Where do you keep your fluff when you're gone?

[maltese#1fan]

Bella is kept in her pen when we are not home. We started this when we first got her and it is her normal. She will even go in there herself during thunderstorms. With Heidi, we kept her confined to the kitchen.

[italianna82]

I am not a fan of crating all day. I know some people swear by it, but I just can't do it. I may regret it one day, but Gucci spent two nights in her crate and now she's in bed with me. As far as during the day, I am gone for about 7 hours and I know crating would never work. I have a containment pen:

Amazon.com: Iris CI-604 Indoor/Outdoor Plastic Pet Pen, 4 Panels: Pet Supplies

Amazon.com: Iris CI-604 Indoor/Outdoor Plastic Pet Pen, 4 Panels: Pet Supplies

I actually bought two extra sides for it. It's a pretty decent amount of space. I fit her water bowls, a bed, her grass/pee pad and there is still some space to run in. I leave her with a lot of toys and she seems to be ok. I originally had just the four sides, but I thought it was way too small.
The first two days I had her, I actually had a kid gate in front of the bathroom door and just left her in the bathroom. But once I got the pen, it seemed like a better idea. She seems to be more content in there.
Hope this helps.

[ToniLWilson]

Do they not get along? Have you tried keeping them together while your not home so they can keep each other company?

[CorkieYorkie]

We've only had Lisa for about a month now. They will fight over toys quite frequently, but it is hard to tell if it's just normal dog rough housing or aggression/dominance over toys. For this reason, I do not let them alone unsupervised and have read from various sources to keep ANY/ALL dogs separate when you are gone. We just moved their crates next to each other per a dog trainer's advice.

Unfortunately, he also advised us to NOT let them sleep in bed with us, and he is basically blaming ALL their bad/dominant behavior on us A.) letting them sleep in bed with us and B.) using harnesses instead of collars and the dogs not walking on a heel. We are working on these things, but this trainer seemed VERY Ceasar Milan, so I am wary...

[Grace'sMom]

I'd run from that trainer. Cesar Milan is a great advocate and voice for dogs... he really has done a lot of good. And for larger breeds and serious aggressive cases - I do see his method being helpful.

But I actually don't like him for most training. I think people try to do his method and then mess things up more. I think trainers try to act like they know and do his method and just do more damage.

The dominance theory is not a good one, IMO. Dogs know we are not dogs. so it is silly to act like one. Over the years dogs have ADAPTED and EVOLVED to be more "human" . They look at our faces and greet us in ways they don't do with other dogs. They do it because we are human... they know we are not dogs.

Collars instead of harnesses on Malts??

No!

Too high risk for collapsed trachea! Seriously... please don't put your pups in collars!

I do know boundaries and rules are important. But all my dogs sleep in bed with me... none have aggression or dominance issues.

I'd look for a trainer that isn't doing the dominance theory ... and more positive training.

Do you do the NILF program with them? They may respond better to that... and it will help establish the boundaries.

[CorkieYorkie]

Tori, I have been reading/hearing more and more negative things against the "Ceasar Milan/Dominance Theory" training method. Here is the trainer's website: Perfect Manners Dog Training - A Naperville, IL Dog Trainer and Obedience Behaviorist. He also highly recommended that we read his "Small Dog Syndrome" article: Small Dog Syndrome

I consider myself pretty open, especially since I am no dog expert. We went in to Dog Patch (the rescue store where we adopted Lisa) since Lisa is having separation anxiety and aggression towards Ozzie, but the trainer didn't even give her a second glance and focused only on Ozzie and his anxiety being out in public (he gets very, very anxious and tries jumping on me) and basically just pulling him away from me and trying to find a collar for him.

I do have concerns about collapsed trachea, hence my reason for using harnesses, but we tried collars while taking them to go potty this weekend and we haven't had any problems, and no pulling. If they pulled, then we probably wouldn't use them at all for fear of collapsed trachea. We have actually noticed that on a collar, Lisa has WAY less interest in eating things off the ground. I am not exaggerating when I say she eats ANYTHING and EVERYTHING off the ground during walks!!

I also am thinking hard about the bed issue... but Lisa will aggressively lunge/strike Ozzie if he gets too close to her while she has her favorite green 'weenie' dog toy, so she definitely thinks she is the dominant one.. :-/ I am probably going to try the trainer that Maggie recommended (as long as she takes a different approach than this guy!) and maybe just let Ozzie sleep in bed since he doesn't have aggression issues..tho that doesn't really seem fair.. :-/

[SammieMom]

Originally Posted by italianna82

I am not a fan of crating all day. I know some people swear by it, but I just can't do it. I may regret it one day, but Gucci spent two nights in her crate and now she's in bed with me. As far as during the day, I am gone for about 7 hours and I know crating would never work. I have a containment pen: Amazon.com: Iris CI-604 Indoor/Outdoor Plastic Pet Pen, 4 Panels: Pet Supplies

I actually bought two extra sides for it. It's a pretty decent amount of space. I fit her water bowls, a bed, her grass/pee pad and there is still some space to run in. I leave her with a lot of toys and she seems to be ok. I originally had just the four sides, but I thought it was way too small.
The first two days I had her, I actually had a kid gate in front of the bathroom door and just left her in the bathroom. But once I got the pen, it seemed like a better idea. She seems to be more content in there.
Hope this helps.

