Replies

What kind?

Be sure to crate train. It is wonderful, and the dogs love it. When my older Lab is loose in the house, she will happily retire to her crate for a nap or just to chill out.

My younger dog dashes to her crate at bedtime (because she knows her bedtime treat is coming!)

A female black and white English springer spaniel. I had two, but lost one to cancer a month ago. My other guy is way too lonely now and cries and howls whenever I leave the house, so I hope he likes having a needle teethed puppy around.

Thanks for the advice about the crate. I think you're right. Do you recommend a crate size for a springer?

We adopted a one year old Husky/Shepard mix about 2 weeks ago. After having our buddy Ed for 13 years before he passed away 2 months ago, we are once again remembering how much work a puppy can be!

We adopted our new girl, Yenta, from the Humane Society, but besides a three month stay with an 82 year old woman, we don't have much of Yentas history. We can tell she was well socialized (she is the nicest, calmest dog I have ever seen), and we can tell she must have spent at least a little time in a crate, because she is not afraid to enter hers.

Here is our problem, she can not be left alone in the house when we are gone. Since I work from home, that isn't a huge problem, but on a few occasions we have had to leave for a few hours. When we get home, we can tell she must have been stressed the whole time. Her crate is covered in slobber, and she is just "mad" at us for leaving her. What do you, or others suggest? Is there a way to get her used to being left alone? As long as we know she is safe, should we just not worry about it, and leave her in her crate? At night she sleeps in my room with us (not on the bed), should we consider just crating her at night? For the past few days we have just been feeding her in her crate, with the door open, and praising her when she enters it. "Good Girl, Yenta, you are in your bed", etc.

Another problem. This may seem a silly question, but how do you consistently stop a dog from barking? When she goes outside (we live in a very rural area, so there is lots of "outside noises", she barks non stop! There are other dogs in the area that also bark, so she hears them and joins in. My husband works nights, and sleeps during the days, so for us that is not an option. Since she rarely barks inside, or when we stay outside with her, how do we stop it? It is really hard to stop her from doing something that is so natural, when we are not standing next to her. Again, she doesn't bark when we are out with her.

Any suggestions would be helpful.