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Author
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Topic: housebreaking and kennel size?
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jimmibudd
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posted April 05, 2004 03:23 PM
hello y'all......
this is my first post on this msg board!!
i have a Red Heeler female puppy who is going to be 6months old in 2 days....
she has a kennel but we really havent been using it.... we should be
our pup still keeps pooping and peeing in the bsmnt and getting into stuff when we're not home...... she is getting close to going outside more often but still has accidents during the day and at night when we sleep..... after readuing some stuff i have come up with some ideas....
- first, we should not be letting her run free during the day when we are not home... donagerous for her
- we r going to start kenneling her during the day now when we r at work.... her kennel is quite large and when she was a pup she would make a "mess" in the kennel. this is the reason we stopped using the kennel..... we would have to bath the poop off of her. i've heard that it was because the kennel was too large for her and because she was still young..... i should've divided the cage...... today i was home sick so i took the opportunity to put her in the kennel and listen to her reactions.... she was suprisingly quiet... with a few yelps here and ther.... i also put a cooler in there to decerease the size of the kennel.... thinking the smaller size will keep her from "messing" it up... it was enugh room for her to turn around and lay down... but not really stretch out.... she did not "mess" it.... and when i put her out on the new chain we have in the yard (she jumps the fence too much and is gonna get stolen or hit by a car) she had a pee.... i raved and gave her a treat...she looked embarrased....... so im gonna kennel her during the day to help with the accidents and gonna try and kennel her at night....
here's my plans.....
- thinking of moving kennel into kitchen in her 'spot' now with her mat so it, hopefully, becomes less threatening..... it's in the bsmnt and im thinking that at night she may be less likely to whine and close enough for me to say 'shush.... its ok...'.....
Questions:
- what is the best size for a kennel and how to prevent them from "messing" in it?
- if we kennel her at night she is most likely to whine..... any suggestions on making her comfortable?
- keeping the kennel in the kitchen with the door open will hopefully make her more comfortable with it and see it as place of refuge..... good idea?.... how do i re-enforce this?
- will i need to kennel her every night once she is better trained and older?
- am i going to have major troubles considering hse is 6months and hyper? i walk her soon as i get home and then shes out on the rope for a bit....
lots of questions..... sheesh!!
thanks all!!
james
Posts: 4 | From: Manitoba | Registered: Apr 2004
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ellierat
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posted April 06, 2004 02:22 PM
The first thing you should of done is to train her right from the start as to what you expected of her, now you will find she will probably whine a bit as she will be confused, besides that, the kennel should be large enough for her to stand up in and turn around. A dog her age should be able to hold for at least 8 hours, I would exercise before you leave for the day, allowing her to get rid of whatever's inside, don't feed breakfast, put on a radio for company when your not there, and plenty of chew toys.
In my whelping room I have a radio on all the time it seems to settle the pups, especially classical music.
Also I forgot, don't go to her when she whines, each time you do it only reinforces the whining.
[ April 06, 2004, 02:25 PM: Message edited by: ellierat ]
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I love my labs.
Posts: 880 | From: australia | Registered: Feb 2004
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jimmibudd
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posted April 06, 2004 04:32 PM
thanks......
don't give her breakfast? what would you suggest for a schedule?..... she expects foord in the morning, so maybe just a smaller meal? then one when we get home at 330ish? and nearer to bed time?....
she did whine yesterdsy during the day but was in the kennel all last night and was nice and quiet and didnt make a mess..... i did get up around 1am to let her out.... im up at a little after 5am so maybe ill get up a little earlier and take her for a good run/walk..... should i take her out, and give her a little food before we head out?.... or just give it to her later at night?
thanks again
today she was in the kennel for about 6.5hours and didn't pooop!!!.... GOOD GIRL!!!..... and we leave radio on for her too..... rock probably......
jimmi
so far so good...... will tonight be as good?
Posts: 4 | From: Manitoba | Registered: Apr 2004
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ellierat
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posted April 06, 2004 08:34 PM
The only problem with giving breakfast is it will take up to 2 hours to get through, therefore she may poop after you have left, unless you give a small portion as soon as you get up, give it an hour if you can then take her out for that run. You will know anyway, if she starts to poop while you are gone, the reason why.
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I love my labs.
Posts: 880 | From: australia | Registered: Feb 2004
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jimmibudd
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posted April 08, 2004 04:25 PM
hello hello
well she's been in the kennel at night now without a sound..... WOW... i was expecting noise and whining..... i also have been letting her out at about 1-2am.... she also hasnt made a mess in there and i have taken out the cooler and she is getting the full size kennel... still no mess.....
i get up at 5am and let her out.... hyave taken her for a quick run once...... then i let her roam about til everybody else is up at 7ish..... then shes in again at a little after 8 til about 330, when i come home and take her for a big run...
we've also been blocking the bsmnt with a child-gate so she cant sneak down and pee.... she has been reall really good.....
tonight though, the kids were downstairs and she was upstairs.... she'd been out for her big run and on the rope but she still proceeded to get up on our bed and pee everywhere!!!.... my wife flipped!!
why would she do that?
is she telling us something or should she be out longer?.... is she leaving a scent on our bed?.... is she mad at us? or is it a simple accident?
thanks
jimmi
Posts: 4 | From: Manitoba | Registered: Apr 2004
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Sirlocksley
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posted April 09, 2004 06:50 AM
Sounds like the kennel is working out well, just keep very consistant with her. The bed wetting in my opinion is her trying to establish a higher rank within the family unit. This is a complex type of behavior, but to extremely simplify it, she could poss be trying to move up the status ladder, trying to rank higher than your wife. 1st I would not let her in the bedroom at all. 2nd I would have all members in the family take turns doing obedience with her in short sessions. This will let her know that she ranks below the youngest human. This is very simplified, but it should assist with that type of behavior.
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Joseph L. Bickel
www.obediencedogtraining.com
Posts: 10 | From: Indiana | Registered: Mar 2004
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