How can I tire this dog out?

LB

I foster dogs, and I currently have a pit bull puppy (almost one year old, about 40 pounds) who has a whole lot of energy, and she's starting to get destructive. Normally I'd just take her for more and longer walks, but she has two big problems: first, she recently had a knee surgery and is on restricted activity. She's allowed to walk a bit but not much, and she limps anyway. Even more importantly, she's terrified of being outside. She sticks to the floor like glue the moment she even sees the leash, and I have to literally carry her out the door of the apartment, then bribe her to the approach the door to the courtyard. Once I manage to get her outside, she clings to the wall and won't move away from the door back in, no matter what I do.

I'm slowly working on acclimating her to the outdoors and she's made enough progress that she will now walk out the door to the grassy courtyard if I sit on the ground with the door propped open and just wait for her, but she definitely will not walk anywhere. And even if I could get her to go for a walk, she couldn't do more than a 5-10 minute walk due to her knee-related activity restriction.

It's gotten to the point where I have had to remove all blankets and pillows from the living room, and she has started to chew on the window sills if I take my attention of her for more than a minute or two. I have tried to give her some mental stimulation by training her, but it's not helping much. I don't consider keeping her crated at all times an option.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can tire her out, or at least reduce the destruction?

davidsdurions

This is tough for sure. First thing that came to mind was swimming. Maybe?

mts

Knee surgery is tough. You might have to see about meds until she can do more.
Otherwise consider crating and giving things to chew on that are not your things

Quid

Lots and lots of chew toys might be the best bet. Maybe see if she enjoys the massive raw hides.

LB

I'm afraid swimming probably isn't an option, as any outdoor place would require her to be off leash (I don't trust her not to get spooked and flee), and I'm not aware of any indoor places that allow dogs in the pool.

I've definitely got a lot of dog toys and she does play with them (she has already ripped out every squeaker in every soft toy), but unfortunately she also likes to try to chew on the carpet, walls, and furniture. I've been giving her small rawhide bones, but I'll try picking up a couple big ones the weekend.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can crate her more than I've already done. She has to be crated while I'm at work because she's destructive, and she has to be crated while I'm sleeping because she jumps on and off the bed which is no good for the knee. So I don't want to keep her crated for the time that I'm home because it just feels like too much.

Alas, I think chew toys are the best option, at least for a couple weeks. Hopefully by the time her leg has healed some more she'll also be able to go for at least short walks…

Thanks for the help!

Pantshandshake

Unfortunately, you're kind of stuck. I also foster dogs, but I have benefit of a large indoor area (my basement.) I would say an extra dose of tramadol should keep her a little more lethargic, and she should really be off that knee as much as possible.

LoveIsUnity

I grew up with my family's pit bulls, and we made quick friends with a butcher in the area who would give us big, big bones for the dog to chew on. (Cow femur, I believe.) As you probably already know, pits can tear through toys like nobody's business, and these will hold up to a bit more destruction than your average toy. I always laughed when we would buy one of the "indestructible" ones from the pet store...

LB

Oh yeah, the indestructible toys are a joke. I have a friend with a Jack Russell terrier and even he destroys them like they're nothing.

I should clarify that my foster had the surgery 3-4 weeks ago (before she was in my care), so the sutures are out and she's not on total restricted activity anymore. I am giving her limited physical therapy (just moving her leg through the range of motion), and I have express permission to exercise her as long as she's not engaging in unsupervised running and jumping (hence the crate at night).

Bethryn

Antlers are some of the more durable chew toys you can get.

Dr. Frenchenstein

i second antlers, bully sticks are ok, but they honestly only last like 20-30 minutes, and your dog may not like them. My pit LOVES nylabones as well.

as far as acclimating her to the outside, how does she react if you pick her up and take her outside? if she flips her shit, obviously don't do that. mine occasionally expresses totally random and unfounded bouts of paralyzing fear, and just needs a little push to get her over the hump. (she will whine at the top of the steps every so often because she somehow is suddenly afraid of them) Come prepared with treats and fun stuff to do outside though, as showing her outside =/= death will require showing her outside=awesome. if she ends up liking deer antlers or butcher bones, try to save those for outside until she likes it out there.

Good god, housebreaking must be a nightmare if your dog refuses to go outside.

Lanchester

I don't have personal experience with this, so I can't say it's a good or bad method....but they have sprays that make things taste bad in order to get pets to stop chewing on furniture and other household items. You should look into that to see if you can get her to stop chewing on everything but her toys.

Jasconius

the sprays do work. i had a piece of wood stripping on my floor that my basset hound ate twice. the spray fixed it. he never touched it again.

as far as wearing him out... I've been raising a basset hound from 3 months old to almost 2 years and that is also a ball of energy

The best chew toy I've found are these hollow femur bones with flavor put on the inside of them.... they are extremely durable and the flavor coating holds them longer than antlers do. I've had one of those things last for a solid 6 hours

You can get them at petsmart.

