Too little activity? Or just needs more time?

[zanchin_mama]

Sassy Jane is my 10 month old rescue (Great Pyranees/Aussie Shepherd Mix). She has been with us for about 1 month. Before that, she was in a foster home for a month, and before that, I think she was in a dog hoarding situation. She is sweet, but I have some concerns (excitability with new people/situations and peeing, chewing, mouthing, jumping). She had no extensive crate or lease training when she arrived, although I introduced both when she came to our home. For the past month, I was crating her for times when I was out of the home (usually a couple of hours a day). She was sleeping on our bedroom floor (the foster was having her sleep on the floor). I felt harried in the morning, or when she woke from a nap, trying to get her out of the house and also attend to my 2 young children (ages 3 and 5). If I wasn't supervising her, and she wasn't napping, laying on the kitchen floor while I cooked, eating, or chewing on a bone, she would walk around looking for inappropriate things to chew.

I consulted with Neil and he recommended using a crate for her bedtime and for downtime during the day. I have done that for a couple of days and she's ok in the crate (no whining, barking, etc). We have been trying to have a walk/training/play session after she gets out of the crate. When she comes back, she still does the doggie-looking-for-trouble-roaming. Does she need more exercise/training, do we need to reduce the crate time, or does she just need time to get used to more crate time? How much crating is necessaary?

Right now, we push/play/box work/heel in the am for about 20-30 minutes. She has another exploratory walk for 30-40 minutes mid day. Then we try to take her out again around dinnertime to play (this is supposed to be a second training session but it hasn't yet happened), and a quick pee walk before bed. During the session around dinner, she only wants to come inside to play (jumping, mouthing) or to chew on inappropriate things. Tonight, after my husband brought her back, I put her in the crate. It feels like a lot of crate time, though. If we can put her outside on the run (weather permitting) or take her for a farm trip or hike, then we work that in too.

Thanks for any thoughts. I suspect doing the second training session with her dinner, and having a chew bone ready when she gets home, might be one strategy. Right now, I have been mostly doing the training in the morning and the walk during the day, and my husband has been in charge of the late afternoon/night stuff.

Tania

[Margot]

Has Niel started you on pushing yet?