It is quite endearing occasionally isn't it but most of the times it drives you up the wall when they terrorise any objects in their path .I know this and can only sympathise with you as I have a 5 month old puppy,Tara (Yes,I know I'm mad as I've already got 3 kids, a cat and a rabbit but anyway..) and I know what its like to have a kitchen that looks like world war 3 after I come home from work. It can be quite stressful and I can only hope that wee Tara grows out of it. Shes a wee angel apart from that and I couldn't ask for a better dog.

We just mainly try to keep everything out of the way when we are not there and give her plenty of toys to chew to keep her occupied.Though that might be a problem as your Bob doesn't seem to like toys.

Sorry if I haven't been much help but I'm in a similar situation to you Jan! I hope things get better I'm sure they will.

xxxx

I agree, they really are such dreadful thieves at times. All of mine (I have had 4) have stolen and had bad behaviour of one kind or another but you just have to get over the damage and carry on.

Rusty - Once ate four steaks from the kitchen work top. I found the wrappers in the bin .. my son then aged 2 had cleared up for him. I thought the meat had gone missing and spent ages looking for it before I worked out what had happened! He used to pounce at Adam's high chair to steal the baby rusk's from his hand.

Charlie - Once ate 17 (yes) 17 Easter eggs while I was out (I had two very fed up boys that I had to explain to where the eggs had gone to).He had a very, very poorly greyhound bum the next day!!! He was so adept at being Mr Bin Raiden that we had to try every kind of bin in order to try and find a dog proof one - We never did. The Kitchen bin was kept (very glamourous this) on the work top. He also completely wrecked our dining room once everything from door frames to skirting board and the carpet was chewed that day. The reason - I left him alone for a couple of hours. I had to get a crate after that and hated to put the lock on, but he did treat it as his bed after a few days and liked to be in there of his own accord anyway.His really bad deed came later, he managed to break his way through our fence and attacked next doors Mother-in Laws yorkie in their garden, that I had no idea was there. He nearly killed it and cost me an absolute fortune in vet bills( My husbands whole earnings for nearly one month!!!) He then escaped a second time when a fence panel blew down and got hit by a car. After this he was very well behaved and he never did anything bad for the last four years of his life.He occasionally caught a frog (and ate them yuck) and once a toad. This was disgusting and he looked like he had rabies - foaming at the mouth. Toads are poisonous.

He is the dog that we have been grieving so much over. We loved him through it all! 

Tiger - I can honestly say has been a lamb and not set a paw wrong. He once took a plastic box which had muffins in it. I later saw the container and didn't even twig that he had eaten the muffins until my 13 year old called me a pig. It all fell neatly into place at this point. He also broke his tail - by wagging it so much near the wall!

Chad - Another Charlie (God help me) but not as extreme. So far he has nearly caught the cat that Tig has tried to chase for ages, seen next doors rabbits that had gone unoticed by Tig and attempted to bite a labrador in the face (ok it wouldn't leave him alone and was off the lead). Yesturday, I finally harvested all my sweet corn cobs and bought them home to blanch. I have been fending him off ever since. He keeps running off with them.Must go and get them done....

You've got to love them

 

Em, Tig and Chad XXX 

Bob sounds so much like Blue when we first got him. My daugters farm yard animals were a favorite and we woulf constantly find mangled bits of plastic that had been a sheep/cow in a previous life spat out around the room. Cardboard boxes and books were also rather tempting to him.

He was 5 when we got him so wasn't the normal puppy chewing thing. Like Bob toys did not interest him.

It took about 6 mths for him to calm down I think it was just a security or nervous thing. (either that or completely food obsessed and had to try everything to see how it tasted.

Now 18 mths on he will let his guard down and play. An absouloute pleasure to see him pounce on things with his bum in the air. Even if it is usually my daughters shoes and accompanied by a "no Blue get off the Evie's shoes" shreaked from my 2 year old.

I'm sure when Bob settles in and confidence grows he will start to play just as Blue did. He sounds lovely and I can't wait to meet him.

It is good to see him gain confidence. Although he won't play with us, he occasionally runs about with Ruby. When he's in the dog area at the park he tries to get other dogs to run up and down the hill on the other side of the fence! It's as if he feels safe that they're seperated but he can still see and play with them!

I'm sure the day will come when he's confident and playfull as he definately wants to join in!