# Please tell me this is just a phase...



## Jill L (Nov 2, 2012)

Cindy was spayed just over three weeks ago and made a spectacular recovery - 24 hrs later you wouldn't have known she'd had anything done, but oh has her behaviour changed.

The first thing to suffer was her toilet training. We'd had no accidents since Christmas and she was ringing her poochie bells whenever she needed to go out - now she wanders out into the kitchen and before we can get out of the chair to follow her she's made a puddle...then she rings the bells!!!! 

Then she decided basic commands where only to be obeyed if a treat was involved and as for recall... from 13 wks it was excellent; in the last few days it's been 'you must be joking, I'll come back when I'm ready'.

Trying though it is, I can deal with these issues. My real cause for concern (and desperate need to rant) is her sudden destructive tendencies. Not the stuff we had when she was teething, or even her strong chewing instinct, but the 'You've left me on my own so I'm going to destroy something till you come back' type behaviour.

On Tuesday I left her for an hour and a half, complete with peanut butter stuffed kong and frozen carrot, and came back to the carpet runner in the kitchen absolutely shredded  Followed by a £70+ vet bill to make her vomit up the carpet threads she'd eaten before they got stuck. (Money well spent as it turned out, because she'd swallowed a lot and an emergency vets bill in the middle of the night would have been a hell of a lot more expensive).

We decided not to replace the carpet runner, but as the weather is so foul we put a heavy duty rubber backed mat just inside the door to stop us slipping getting in and out of the kitchen. The idea was to remove it whenever she was left alone, but last night OH forgot (she sleeps in the kitchen now - since she was spayed she's gone off her crate). This morning I came down to find she'd attempted to shred this mat too  Thankfully, due to it's strong construction, if she's swallowed anything this time it's just little pieces of rubber - I'm guessing she didn't like the taste much, she just enjoyed breaking it up  

I have to confess I yelled at her - counter productive I know, but it was as much about the fear of what she might have swallowed and the damage it could do as anything else...then I cried...then I swore at OH for not removing the mat last night.

I just don't know what's gotten into her (apart from carpet threads!). I'm now scared to leave her on her own, for fear of what she'll eat next, but I also know that a dog that needs to be watched 24/7 is not a happy dog and anyway it's just not practical. I guess it's back to the beginning with separation training as well as everything else. She'd been doing so well, I hope it really is just a phase, sparked by the hormonal changes after her spay.

Sorry for the long post, but I just had to get it out of my system. What would we all do without ILMC? 

PS She's now curled up by my feet looking like butter wouldn't melt....


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## wellerfeller (Jul 12, 2011)

Things will settle. Going by your pita pata then she has been spayed around the same time as her rebellious teenage phase is beginning to kick in. Even if she hadn't been spayed she would probably still be acting out but maybe being spayed as well has intensified things for her. So I would just go right back to basics, letting her out every hour, whether she asks to go out or not. Rewarding the positive and ignoring negative. Lots of rewards on recall training etc. basically treat her as a puppy again and reinforce all the behaviours she has learnt. She should soon pick up the slack as she isn't learning from scratch, it's just a top up in her training. Things will soon calm down again.


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## Jill L (Nov 2, 2012)

Thanks Karen, it's a relief to know that it's probably teenage tantrums & post spay hormones. Poor Cindy - what a combination! Vets don't warn you about this sort of thing when they advocate spaying at 6mths, but then again all pups are different.

Back to basics it is and hopefully she'll be back to her usual delighful self very soon (preferably without any more carpet eating  )


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## Sue T (Aug 1, 2012)

Hello. It sounds like teenager years to me. My pup is now 7 months and she chews and shreds things far more so than when she was a puppy! (Bedding, soft toys in fact any fabric she can put her teeth into). Recall has gone to pot also. I do think the spay is a co-incidence and it is your puppy's teenage years kicking in. I would just re-inforce the training. When we went to puppy training, the trainer said that training never runs in a straight line, and I do think she was right.


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## sugerlump (Oct 6, 2012)

well ginger is now 9 months old. and she hasn't chewed any thing important .but she eats the wood for the fire place,and she stopped coming when called I was using a dog whistle for a time and then she stopped coming to that so as much as ginger hates it we now take her out on the lead ,and don't leave her run .I think I will do this for about a month and see what happens.and her doodle dash got more extreme..I guess it is just the rebellious teenage years Haaa Haaa ,I hope she learns quickly she is driving us nuts ,so I know how you must feel. I say just hang in there it will soon be over I hope


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

Kiki has been going through a bit of a phase - from being the perfect puppy she now sometimes just says 'Won't' - that said it is getting better again and she hasn't been destructive - but has become obsessed with eating all sorts of rubbish she finds when out....
Grrrrrr.
It is just a stage, we've done the crying at night, biting, the house training and now it is terrible teenagers....
It will get better, it really will.


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## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

Maybe leave her with something she can chew for a good half hour on. Mine went through a shredding phase, now I always leave a large variety of chews- it was trial and error as they are quite fussy but pizzle sticks, pigs ears, stag bars and various rawhide chews keep them occupied and satisfy that chewing instinct.


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