Gunther's Transition

Apparently doggies do not like change. That became very apparent when we moved and Gunther was not a happy camper. I think I said before that the first week we were in the new house, he didn't want to go to bed, he wouldn't sleep, he would pace the hallway and just sit by the front door waiting to go. When we were at work, we would leave him inside because he didn't have a way to get in and out of the garage yet when it was cold. (There was an existing doggie door, but it was for a miniature Chihuahua or something - Gunther could get his head through the door, but that was it.) I think there was one or two days that we came home to find a box and all of it's contents destroyed. Thankfully, they were very un-important boxes and I was kind of glad to be able to throw the contents away. Although chewing up my hair dryer wasn't very nice! After spending a few evenings in time-out, he stopped chewing things up inside. But outside was different....

One nice weekend, a friend came over and put in a bigger doggie door so that Gunther could go in and out. And that became the start of Gunther staying outside while we were gone. He had a bed in the garage, along with his food and water. He had his box of toys and 2 completely full bags of dog food at his disposal. It was at this time that he started faithfully
taking one (or multiple) things in the garage and destroying it every day. The very first day he took every jug and container of liquid (oil, roundup, miracle grow, antifreeze, you name it) and chewed the lid off and dumped it out onto the garage floor. He also chewed open a box of staples for a staple gun, and a box of moth balls and spread them everywhere. (He was in BIG trouble when we came home!)
Another day, he took his "suitcase," (a cloth bag I had packed all of his stuff into for the move - flea and tick stuff, worming pills, shampoo, toothpaste, brushes and combs, etc.) and hauled it out into the yard and proceeded to chew through almost everything. Jason came home to that one.
Another day, he emptied my recycling bin and carried everything out into the yard.
Another day, he took a whole box of plastic containers outside (how he got it through his doggie door, I'll never know!) and chewed them up.
He almost regularly takes the wire bristle brush for cleaning the grill and tries to chew on it. I don't think that one goes so well for him.
The most recent one this week was taking the lid to a big Rubbermaid tub outside to chew on. Again, I have know idea how he gets some of this stuff through his doggie door. All I can say is that he's definitely motivated and persistent!

I have tried most everything I know to get this destroying thing to stop. He knows he's been bad and runs and hides as soon as we come home from work. He won't look you in the eye when you're showing him the mess and telling him he was a bad dog (he actually hangs his head and turns his face away). He has spent a lot of time in time-outs. And yet it seems to continue. Some people have told me that it's because he has access to all of this stuff, or that he needs another doggie to play with because he's bored. But, my response is that all of this stuff that he's destroying was sitting in our old garage at home that he had free access too. And he didn't need a doggie playmate at the other house. Also, how come his box of toys is untouched every single day, and his open bag of dog food sitting beside his food and water bowls never gets touched?

After nothing seemed to be helping the situation, I decided to try another tactic. Instead of trying to punish him each time, I ignore him. I clean up the mess and go inside. I've been trying to take him on regular bike rides, out to play ball, to the dog park, and lately, long walks every day. I was hoping that if he was tired and worn out, he wouldn't be interested in tearing things up. In addition, I tried to clean up the garage, put things up in the attic, and tried to find a "home" for most everything out there. I kind of succeeded at that and kind of didn't.

This is one area that's kind of cleaned up. Down at the end, I just piled stuff up on the table and tried to barricade smaller things behind bigger things on the floor.

Gunther's food and water got relocated and we moved the freezer from in front of the car to a corner.

Everything that was sitting in this spot (mostly tents and camping stuff) was put up into the attic, along with our empty Rubbermaid tubs.

So now I'm hoping that since there is less stuff sitting on the floor, he will be less interested in destroying things. I still haven't figured out what his agenda is in all of this. And while moving things out of the garage seems to have helped, it hasn't completely solved the problem. (For example the lid to my recycling that he took out this week.)

This is my cool, recycled flip-flop doormat that I found for the garage. (And no, Gunther hasn't destroyed this at this time.)

I know all of you people with 2 and 4 kids running around swindling their younger siblings into doing their chores probably weren't super interested in my doggie woes. But, that has been an unexpected struggle that came with our new house. I never really thought there could be doggie psychology, but now I don't know. I guess I could get rid of the dog and solve the problem, but he's my buddy - especially when I'm home alone.

Disclaimer: Gunther never suffered any sickness from the aforementioned escapades. How he escaped that is a mystery, considering all he got into.