Note from dog walker: "The puppy has been pooping silver and purple beads... "

[aljdewey]

In fact, such a CRATE LOVIN FREAK is he that when it''s not available (was still in the car after an overnight trip; we hadn''t brought it upstairs yet), he just makes his own......under the coffee table!

He really is a "this is my safe space" believer! LOL

 

[aljdewey]

THIS was hysterical. When in-laws came for dinner the week before Christmas in 2005, my then-3-year-old niece was a bit rambunctious for Nicky''s liking. He decided to seek safe haven and went into the crate.

My niece, not to be outdone, decided she didn''t want him to get bored in there and proceeded to toss every dog toy in there with him and then shut the door. He''s all "I don''t get it, but I''m safe, so whatever!"

hahahaha

 

[aljdewey]

And can you see the ''theme''? He likes to be crammed into a secure, close space......

This is his ''assume the position'' typical way of sleeping.....which is what he was doing in the first crate picture I posted. Fully upside down---before I so rudely started taking pictures and bugging him with the flash.

 

[monarch64]

Nicky''s a beautiful doggie!

Not to hijack, but has anyone ever switched crates, as in gone from the old comfy one to a newer and roomier model? Little Daisy has grown, and although she hasn''t outgrown her current crate, it''s actually a plastic model that I think should be used just for travel. I would like to get her one of the collapsible metal crates like the one you posted, AL, but I''m worried she won''t take to it since she''s so used to being "enclosed."

On another note relating to your posts, AL, our Milo refused from the time we got him to be crate trained, and he''s slept in our bed since he was 6 months old (my fault, the night before he got neutered I broke down and tucked him in next to me), so while he doesn''t like being in an enclosed crate, he LOVES burrowing all the way under the covers and will stay there until we coax him out of bed in the a.m. The dog just will not ever be an early riser, he''s made that clear! But I don''t understand how he can stay all cocooned under a heavy down comforter and not be ok with a crate...DH built him an open sided dog house and he won''t even go in there which is weird because there''s no door and no danger of him possibly getting trapped inside.

 

[AmberGretchen]

OMG Alj - Nicky is GORGEOUS

I''m such a sucker for herding breed-type dogs (Aussies, Border Collies, Collies, etc...).

Deejay - I''m so glad that worked with the bone on getting Oscar into the crate. Definitely whatever motivates him is always fair game for a training tool - tug of war games, favorite toys, bones, whatever. It might be worthwhile to figure out if there is food that will motivate him for training though as it would make your life easier. Have you tried really stinky food, like cut up hot dogs microwaved slightly to um..."enhance" the smell? One thing that works with a lot of dogs are natural balance logs (they come wraped in white plastic and are about the size and shape of a large salami). Cut it into kibble-sized pieces. Dogs LOVE it (seriously, this stuff will tempt dogs over some of the scariest agility obstacles for the first couple of times and once they figure out that''s what they''re getting they can''t wait to go over again), but be ready with some strongly-scented handsoap because its STINKY to humans

 

[jcrow]

monarch- cosmo's first crate was a large plastic number. he slept in it every night as a pup. during the day he stayed in a enclosed gated circle thingy in the kitchen. then we transitioned him to the bathroom, which he likes much better. and we got him a smaller carrier. we just transitioned him to that instead of the large plastic one. sometimes, it just takes a bit of time, but they transition. treats help.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Al, thank you for the info and for the pics--Nicky is a beautiful pup! Yanno, The Demon behaves in much the same way; creating "dens" to go into. Under tables, dark corners, that sort of thing. About the dog walker: the HH talked to her today and I think what we're going to start with is to put Oscar in the crate in the morning and then have her take him out after their noon walk and leave him downstairs. We'll ease into it a few hours at a time that way. And as for the crate! The clever HH has taught The Monster to go in on command!!! He just points at the open door and encourages Oscar and voila! In he goes! Amazing!!!

Monnie, we made a "mistake" at one point that now results in two large dogs in our queen size bed LOL. When we moved we let The Demon in bed "just for one night." Two years later...

AG, I think one of our trainers used those logs. They do smell to high heaven, but The Demon loved it!

Risingsun, I think our crate is a pretty good size. And funny (or not!) that you mention the kitchen... we just had ours remodeled last spring, so I've been super paranoid about putting them up there, but we did have to do it once or twice when we've had contractors through working on other projects. Well, last night I was doing something and I just randomly noticed that the curtain in front of the balcony door looked a little weird. When I pulled it back I could see that Oscar had been gnawing on the door frame through the curtain. Thank god he didn't go for anything else because this was a very expensive remodel and I would have been

to find the cabinets chewed up!

 

[risingsun]

Date: 8/3/2007 9:16:32 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
Al, thank you for the info and for the pics--Nicky is a beautiful pup! Yanno, The Demon behaves in much the same way; creating 'dens' to go into. Under tables, dark corners, that sort of thing. About the dog walker: the HH talked to her today and I think what we're going to start with is to put Oscar in the crate in the morning and then have her take him out after their noon walk and leave him downstairs. We'll ease into it a few hours at a time that way. And as for the crate! The clever HH has taught The Monster to go in on command!!! He just points at the open door and encourages Oscar and voila! In he goes! Amazing!!!

