I am pretty much at my wits end with our two beautiful loving dogs. We adopted both of them from a shelter (at different times).
Leila, an american bulldog/belgian sheepdog mix^^^, was adopted back in 2009 when she was 10 months old and is now 5 years old. She is a great dog. She gets along with other dogs, shes a snuggle bug, she walks well on her walks. Doesn't chew on anything she isn't supposed to. Shes great. If she is laying on the couch with us or our bed and we tell her "time to get down" she does right away. She is a great dog. She has alot of extra energy that we just can't get out day to day during the week since we work. But we do take her on walks twice a day and play with her toys with her at night. She listens to us very well. If she jumps on someone and they or we tell her no, she generally stops after her first jump.
Now, we have Summer, a boxer mix ^^^. We adopted her back in October of last year at 2.5 years old. She had been in the rescue shelter since she was about 1 years old. She DOES NOT come from an abusive home, rather, a home that she escaped from 3 times by digging under the fence or jumping over their fence. Animal services deemed her unfit for her original owner and he surrendered her to the rescue group we got her from.
We knew going into this, that she was VERY active, but we welcomed that because we thought she would be a great playmate for Leila, especially because they could keep each other company while we weren't home and play together. Summer has no manner at all. She jumps on people constantly. Jumps on the couch and bed (which we dont mind for snuggle time) but will never get down when asked or picked up off said place and placed on the ground. She will chew any underwear, shoes, blankets, pants, anything that is left out when were not home. We pick up everything before we leave and they only have access to our kitchen and family room when we're away. Turns out Leila figured out how to open doors (we set up a camera one day when we left) enabling Summer to get into everything. She even chewed up her dog bed one day while we were gone! It looked like it had snowed in our house!!
Summer is pretty much house broken. Only has accidents if she is mad at us for not waking up on her clock (6AM) or if shes being scolded. Problem now is that she has started to pee on our couches. For example, they were let out last night after supper and they both did their duty. Today is my only day off and I wanted to sleep an extra hour, until 830, because I was tired. So I put the dogs in the livingroom and sleep for another hour. I wake up and she had peed on my couch. These cushions aren't easy to clean!!
If i keep the dog in our room on my bed with me while I sleep shes fine. But that only goes against what we want, no more dogs on the bed or couch.
We're going to start letting them out late at night, right before we go to bed (11PM) and see if that helps her. I know she needs more training, and we're willing to give her that and take classes, but nothing gets through to this dog!! We've tried scolding, we've trying a squirt gun, rubbing her nose in it. She shows no remorse for ANYTHING she has done.
I would never give her back to where we adopted her from. She is my baby and I love her to death. But I just don't know what else I can do for her. We play with her, walk her, love her, but shes just crazy. And Poor Leila I feel like is getting punished her Summer's wrong doings. Now Leila, who is good, can't lay on the couch with us, or on the bed because Summer can't get control of herself!
Does anyone, have any suggestions or words of encouragement for me? I've tried redirecting my energy to be more calm with them, and it sometimes works. But not too often. Im exhausted from losing personal things and cleaning up pee!!
648 posts
32785 posts