In the past, I've had several behavioral problems with a mini doxie that I adopted a few months ago. She was rescued from a puppy mill, spent the better part of her life in a kennel, and I have a very strong feeling that she was abused just based on her reactions and the problems we've encountered thus far, but we're trying our best to build trust and working through the problems. She's been really well behaved for the last couple of months, the picture of perfection, as a matter of fact, and then all of a sudden, within the last week or two, she's had this new issuse pop up and I'm not really sure where it came from, but I'd like to curb it before the behavior gets too bad. My problem is that she's started eating my furniture when I leave her at home alone. Well, it's not all my furniture, it's one chair that she keeps picking at. I punished her the first time, told her no repeatedly and kept showing it to her to ensure that she understood why I was upset and put her in her time out spot, blah, blah, blah... then I sewed it up and covered it with a blanket, hoping she'd forget about it. No such luck. I left again a couple of days later and she'd ripped it apart again. I've had her for about 6 months now and she's never offered to do anything like this, so I don't understand why it's happening now. Well, as a solution to her eating my chair, I put her in her kennel the last several times I left, but this has brought about the old issue of her pooping in it every SINGLE time she's put in it, which I'm sure has something to do with her past. She's real nervous and scared about being locked it in, so I try not to force that upon her, but if she's going to eat my furniture, what else can I do? I make sure she goes outside before I leave and I'm generally not gone for more than a couple of hours at MOST, but even if I'm gone for 10 minutes I come home to this. Her kennel's not too big, it's actually the perfect size. It's just big enough for her to lay down and turn around in, but she'll still poops in it and then, of course, she walks through it because there's no place else for her to walk - you would not BELIEVE the mess that I have to clean up EVERY TIME I come home. It's getting SO ridiculous. I need a solution for either or both of these problems, if anyone has any ideas. I would love to not lock her in her kennel, because I know how much she hates it... as long as I can trust her that'd be the ideal route, but if that's not possible, I need some way to make her understand why she's being put in her kennel and that I'll be back, so she doesn't get so worked up. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you to anyone who stopped to read!

Good on you for rescuing from a puppy mill :)
Couple of suggestions, let me know if you have tried them before...

Crate training (from scratch) as well as separation anxiety training.
Having been kenneled her whole life pretty much you might need to re-train how she thinks about being in the crate so she associates it with being good not bad.

Bitter sprays on the furniture or citronella work great, you might need to play around with different scents or tastes as some dogs will like a certain brand and others will hate it.

Another option might be to put something that she doesn't like the feel of on the furniture for a while, velcro or spiky rubber matting might be an idea.

Thank you! I am also Extremely happy that I could give her the home and the life that she deserves. I just wish I could save them all. I have tried crate training from scatch. I've been working on it for about 6 months now and she just won't have it. I've tried re-enforcement with treats and "you're such a good girl's", and tried to make it exciting by putting her favorite toys in there and even sitting her where she can see her big sister, because she looks up to her quite a bit, but she still gets so scared and unhappy. The moment I walk away she starts crying and she gives me this sad little look, like she doesn't understand. It makes me feel like such a bad mom. I've been very consistent and upbeat about it. I never let a time go by when she's not congradulated for being a good girl, but not much has changed. She still poops every time. I'm still working on the separation anxiety thing. It was a little difficult to get her trust, but after we bonded, it's almost like she's thinking, "Oh, no, I'm not losing you too!" Some days she's totally fine with my leaving for a while and other days she can't go out in the yard to go potty because she's afraid I won't be there when she comes back. She's getting better, it's just taking a fair amount of time. On the furniture note, I haven't tried either of those things. I've NEVER had a dog eat my furniture before, so other than showing her the chair and telling her "No, no" I had no idea where to start. I will certainly look into those options. Thank you so much, shaz! As always, I appreciate your help, advise, and experise!

Let me know how the products work on the furniture, it's always good to hear what works and what doesn't. :)

I know what you mean, I hate going down the out local shelter, I just want to take them all home with us :(
Unfortunately we live within 5 minutes of the shelter so we get a lot of dogs dumped in our suburb It's so tempting to just keep them but we just don't have the space or money.

The below info is going to be cut and pasted sorry, I just have it all typed up on my computer so put on AMHD, this is what I do for separation anxiety, the bottom part would apply to you I think, just have a read and let me know what you think ;)

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Does your dog cry when you leave the room? Urinate only when you leave the house?
These are a few signs that your dog may be suffering from Separation Anxiety.

Some dogs do not like being left alone and some will think you are leaving them permanently and not coming back. Here are a few tips to help fix this problem.

When you leave, no matter how long for always have fresh water available. Toys are also a wonderful training tool as it will keep the dog distracted, I use kong toys stuffed with yummy food as a cure for boredom, having special toys or treats that the dog gets only when you go out are also a wonderful idea.

When training my own dogs for separation anxiety I first distract my dogs with their favourite toy and then exit my house through the front door.
I only leave for a minute or two, just long enough so that the dog does not bark or cry.
I then re-enter the house and give them praise for not crying.

Next time I go out I leave for a few more minutes, again only entering the house if the dog is not crying and giving praise.

Increase the amount of time you leave for and always come back before the dog starts crying (you will learn how long that threshold is pretty quickly)

This teaches the dog that you are going to come back and they are not being left alone forever.


Another technique is to not "baby" the dog.
Some dogs become overly attached to their owner and don't even like their owner being out of their line of sight, in this case the training needs to begin before you start going out

Start paying less attention to the dog, when he pushes for attention, don't give it to him
If he wants to be petted, make him wait.
As harsh as it sounds it is the only way to get the dog to start becoming less dependent on you.

After you have trained the dog to be less clingy you can move onto things like leaving the dog in the living room while you have a shower, or leaving him inside while you are out hanging up washing on the clothesline.

Unless you catch the dog literally in the act of chewing on the furniture all the reminders do no good - he/she has absolutely no idea what you're talking about.