The Cone of Shame - Is it okay?

3170 Views 22 Replies 9 Participants Last post by PunkyPug, Jul 13, 2012

reimacram

Discussion Starter · Jul 12, 2012

Dear fellows. Recently, my puppy broke 4 mobile phone chargers, a usb connector, router connector, an Ethernet cable and just last night our Electric Fan short-circuited causing temporary power-off in our unit. I was really mad at her but then I can't do anything except stare at her and shout her words while pointing at the things she broke.
She chewed on the wires mentioned above though she already have a chew-bone, a toy ball, a pull-rope and a number of mats and rags. Every time she did it, I can't do anything to the poor puppy. I put her in her cage but her whining and whimpering is enough to let her out again after a few minutes.

Recently, I've been reading on how to prevent this but they doesn't seem to work. Just want to ask you out there if using e-collars or "cone of shame" is okay to use as punishment? I know I've spoiled her somehow but she's a dog and its natural for her to chew things specially while in the puppy-phase. Any advice would be great..

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ThoseWordsAtBest

· #2 · Jul 12, 2012

No. There is still no connection between chewed thing and the e-collar. E-collars are also to stop them from getting at themselves. They'll still be able to destroy other things.

What you should probably do is crate or contain your dog to a puppy proof room when you can't watch her. If you can't keep an eye on her she shouldn't be free to her own devices, it's setting her up to fail.

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ThoseWordsAtBest

· #4 · Jul 12, 2012

Not stupid, just someone with a typical frustrating puppy and looking for a solution!

Have you tried any crate games? I am lucky that the last puppy I raised did not mind his crate in the slightest, but he would rustle and flop around in there if he didn't have a full day. Where is her crate at?

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ThoseWordsAtBest

· #7 · Jul 12, 2012

reimacram said:
Yes. Though frustrating, I still don't know how to give her a punishment without hitting her. I mean, I just can't do it. Her crate is very near my bedside. Shall I put it farther away? Thank you for listening to my questions!

Well, you certainly don't have to hit her! And it's not a bad thing to not be able to do that. We've made it through some heavy chewing puppy phases and nobody was hit.

Don't get hung up on punishment here. She's just a baby and these things are attainable without punishing her. The chewing stage is a not so fun part of raising puppies, and prevention is the best approach.

It's good that her crate is in the room with you. Look up Susan Garrett's crate games to help get her more accustomed to being in her crate. Things to do inside the crate are also helpful. Frozen peanut butter filled kongs and the like. Before she goes to the crate for the night (or when you can't watch her) be sure that she is physically- and mentally- pooped.

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ThoseWordsAtBest

· #10 · Jul 12, 2012

reimacram said:
Thanks for the advice. I'll do that too. Actually, most of the times I pat her to sleep. And when she goes down, I sleep too. But oftentimes, she wakes up and whimpers. I'm still wake up every 2 hours to let her pee on the bathroom floor. But then returning her to sleep is another good 15 minutes of patting her again. Am I wrong? Most of my friends think she's too spoiled.

How old is she? The general rule of thumb is a puppy can hold it one hour for every month they are old. I would try not to continue the patting habit lest she becomes used to it, but admittedly I understand doing whatever you can just to get the pup to go to sleep. You can try transferring the comfort to a shirt of yours that smells like you, something to busy herself with (like the kong) to not be focused on you, things of that nature.

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ThoseWordsAtBest

· #20 · Jul 13, 2012

reimacram said:
She's 2 months old right now (and some ++days mom was killed a few days before I got her..). Okay so I really was spoiling her. She's a wonderful dog. Though playful, I managed to teach her "Sit", "Stay" and "Jump". She also likes to sit on my lap while I work on my computer but after some scratching behind her ears, she reacts to it by playfully biting on my hand which is one of my other problems. I should follow your advices and give you some progress gist. Thanks for the time reading my thread.

Hang in there. It's hard when they're young, and it's harder when they are separated from their litter too young. I found one of my gals at 5 weeks old at an animal control and little puppy things were very difficult. She's a fantastic nearly 6 year old now.

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ThoseWordsAtBest

· #22 · Jul 13, 2012

PunkyPug said:
Aye
my pup was separated at 4 weeks. And we still have mouthing issues. Mainly because husband thinks it's fun >
She also "suckles" her toys.

Smalls was a horrendous biter. I am a tough lady but she drove me to tears a few times. If you were a tree, she would just wrap her front legs around yours and bite your leg as hard as she could. It took until she was nearly a year old to get it over with and took some creative measures.

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