Courtney,
This is exactly what we did. Same pen and regime. Once they had a safe larger space they did fine. I won't use a crate, read too many stories of small dogs squeezing through openings or catching their face / mouths on crates. The pen furbabies mom recommended may be better for you. I would never use anything but a harness. My Sammie is alive today because of a harness. Some these dogs scare easily and you don't always know when they will jerk away in fear or to chase something.
Good luck.

[Grace'sMom]

I'd talk to the trainer before you let them come in and mess with your dogs.

I'm sorry Ozzie was handled that way in public I bet it made is anxiety worse

A GOOD trainer is someone who will LISTEN to you and help guide you with what will work best for you and your dog. A good trainer isn't someone who TELLS you what to do and tells you if you don't do it you are the problem.

It's sort of like parenting. I used to go in and help parents with issues. And I had to have multiple ways of helping them. Because what works for one, doesn't work for others.

So make sure a trainer is going to take your lifestyle and how you love your dogs into account.

I could never make my dogs sleep on the floor. It's just not me. And I had trainers tell me it would ruin my dog. But my dogs are great.

The big thing, IMO, is building trust with your dog. Never do anything that is going to harm that trust.

There is a wonderful book... I read it when I started training Gus as a service dog.

Bonding with Your Dog: A Trainer's Secrets for Building a Better Relationship: Victoria Schade: 9780470409152: Amazon.com: Books

Bonding with Your Dog: A Trainer's Secrets for Building a Better Relationship: Victoria Schade: 9780470409152: Amazon.com: Books

Bonding with Your Dog: A Trainer's Secrets for Building a Better Relationship

It really helped me understand that TRUST is the most important part of training. Because no matter what techniques are used, they won't work if your dogs don't trust you. And many of these methods often counteract the trust instead of building it....

Take what works for you from things... you know your dogs. Do what will keep the trust.

Hugs for Ozzie... just wanna snuggle him.

If the collar helps Lisa not eat things - might be a good thing for her to use during potty. But yes, watch that she doesn't pull

An option may be to get a release collar (cats) and use it with a harness... so do two small leashes - one on the collar, one on the harness. That way if she does pull, it will break away.

[maggieh]

Originally Posted by CorkieYorkie

Tori, I have been reading/hearing more and more negative things against the "Ceasar Milan/Dominance Theory" training method. Here is the trainer's website: Perfect Manners Dog Training - A Naperville, IL Dog Trainer and Obedience Behaviorist. He also highly recommended that we read his "Small Dog Syndrome" article: Small Dog Syndrome

I consider myself pretty open, especially since I am no dog expert. We went in to Dog Patch (the rescue store where we adopted Lisa) since Lisa is having separation anxiety and aggression towards Ozzie, but the trainer didn't even give her a second glance and focused only on Ozzie and his anxiety being out in public (he gets very, very anxious and tries jumping on me) and basically just pulling him away from me and trying to find a collar for him.

I do have concerns about collapsed trachea, hence my reason for using harnesses, but we tried collars while taking them to go potty this weekend and we haven't had any problems, and no pulling. If they pulled, then we probably wouldn't use them at all for fear of collapsed trachea. We have actually noticed that on a collar, Lisa has WAY less interest in eating things off the ground. I am not exaggerating when I say she eats ANYTHING and EVERYTHING off the ground during walks!!

I also am thinking hard about the bed issue... but Lisa will aggressively lunge/strike Ozzie if he gets too close to her while she has her favorite green 'weenie' dog toy, so she definitely thinks she is the dominant one.. :-/ I am probably going to try the trainer that Maggie recommended (as long as she takes a different approach than this guy!) and maybe just let Ozzie sleep in bed since he doesn't have aggression issues..tho that doesn't really seem fair.. :-/

Courtney - I was looking at the "ask the trainer" section and he is recommending using a prong collar on a Pom! I personally would not let him near my dog with that philosophy. And yes, Sandi is positive reinforcement only!

[nicolen412]

I agree with the use of the tray. I bought one and didnt end up using it because ARthur went outside. Arthur was very bad with being in a playpen and i strongly recommend you get a sturdy one as arthur used to push it around and chew up the tape we used to stick it down. He just did this for fun really, He didnt whine or anything whilst he was in there but loooooooved to just push it about and it would mess up water etc. which was super difficult.