Hello,

My mother and I adopted brother dogs from a kill shelter in WV. Sight unseen except for a tiny photo on petfinder. My "collie-mix" is over 80 pounds currently and is clearly carrying a whole bunch of St. B inside. Mom's dog is so husky I swear it is a wolf. And the lady who brought the dogs down to RI for adoption swears they are of the same litter. They are now about 8 months old, we got them at 3 months old.

Both dogs displayed severe crate issues and destruction. Mine has eaten well over 1000 dollars worth of my bedroom furniture, but we are making slo-o-o w progress--clearly all was not well wherever these poor puppies were being fostered.

Mom's dog is having HUGE issues. He is blind in one eye (not noted on the clean bill of health from the agency) and also needed to have a total hip surgery (also not noted). So this dog has already had some significant trauma--the eye issue is a birth issue, but the hip has been deemed a post-birth trauma. Again---we don't think the puppies were in the safest settings prior to being shipped to us.

Moms dog is now 1000 times more destructive than before surgery--which went perfectly and the dog has no pain or issues--a total miracle event. However he destroys my mothers house EVERY time she leaves--in the 10 minutes he was alone yesterday he ate her PDA. He actively seeks out items of hers to destroy, no matter where they are hidden or how high they are. He has ripped decorations down from the walls, shoes, clothes, you can not imagine his level of destruction.

He has a new behavior of aggressing towards my father, barking and snapping toward him that is not improving.

Oh yes, and he refuses to walk. He can, he simply wont. Feet planted, belly on the ground--the dog is NOT moving. He weighs about 50 pounds, and my mom has 2 bad knees so she spends much of her time standing in the middle of streets, at corners waiting for him to get up so they can keep moving. Apparently is is not funny to her, but everyone in town driving by seems to find it pretty amusing

She has already tried crating him, both our dogs hated the crate--mine actually ripped a metal bar out and tried forcing himself out--thank God I found him before he choked! Moms dog destroyed everything in the crate--blankets, toys, and has hurt himself a few times scratching at it to get out. We have contacted a local behaviorist to come work with him and he is now headed to the vet for meds. And sadly, he is back in the crate due to the PDA--I am headed over there in a few minutes to check on him. My mom is shattered over this. We have had dogs for over 40 years, all breeds and NEVER had an aggressive animal or one that come close to this destructive.

I don't know how to help her at this point. We cant exercise him because he refuses to walk, unless in his own yard and then miraculously he is fine. He refuses to use a run, so we cant even play fetch with him. Every day Mom tries to walk him, and every day she is stuck at some point with him laying down in the road refusing to follow her. We have tried different harnesses--he rolls around in a panic flailing wildly until it is removed. A dog with no true hip can NOT be in a full body crocodile death roll--particularly with my mom having one artificial knee and the other waiting for replacement. We have tried treats, words, the dog just will not do anything he doesn't want to do. He cannot play with his brother because he is far too aggressive despite his smaller size.

If anyone has any new ideas we can try, I would love them.

I only have one idea, and I admit it is a weak one: You mentioned that the dog seems to deliberately SEEK out anything that belongs to your mother. These items must have her scent on them, or he would not be able to distinguish them. My dog is not aggressive, but I remember when we got her as a baby, she would seek and shred anything with human scent-- her favorites were used tissues from the waste basket, and used ear plugs. Anyway... my idea is to try capitalizing on his sense of smell and ability to distinguish by teaching him the "find it" game. There are a lot of things you can teach him to find, the most common being treats. If he does not seem to be food motivated, think of another item he particularly likes. Since he seems so drawn to your mother's scent (I would not necessarily consider this a sign of hatred or dislike toward your mother, but rather a sign of recognition, that she is "his person."), have her try rubbing all of his toys on her body-- preferably high scent areas, such as the soles of her feet and armpits. Now how to play the game: At first, let him see where you've hidden the item (you'll need a helper to hold him at first), then tell him to "find it" and lead him to it. Reward him with a treat when he picks it up. If he cottons on, have the partner keep him where he can't peek. Perhaps one day, after a bond has been developed with him, you will be able to put him in a sit-stay to hide the toy/treat. By rewarding him for finding your mother's scent, it may help him to bond with her, and to make associations between herself and items that comfort him.

What kind of relationship do you and your mom have with your dogs? I really don't know much about dogs, but when I was training my pitt, I was told by trainers that the first step in training a dog is forming a relationship that they value. If they have a relationship with you that they value, then they will try their best to please you and show you love, as that is the nature of dogs. Find out what makes them happy, be it a specific treat, way of showing affection, going for a ride in a car, etc. When they do something good, reward them with what makes them happy. It is different for every dog. My dog's fav thing is to go for a ride in our truck. You also need to come up with a form of punishment that is the punishment for everything done wrong. Obviously the crate does not work. What about chaining up in the yard? Or getting one of those outside pens that is chainlength fence on all sides, including top and bottom. I don't believe that kind of pen is escapable. At least I've never known a dog to escape one, lol. Having that pen is also a good alternative to leaving the dog inside when you leave allowing him to destroy everything in site. In the pen, give a metal food pan and metal water bowl so he cannot destroy them. Let's see...what else did the trainer tell me...hmm...oh yeah! You have to have obviously different tones for praise and for scolding. My Titus knows what the mean-Mommy voice means...he's in trouble! When he does something good, use a high pitched voice filled with excitement and enthusiasm while showing bunches of affection, even perhaps the fav treat. When he does something wrong, use a deeper, harsher tone while avoiding showing affection. I don't know what to tell you about the aggressiveness towards other dogs, as I still have that problem with Titus. He just simply does not like other dogs. When Titus had the habit of snapping when he was a pup, we used a rolled up newspaper to swat him on the nose when he snapped. (Not hard, more like swatting a kid on the behind. We didn't hit him hard enough to actually hurt, just enough to surprise him and show that it wasn't ok.) We used rolled up newspaper so he'd identify with it as punishment rather than our hand. All of this comes from the trainer I consulted for my dog's behavioral problems. Helped me, I hope it helps you!