He sounds like my Clyde, when he was a
destructive "teenager" pup.
At that time, Clyde ate a number of history books, newspapers, a computer diskette, an USB cable and a cell phone, and even a piece of the apartment wall.
In cooperation with my cat Tom (who took a chicken leg from the kitchen table and kindly dropped it on the floor), he ate that chicken leg. He ate almost every potted plant we used to have, at the time.
Hi Zelda,
Would you consider keeping your dog, if you could change his behavior with a minimal amount of work with him? What helped to stop Clyde's destructive behavior was this training method:
http://www.wattpad.com/68187
The main idea of this training method is that you do NOT punish the dog when he does something bad; you distract him and instantly praise him. This does the job, after a few repetitions.
There is also a trick that works wonders, when you have to go and leave the dog alone at home: before going away, you say goodbye to one of the dog's toys. When you come home, first thing you do is say Hello to the toy. By doing so, you show the dog that the toy is in charge, in your absence. Since the toy stays still and is not destructive, the dog copies the toy's "behavior" and stops being destructive, too.
Give it a try, you have nothing to lose. As the others have already said, it's difficult, next to impossible, to find a better home for your dog. Even if you feel that you cannot offer your dog an ideal home, you love him and want the best for him - so he already has a better chance with you, than with anybody else. Good luck!
