----- Original Message ----- From: "Bonawitz, Greg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> He seems to know that it's bad since as soon > as we open the door and see it, he takes off. he is reading your body language, NOT having guilt pangs over a behavior over and done with long ago. Dogs don't have quite that good a logic. If you don't beleive me, come in when there is nothing wrecked and pretend there is someting bad there. You have to act just like you do when he *has* shredded the papers, though, in order to have the same effect on the dog. > I would really prefer not to crate him all day, especially since he was so > good for ~ 8 months of this (and day care was too expensive). However, our > family room has lost it's comfort with all of the pillows now stored up on > top of the sofa backs and no reading material on the coffee table while > we're gone. Guess what? When one has a small child or a young dog, one has to rearrange the house to be child or dog proof. As long as he is not doing major furniture destruction or breaking his house training potty manners, I think crating all day long is not a good thing. Putting everything up and away while you are not even in the house is the only thing which is going to work until he is out of this phase. How much exercise does he get? Can someone walk him in the afternoon? Berners need a lot of time burning calories and romping--they are often quite high energy dogs. Another thing you can do so that he does not have anxiety when you leave is to set up your leaving for the day as a Good Thing. Stuff a Kong with treats, seal it with peanut butter, and hand it over as you walk out the door, or, you could take a handful of treats and toss them across the carpet for him to sniff out and munch. He probably gets into trouble as soon as you leave, but if you really want to know, you could set up a video cam to find out. I find that dogs are mostly anxious-active right when the people go, then normal dogs generally settle down and sleep most of the day. Good luck! Eileen Morgan The Mare's Nest http://www.enter.net/~edlehman --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.431 / Virus Database: 242 - Release Date: 12/17/2002
