Chloe eats paper and tissue, fiance spanks her bum
 

Chloe is 15 weeks old, and yes..she does get into a lot of things. She finds paper and shreds it, kleenex, etc. My fiance gets really mad about this and thinks that she should know not to. I try to tell him that she is just a puppy and by just saying "NO" in a firm voice, she will eventually learn.

He thinks that it is okay to spank her when she does something like this. I don't think this is okay at all. Caesar Millan says that it is okay to give the dog a light tap and say "NO" firmly, so they know that you mean business, but never a hit or spank. What can I do to make her stop? Anyone else have this problem? What can I tell my fiance. He never spanks her hard, but I just fear that it will harm their relationship and that she will be afraid of him if it keeps up. She is a wonderful puppy and him and I both love her dearly!

Thanks for any advice!

Never never never spank a yorkie. They can get hurt too easily.

Replace fiance if he won't listen.

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OR, maybe you need to puppy proof your house. No paper within easy reach = she won't be shredding it. Put kleenex boxes in inaccessible places, toilet paper on the back of the toilet, buy garbage cans with lids.

It is definitely puppy proofed :)

She just gets pieces of paper that are dropped, like receipts & wrappers

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dont hit a dog that teachers them nothing but fear. and dont leave tissue out =)

I agree -- no spanking at all! I was looking for advice ... not negative comments from others but thank you anyway

But honestly, I hope you were joking about replacing my fiance :eek: not very funny if it was a joke :rolleyes:

I have one that if a piece of paper is dropped, he will grab it and run to his crate and try to hide it...he knows he aint suppose to have it and thats why he tries to hide it....if i dont take it, he will shred it to pieces. I always just take it away and say firmly NO. Maybe someday he will get the message haha...I just try to keep everything from his reach. Some people may not agree but i dont think anybody should spank a dog. I think that will just make it afraid of you. Good luck!

This is my opinion. I was making light of the situation but seriously my comment did have one tiny thread of truth in it. Anyone who hits a puppy would not be a fiance I would have. (Me, my values.) I do have some questions for you.
Does he like dogs? Did he want the puppy? Does he have a temper? Will he listen to you and take your feelings about the matter seriously? Honestly this is a reality check for you and your life as it may be in the future. You are asking for advice from strangers. I am willing to give it to you straight. I came from a horrible abusive back ground and think there are warning signs women choose to ignore. I am not jumping to say he is an abuser. I am saying if he does not take your feelings and welfare for the dog seriously. . . why the hell not. And are you willing to live with that?

Anyone knows you do not strike a puppy, that is not how they learn. They do not have full control of their bowels yet. They are learning. If you want a dog to regress, get fearful and run from you. Hit it.

A yorkie is a toy breed that is fragile and can be easily hurt. Was his act out of anger?

I in no way want to attack your fiance. I would appeal to him and seriously ask him not to hit the dog again. Then decide what you want to do about it.

It is not funny to tell you to break up with him. I am asking you to consider your own situation. Just giving you my perspective, take it or leave it.

Thank you for your explanation.

1. My fiance, Matt, has never had a pet in his life. I have always had pets, dogs, cats, fish, etc. so, of course, I wanted another with him. We talked and talked and finally we decided we should get a Yorkie, since he has terrible allergies.

So - I strongly feel that this action comes from him not knowing what to do around dogs/puppies - not knowing it is wrong.

He absolutely adores Chloe! He likes her so much, he plays with her all the time, she sleeps on his lap, sits on his lap while chewing a bully stick, etc. They are good buddies!

I'm sorry but to say that this is a "reality check" for the future for me is absolutely absurd. Alluding to him being an abuser is beyond far fetched and completely out of line. No, I am not ignoring any warning signs, because there definitely aren't any thank you very much! :) Matt has never had a pet, he doesn't know that giving the pet a spank is wrong.

