[LY909]

The stupid dog ate/destroyed my remote control lastnight. I was SO angry that I yelled at him and told him I don't want him anymore (which is not true, but I was just very angry at the moment) and he can go back to being neglected and homeless. You think he'll remember that I was mad at him?

 

[Kirska]

No part of the charm of dogs is they can be trained yet they don't hold grudges and easily forgive. If you catch him chewing on something again, try replacing it with a chew toy to show him that's what he SHOULD be chewing on.

I got angry at Anabelle a couple of days ago for something too gross to repeat and she hasn't stopped cuddling with me since.

 

[murraysmom]

The most effective way to teach a basset, or any puppy really, is to give a sharp, specifically worded correction like "Leave it!!", and when he drops the object PRAISE him. A correction followed by PRAISE for the appropriate behavior is very effective- your puppy wants to please you.

Now:
Roll up a newspaper and hit yourself repeatedly over the head while saying "I need to keep the remote where my puppy can't reach it" "I need to keep the remote where my puppy can't reach it"....

 

[Tuesday]

Gwen did the same thing, twice. She had my phone in her mouth the other day. Thank goodness she didn't crack the screen.

 

[LY909]

Porter is so sneaky! He is very good 99% of the time but once in a while he would make me so mad. But I think that happens with every dog owner. He is very attached to me most of the time, but once in a while he would wander off in the house to do his own thing. If he isn't in his bed, then its a safe bet he is off hiding somewhere doing bad things. I would silently spy on him to see what kind of bad things he would do if he think I am not around.

 

[Kirska]

Porter is so sneaky! He is very good 99% of the time but once in a while he would make me so mad. But I think that happens with every dog owner. He is very attached to me most of the time, but once in a while he would wander off in the house to do his own thing. If he isn't in his bed, then its a safe bet he is off hiding somewhere doing bad things. I would silently spy on him to see what kind of bad things he would do if he think I am not around.

In our house the comment usually is, "It's quiet..... Toooooo quiet...." They try to move silently when they're causing trouble.

 

[LY909]

Kirska, you are absolutly right! My Porter is exactly the same way. If I don't see him or hear him walking around, he is off causing trouble. Sometimes I would catch myself thinking 'oh its my fault that he is doing something bad' such as if I accidentally left the garbage can out (its usually on the stove when I leave the house so he isn't tempted to go after the trash), its just too tempted for him to not go after it and its my fault for tempting him and therefore I shouldn't be upset since its my fault.

Porter is better at training me than I am at training him. hahaha

 

[Lightning&Stomps]

Try coming home to see your couch destroyed. Having Lightning has definitely taught me to not leave anything laying around except chew toys. Or I should rephrase that. Anything laying around IS a chew toy. Luckily he grew out of it, but I still do not leave anything valuable within his reach.

 

[bubbad]

Don't leave it where he can get it. I always told my kids if they leave something where they can get it it's theirs and when you find it again it won't be in the shape you left it in,such is the nature of a dog.

 

[Flushy's Lover]

that is just to funny!!!

 

[Cassidy]

Oh man, story of our life! I can no longer count on my hands how many things have passed through Fergus's stellar digestive tract. You think you have your house dog-proofed, but they always find something! Luckily, our remotes were found before ingestion... they just bare his teeth marks now.

We've recently put a ban on all stuffed toys- as we're tired of pulling the stuffing out of his rump. I've never had a basset before and never had a dog who ate anything that's not nailed down (and for that matter, chews on everything that is).

Good luck!

 

[Basset Momma]

Silently is so true... one night I woke up to see Frodo sitting next to me in the bed... watching closely to see if I would wake up as he tried to slither out for mischief! Thankfully I have well trained "mommy" esp and know when to wake up... the downside is he has now learned how to get off daddy's side of the bed... and he doesn't wake up!
Ah well... he is getting better...

 

[Mikey T]

No part of the charm of dogs is they can be trained yet they don't hold grudges and easily forgive

that is certainly not the case with all dogs, Toughy = see avatar was know for his life long grudges. for example

at the cas station where we usually got gas there was a new attendant. Norm was specifical told if he was going to pet either of the two bassets he should pet "toughy" first. But toughy was barking and he petted Zephyr first. Until Norm no longer worked at the gas station 1o years toughy would bark at him non-stop every time he say him. He tried on occasion to make it up to him but it never worked.

My mother after teaching Zephyr to sit pretty though it would be a could Idea to do the same with tough. Be the extrodinarly gifted agility basset that he was on the first attempt he fell over backwards. From that day forward he would not listen to her.

 

[mhvonalmen8908]

Virga kept getting into trouble and we eventually decided to put a bell on her collar like a cat! Then we know if it's not jingling then we need to go see what she's doing. We also never get them stuffed toys for the same reason. We don't want to have to clean it up or pull it from the dogs' butts. Rope toys are also banned because Doppler is a master at untying them and he threw up a whole rope once. Lucky he didn't block himself up with it.

 

[bklantz]

Ella has ruined two of our remotes and when I'm mad I'll say similar things like 'I wish we could trade you for a good dog!' Of course I would never trade her though, i love her tooooo much

Her collar has 3 tags on it so if we don't hear her jingling or if we hear too much jingling we know she is up to know good

I think it's impossible to dog proof a house....I'll think I have EVERYTHING up that she could get too and then a few hours later she somehow miraculously finds something to bring into the living room

 

[roscolaylamommy]

I too could go on and on about the number of things that have been destroyed in my house by Rosco (oddly enough Layla doesn't really seem to be a "shredder"). The most expensive thing so far has been my laptop power cord. The most annoying this was when he bit my credit/debit card. There was only one small place on the magnetic stripe where he scraped it but it effectively disabled it from working at some places like Kohls (however it did work at some other places). He has mostly grown out of the chewing on my things phase but he does LOVE to shred kleenex and paper goods. I frequently catch him perusing the bathroom trash for something to shred. He now has a hat the tells everyone he's a "weapon of mass destruction" (Layla's says "momma's girl")

 

[Arry]

Little Lucy has begun already. We do have a whole box of toys for her to chew on. What she did yesterday, was systematically take them out of the box one by one and put them in a pile. Then she climbed in the toy box and chewed the corners off, and finally pulled the bottom out so it would collapse. LOL

 

[Nichole]

Our girl has destroyed numerous things but amazingly she NEVER destroys a single one of her toys. And when her sister starts to destroy one of her toys she throws a fit and steals it from her.. We often have also said "it's too quiet, where is Chiquita?" And when we find her she's innocently laying her head on whatever it is she shouldn't be chewing on. The frustrating part is she KNOWS she is not supposed to chew up things because she purposely tries to hide it so we have to doggy proof or we know it's gone and it's our fault. Unfortunately her favorite chew toy is ALWAYS my brand new pair of black dress shoes. She's even opened a suit case where I thought they were safe to get them.