I won't go so far as to say you are abusing your dog - but surely if you work from home, your dog could be tethered to you? If she is a chewer, it will NEVER go away if she is locked up a good chunk of the day. Dogs destroy because they are bored and under stimulated. Also, how can you correct the problem, if you're unable to correct her in the act? Your dog won't just snap out of it and become a well mannered doggy citizen without the opportunities to mess up and learn from you. My beagle was a chewer - I was home with her all day, too. If she couldn't be beside me, she was in her crate, but never for more than a half hour, unless we were out. Your dog should be with you as often as possible, inside and out, all day every day. I am saying this from experience, not to criticize. The more time she spent in the crate, the more destructive she would be once she was let out and we turned around. Dogs need tons of social interactions inside and out. The less social they're allowed to be, particularly if they're locked up - the more likely they are to become shy and agressive. You WILL end up with an agressive, destructive dog if this dog isn't given more time with it's family. Are you outside with the dogs when you put them out for an hour, or inside? IF you're not with them, then the only time GSD is getting social interaction with the family for any length of time, is when your sons take her, correct? Also, I'm glad you're getting her checked out, something is obviously wrong. You might have work ahead of you, even if the problem is solved, because your dog may have learned popping in the crate, gets her let out.

The lack of diarrhea does not eliminate the possibility of EPI. There have been cases of low TLI in clinically normal patients. Some breeders are checking TLI as health screens prior to breeding, and eliminating carriers. Also some friends (both of whom are vets) adopted a very thin GSD several years ago. While she tested negative for EPI, she did much better on the Eukanuba diet for GSDs. Didn't have your dog's problem, but can't hurt. Speaking of diet, can you please mention again what you are feeding her? I think that even though being outside the crate will require increased diligence from you, that it will improve your dog's quality of life immensely. An hour walk every day is excellent. Retraining is an excellent idea. Check out my own personal experience in the "stupid owner can't train smart Rottweiler" thread. Over the course of 2-3 weeks, retraining worked. I tethered her and the 2 times I caught her pooping in the house and picked up and took her outside, it made an impression. Literally picked her up and took her outside. I hope everything turns out soon.

Good point! I should have mentioned that when I took the measurements I did them in different places on the counters, at the ends, near the backsplash, in the middle etc. The range I put up reflects the different locations. When I took them I set the Geiger counter down and walked off. I then came back and took a picture with my camera so I could remember where the measurement was. The time that elapsed before I came back was variable but longer than 40 seconds. Could have been minutes or hours (as in the case when I left it out on the deck to get an outdoor measurement .17). Or when I left it in my built in Japan car which also was .17. Yes I think the .83 guideline pertains to putting it outdoors to check conditions. If you see it that high they suggest you stay indoors for optional trips and not go out in the rain no matter what. Given that my husband did see one slab at .6 I would probably change that out if I had it. My kitchen and buffet tops are fine but I must admit I look at my bathroom granite a little differently given that it sets off the alarm and comes it at .3 ish. It is probably fine for it to be that high but I don't mind using it as an excuse to remodel. The decorative granite tile that was on my humidifier has already been relocated to the garage. I don't need even that little extra bit of radiation next to anyone sleeping.

@dchall_san_antonio: Thanks! I've never done this test, so I have no idea what I'm looking for. I'll post the 48 hour picture tomorrow night... @yardtractor1: Thanks again. I wouldn't say it's representative of my whole yard -- just the very worst area. I took about 10 samples from that ~400 sf area, each to a depth of about 3". Some pics of my lawn might help folks. Sorry if this is overkill. I'm now enjoying the conversation, though! Here's a shot of my front yard. This was SODDED by the builder when I moved in just over 2 years ago. You can see the many bare spots, dormant spots, and overall pitiful shape it's in despite 2 weeks of torrential rains and decent temps. Oh, it's North-facing, by the way. The back of my house faces almost due South. Here's a close-up of a spot in that front yard: Here's a shot down one side of my house. Like the front, it was sodded. Like the front, it's very patchy -- some areas grow fine, while others are thin, never grow above about 2" even in ideal conditions, and go dormant at the first sign of trouble: OK, this is interesting to me. Here's a shot of the very back corner of the side. It's in the way back of the picture above. This was also sodded by the builder, but the interesting thing is they ran out of sod on the first day and left this part bare. A few days later, they came back with sod that looked VERY different to me from the rest of the front/sides. This part of my lawn has really thrived. It's not a beautiful carpet like some of you have, but it's thick, grows high, stays green longer, and it spread like crazy across my barren backyard last year (you'll see that in a minute): Here's a close-up of the grass in that section: Here's a shot of my backyard. This was SEEDED by the builder. You can see how the "bottom" half looks OK -- not great, but decent. I've basically observed that healthy section of the side yard spread last fall and spring until it got to sections that it didn't "like." I know I'm personifying grass. Forgive me. But you can basically see an imaginary line where the backyard goes from "decent" to "awful". This top part is where I took all the soil samples, since I've struggled the most with it. I've spent many hours out there the past two years raking out rocks, watering, dethatching, spreading bags of soil/manure/compost, overseeding, and of course, following a "novice" fertilizing program (sporadic Milorganite and Scott's products). Much to my chagrin, it's basically been weed and clover territory, with very patchy areas of grass that never grows much higher than 1". Here's a closeup of an area from the "awful" zone -- the top half of my backyard: So there you go. Thanks again to anyone who posts with ideas or info -- much appreciated!