Hello Everyone-
I am an Animal Control Officer, and ran into an issue today that I cannot help on. Whenever possible we try to get help for people, if we cannot offer it, we find out who can-
Anyway. I have met with the owner of a very sweet 2-3 year old female GSD.

The dog cannot stand to be left alone in the house, and (in my opinion) suffers from severe Separation Anxiety. When the owners go to work, they started leaving their dog in a kennel in the back yard. (A 6 foot chain link kennel, with a top on it, which is inside a 6 foot wood privacy fenced back yard) The dog seriously tore apart the kennel, and escaped. Unraveled the chain link and all...
The dog can also climb 6 foot fences so the privacy fence in the yard did not stop the dog either. The dog escaped and began running at large on a busy street, almost struck by vehicles several times.

This was the first time I dealt with the dog. So I advised the owner to get a dog crate (a month or so ago) they argued this was 'unfair' and I advised them only thing that was unfair was to leave the dog in a situation where it can escape and be hit by a car, so they went and got a crate... The dog crate was a standard pet porter, the large hard plastic with metal door- The dog busted out of this! I did not believe the owner so I looked for myself (thinking maybe the dog popped the door out, in my experiences those kennels have restrained some STRONG dogs) The dog tore the BACK of the kennel apart! Tore right through it, also tore apart the sides where the air vents are... I was just so surpised.

I then advised the owners to speak with their vet for ideas on behavior issues such as this. As a result their vet gave them tranquilizer meds as a last resort, which they used...

The owners then tried leaving the dog loose in their house, ON the meds, and have attempted to lock the dog in the bedrooms. The dog did not tear apart carpets or anything else in the rooms, except the doors! The dog has learned also to open doors which I watched. The dog also learned to unlock and open the back door (sliding glass) The owner also tried the child safety devices you place on door knobs so a child cannot turn the knob. Nope. Dog chewed those right off. (as guessed)
Well again anyway, TODAY I was called out to capture the same dog, this time, the dog broke through a window and injured it's face (not severely but injured none the less)
The owner is fed up, and I personally would not have a dog like this with wires crossed so bad it takes the extreme of breaking through your living room window!!!
The owners asked me what to do and sadly I advised them they have done all they can, in my opinion, and it may time to just say good bye to the dog... I advised them I would check around this weekend so they are holding off on getting rid of the dog... So now, I am coming to you all, to ask, do you think there is anything else that can be done here? Any help gladly appreciated!!!
Thanks

Not my typical advise, but what I would suggest is boarding the dog 2-4 weeks with a good trainer.
During that 2-4 weeks these people need to be trained themselves how to properly train a dog.
Hopefully after the professional has helped the dog resolve some of its issues, he can then work with the owners to continue the improvement.
If they are not willing to give that a try then they probably don't have what it takes to correct the situation.

edited to add.

Just to be clear, I am not trying to lay the blame on the owner's feet, the dog may just have severe issues BUT even if the dog has issues the choices are drugs and/or training. Training the issue away won't be easy. They have to ask themselves if they are willing to do what it takes to help correct the issue and they should not expect it to be easy.

What about a wire crate? I know of several dogs who can escape a plastic crate. Some dogs can open the wire crates from the inside, but you can lock them. Oh, how about running electric fence along the chainlink and the top of the other fence? Would it be possible for them to excercise the dog before leaving? Maybe that would help.

From what I have read about cases of severe seperation anxiety, a combo of highly structured, systematic behavioural modification and meds give any hope for the dog to overcome this. The people meed to talk to a behavioural trainer, several in fact, and read up on it on the net. there is a TON of info out there, just do a google search, an hour at the library will tell them if they want to continue treatment or have the dog put down.

Dogs like this do not respond to escalating confinment, it increases their panic and they will seriously injure themselves above and beyond the imaginable. Until they decide, I would do a day care type of situation, if the dog can adapt to that, in which the dog is never alone, and I would never leave the dog alone in the evenings.

This is not a training issue. It is more like a personality disorder. The therapy that is entailed, especially at this level, is intensive and involved, and takes a long time. Plus the dog cannot ever revert to its previous behaviour, or you are back at square one. It CAN work, but only with dedication and knowledge.

Tranquilizers are not the drug of choice for these dogs. It increases their panic. Antidepressants have a higher incidence of control.

Thanks for the replies :-)
I may be wrong I am sure the dog was placed on anit-depressants I am sure the vet knew best about the whole pill issue but anyway-
These people just got this dog less than a year ago from a family who gave the dog up (for obvious reasons) As sad as they are they decided they will most likely find the dog a new home. They have spent so much on this dog, home repairs, vet bills, yard and kennel repairs, and now they've got this living room window (it was HUGE, a wall window) to fix, it was 0 degrees and snowing today so that didn't help...
I am sure I would have just given up, had I come home to find my front window laying in peices in the snow in my front yard, these people come home on a daily basis to "something"
Good for them for trying I guess, some people just give up a dog for the stupidest things, good to know these people wanted to atleast try
I feel bad for them but also for the dog, it will be hard for them to find this dog a new home with these kinds of issues that will be coming with the dog...
Over all thanks for the advice!

what about a second dog as a companion for dog #1?