Help me help my dog

[armywalaby]

I have a dog (we named her Stevie) that adopted myself and my girlfriend when we moved into our new house. I have determined that she is part Siberian Husky (being that she has heterochromia) and some kind of terrier. She is just under 2ft tall. I have a friend who's fiancee has an associates in veterinary medicine; she looked at Stevie's teeth and guessed her age to be about two years. Now, on with the behavior.

She has a bit of separation anxiety. When I left her alone in the house for the first time, she tore down curtains and knocked over everything she could. I cage her now, but she's figured out how to open the cage when I'm gone. She doesn't do it every time, and every time she gets out, she doesn't always tear things up. She likes to chew on things. I bought her chew toys but she does not always choose them. I take all three of my dogs out 3-5 times a day and play with them in the yard and they play with each other. I throw the ball with her but a couple of weeks ago she would stop returning it. Stevie does not try to overstep her bounds with the other dogs who are older, but they get tired of her energy fast and ignore her.

I don't know what else to do to get her balanced. Is there something that I don't know about how to fix this behavior?

[Shappo]

If you're an Australian, I would suggest you call Dr. Harry

[armywalaby]

I don't think Caesar Milan makes house calls to Indiana.

[bongomania]

I have a neighbor with the exact same problems from a very similar dog! She is part Siberian Husky, part "who knows", medium sized, and 4 years old. She has terrible separation anxiety, and will destroy anything keeping her from her people.

She has literally broken through windows and torn apart a wooden fence. Her people tried reinforcing the fence with bamboo, screen mesh, and other clearly inadequate materials, and she tore through it all. They put up a chain link fence and she dug her way under it, and jumped over it. The only thing that keeps her in now is if they lock her indoors all day, and protect the windows--and she howls and whines loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear, pretty much the entire time her people are gone.

They tried putting her on meds to calm her down, and it only "kinda" worked--she became less physically extreme, but her mental problems got worse, she became more of an insecure freak.

Frankly, she needs to be living out on the tundra--not in a house in the city. I think the same may be true of yours.

[Radical Edward]

Originally Posted by bongomania

I have a neighbor with the exact same problems from a very similar dog! She is part Siberian Husky, part "who knows", medium sized, and 4 years old. She has terrible separation anxiety, and will destroy anything keeping her from her people.

She has literally broken through windows and torn apart a wooden fence. Her people tried reinforcing the fence with bamboo, screen mesh, and other clearly inadequate materials, and she tore through it all. They put up a chain link fence and she dug her way under it, and jumped over it. The only thing that keeps her in now is if they lock her indoors all day, and protect the windows--and she howls and whines loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear, pretty much the entire time her people are gone.

They tried putting her on meds to calm her down, and it only "kinda" worked--she became less physically extreme, but her mental problems got worse, she became more of an insecure freak.

Frankly, she needs to be living out on the tundra--not in a house in the city. I think the same may be true of yours.

I find it unfortunate when the first place people go is to their vet, who most likely will push drugs. Often in cases like this, it can be a small thing setting off a dog like this and it's just escalated into something out of control. There are dog trainers and animal behaviorists out there. There is help! Try to work with your dog, instead of against it, first. Drugs are a last resort, imo.
Either way, I hope this dog received some help from a trainer and worked out it's issues and I hope that the OP can do the same. ^_^

[Calaverasgrande]

I have owned/trained about 10 dogs. Everybody says they are super well behaved. Your dog sounds like it is a hyper mix. Huskies especially are very energetic. I would say get a frisbee and one of those tennis ball atlatls. Take your dog out several times a week and run it ragged. The combination of physical stimulation and human interaction should do wonders.
Also, huskies are quite assertive. You really need to be sure to be dominant with this dog. Don't let the dog off the hook for anything. Don't beat it! However do use a very stern voice. Also, social isolation ( lock him in the backyard) followed up by hugs and affection do wonders for disciplining dogs.