Puppy, you are wearing out your welcome...

[deborah_r]

I think this puppy we have had for 3 months has cost about $1500 already (purchase price about $250).

This morning, he got ahold of my glasses (purchased in November) and destroyed them. This was the 2nd time - last time I was able to salvage the frame but had to get lenses replaced. It was a 45 minute search to find my old glasses and got DS1 to school late on a day he really, really needed to be on time.

He climbs and jumps to get stuff, I am not even sure how he got them this morning (I took them off in the bathroom to shower). He chews anything he gets...except his toys of course.

[Kymberley]

Sounds like crate time!

[deborah_r]

He spends all day in the crate (really a crate with an extension, so more like an enclosure) while we are at work, so I try to leave him out as much as we can. But yes, definitely increased crate time while we are home!

[Kymberley]

He spends all day in the crate (really a crate with an extension, so more like an enclosure) while we are at work, so I try to leave him out as much as we can. But yes, definitely increased crate time while we are home!

Ohh, gotcha! :thumbsup: Puppyhood is rough. How old is he?

[bubbaray]

Can you hire a dog walker or take him to doggy daycare instead of crating all day?? A tired dog is a happy dog.

[deborah_r]

Can you hire a dog walker or take him to doggy daycare instead of crating all day?? A tired dog is a happy dog.

I've thought about asking my building manager to walk him. She has two dogs. I don't know if her dogs would like him though. They are kind of a little pack. Fod for thought though, I will think about it. Can't afford doggy daycare, that I know for sure! Can barely afford kiddie-daycare!

[wendibird22]

Is there a pet safe room you could contain him in while you are home but unavailable to keep an eye on him (like when you shower)? I'm thinking a laundry room or bathroom that you could puppy proof and put up a baby gate so he could see out but not get out? That would at least give him a bit more room than his crate but still keep him out of trouble.

[Kymberley]

Had a thought while I was rocking DS. Do you have a Kong? http://www.kongcompany.com/worlds_best.html These were our best friends when we needed a puppy break. We didn't buy Kong treats, we put their regular dog food in and sealed it with a little peanut butter. You won't hear a peep out of your puppy until it's empty. After the puppy phase, we got more creative and froze yogurt and bananas in them and then they had a nice frozen treat, and we had peace! Good luck!

[npace19147]

One of our dogs ate one pair of my glasses and one pair of prescription sunglasses so I can feel your pain. He would eat anything - paper, wood, plastic, really anything except metal. We took to keeping DD's toys in galvanized tubs so he didn't destroy everything.

More and better chew toys might help, but unfortunately nothing really solved it for us except his outgrowing the puppy chewing stage. Good luck!

[Indianamom2]

I feel your pain about the dog costing you a lot more than you bargained for.

In our case, we adopted an almost adult dog (she was just under a year) from the humane society. She was fine for about 6 months or so. She wasn't (isn't) really much of a chewer, but she can certainly find all the wrong things.

Within a year of her coming to live with us, she somehow got a new two-pack of ibuprofen bottles off the table while we were gone on a short errand. She ate 95 of the 100 ibuprofen tablets (chewed through the childproof bottle!) We apparently arrived home not long after she had finished. She started throwing up orange stuff, which is when I first realized something was wrong. Then I saw the nearly empty pill bottle and figured out what happened. Our vet is about 5 minutes away, so we loaded one very sick doggy in the van (with my 3.5 year old DD) and raced to the vet.

One very rough week later, she was back home with us. None of us know how she survived. The vet was able to treat her immediately, which helped, but she is still one incredibly lucky dog.

Us, well, only sort of lucky! I like to say that she cost me my new refrigerator that year...and then some.

So long story short...I feel your pain.

[niccig]

DH said that our dog was the same when he first got her, I didn't know him then. He had to put in a bedroom stripped of everything while he was at work. He did doggy day care a couple days a week. Now, she's the sweetest dog ever. You just have to get through the puppy crazy phase.

[PearlsMom]

People always get mad at me when I tell them how much $$$ I think they should have saved up before buying OR adopting a dog -- because it's not just food and routine vet visits, it's dogwalkers or daycare, replacing stuff the puppy ruined, emergency vet visits when they eat something they're not supposed to... $5K ICU vet visits? Been there. Replacing 3 brand new Pottery Barn carpets because doggie was allergic to wool? Done that. Brand new shoes destroyed in moments? Numerous.

Here's hoping you can find a way to get your puppy more exercise (training and mental exercise can be much more tiring than just walks, BTW) and puppy will repay you with better behavior. I can't imagine how hard it must be to have a puppy with small kids!

[deborah_r]

Keeping the tally going, he destroyed a pair of shoes yesterday that I bought on Thursday. Awesome.

I swear I am trying to keep my stuff up out of reach, it was just one of those lapses of I'm only going to leave them here a minute, then something coming up and I forget them.