PLEASE HELP ME

Hiya, I'm new here, haven't had a chance to introduce myself properly as I only joined but will get on to that after I have posted this as it's so important that I try and get some help with this.

I have two staffies. A 2 year old female and a 15mth old male. The female is spayed, the male hasn't been neutered. The personalities are very different, my female is quite laid back, where as my male is a bouncy ball of fun.

My male although not neutered doesn't mark everything, has never shown aggression and has never humped anything or anyone. This is the reason for me not neutering him. Please, please don't have a go at me about not neutering him, I am a responsible owner and have had my female spayed to prevent unwanted pups but at the present time I feel no need to neuter him.

Now for the problem. Ok here goes......

Need Help :-(

Harley (male) is destroying EVERYTHING. Not just when we are out but when we are here and he does it slyly so that we don't see. He has literally destroyed the kitchen wall, the stairs in my house are in the kitchen and he has ripped the carpet to bits right down to the wood, he is chewing right through the plaster in the walls, right down to the plastic in the plugs and has even tried to get through the plastic to the wires in the plugs and it's proving to be a really dangerous situation now.

He has took a chunk out my brand new cardigan, whilst I was wearing it, he tried to get the iron cord while I was doing the ironing and he's now started on the wall in the sitting room when I've obviously not been looking and chewed it right down to the plaster. I'm at my wits end. I feel like crying, I don't know what the hell to do, my house is slowly being eaten from the inside out and some of the stuff he is chewing is turning into really dangerous stuff, like plugs.

I have tried EVERYTHING. I have bought chew after chew, bones, teddies for him to chew, and they either get destroyed within seconds or ignored. I have chews lying about that he isn't interested in. He would rather chew everything else.

He gets walked (well a run actually) everyday, my husband takes him out on the bike and he runs next to it, he gets to sniff about and stuff too, he gets good exercise so it can't be that.

Kaiah (my female) hasn't got a collar which is illegal because she can't wear one because evertime we buy a new one, he eats it, chews it off her neck. She had a thick leather staffy one with studs and he literally ate it off her neck, studs and all, swallowed half the studs. He tries to take objects out my hand, he stole one of my contraceptive pills off me and tried to go for the rest of the packet out my hand, he is literally unstoppable and out of control.

On the flip side though, he's fantastic in everything else. I mean, sure his recall is rubbish, if we let him off he won't come back but he is fully house trained, can do all the usual commands and goes to his bed when you say bed, he's really good but the chewing is a joke and I am just a wreck at the min, I have to constantly tell him off which I hate because I love him so much, I have to keep watching him all the time, I dread going to sleep and the slightest noise I panic incase he is chewing something. I just don't know what to do but I can't carry on like this I know that much. PLEASE can anyone help. :'(

How many time do walking and how long for?

He get's walked in the morning after the school run most mornings although not recently as I tore a ligament in my ankle and can't walk far, but he get's a long walk/run with my husband every night. Not sure how far he goes but he's usually out about 45 mins. Is that too short?

He's so good in every other way, I love him so much and I'm not one of these dog owners that gives their dog up when the going get's tough, I would NEVER give him up, he's my responsibility but I really need help managing this problem.

Spraying certain areas with nasty tasting spray works but I can't afford to buy so much to coat my house.

He digs too, he's started digging holes under the fence :-( He's so friendly that if someone was to steal him he would willingly go and this absolutely terrifies me. The garden is just a mud pit at the minute and we have had tp put stuff against parts of the fence so that he doesn't dig under.

staffie need 2/3 walks everyday for about a hour each time

what food is he eating?

I didn't know they needed 3 walks a day, I have a friend who has a huge male staffy and walks him twice a day but not for an hour and he's fine and my female has never been destructive.

yea they need a good walk everyday 2/3 times a day i done with all my dog never once had a problem dog.

It sounds like he may not be getting enough exercise, as Steve has said they need at least 2 * 45 minute walks each day. The food he eats may well also be a contributing factor in this destructive behaviour he is showing.

Is there anyway you could get some help with the dog walks each day ? either a family member or friend, this would be a considerable help for you at the moment while you are incapacitated.

Do you have any toys for him to provide mental stimulation ? Kongs are great for this, just stuff it with his food which can then be frozen. This will keep his mind occupied for a while and will help to stop him chewing up the home.

I have never had a destructive dog. I've owned dogs all my life and had staffies before, I'm not a first time staffy owner. Have owned 3 staffies including Harley and none of them have been treated any different and not had any problems with destructiveness.

He is on Wainwrights dry food at the minute.

I don't really have much help, my Mum has got rheumatoid arthritis. I've been told by my doctor that a torn ligament might never heal properly so might always have pain but to be quite honest, I'd rather walk him and deal with it than make him suffer. Just have to be careful not to tear it again.

Yeah he has heaps of toys, he plays with them for a bit and goes back to the other stuff, like he gets bored of the toys.

