Bad Teddy! >:(

As Teddy comes out of her shell more and more, she's been getting more and more mischievious. I've had to replace several things now that she's chewed up, like my cell phone, my blinds, my bed sheets, my rice socks, a t-shirt, my car seatbelt, NUMEROUS leashes, the bento box I bought in Japan (I was nosad about that, but luckily I found the same exact one on Amazon!), and most importantly, electrical cords! My iHome adapter was the first casuality, which cost me over $20 to replace. She chewed up my phone charger and is working on my new one. She chewed through Chris's PS3 headset and I had to buy him a new one. I found bitemarks in my laptop cord, but luckily she hasn't done any damage. These can all be replaced of course, but I'm worried she's going to electricute herself one of these days.

I tried everything! I leave her stuffed toys to destroy, stuffed rubber Kong toys, she has 2 different bones and a hoof, and she insists on eating my expensive stuff :/ She likes the Busy Bones we give Briar and Breeze to keep them busy, but she's a heavy duty chewer - she eats a large one in 5-10 minutes, and they're expensive! She chewed almost completely through my seatbelt in the 10 seconds it took me to catch and stop her. I finally bought Bitter Apple Spray and hosed down my electrical cords (which is probably why she didn't damage my laptop cord and hopefully why she won't continue on my new phone charger). Hopefully that'll stop the electrical cord issue. I happen to think I'm a pretty patient person (not trying to brag, just make a point), but even I have my limit, and I've found it's about $200.

I'm wondering if she was chained up a lot at her old home. She associates leashes with lack of freedom, she refuses to go in her kennel if I'm in the room, and Breeze was strapped in the car when Teddy tried to eat the seatbelt holding her. And she apparently came in with a homemade collar. If it was made with some sort of wire, that would explain her eating everycord in my room. It's not separation anxiety, she ate through Chris's headset while he was in the room sitting next to her. So I'm kind of at a loss for that one :/

She's also destroyed my carpet, though that's not really her fault. But I would prefer she used the puppy pads I put out for her insyead of chewing them to pieces and then scattering those pieces all over the room for me to clean up and leaving me a wet mess on top of whatever other destruction she's caused. I'm seriously afraid to walk in my room when I get home to see what she's destroyed this time.

She's gotten much better on walks and at the park (the other day she took cheese from a stranger's hand forcthe 4th time, but this time the stranger was a man!! Go Teddy!!), so now it's about time I start teaching her manners. So far I've been accepting if not encouraging behavior like pulling on the leash and begging for food because at least it's a behavior! It shows a curiosity in her surroundings and an interest in our attention completely different than when she was shut down. She can deal with fear now. She still shakes sometimes and hides behind me, but she shows normal signs of anxious dog behavior instead of shutting down and letting whatever it is happen to her. I think she's finally confident enough that her rehabilitation can start turning more into training. I don't think she would react too badly from a correction, as long ad I'm careful not to be too harsh. I'll start with not pulling on the leash, that's probably her most annoying habit. Although the begging is pretty annoying too, but I'm still pretty happy she's asking for attention. Unfortunately it's been determined that she needs more help than we can give her, though both me and Chris disagree. But it's not our decision so she'll be leaving us next week.