[Meak06]

My fiancee found a shih tzu puppy wandering the streets the other day. No collar, leash or microchip, we feel he was abandoned.

We both work during the day, and leave our other two dogs in cages, they bark for a bit, but are fine otherwise. We didn't have a cage for the puppy yet, so we put him in the bathroom with a bed, 2 new toys and put a dog gate up.

I returned home to see that he destroyed the towels in the bathroom, ripped up a new roll of toilet paper, knocked some things off the counter (keep in mind this is a shih tzu), and chewed through the gate. He then pooped in the basement (not a big deal in all of this) and tore down some Christmas lights and about 10 blind slats.

We then got him a cage and put it in the same room as our other dogs. Problem solved right? I came home this afternoon after having the dogs put away for three hours to see he had chewed four bars in his cage sideways and began pulling through the small rug we have under his cage.

AGAIN, this is a shih tzu puppy chewing through a metal? cage! How on earth does that happen? My parents have two shih tzu's themselves, who simply bark when they're angry.

I had a Nylabone chew toy with a tug rope in the cage and we always give our dogs a treat for going in the cage and leave both the radio and light on to try and comfort them. We need to figure out a solution to this ASAP.

Currently, I took the Nylabone out of his cage and tried giving it to him to chew on while he's out of his cage. He chewed on it for a minute, and now wants nothing to do with it. I have no idea what I should do and will appreciate any useful tips.

 

[mathilda]

did you inform the police and perhaps the local shelter that you found a puppy?
sometimes people call the police or the local shelter when they lost their dog and this dog seems to a litte break out specialist. perhaps he just ran away from somewhere.
I don't know if you guys have something like tasso in your country, a website where you can post when you found an animal or lost one and register your pet so that people can easy recognize it. If yes, I'd post a found-notification there as well.

I suppose you need a more stable cage...one that so hard that he can't break out.
If he'S food motivated you could try a kong or some other puzzle toy.
walking and training with the dog before you sent it to the cage, so it is a bit tired can also help.