A un-bored/tired dog is a good dog - A Bored/un-tired dog is a problem dog

That kong idea is great, think I will try that and I will try get them out more than I am. I always thought I was walking them enough but will try get out more.

Would little and often walks be ok or do they have to be massive walks each time as that' what I struggle with. They do get a fairly decent run every night though.

Thankyou so much for the help.

Shorter walks more often would be fine, so long as he gets out for exercise as well as to go to the toilet.

You might benefit from a sring pole for him. He is just getting to the right age to start training him to use it but he should not actively use it until about 18months (so the joints don't get effected).

It's a great work out and will burn up energy but also give him something to sink his teeth into which might help the want to rip things up.

I too have ligament troubles at the mo and can't walk far, what i have been doing (my dog doesn't play with toys cause she is a weirdo) is feed a realllly cruel way and throw the food so that she has to run about and get it hahaha (only works for the dry food obviously) so you could try that for him, it would work him and his brain out a bit. hide food in the garden, throw it and have him chase/find it, hide it in kongs or toilet rolls with tissue paper etc. Anything to keep him busy and not destroying.

Also do not apologise for not neutering, a lot of people don't neuter!

kathytake2 wrote:Shorter walks more often would be fine, so long as he gets out for exercise as well as to go to the toilet.

He won't poo on walks. Neither of them will, my girl won't even wee. She ha splenty of chance to and I walk her on a retractable sometimes as she is very good and she just sniffs. I even tried turning my back incase she didn't want me watching her which feels a bit silly now I'm saying it.

Harley cocks his leg but won't poo.

Roughly how much does he drink a day ?? If not drinking enough this may block him up a little have you mentioned this to the vet ??

Hayley wrote:You might benefit from a sring pole for him. He is just getting to the right age to start training him to use it but he should not actively use it until about 18months (so the joints don't get effected).

It's a great work out and will burn up energy but also give him something to sink his teeth into which might help the want to rip things up.

I too have ligament troubles at the mo and can't walk far, what i have been doing (my dog doesn't play with toys cause she is a weirdo) is feed a realllly cruel way and throw the food so that she has to run about and get it hahaha (only works for the dry food obviously) so you could try that for him, it would work him and his brain out a bit. hide food in the garden, throw it and have him chase/find it, hide it in kongs or toilet rolls with tissue paper etc. Anything to keep him busy and not destroying.

Also do not apologise for not neutering, a lot of people don't neuter!

Sorry for my ignorance but what is that?

I do tricks with him all the time, I do it with both of them, it's so much fun and they are so clever. They can sit, lie, paw, spin (spin in a circle when told) and bark on command too. Kaiah can also 'touch' an object with her nose when asked and roll right over in a circle. They love doing stuff for treats. We also do the toss a treat game where I toss it and they catch, they love that.

They love Nylabones but they don't go anywhere which surprised me because I thought they were quite tough but apparently not, I've read that rawhide isn't good so I tend to steer clear of that. They did have two chunky rubber bones but have a feeling he has buried them or something so need to get some more, really going to invest in a couple of large kongs too and do the frozen peanut butter idea, I think that's ace.

I have had so much stick for not neutering but the second we made the decision to get a male, the first thing we did was spay our female as I am very aware of how many unwanted staffies there are and didn't want to contribute to that. He is also on a lead all the time a I can't let him off so the chance of him getting to a female on heat is slim UNLESS someone was to let a female in heat off her lead to come to him. I just don't want to force him to have an op that might not be necesary.

No I haven't been to the vet, I thought it must be something to do with him still being young so have tried to sort it myself. I'm not sure how much he drinks but he has a very large ceramic bowl which is full to the brim with water and if it's empty it gets refilled. He doesn't go without anything and as I don't work at the minute, I'm around a lot so it's not even like I leave him for long.

He is such an ace dog, everyone that meets him falls in love with him, he makes everyone smile with his happiness and bounciness and I love him like he's one of my children, I just need to try and sort this if possible before he either electrocutes himself or my house crumbles with all the damage.

He's currently snuggled with me on the couch lol I can't even imagine being without him, other people have told me to 'get rid' but I refuse, why should I get rid? I wouldn't give up my kids so therefore why would I give up my dog? He is my responsibility, I have had him since he was 6 weeks old as his mother couldn't care for him so it's my job to make sure he is ok. I'd rather my house was ruined before he left. Maybe I'm mad!

He is gorgeous and no you dont sound mad to me at all, just very responsible.

I think Hayley means a spring pole, please see the link below for info on this, I wouldn't have a clue

http://www.cosmos-staffords.com/Training/Spring_pole/spring_pole.html

kathytake2 wrote:He is gorgeous and no you dont sound mad to me at all, just very responsible.

I think Hayley means a spring pole, please see the link below for info on this, I wouldn't have a clue

http://www.cosmos-staffords.com/Training/Spring_pole/spring_pole.html

That looks fantastic, my husband says he can build one of those, it looks like so much fun! I'm feeling a lot more positive now, thanks so much everyone.