The little bugger

Ok - so haven't complained about the wonderful Knoxville for a while. Thought we'd sorted it all with the stair gate at the bottom of the stairs, but ooooooh no.

So I go home Friday lunchtime, in a rush, to pick him up and drop him off at Nannie's. I open the door and the front room door is open, all my covers are on the floor and Knox is flat out asleep on the chair. I'm so shocked I couldn't remember if I had to open the stair gate to get upstairs or not so I put it down to the other half not locking the stair gate.

Anyway - we pop out Saturday night for some food, lock the stair gate and shut the front room door. We come home, the front room door is open, so is the kitchen door and Knox is in the kitchen having a good sniff around. He's only gone and learnt how to jump the stair gate and open the sodding doors!

Now we're in a predicament - quietly I'm quite impressed at his skills but I'm so annoyed, the little *.

So today we've had to fashion a board that sits on top of the stair gate and zip tie it in place. I'm so worried that when I get home he's tried to jump it (albeit being 6ft high) and he's hurt himself would never forgive myself but I just can't risk him ruining the downstairs we've worked so hard on.

We're hoping to brick up the front of the leanto in the next few weeks and put a roof on that will block out the sun so it doesn’t get too hot in there and he can go in there when we’re at work. We’re even getting him a massive dog flap so he can go in and out of the garden when he likes. Hopefully this will then be the end to him being a little bugger. I don’t wanna do it but I can’t risk him ruining the house.

Just so shocked he’s managed to jump the bloody stair gate!

Any suggestions?

I don't know if this has already been suggested to you but you may want to try crate training him, that way you know where he is and what he's up to.

A crate is never used as a punishment but is somewhere where he can go when he needs some quiet time alone.

What a clever pooch! Frankie has to be contained otherwise he destroys the house. He has a dog pen rather than a crate but it sounds like Knox might be able to jump out of it. Like Katy said a crate would be ideal. That way he has a safe place to go and you're not going to be worrying wether he's hurt himself while you're out.

Knox is very clever. With Zac, we'd put up a flimsy piece of cardboard and he'd assume it was impossible to get past it . Hm...could you not put him in a crate if he's OK with it? At least until you can figure out a way to sort out the problem of him jumping over the gate.

I've seen people put two baby gates, one above the other, which he won't jump.

But crate training is the best thing available.

He has a crate but I was trying to avoid locking him in it if possible - hence the rebuilding of the lean to!! Daft I know.

The thing is is that he's normally fine in the afternoon but the mornings he's a little bugger. I did think of crating him in the morning and then leaving him out in the afternoon but now I'm thinking that as he knows he can jump the gate he'll do it in the afternoon anyway.

I hate to think of him crated for four hours in the morning and then four hours in the afternoon it can't be nice. Although he does love his crate and sleeps in it, in our room every single nite but he's never locked in there.

Does he have a good long walk to tire him out in the morning? Just wondering because you said he's worse then. Mat's idea is good, if you can one on top of the other baby gate then he's got no chance jumping over that.

I woudn't want him to try in case he gets his leg stuck or something.

He has a 40 minute walk in the morning and half hour at lunch when I pop back, then he's out for an hour or so in the evening followed by a shorted 15 minute walk before bed.

I think it's separation anxiety and it's getting worse - two years we've had him and it's only started happening since New Year!

Clever boy! I like the leanto idea. Should be quite comfortable in there, with access to sun, shade, water, etc.

Ok so I go home at lunch and he's in the front room. Bearing in mind there was a big board of wood with legs on it to sit on top of the stair gate, tied on firmly with zip ties.

He's chewed through the legs of the board that we made, ripped it down and jumped over. So he's at Nannie's this afternoon! Luckily, well not really lucky, she's off word poorly. He's going to work with Matt tomorrow as the house he's working on is empty.

However for the rest of the week I haven't a clue what we can do

Oh dear!

Sounds like crate training is the way forward.

Darcy goes in her crate when we go out, she also has the use of an indoor area 5ftx5ft that her crate opens on to, so she can get in & out, I'd definitely go with crate training.

Ok - I'll definitely have to give it a try.

Hoping to have the leanto properly done in the new few weeks then he can have his own room and crate and access to the garden

Crates are great imo Vinnie always knows when I go out or its bed time that he goes in and sits waiting for "His specials" Its peace of mind for me and him

I just don't wanna stress him out more than he obviously already is. I guess I could try slowly crate training him, like leaving him for 5 minutes, then 10, then 20 each time.

We started work on bricking up the front of the lean to last night. Once that's done and the roof is on so it doesn't get too hot he can go in there with his crate and it can be like his own home.

We left him in there last night with his crate whilst we popped out for food. Although he had ragged his bedding he didn't seem too stressed. I also didn't speak to him when we got in just calmly let him in and made sure I didn't make a fuss.

I think it's separation anxiety - apparently they can over-bond and that can cause them to worry about us when we're not there - hence the destructive behaviour.

Going to buy a dvd or something on separation anxiety and see what it says

Well - we left him in the leanto last night for around 1 hour 30 minutes we came home and he'd ragged a bit and also tried to get through the back wooden gate (chewed it a bit). Poor baby cut his nose doing it

So - we've not got another stair gate, inverted it and put it on top of the other one so it's now like a limbo gate to get up the stairs.

Hoping this will stop him trying to jump over. Just hope I don't go home and find him stuck or hurt or destroyed the upstairs (as *touch wood* he hasn't done anything bad upstairs)

Stomach is in knots today