Hello! We have a Great Pyrenees mix. She's 11 months old and she's a rescue. She's uncratable (destroys the crate and hurts herself). We also tried confining her to the laundry room, where there is nothing to destroy, but she chewed up the trim in the room, which my husband is so looking forward to replacing. 
I'm looking for advice outside of what we are already doing to prevent her from destroying things when we are away. She has chewed up and destroyed books and storage baskets, but the worst was today; she destroyed a handful of my husband's most valuable records / vinyl. He collects them and they are precious to him. Yah, yah...I know...I told him to consider putting them out of reach, but...
Here's what we have been doing:
1) We only leave for short periods of time - max 2 hours. We coordinate our working from home schedule accordingly.
2) We confine her to the whole basement - which is a living room type area.
3) We removed all books from the area.
5) We leave her several puzzle toys, frozen Kongs, chewies etc. And we mix them up and buy new ones to challenge her.
5) We walk her 2 miles a day. She also has a big backyard that she plays in when we're home.
6) We put on dog TV.
7) She is confined with our 10 year old lab-mix, who is and has always been house perfect.
Her behavior has improved from 3 months ago when we adopted her - and up until today - we haven't had a destruction incident in 3 weeks. I guess we were hoping she had grown out of it. There's not really a way to completely clear our bookshelves...and there are many bookshelves because my husband is a philosophical nerd ... I don't want to ask him to remove who he is, literally, for our dog. We could for a bit, but what if she never grows out of this? Will she grow out of this? Any other advice outside of breaking the bank for doggie day care...who aren't available in the evenings anyways?
I'm looking for advice outside of what we are already doing to prevent her from destroying things when we are away. She has chewed up and destroyed books and storage baskets, but the worst was today; she destroyed a handful of my husband's most valuable records / vinyl. He collects them and they are precious to him. Yah, yah...I know...I told him to consider putting them out of reach, but...Here's what we have been doing:
1) We only leave for short periods of time - max 2 hours. We coordinate our working from home schedule accordingly.
2) We confine her to the whole basement - which is a living room type area.
3) We removed all books from the area.
5) We leave her several puzzle toys, frozen Kongs, chewies etc. And we mix them up and buy new ones to challenge her.
5) We walk her 2 miles a day. She also has a big backyard that she plays in when we're home.
6) We put on dog TV.
7) She is confined with our 10 year old lab-mix, who is and has always been house perfect.
Her behavior has improved from 3 months ago when we adopted her - and up until today - we haven't had a destruction incident in 3 weeks. I guess we were hoping she had grown out of it. There's not really a way to completely clear our bookshelves...and there are many bookshelves because my husband is a philosophical nerd ... I don't want to ask him to remove who he is, literally, for our dog. We could for a bit, but what if she never grows out of this? Will she grow out of this? Any other advice outside of breaking the bank for doggie day care...who aren't available in the evenings anyways?
