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My fiancé and I found a lab/Weimaraner mix in the hills while off-roading. She seems to still be a puppy, we took her home, bathed her and got rid of all the ticks that covered her body. But now we have a new issue, she is chewing up everything! Shoes, checks, pens! EVERYTHING! I have a blue heeler, and never experienced this issue with her, so I need some tips! Please help!
Have you taken her to a vet? You should check to see if she has a microchip. She might belong to someone. Have you looked online, called the local shelter, etc. to see if anyone has reported a missing dog? Also, a health check and a plan for vaccinations should be discussed with the vet. The vet might be able to locate a scar (or not) to determine if she has been spayed.
The chewing is normal. Labs and Weims are both high energy, smart, busy puppies, and both can be rather destructive when left to their own devices, when bored, under stimulated or under exercised. Weims typically require more exercise than Labs (there are exceptions to the rule) and need to run. This puppy will need daily exercise, potentially multiple times per day. Daily training, five minutes 3 - 5 times per day should be good. Training will help with mental stimulation, but an interactive food toy might help - stuffed Kong, snuffle mat, something like that. Don't forget socialization - look at a puppy obedience class locally to help. Finally, when you cannot watch the puppy, she needs to be crated so that she is not destroying your stuff and can't injure herself by chewing and/or swallowing something she shouldn't be.
I like these two free e-books for puppies:
Before You Get Your Puppy and After You Get Your Puppy
There are several more books to help (check out Puppies for Dummies) and obedience class will help also.
Good luck!
Hi and welcome. Thank you for rescuing this puppy. Labradorks gave you great info
Ditto to everything Labradorks said. Someone may be missing her. Her condition is not necessarily a reflection of her care if she's beeen missing a while. You could check Lost notices and place a Found one.
Yep, they chew, some if not most. For her own safety you need to puppy proof your house. Obedience training helps exercise her mind and can really help with using up the energy she has. It tends to help bond you and dog too. Sounds like she is lucky to have run into you and sounds like you want to keep her, hope you can.
welcome
And I agree with the above - PLEASE post her as found and check for a microchip. I know she may not have been in great shape when you found her but someone may be missing her (maybe she was on her own a few days). Report her to your local humane society as found (and other authorities).
And get her to a vet to a full look over and ensure she is healthy.
Puppies are busy busy busy. it's up to the human to dog-proof the house. You need to puppy proof by removing objects she chews from her reach. using baby gates and closed doors can help manage as well. Ensure she gets plenty of mental and age-appropriate physical exercise daily. Look up puppy classes if she is small enough or obedience classes if she is over 5 months.
Keep puppy- appropriate toys for her toy play with and chew. If she grabs something she shouldn't DO NOT CHASE. ideally grab something she loves and play with it and run away and giver her that. Work on "drop it" and "leave it" as commands (you set them up to practice this not just issue the command before they know what the wods means).