It’s hard to believe, how such a tiny puppy with the sweetest looking face could do what I am about to detail for you below, but it happened. My dog behavior problems, what I thought was just run-of-the-mill anxiety from when he was away from me, had now escalated. Escalated to the point where my dog did thousands of dollars worth of damage to the rental house where we currently reside. All I have to say is, wtf Murray, wtf.
Don’t be fooled by the innocent face.
The beginning of my Dog Behavior Problems…
Murray has never really been a chewer. That is, a chewer of anything really valuable or expensive. He prefers paper products, cardboard, and leaves to clothing, furniture and shoes. In February of 2012 when I purchased Murray, my good friend Mo had just acquired a black lab who was making her way through his expensive wardrobe and kitchen table. I felt lucky. Then I left Murray at home for the first time and when I returned he had torn his pee pad to shreds.
“Separation anxiety is common in toy dogs, nothing to worry about.” My veterinarian assured me.
Flash forward to this fall and I begin to leave Murray outside in the yard all day while I am at work. I figure he’d prefer to run free and pee/poop where he wants instead of being crated for 10+ hours. No, he sits right by the door until I come home. When we first started, I noticed he began chewing his way through the door frame in his efforts to get inside. I read up online about this behavior, started leaving his crate outside for him to cuddle up in, spraying him with water anytime I caught him scratching or chewing at the door.
Things were better.
Until I went to Tuscaloosa last weekend and left him with my new boyfriend for the weekend. I didn’t want to let him stay with one of my other friends for fear of what he’d do to their house, so boyfriend agreed to stay at my apartment and watch the dog while I was gone. The dog was fine when they were together, but then he went to Target for…. an hour. And then came home to this mess:
Yikes.
Double Yikes.
Yup, both sides of the door frame chewed off, and Murray’s attempts at chewing on the sub-floor. Total estimate of the damage? Around 2k.
WTF, Murray! WTF!
And this is when I learned about unconditional love…
Boyfriend and I are currently looking into option on how to fix the sub-flooring, the costliest part of the damage. I had already assumed I would have to put in a new door/door frame upon leaving as Murray had already scratched through the paint on the door long before he started working on the frame. I’m getting a large tax refund, but I have other things I’d love to do with that money other than pay for my dog’s costly anxiety problems. I’m anxious, I take Zoloft. I don’t break things whenever I’m alone.
At first I was really, really upset, and mad at the dog. 2k is a lot of money! The thought of the money wasn’t as bad as the nagging thoughts settled in; would I have to give Murray away? Is he not suited for my busy career-driven life or life in a rental? Does he need a true writer, someone who stays at home all day every day?
I was talking with a friend (and fellow dog-lover) the other day about how when we say “till death to us part” to our future husbands, it shouldn’t be so scary because we’ve already said it to our pets. Granted, it is two VERY different relationships, I am not even trying to equate my love of my dog to the love of my significant other. Just hearing the word fur-baby makes me vom. Still, the level of commitment is the same. Murray and I will be together until he kicks it, or until I do, and no amount of money, damage or circumstance can change that.
So this is what we ended up doing to keep Murray off the porch.
That’s the lovely back of my house!
I’d like to hear from you guys. What are your worst dog behavior problems? Whats the most expensive damage your dog/kid has ever done?
Hi, my name is Lauren but I'm known to those nearest and dearest as L. Bee. After twenty-five years on the planet I have worked in a lot of industries, moved to many different cities, and made almost every money mistake you can make.Join me on my journey as I navigate my twenties and try not to pick my "money tree" bare.
24 
15
Yikes! He really did some damage there. I adopted a dog over the summer and got really lucky. She doesn’t chew anything that’s not “hers” other than picking through the garbage now and again. I find she acts up more and more if she doesn’t get enough exercise, maybe trying to tire Murray out before you leave will help? Have you thought about crating him when you’re not home?
The First Million is the Hardest recently posted..Should You File Your Own Taxes Or Hire A Pro?
This wasn’t my dog, but a family friend of mine lives out on a farm and has horses and sheep. One day when she was out, her dog killed two of her sheep! The rest of the sheep were traumatized (they would huddle in the back corner of the barn for days and wouldn’t come out) and my family friend, of course, had to get rid of the dog. (I believe some other family were willing to adopt him.) I think that’s the craziest thing I’ve heard in terms of pets. I grew up with dogs, but they were all fairly well-behaved aside from the usual struggles with housebreaking them in the beginning!
Wow! My wife had two mini-dachshunds when we first got married ( I hated them, but that’s a different story.
) and they were constantly doing stuff like this. Now, they’re retired with my in-laws in sunny San Diego and are enjoying life with them.
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..Frugal Friday: Blog Posts That Ruled This Week, How Can it Be February Edition?
Ohhh- that’s bad, but not the worst I’ve seen.
I’m a veterinarian and separation anxiety is very common. If you think $2k for your house is expensive and aggravating you should beware that Murray can really hurt himself during these episodes. I’ve seen dogs fracture all their teeth and literally rip all their front nails out doing this (and this gets painful for your wallet but also really for Murray).
Really do try and nip this in the bud as I would hate to see it escalate.
Here is a really good website for all dog/cat info put on free from veterinary specialists.
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/
Good Luck. Let me know if I can help.
When my dog was a puppy, she was HORRIBLE! She is perfect now thank god. Just imagine a 70 pound puppy that loved to eat floors also. And she liked walls.
Michelle recently posted..$6,523 in January Extra Income and GOALS
OMG I can SO relate. My dog hasn’t ever really destroyed anything, but in his short 2 years on the planet he has gotten damn near every illness/injury it is possible for him to get.
