What else can we do for our puppy?

I would highly recommend a D.A.P diffuser for your puppy. These fit into a normal plug socket and release a pheramone that a ***** would release to her puppies when in a stressful situation. I recommend them a lot to my clients and most of the time they have a wonderful effect. Depending on the severity of this problem, you may be best speaking to a Behaviourist in your area before the problem develops further.

Other tips that may help you - ignore her totally for the hour before leaving the house so that the contrast between you being there and not being there isn't so great. Make sure you don't spend time saying goodbye to her! Goodbyes become a cue that you are leaving!

Leave an item of clothing in her bed of yours that you have recently worn so that she can be comforted by your smell. A scarf would be sufficient if you thought she may chew clothing.

Don't shut her anywhere that she wouldn't normally choose to rest in.

Use baby gates around the house so that you can teach her isolation. It's a crucial lesson and she won't improve while you are out if she can't even be left in a different room to you in the house without becoming distressed. Try offering her a bone or chew and leaving her on the opposite side of the baby gate while you cook a meal for example.

I see a lot of dogs who can't cope without their owners because when they are together, they are constantly interacting. (eye contact, speaking to your dog, touching your dog are all interactions) So although it is important you don't leave your puppy for long periods, it is important they learn to be alone for short periods too. You and your puppy must learn to be together physically but not emotionally.

Making sure she is well exercised before you go out should reduce her reactivity.

Hope this helps. A great book to read is The perfect puppy by Gwen Bailey.

How old is your puppy? If he was too young, that may be part of the issue. Have you considered a second puppy or older dog? A companion often helps with separation anxiety.

I am not a big fan of crates, but it works for some people and dogs.

Is your puppy attacking certain items? For example, is it the garbage can or furniture? My dog would get into the garbage. We taught the dog that the can is off-limits by beating the garbage can, but praising the dog. Like the garbage can is doing something wrong.

Just a thought.

Good luck.

Start repetition training with him.

You and your husband walk outside for ten seconds, then open the door. Remain calm throughout all of this. Even if he barks. Stay outside for that ten seconds.

Gradually, you should be able to progress to longer periods of time once he gets used to this program. However, it will take a good deal of time before you will be able to get him to a point where he can make it successfully past an hour or more.

andieligon gave great advice! The only thing I'll add is crate training will help also, not just with the destructive behavior but also because once the dog gets use to the cage, it becomes their bed (den) and they start to feel secure there. Just make sure you don't use it as punishment. Don't scold them and then put them in the cage. You don't want them to think it's a bad thing.

My dogs LOVE their beds (cage) they go there all the time on their own to take naps.

when u leave the house, crate train him. put him inside the crate. all puppies cry at first, but they get used to it as long as u dont give in. also, he wont pee or soil it because they dont like to sit in their own mess. the crate shouldnt be too big or too small. the only time he should go in it is by accident because puppies cant hold their bladder until they get older. soon, when u leave the house, he'll stop crying and actually relax. it worked for my puppy. hope this helped.

its seperation anxiety.i watched the same situation on dog wisperer.first of all make sure to show the dog YOU are the boss not him.another thing when u go for walks keep it by ur side to show that ur boss and pull it back if it doesnt listen when it cries for u, say shtt loudly whenever ur about tovgo somewhere and if its quiet give it a treat and say good dog.

Sounds like he has seperation anxiety. You could try crating him so he can't destroy your stuff, but some dogs with bad seperation anxiety can escape from kennels(as well as others). Best to get a trainer or behaviorist in there to help you get this under control. Seperation anxiety does not stop by itself.

For the pups safety and the safety of your stuff, crate train.

Here are three great websites on how to crate train a puppy

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~rc207100/info-pub.htm

http://www.inch.com/~dogs/cratetraining.html

http://www.planeturine.com/pettips/dsp_crateTrainP...

This isn't rude. It's reality. Train your spoiled dog. He's your master right now. You are ruining him.

Training books and a lot of work or taxidermy.