Dr. Frenchenstein

different things work for different dogs. my parents dog likes to lick those deterrent sprays off of stuff. it's very trial and error until you find something that works.

Evigilant

They make heavy duty rubber chew toys with interlocking treats, try those. It's great because the dog will chew and chew and chew and chew on the damn thing, so they're being mentally stimulated. Or, get a kong toy, fill it with your preferred filling, then freeze it over night. When you get back from work, pull it out of the freezer and give it to her. It's the same result as above.

My dog is hyperactive and will go through rawhides like there is no tomorrow, but the heavy duty rubber chew toys with interlocking treats have been a godsend.

LB

Housetraining has definitely been a problem. I try to take her out as often as I can when I'm home, but I have to carry her out of the apartment, lure her down the hallway with treats and sitting on the floor beckoning her, then carry her down the stairs, then prop the door open and lure her outside with treats and sitting on the ground, then get behind her to close the door, all without letting her get spooked. I don't want to traumatize her by forcing her into a situation where she's terrified so I try to let her make as much of the movement on her own as I can (except the stairs, for obvious reasons), but the entire process can take 20-25 minutes and is physically tiring.

In the last few days she's made enough progress that she now pees whenever I take her out, then goes straight back to the door and stares at me. I have yet to get to her to poop outside. I then have to carry her across the courtyard to the door that allows entrance to an elevator (we have to take the stairs down because she won't walk from my apartment to the elevator, and it's too far for me to carry her the whole way, nor can I carry her back up the stairs). I've been slowly putting her down farther into the courtyard to teach her that crossing the courtyard is okay, but if I try to put her down to early, she just cowers and/or runs back to the first door.

Luckily she's very compliant when being carried, so it's not a huge struggle (except that I'm fairly small and she's fairly heavy, plus I have to be careful of the leg). I give her treats and praise liberally when we're outside, but I don't want to reinforce her fear by comforting her when she's scared, so I try to only treat/praise when she actually moves away from the door toward me or goes to the bathroom. I have considered getting a friend to bring her dog to the courtyard so that Rose (the foster) can see another dog playing outside without freaking out, but since she is not yet allowed to play with dogs, I'm not sure that'll work out well.

The antlers and the spray are great tips, I am going to stop by a pet store tonight and pick some up. Unfortunately the hollow bones with the pork on the inside don't seem to interest her much, but I will also see about the interlocking chew toy. Is there a particular brand you use?

mts

you can try a black kong and stuff it with things like banana and carrots or yogurt, freeze it, then give it to her

honestly though, if she is destroying things while you are watching her, i think you need to change the way you interact with her

Creagan

I used to have a dog that'd gnaw on the windowsill, dig holes everywhere, dig up bricks to chew them, etc. With him the only thing that worked was exercise. If the dog's terrified of the outdoors, maybe see about getting access to a treadmill when the leg heals up. That way the dog can walk for a bit while still feeling safe.

Treat-wise, my current dogs are far more interested in anything with fresh-cooked salmon in it than pork. Lamb and steak are favorites too. See if you can buy an antler that's cut so the porous inside is exposed. If the dog shows limited interest, soak it in meat juice from your next dinner, (as long as you don't cook with spices) pat it dry and see if that changes things.

DemonStacey

"tire out a pit bull puppy" is not something that is going to happen.

Heck you drop off that puppy part and it stays the same.

I'll echo the "more chew toys" sentiment of others. The expensive blue buffalo bones and antlers are pretty good at keeping my pittie busy. And when you aren't around if you can keep her in a part of the house with less other things to chew on and spray anything and everything else she might chew on with some bitter spray it may help. Better than being stuck in a crate but will still keep her away from furniture and the like. Just get a nice tall metal gate to avoid jumping and chewing of the gate.

Javen

If you want to keep a dog busy, buy an appropriately sized Kong toy, fill it up with low fat or fat free frozen yogurt, and then freeze it

Oricalm

I'll add that the antlers are very durable. I have a 1 year old german shepherd/golden retriever mix who could wreck any rawhide in less than a day and those antlers are going on 3+ weeks now of abuse. Tip: If your dog doesn't seem all that interested in it, try "seasoning" it. I boiled one of them in some chicken broth for about 15 minutes. She liked them before, but that one was like heroin. Fair warning, gave her some pretty rough gas... (Puppy farts are the worst)

Pantshandshake

Don't know about your climate, but a section of beef trachea about 4 inches long, filled with canned pumpkin, and then frozen, makes an excellent chilly treat that should have quite a bit of gnaw time. I get the trachea from Amazon, personally.
Though, you will notice your dog's poo is odd colored, and if you give more than one a day, it will be little loose.