First, when we got him home from the Humane Society, he had mange (probably because he was a rescuted puppy mill dog–although they’ll never tell you where the dogs come from). That was 8 weeks worth of skin treatments at $60/bath.
Then, I left him with my grandmother for a long weekend, and he ran into the lip of a cabinet and fractured his SKULL.
Then, he had intestinal parisites (because I was bad about giving him his monthly meds, but I’ve sorted that out through rigorous use of my Google cal)
THEN, this is the kicker, he got the rarest infection ever–so much so that my vet and all the specialists we went to had NEVER seen it. Oh, by the way, this mycobacterium infection causes tuberculosis and LEPROSY. 99.999% of dogs in the world are immune to this, but noooo, not my dog! In order to cure it, we had to pay for a $2,000 surgery and 3 straight months of antibiotic treatments.
We’ve probably racked up at least $4,000 worth of bills so far. I love my dog tremendously, but I can’t take him anywhere anymore for fear of him getting sick or injured!
We adopted our dog in Fall of 2012 from an animal shelter. At first she was very quiet and sweet, but once we took her to the vet’s for her shots- they realized she had a fever and kennel cough, which is why she was so timid. The first month with us, she was recovering from her cough, but after that she was a whole new dog. She doesn’t destroy things (other than going through the trash if we leave a plastic bag of it out) but isn’t very friendly with other dogs (especially when she’s on leash. We have spent quite some money on different harnesses that will keep her safe from on coming traffic while on walks . She gets very defensive of her owners while at the dog park. It’s like Cujo sometimes but luckily she hasn’t hurt any other dogs seriously (she did snap at my gf’s parents dog while they were in the kitchen alone). We have contemplated obedience training several times. It ranges from $100 to $600 depending on the program. We will end up chalking it up I think once the weather is nicer, but I always wonder why she is so aggressive to dogs when she doesn’t have a problem with our foster cat at all.
Sofia recently posted..Hump Day Happy wk 4
We have adopted 3 dogs over the years and they all have done something. Our newest addition has caused some damage, but she is now crated and cannot do any more damage. The cause was separation anxiety. The crate ($60) works very well though.
krantcents recently posted..I Am a PF Coach and I Should Be Fired!
But he is so freaking cute… how can you be made at a face like that?!
Well that doesn’t look good. I would never think that size dog could destroy a sub-floor. My worst dog experience is when one of our dogs ripped off the leg of our other dog. That one set me back $9k. We had to get rid of the one that took ripped the leg off, but we just gave her to my wife,s sister. Dogs are expensive!
Grayson @ Debt Roundup recently posted..Weekly Personal Finance Blog RoundUp – 2/1/2013
My dog ate the drywall. Staright up. Woke up to a weird noise, and saw a hand-sized batch of drywall and paint gone.
Jacob @ iHeartBudgets recently posted..Redecorate for Zero Dollars
straight*
I had no idea that dogs did this as I’ve never had a pet. Makes me rethink the husky I’ve been wanting! BTW-new boyfriend? do tell!
Totally guilty of using the term, “fur baby”. I understand he’s not a baby, but we don’t have an actual baby, so for now he’s it. Said, “love bug” has eaten the casing of our front door (but that’s it thankfully). He’s a shih tzu and a rescue pup, so he has a lot of separation anxiety. It’s gotten better with time, but certainly has cost us a fair amount of money. My sister’s dog ate the knob of their shifter in their car. They had to give him to our parents (who live in the country) and now he’s fine. Pets are expensive, but so worth it.
KK @ Student Debt Survivor recently posted..Goals Update-January Progress
Wow, I don’t think I considered this part of the finances in my “can you afford a pet post” but it’s true pets can go through severe anxiety and literally tear things apart. I hope things get better for you mate.
Canadian Budget Binder recently posted..Mr.CBB’s Spinach and Ricotta Fettuccine
yikes is the nicest thing id say after i chased th elil rat down and dragged it to the door, i dunno i had dogs that were diggers and in the yard always seemed to dig at the fence line until one day they dug out a whole post in the corner hence the fence came down. not pretty to come home n find your fence down and your dog limping in the yard with splinters in its rear end.
Wow! That’s incredible. I thankfully have lost nothing more than a few pieces of furniture to our pet.
It’s amazing how much damage a determined pet can do! Hopefully this is a phase and it passes quickly!
Alex recently posted..Happy Thought for the Day: Non Zero Sum People
We rescued a Boston Terrier mix who also has serious separation anxiety issues. We figured out one of his big triggers though- closed doors. So maybe my dog is actually claustrophobic? He has gotten himself out of cages before. (WTF, dog you are fifteen pounds!!) So one time when we were at my parents’ we decided to leave him in the bathroom. The little angel scratched the paint off of the walls and pulled off the moulding around the door and vanity. I suppose I should be grateful that he left the floor alone…
Sara recently posted..Hello, again
Oh man! That’s a lot of damage inflicted by such a little dog! We have two dogs and when they were still puppies (around 1 year’s old), they wrestled a lot. The night before I was headed to California on vacation I’d been looking forward to for months, one of our dogs was really ill and we had to take him to the emergency trip. Once cancelled vacay and three sleepless nights later, we learned our other dog had inadvertently choked him out while grabbing him by his collar. Doing so led him to bleed from every orifice — he threw up blood on our porch on the way to the car and peed blood in the vet’s office. The vet bill was over $1,700. I didn’t care as much about the money as I did about how stressed the whole situation made me and the fact that I missed my vacation. I wouldn’t have handled it any differently, though — my dogs are my kids!!
Kendal recently posted..Contemplating a Shopping Embargo