I have to make this very clear - Matt never spanks Chloe hard, it is never in an abusing way and he is never angry - he is always very calm - he just feels that it is necessary for her to learn not to do such things. I suppose this may be placed on the same level as spanking your children, although they are a lot larger. Some people feel it is wrong, some people don't. We are a loving family, and intend to give Chloe all the love she wants!

My intentions for this thread were to find out what others do about their dogs getting into things, sorry if I didn't make that clear. I don't leave things out on purpose, but she is sneaky and finds her way into things that she shouldn't!

Also, you use the word "strike", which sounds very harsh. He never "strikes" Chloe, but gives her a soft spank. And I do not believe that everybody knows that dogs shouldn't be spanked - but people do learn! That is what this forum is for... learning!

I agree with you I totally did not see where you were looking for ways to keep your puppy from getting into things. I did not see that. I even read the OP twice.

What I read was Matt was hitting your dog and that kinda got me upset, and concerned for you. Thinking that if he could hit the dog, maybe one day he would hit you too.

I am glad you have a loving family. I am sure this is just a bump in the road . I hope he does not continue to discipline the dog in the same manner.
Puppy proof? I think the best thing is to get an ex pen. Then you can totally control their surroundings. The dog may whine a bit, but it will be safe .

Oh and if that doesn't work give me the dog!! JK!!

We've got everything under the sun for Chloe! An XPEN a Crate a bed/house but I just can't keep her in the xpen all the time, I feel horrible if I am in the living room and she is just sitting in her xpen looking at me sadly! haha! I'm sure it's just a phase. My sister's Boston Terrier finds tissue and tries to eat it...he's over a year.

I think if you don't want Chloe to get into paper or trash, don't make it accessible to her. I know Curly LOVES to tear up paper. I first learned this when I bought a huge pack of paper towels and left it on the kitchen floor while I was outside. Now, we have paper bits to wipe our hands with. She shredded nearly the whole pack! My fault, NOT hers.

I know you said she finds these bits around to tear up, well that isn't her fault so she shouldn't be punished with a spanking for it. I understand that Matt has never had a puppy but he does now so it's time to learn. Have him read this website a while, he'll learn fast. We all do!
My baby is about the same age as yours and I can't imagine spanking her, even "softly". She's SO little I would really fear hurting her. Just explain to Matt that it isn't her fault she found stuff on the floor. Maybe you can vacuum every day or something.

It's not easy, but you just have to make sure all paper and tissues and anything like that are out of reach. IMO, that's the best solution. And try to get your hands on some research by somebody with letters after their name that says spanking dogs, no matter how lightly, is bad. I'm sure if you poke around on Google, you can find a few things. Hopefully your man is willing to look at good clear evidence from a professional and adapt his behavior to what is best for your pup.

Lauren & Nikko

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The problem with spanking is he could accidentally spank her too hard and hurt her. It will also make her fearful of him. I would explain that to him.

Sorry, don't know what I did with my original post.

My Abby is 7 months old and yep she does the same thing.
We have to try to make sure we don't leave any tissues laying around because she will tear them up.
Something else she does,,,,,if I leave my purse on the sofa or chair, she will get into it and pull out a piece of paper if she can find one.:) (My fault for leaving it where she can get to it):D

On a serious note...Molly will still chew up tissues now if i leave them about and she is 3 years old. She also chewed up my new work shoes. I think you have to live your life differently when you have a pup. Get into the habit of always picking thigs up and putting lids on things. The rubbish bin in my bedroom now lives on top of an ottoman, so molly cant reach it! You just have to change your way of life and move everything up higher...just like you do when you have a toddler in the house.

I would say that the spanking is probably making it worse and hindering the learning process.

I try to keep all that kind of stuff out of reach first off and if I do catch my pup getting into something, I get it out of his mouth and say no firmly. He still get's into stuff...but he's a puppy and that's what puppy's do. :-\

Shoot Keegan is 7 & anyone who leaves a chapstick laying around...well they just lost it. He can smell them a MILE away!:D

OP...maybe you could get Matt a book, maybe one of Cesar Milan's. This is a totally new experience to him so a book would be really helpful to him. What do you think?

