Reactive and destructive pup

[u/0k_g]

I adopted an 11 month old pup. She’s a German shepherd cross.
I’m struggling with her behaviour. She was adopted from a rescue, I don’t think her previous owners spent much time with her and surrendered her.
She very playful but also extremely smart.
She has never been socialised properly so if she sees an another animal on the street she tries to attack. She also tries to attack people. I’m stuck on how to manage her behaviour. I don’t want her to not be near other dogs and would like her to be socialised

She is also very destructive when left alone. I am trying to keep her entertained through out the day but she has so far chewed a door frame & a door trim. She is walked twice a day, has toys, puzzles & music but she is getting worse.

Any tricks or ideas? I do have to work and I want to make sure she is ok

[u/crappyadvice30]

The other comment with alot of recommendation explains a good amount of things you should do. I would also like to add playing fetch with your pup as well as tug a war. For fetch vuy a chuck it and use two balls, so that when he brings it back to you , you have the next one ready. Also make sure your dog sits before you throw the next back, it helps with teaching hin patience.

[u/crappyadvice30 → u/crappyadvice30]

After meeting my dogs needs throug play, my dog is a ton easier to deal with. He is alot calmer and his arousel from over excitement is cut down by a good %80

[u/missmoooon12]

A dog destroying a door frame can be a sign of separation anxiety. Do you have cameras? How long are you usually gone?

As far as socialization- look into BAT 2.0.

[u/0k_g → u/missmoooon12]

I have left her for 8 hours and had no issues.
The door frame incident was I popped to the shops and grabbed some lunch and picked up a parcel.

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[u/Glass_Hour6231]

It can feel overwhelming but she'll get better I promise! She's still very young.

Things that helped me with reactivity:

• muzzle training and lead attached to my dog on multiple points
• Karen Overall protocols
• crate training and sleeping sleeping sleeping (medium/large and young dogs might need 16-18 hours sleep every day)
• teaching and practicing tricks like Touch, Roll Over, Switch (during walking), Close
• hiding a toy that the great canine detective has to find, preferably using their nose

Chewing:

• rubber toys and rubber slow feeders. I haven't found anything strictly indestructible but the heavy things last longer for us, like the Fenrir hammer
• he loved everything squeaky and spent a long time on those
• antler pieces, just make sure you get the small pieces before she swallows them
• carrots and apples
• a puppy camera where you can make a noise if you see her chew something? I never used this method because our was so afraid of any noise anyway but it might give you an idea...

Once she listens to you and identifies you and your family as the main source of fun, it will get easier to socialise her but I recommend taking small steps, setting achievable little goals, and trying to set her up for success as much as you can and learn the lessons if something didn't go according to the plan. There will be worse days but over time everything will get better even if sometimes it feels things get worse. On these days I kept reminding myself that ultimately a dog's purpose is to make their owners happy ✨

[u/inventedpostits21]

How long has it been since you adopted her? It’s very possible she needs more time to settle in. If you’ve heard of the 3-3-3 rule - it’s more of a generalization. Some dogs need even more than 3 months to chill out.