I'm so bummed. I had 3 great days with Kirby. He didn't break out of his pen and I came home to a happy dog and a clean house. Today I left for LITERALLY one hour and he had somehow broken out of the pen and shredded my school work. I have 3 huge finals next week and then 2 more the week after, among the destruction were a lot of my school notes. I was so upset, I thought I had finally found a way to keep him confined. Maybe the calming treats really do work, I didn't give him one before I left because I knew I'd only be gone a short time. He also got a 1 1/2 hour run this morning and was pooooooped when we got home. I guess to add insult to injury when I get home when he has destroyed stuff he always pees then runs outside, so not only am I cleaning up all the shredded paper (most of which is really important) I am also having to clean up a line of pee across my living room. A few hours later I set up my skype, left him out, and took Frank on a short 10 min walk. Kirby immediately went for a book on the coffee table and I scolded him through Skype and he was so suprised! Lol. Then he just layed calmly on the couch until we got back. Periodically I would tell him "good boy" when he was laying calming. Maybe I will just start to do this, its what I did with Truck when I left because he used to bark non-stop in his crate, it seemed to have worked to fix that issue, maybe if Kirby gets reprimanded in the act he will stop doing it and when he is praised for good behavior he will start to understand what I'm looking for. Now to figure out how to re-inforce the ex-pen for Houdini

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That is too bad. We have a couple of those rescues around here as well. If this rescue really is as bad as you say - use word of mouth to get the message out there to warn people about your experience. 

In regards to the vaccination, be careful as you do not want to over vaccinate. Have a titer done before doing shots again. 

I can't do that, you have to have a rabies certificate to register and its illegal not to register. Only way to get around it is to get a letter from your vet explaining health reasons, so I will have to do the rabies vaccine again to obtain a rabies certificate from a vet anyway..

I would not be surprised if she never had the vaccinations done, which is why she never provided proof. :(

Maybe, just maybe...don't leave stuff within his reach. Especially if you value it.  If there is no book on the coffee table for him to destroy, there's no mess for you later.

Same with the homework.

Pets aren't destructive to be mean or malicious, you know.

The skype trick is clever, though.

"within his reach" for Kirby ends up being about 4 shelves up on a bookshelf and counter tops. I don't leave easy stuff out (like books on coffee tables). The other day I left my notes out because technically it shouldn't have been within his reach because he was confined to an ex-pen. He climbs up my bookshelves, jumps on my dining room table, gets on the counters, etc. I don't have the cupboard space to clear every counter in my house and my bookshelves are full, no where to store the books on the bottom 4 shelves (one book shelf is only 3 shelves so he can grab anything off of it if he's not confined to the ex-pen). When he chewed my sandals he broke into a closed closet and pulled them out, so "not within his reach" would equal a different house altogether.

Hang in there Melissa! You should check out Lucy,Ricky-Rafa(Wendy&Jack) s previous posts about their first year with Ricky. Your experiences sound so similar that I wonder if Kirby and Ricky are related. Fortunately for Kirby you are an experienced doggie person (my idea of a high complement) and may be able to tame the wild beast in him yet!

That's not really a constructive or useful post. What makes you think Melissa just randomly leaves stuff out and lets Kirby go free to wreak havoc on her place, and then blame him for it? If you'd have read her post you'd see that her dog is a veritable escape artist and that she has gone through great lengths to prevent whatever damage she can. But this dog is just driven and determined to destroy stuff when he's left on his own, no matter what set up she can implement in her house.

Thank you Ludi, and thank you Bev. I am just assuming she didn't read any of my previous posts. Of COURSE I don't just leave stuff out. Kirby was a good boy again today, and I finally got my Himalayan chews in the mail and re-stocked my everlasting treats for the treat toys so he should have a good amount of distraction for at least the next few weeks. Talked to my landlord today and looks like I won't be able to move until July 31st. I had hoped since I was transferring within the complex that maybe they'd let me move early and just sign a longer lease. He said he'd talk to the manager of the complex and see if something can be arranged. Crossing my fingers I can move sooner into a bigger place, it would make things so much easier!

Assume all you wish, it's a mostly-free country.

Good luck with the move, I hope things improve for the dog's sake.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Melissa! I found the Comfort Chews available locally in a health food store and got a bag to try. Used them tonight for Brodie when we went to church and were gone for about 4 hours. He did great! I'm so happy! He didn't even try to jump out as I was leaving, which is what worries me the most. I've started taking his collar off when I leave for fear he might hang himself. It didn't look as though he had even tried to drag the pen around the basement. I'm hoping this means I can stop giving him the Ace when we have to leave him behind! YAY!

yeah they seem to work well for Kirby too! As I read more about them I see that a couple of the ingredients are backed by scientific studies which makes me happier than joe schmoe down the street who said they worked for him lol. Anyway, the only day Kirby broke out of his pen and also chewed up his bed more was the day I didn't give the chew. So far its been I think about a week and I give them to him days I'm going to be gone and they really do seem to help, the Ace didn't really do anything and it was hit or miss as to wether he'd get out or destroy stuff. I believe the day he tried to amputate his own foot (got a wire wrapped around it and was tangled around a table leg) was a day he was drugged with Ace, lots of good that did. I found with Franklin when he broke his foot and the vet put him on Ace that he got sensitized to it really quickly and after about a week even maximum dose did nothing for him. I came home one day and he had managed to roll his crate across the room and get it caught in a door. That's when the vet decided to change his sedative lol. Confining a 7 month old puppy for 10 weeks was not fun! lol.

The Comfort Chews sound very interesting.  Are these the same ones listed as dog "calming treats"? .  I too looked up the Company ( Pet Naturals of Vermont)  and see they offer a lot of products.  We'll be traveling for several days with a stressed out crated cat and I'm wondering if anyone here has tried the calming cat treats, or heard anything regarding the use of the calming treats sold for cats.

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