What She Said....
 

I totally agree...I used this rule of thumb raising my kids, my grandkids and my puppies/dogs. Teach right from wrong, but put temptation out of the way. For the Yorkies, everything up very high, covered trash cans, pee pads where ever I can put them. They're such tiny creatures....you have to be very careful and tolerant. My husband isn't very tolerant and occasionally yells at them, so now they automatically bark at him every time he gets up, or enters a room. And they go nuts if he picks up a newspaper or magazine. :animal36:animal36:animal36

Lucky is 1 yr old and still gets into stuff. For instance if I drop a dryer sheet after getting my clothes out he takes it and runs and shreds it. I try to keep everything put up but if he does get something I just say bad puppy and pick it up and throw it away. That hurts him worse than a spanking ever would. He doesnt want me to be mad at him. They are very curious and want to get into everything but thats just part of it. lol. I think the first key in training a Yorkie is teaching them no and the difference between bad puppy (no reward) and good puppy (treat and lots of praise) They really love to please. They are very smart. :)

If your puppy tears something up it's your fault! Once I realized that, there was no reason to get upset with the dog. This (see pix) is how I live. Friday I had to find a different bra than I planned to wear because he took my bra and ran with it and I didn;t have time to chase him.

lol.... Thats so true. We should know better by now huh? They love getting what they should'nt and playing keep away!!!!

As much as we love our little angels, they are dogs at heart. And dogs love to chew and dig and destroy paper(and everything else lol). It is their nature.
My Bonnie loves to find something on the floor and take off with it. Even if we think things are picked up, their little noses and mouths are 1 inch off the floor, they can find the smallest things. Bonnie is going on 6 months and I have to watch her like a hawk. If I even have a paper towel, cleaning up something, she tries to eat it out of my hand. They just love paper. I hope she will out-grow it, or learn that it is bad behavior, but the urge will always be there, I think.
I was raised in a home where my mom got after our family dog with a rolled up newspaper and rubbed his nose in her potty accidents. That was acceptable at that time-it was common practice and how one person told the next person how to take care of training problems. Through education, I learned a different way of training. That is what your boyfriend needs, just educate him is the new more modern thinking on training.
I am sorry some on here were a little strong, or made you feel like you had to defend your boyfriend. There is a lot of abuse out in that big scary world, and they just wanted to warn you. I will probably get flamed for saying this, but some people will choose their pets over their human relationships. Good luck educating your BF to a more gentle form of training. On a lighter note, maybe you can give BF a "treat" when he uses the correct training methods. LOL

lol is it wrong that I find that picture cute. :-P But I totally understand. The worst is when Danger will have something and he can move and maneuver under anything so he'll get under the dining room table and by the time I've finally caught him to scold him, he probably already forgot what he did wrong so it's pointless. :-P I try though. :)

Hitting will make your dog fearful. They are like toddlers, you have to puppy proof your home....

My yorkie is 11 weeks old and he knows what the word NO means. I have never spanked him -- I don't spank my kids so why would I spank my baby. My mother in law has boston's and she spanks them and they are fearful of her. I don't want that from Alex. Just be calm and tell him NO. Good Luck

Hugs,

It is just like raising children, you both learn along the way. Though spanking a dog doesnt work the same way as spanking a child either. And it looks like you have both learned that here, through way too much criticism. Just pass that on to your fiance, and go from there :)

My toddler and pup will grab ANYTHING left on the floor. Paper, wrappers, anything, and try to stick in their little mouths! :eek: For me its constantly picking up paper that drops, and telling them no. (i sound like a broken record somedays!) Your pup is also probably teething.

Try to teach him the drop command, and praise him when he drops the paper or whatnot. It will take some time to learn, but its a way better option than replacing the fiance! :animal36