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Question: Our dog is cage trained and has no problem staying in his den (with a couple of chew toys) while we are gone. Now we would like to be able to give him the run of the house while we are gone. We have started slowly giving him access to a hallway and/or small corner of the kitchen, with disastrous results. Chewed carpet, scratched doors, things knocked over that we thought we'd put out of his reach, etc. What can we do?

ANSWER: You need to take smaller steps with your dog. Going from a crate to being loose in the house is too difficult a transition. Bring your dog into the house every day on-leash only. Before you bring him into the house, spray everything you don't want him to touch with bitter apple spray. This must be done every time right before you bring him in the house. You should also carry a small water squirt gun and some tasty food treats. Bring your dog in the house and take him on a "tour" of the entire house. During this "tour" reward him with food treats, praise and petting for not bothering the things you want him to leave alone. Each time he trys to touch a forbidden object, you can startle/interrupt him with a leash correction or squirt of water in his face. A small, inexpensive motion sensor will help you remind your dog to not touch those same objects even when you are not in the same room with him. Remember to continue to mark all forbidden objects with bitter apple each time. This is especially important at the locations your dog has already disturbed (the carpet and doorway).

The other thing you need to train your dog is to accept brief separations from you while he is in various locations of the house. Begin by leading your dog into a small room. Shut the door behind you as you exit. Wait on the other side of the door a few moments. If the dog is quiet, open the door and let him out. If he complains at all (scratches, barks or whines) open the door and give him a little squirt of water in the face. Wait for him to be quiet for at least 10 seconds before opening the door. Do this several times each day in all different areas of the house. Slowly increase the amount of time the dog is in the room by himself. Remember, you can use the motion sensor to "booby trap" areas you think he might disturb.

Each time you "leave" him, you should give him what we call a transitional object. This is a yummy toy that he gets only when you leave him. A peanut butter filled kong toy, knuckle bone, pig ear or anything he loves will work. This should help him get his mind off the fact he has been left.
Get in the habit of cool arrivals and departures. Each time you leave, you should ignore him for a few minutes and then just calmly say "bye" and hand him his transitonal object. When you come home, you should pretent that you do not own a dog for 10 minutes. Just walk in right past him and check your phone for messages, open mail, or make a cup of coffee.

When you are at home with your dog, generally decrease petting and any "free" attention. Make sure that he performs some simple obedeince command before you give him any attention. Practice obedience and fetch every day. Until you have tested him on many occaisions and have seen that he is not longer destructive, he should only be left in his crate. You will need to set up a series of false departures to test him. You may need to hide outside where you can hear what he is doing or have a neighbor call you and then leave the phone off the hook so you can
listen" from your neighbors house. Be patient, it may take several months of this training before you can safely leave him in the house.