Work her.
She neeeds something to do.

My DD has a chihuahua. When he was young she was production manager of a candy Co.and there were times she was pretty late getting home. That little brat would tear something up. Twice he left her a GIFT on her pillow. She got on to him good everytime and did try to spend more time with him. He outgrew it in several months.

I have to tell another story on him. My DH never allowed a dog in the house and we babysit him for a couple of weeks once and he had to stay in the house. My DH completely ignored this dog (Tiger) at first. DH had'nt had his houseshoes on in several days. When he went to put them on Tiger had left a GIFT in one of his houseshoes. How Tiger did it is beyond us but we never let DH forget it. Strangely enough he and tiger got to be good friends.
vickie

Well I do work her... I have taught her how to do the following>

Sit, shake paw, stay, lay down, roll over, UP (which she comes up and I hold her front paws) squat (where she is up on her hind paws without assistance), hugs, "Paws up" onto barrel, roll barrel, jump, She also rings the bells to go outside.

Just in the last couple days we have been working on "Catch" Where I have her sit, stay, than throw a small toy for her to catch.

In fact I used to do "MOrning and Evening Training", which I have cut back on because we have moved a carpet thingie in the front room...

Today we did some training upstairs. She really loves it to as long as the cats do not distract her. I hope to get her a hulla hoop to jump through soon. Whooo hooo; I beleive she can do that one!!! SHe is so smart it makes me sick but its fun. HOpe that makes sense.

She is bored and needs something to do.

A walk would be nice, a game of fetch, a kong with some peanut butter in it, hide and seek with some treats.

If she is an aussie mix, she should be able to withstand some cold for a small time.

Why can't she go in the basement? Just wondering.

I whole heartedly agree that your dog, who was bred to work for at least 8 hours a day needs more exercise. Running your dog, walking your dog or letting your dog play with others at the dog park is going to solve alot of your problems. You may even contact others in your area for dog agility or dog games. There is one game, I forget the name right now, where your dog races up to a box which has a tennis ball in it, the dog must go over hurdles and then retrieve the ball and bring it back, aussies especially love this game since they have to work their heads as well as their bodies.

Mazer, that's called flyball and would be an excellent sport for a corgi/aussie mix.

OP, I have a one year old dog that goes to day care 3x per week. I also walk him at a minimum of 45 minutes to an hour every day. That is what it takes to wear him out so he doesn't destroy my things. If you have flyball in your area that would be a fantastic diversion.

Weave poles in the livingroom!

Our dogs occasionally get the devil in them for no reason we can determine. Everything's cool, then we come home and a blanket or socks are chewed up. Rarely the same behavior twice, and it happens infrequently. But it happens.

Thanks everyone for your advise. Weave poles?? Whats that? I wll check out that game to see if I can find anyone plays it locally. The dog cannot go into the basement because it has been deemed the "Cats Space". We had a cat before the dog and we thought the cat needed space from the dog. NOw we have 2 cats. I think it helps for them to have space to get away from the dog if that is what they want to do. Thanks again everyone.
~Sarah~

I have a lab who turned one this week, and the ONLY day we have missed taking him for a 40 minute off-leash walk was last Monday when it was -37C w/windchill. Otherwise, we go! Bundle up and get out there, your dog will be happier.

Other than that, sounds like you do keep him mentally challenged, which is great.

I think she's bored also. Chewing is her way of releasing energy.

You need to come up with a way to help her exercise. Dogs love to play, you said it is jut to cold to take her to the park. She misses that.

Try inventing games for indoors. My dogs love hide and seek. I am forever trying to find new places to hide. It challenges them and they use up tons of energy.

Good luck!

SG

weave poles in the living room

I was teasing a bit, but it is an idea.

Weave poles are used in agility competition. They are tall flexible poles the dog runs back and forth through (weaves) as fast as it can. It keeps a dog busy. They are normally spiked into the ground. It would take real effort to build a platform inside, like:

"You know you are addicted to dog agility if you have weave poles in your living room" [grin]