devil. He is randomly reluctant to respond immediatly to common commands that he masterd months ago. He has also begun to sniff and lick everything like a damn blood hound and even grabbed food off the table (cold lobster meat) just today, which is a first as he has never had people food. Shame on me for doubting he would do so. Am I dealing with a common phase here or am I slacking on the parental side?

As usual, and advice is greatly appreciated.

[genevieve]

Sound about right. Most of the rescue calls I get are people with males 8 - 18 months that are challenging them. This sounds like testosterone starting to kick in, especially with the sniffing and licking.

I would start NILIF and keep at it until he realizes his place on the rank scale.

http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

Genevieve

[Garyskids]

This happend in less than an hour. We were at dinner; he didn't touch the furniture...

[Meredith S.]

This happend in less than an hour. We were at dinner; he didn't touch the furniture...


Put him in a crate while you're gone! My dog is 1 year 6 months and does NOT run my house while I'm away, even for short periods. I've never come home to anything like that, thanks to crating her!

[pittbull22]

This happend in less than an hour. We were at dinner; he didn't touch the furniture...

I had the same problem before Meridith suggested crating my first pup whenever I wasnt home now my pup is 13 mopnths still being crated, the new pup thats 8 months or 7 1/2 months however old he is has been and will be crated! Its a wonderful thing, keeps ur house the way you left it, for SURE! :cool:

[Luka]

Gary,

I would definitely take Meredith's advice on this issue!!! Start crating your dog immediately, or next time you come home you will find your couch shredded into pieces. If you feel guilty about crating him just think what can happen if he swallows something harmful and your find him laying dead. :(
He will be safe in the crate!!!

Good luck!!!

[Zhenya]

This happend in less than an hour. We were at dinner; he didn't touch the furniture... Looked at the picture like three times still couldn't figure out what the problem was :) The only problem I could conjure up is that it took him like the whole hour to come up with only this?!? J/K

Wonder what you did when you came home and saw this?

Crate if you haven't still. It has many more advantages than you can even think of at first. For example it can save you a lot of gas in your car. If you are still opposed to the crate at least run the heck out of your dog before going out to dinner :)

[presasrus]

Crating is not mean at all and you should think about doing it. Mine would be fine if left alone, but what if one of them against even slim odds got bored and started chewing on the air conditioning cord for example? Crispy critter, that's what.

[Garyskids]

Hey guys, thanks for the advice. I should have given you the whole story. Diablo is crate trained. We just bought the new home and the only place that his collasal crate will fit is upstairs. It gets very hot up there during the day - I am having HVAC work done soon - so we decided to utalize a small area under the stairs. It's no larger than his crate. We just installed an iron baby gate, bolted to the walls on either side. He sleeps in it at night on his bed. That particular night he some how managed to get OVER the gate and do his own remodeling of the new home. Let me tell you, he was proud of his work! I did not scold him when we cam home as we did not catch him in the act. Thanks again for the advice.

[genevieve]

Pecha is 7 and she is still in her crate. After the time she ate the bag of screws I decided she was going to be in there till her dying day (she was 5 at the time).

Genevieve