OK my dog is on my last nerve. She's constantly chewing up Connor's toys, shoes, whatever. She's ruined a pair of my shoes, and she's ruining the furniture. I give her rawhide to chew on, hand her toys to chew when she's chewing on our stuff and it doesn't help. She barks ALL THE TIME, she basically just drives me crazy. She's making my life completely miserble and to be honest I don't even want her anymore, but DH won't let me get rid of her. So since I have to keep her around, what the heck can I do so she stops ruining things? I spend my days yelling at her to stop chewing crap up or stop doing other bad things. I don't know what to do with her..

I ask this since young dogs (under a couple years old) are often like you described.

My own dear 9 yr old dog.....
drove me wacko the first two years of his life.

I now refer to it as 'puppy hell'

He DID calm down around 2 yrs and has been a doll ever since.
I am SO vividly remembering his youth as I type this (very destructive even though he was supervised or crated when we were unable to supervise him)

They have sharp teeth that love to chew, and barked at everything for a while!

how old is she and is she a labrador?? Does she get lots of playtime? Is she taken on regular walks??

She sounds bored and just needs to have some play time on a regular basis. You might invest in some good chew toys like kongs - they are indestructible - my dog with jaws made of steel who can rip up anything in 2 seconds flat has had 2 kongs for 3 years that she cannot rip to shreds no matter how hard she tries. We also make sure she has plenty of her own toys to play with.

If we don't play with her enough or she doesn't get to go on a walk at least every other day, she starts misbehaving and eating dd's toys and dh's shoes.

She's a hound mix and she's about a year and a half old I guess.. We have lots of chew toys for her, doesn't seem to distract her from chewing everything else. She jumps on everyone and anyone who comes in the house, which is something else that bugs me. She spends the better part of the day running around outside and we walk her when we can. She's just way too energetic and high maitenance for me, but DH just doesn't get that lol I need a lazy old dog (OLD being the keyword here.. LOL) One that doesn't rough house with my child all day (b/c that's another thing that drives me batty) And the bad thing is, we are moving in 11 months and if we end up heading to san diego like I want, most of the military housing doens't accept pets or only will allow one, and I'd rather have a cat in the house than a dog anyday. BUT I'm not about to drive all the way accross the country with my dog either, so I keep telling DH we're giving her away when we move. He seems to think taking the dog all the way across the country in our brand new minivan will be a good idea!! haha he's got another thing coming to him!! Anyway, I guess I'm just not a dog person to be real honest. If DH wasn't fighting me about this, I would have gotten rid of her a long time ago... :(

Which is why I don't have one. I just do not have the time or commitment level necessary for a furry child.

You don't sound like a dog person either. No great crime -- just not a good match.

It seems like the dog is bored and needs more attention and training than is available from you.

I think it would be kinder all around to find her a new home now. It is no fun stressing over an animal you don't really love and it can't be any fun for the dog either.

Either that or kick hubby's rear in gear and get him to train and excercise the dog he doesn't want to part with!

Maybe try having your husband take her to obedience classes. They offer them at Petsmart and Petco and are usually once a week. We had our dog professional trained as a puppy and it really helped her be a better well behaved dog.

I know some people just don't like dogs, but I'm such a dog lover. There's nothing like having a 100lb dog in your lap or warming your feet at night or bringing you a "gift" of her favorite dog toy when you come home, lol.

Originally posted by TipToe_Fairy
Maybe try having your husband take her to obedience classes. They offer them at Petsmart and Petco and are usually once a week. We had our dog professional trained as a puppy and it really helped her be a better well behaved dog.


Yeah, obedience classes would help a lot. We put our energetic puppy in training classes, and it really helped her through a bunch of those crazy puppy stages. Consistancy with commands when she is misbehaving and rewards with treats could help in getting her to behave in the way you want her to. Always tell her "off" or "down" when she jumps on people, and when she gets down, give her a treat and praise her by saying "Yes! Good down" or "good off". She'll eventually stay down in hopes of getting the treat, and then you can slowly phase the treat out. You can do the same with chewing. When you catch her chewing something she shouldn't, tell her "no chew", and then give her something she can chew on, like her toy or something. If she takes it, then praise her and reward. Our dog is 10 months old, and used to get into all the kids stuff (her fave thing as a puppy was shoes). We put a baby gate up so she was contained to the main room that I was in, so she was always being watched, so we could catch bad behaviors quickly. She still had access to the shoes since they were in our diningroom, and she would regularily come into the livingroom carrying one, and we would take it away and tell her no, and get her her own toy. When she took her toy, we would praise her for it, and sometimes give a treat. It took time, and consistancy but it really worked. We now have the baby gate down, and she has free run of the house, and she actually leaves the kids stuff alone (shoes included), and knows where all her toys are (she has a bucket with all her toys in it, so she has learned that those toys are hers).
If you've never had a dog before (this dog is my first dog too), then obedience classes would really help you to know how to handle her misbehavior, and how to change unwanted behaviors. I personally went to our dog's obedience classes since I am the one with the dog every day, and dh already had experience with dogs. It really helped me to feel confident that most dog behaviors we can change.

Hound dogs are working dogs, and *need* a lot of energy burning daily. I know many working dogs that get bored and chew, ruin things, etc. I know families with sporting and hound dogs who walk their dogs 3 times daily, or go on 2 mile runs daily, etc. It's a lot of work! I couldn't do it! Hence my potato like Pug dogs. LOL. (o; I'd recommend finding the dog a home. Obedience will help with some of the issues, but due to the breed, I believe the dog will still act out and have too much energy for you. I'd recommend a farm or a hunting type family.....jmo. (o: