Teeth or Crates

So Sookie has been home for a few days now and it's hard to decide what to talk about first....teeth or crate training. Both are high on the awareness list in our household. I think I'll start with crate training.

Sookie went into a crate her very first night home. As much as I wanted to let her sleep with me, I even crate her at night. She doesn't like it. At all.

See the thing is that a puppy can wear you down with the whining. She sounds like she is just suffering in there. We've tried everything to make her settle down - covering the crate with a blanket (helped for about 5 minutes), rocking the crate along it's four bottom corners (helped for about 3 minutes), and ignoring her. It's hard to say whether ignoring her is working. She doesn't seem to be getting any more comfortable in there.

The one thing she responds well to is if I sit down outside the crate and talk to her until she settles down. But how long can I do that? I can't see this conversation continuing for very long.

One piece of advice that I have received is to put something with my scent on it into the crate. So (I can't believe I'm admitting this publicly) I took an old washcloth and put it under my armpit while we went for a walk. She really liked that when I put it in the kennel and was quiet for a bit. I also threw in a sweatshirt. I'm not counting on ever wearing said shirt again.

You see, Sookie will soil her crate occasionally. I can't believe I'm talking so nonchalantly about that fact because it causes a lot of stress and freak outs when it happens. I'm scared to death I'm going to raise a "dirty dog" - one that doesn't mind hanging out in the proximity of urine. I would be the total antithesis of a good pet owner if that happens.

Besides, how am I going to train this creature to be a wonder dog if I can't even train her to not soil her crate?

I learned very quickly that her crate(s) were too big. She has two, one of the plastic Vari-Kennel type and one wire crate. I already had the plastic crate and it is a medium size; I don't expect her to fit in it as an adult dog but it's good for puppyhood. The wire kennel was purchased in my excitement over bringing her home and it is large. Like WAY large.

So both kennels had to be partitioned because she felt comfortable just sashaying to the back of the space and relieving herself. The wire kennel came with a panel that is adjustable so that you can make the kennel space grow with your dog. The challenge was that at this tiny puppy stage, the width of the space was still too much for her, even with the panel adjusted to about 10 inches. So I took some cardboard and strapping tape and made a cube that filled up the excess space. I taped the cube to the walls of the kennel so she wouldn't knock it over. Now she has just enough room to lay down, stand up and turn around.

With the plastic kennel there was no adjustable panel and no way to attach any partition. After pondering this, I took a small plastic trash can and inserted it as well as a big shoe box (that boots came in) and covered them with a towel. On top of both of these implements, I stuffed a dog pillow. Now she is snug as a bug in a rug in there.

I don't let Sookie stay in the wire crate with her collar on. I read some stories about pups getting their collars hung in the wire and choking to death, so that was enough for me to take the extra precaution each time I kennel her.

I usually toss in a few treats before I put her in the kennel. She doesn't mind stepping in when there are treats hidden here and there. I have left a chew toy in for her as well, but she never seems interested in it while she's kenneled.

From what I have read, a pup should only be confined for short periods of time. The rule of thumb is there age in months plus one. So at two months old, she shouldn't stay in for longer than 3 hours. This takes some coordination with others in the household to adjust schedules for letting her out to air. At night, her metabolism slows down so she can go for longer periods but she still gets me up around 2:00am and then again at 5:30. I would be lying if I said I enjoyed tromping outside in the wee hours of the morning to let her out, especially as it gets colder.

I need some sleep.

Okay the whining is really....hard....to take.

Introducing Sookie

I have been a dog lover all of my life. About 15 years ago, while I was living in an apartment I brought home not one, but two little pomeranian puppies that became my best friends. It was always a surprise to my friends when they would meet my little fou-fou dogs. Because of my passion for outdoor endeavors it seems most people expected me to have a rough and tough outdoorsy dog. But lap dogs were the right choice when I lived in a small space. It is an amazing experience to come home to two joyous souls who were thrilled to hear the key in the lock.

Over the years I tried to train my little buds but they never got much past sit. In the mean time, my job as a television producer introduced me to the amazing world of retriever dogs. Through the Great Outdoor Games I began to marvel at how these intelligent, well-trained animals could perform amazing feats of skill. I would come home from a shoot and try out some of the things I had seen on the little guys and for the most part they would cock their heads to the side for a minute before begging for a treat.

In April, I had to put both my dogs to sleep. They were littermates who suffered from the same health problems. My veterinarian gave me the greatest gift when she finally said it was probably time to let them go. I say it was a gift because I just couldn’t bring myself to make that decision on my own. I kept thinking that they might get better or that there were maybe a few more weeks left. I will never forget that day, but I won’t go further into it here. Any of you who have ever had to put a dog down knows how painful it can be.

After my dogs were gone I swore I would never get another dog. I didn’t want to love another dog, didn’t think I COULD love another dog, and certainly never wanted to experience the pain of losing a dog again. I had effectively sworn off dogs and wouldn’t even consider the possibility of ever sharing my home, life or love with another species.

Almost six months to the day later something changed. It was like a gate lifted somewhere inside and I began to long for canine companionship. Once I let myself begin to consider the possibility there seemed to be a forceful pull in that direction.

I knew I wanted a lab so I started researching available litters in Arkansas where I live. I visited a few breeders and quickly ruled them out. I called a few dog friends to ask for recommendations. Finally, I found a blog for a breeder in Viola, AR called Bandit Kennels. They had a litter that was ready to go home and the breeding was appealing to me. Before I knew it I had hit send on an email to June Dillon, the breeder, and had committed to a pup.

For the few weeks before and after I found my new dog, I perused the internet and the book stores for the nitty gritty on training a puppy. I got the Jackie Mertens’ “Sound Beginnings” DVD and the “Water Dog” book by Richard Wolters. I figured out a way to transfer a DVD to my Ipod so I could study the video on business trips and even in my car. But I was hungry for more information, a little anxious and afraid that I couldn’t teach a dog the basics, and uncertain of where to turn for answers.

So I decide to ask for help. By writing a blog.

What I hope to do through this blog is to take you along on my journey of trying to raise a puppy to be a good brown dog. I’ll tell you about the good, the bad and the ugly. I know I will make mistakes but I hope that you all will help me by relating to me what you have found that works. I’ll lean on some friends who are really good at training dogs and maybe we can all learn a little more together. And I’ll try to update you regularly so that anyone else out there who might be going through the same experience can compare notes and measure their progress.

With that said, I’d like to introduce you to Sookie. She’s 8 weeks old and a bundle of energy. She has everything she needs to be a great hunting dog as well as a companion and pet. Let’s just hope I have what it takes to help her get there.