Monnie, we made a 'mistake' at one point that now results in two large dogs in our queen size bed LOL. When we moved we let The Demon in bed 'just for one night.' Two years later...

AG, I think one of our trainers used those logs. They do smell to high heaven, but The Demon loved it!

Risingsun, I think our crate is a pretty good size. And funny (or not!) that you mention the kitchen... we just had ours remodeled last spring, so I've been super paranoid about putting them up there, but we did have to do it once or twice when we've had contractors through working on other projects. Well, last night I was doing something and I just randomly noticed that the curtain in front of the balcony door looked a little weird. When I pulled it back I could see that Oscar had been gnawing on the door frame through the curtain. Thank god he didn't go for anything else because this was a very expensive remodel and I would have been

to find the cabinets chewed up!

Oh, Dee*Jay...your door frame! Charlie got the door frame in our bedroom

The crate is your friend...embrace the crate...love the crate....you are becoming very sleepy...

BTW, when Charlie was about a year old, we thought it would be fun it put him in bed with us one night. He's been there ever since....

 

[Dee*Jay]

Marian, the door frame is the least of our troubles--I was much fonder of some of the other things he's eaten (take another look at the list I put in my opening post...

). What a chomper we have!!

Yes, all, we are embracing the crate, LOL. Today our progress will be that I'm putting Oscar in it and leaving the house to go to the gym for an hour. To this point we have been putting him in but then still staying there in the room with him while he's there, so this will be a big step. Fingers crossed!

 

[Lorelei]

Oh bless that gorgeous Nicky!!!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

I was out for my usual morning walk yesterday, and on the pavement I noticed a bright shiney swatch of blue sequence/fabric; and i immediately wondered if Oscar had been out.....

cheers--Sharon

 

[Mara]

hee hee DJ we got a big kick out of your opening list...this is why we won''t be getting a 2nd dog. we don''t want to mess with a good thing, kind of like having the good first child and the 2nd one is a hellion. AND at this point, i seriously have no patience for training a dog again, or un-training them from bad habits then retraining etc. you and HH are saints for putting up with oscar''s antics!! sounds like the crate is growing on OtM...good luck with that! oh and one more note on the treats, i used to use NB logs for portia''s training, she liked them for a while then got bored, but she loves liver biscotti...it comes in a brown paper bag and is small, cubed, hard, and crunchy. i used this for most of her training once she got bored with the NB.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Sharon, LOL on the fabric. (Dee scuttles off to see what else might be missing that I just hadn''t noticed yet... hmmm... blue with sequins... )

Oh Mara I am so with you! I tried to explain to the HH that we had gotten lucky with The Demon from a good behavior in the house standpoint but he didn''t quite get it until Oscar started chew sh*t up. Unfortunately the HH had never had a dog before the Demon so his only experience to this point has been pretty good and it didn''t quite prepare him for what was to come.

So Oscar seems to have done OK in the crate for the hour I was at the gym. The HH said when he got home (just a few minutes before I did) there was a lot of barking and pawing at the door, so he let him out, but several times since then we''ve gotten him to go back in so I guess he wasn''t too traumatized by the whole experience. We''re going to do it again tomorrow for a longer time and then start doing it 4 hours at a time (between the time I go to work and when the dog walker comes at noon) this week. Hopefull we''ll get to the point that the dogwalker can just put him back in there too when she''s done so he''ll be in there all day.

Right now he''s off at the vet though because he has a limp. He''s had it for a few weeks now and it''s not getting any better so I figured we should have it checked out. It''s particularly bad in the morning when he first gets up; seems like his right rear leg is totally stiff and it takes him several steps before he can walk better. I hope it''s nothing serious...

 

[divergrrl]

Good luck with this...I am all for the crating too. Don''t feel like you are a softie...its a dog, and they don''t have human feelings, so its best not project that onto them. (Cesar Milan supports this)

If it makes you feel any better...my old beagle ATE the kitchen island in one afternoon. Yes, the kitchen island. Gnawed off a whole corner & totally destroyed the lower 2 drawers.

I did see a doggie sweater today that made me laugh...you need it...it said:

"Been there, chewed that".

Starset Princess: Your "quote" cracked me up! LOL!! I had to show it to DH & he smiled...

 

[risingsun]

Dee*Jay...I did go back and read the list of mauled items in your first post

I can only send my sympathy! I do hope the little monster...er...Oscar...is back to feeling like himself, soon. Let us know what the vet has to say.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Let me just just say that it's a good thing I have no children because I am some special kind of stupid when it comes to caring for other living creatures. It is not Oscar's *right rear* leg at all that is the problem; it is his *left front* leg.

How could I have confused that so badly? I've observed him carefully so many times and I was all wrong. Big sigh for stupid Dee.

Anyway, the vet said it could be a pulled muscle, but most likely it is nothing at all. He's probably suffering, literally, a growing pain. He is over 50 pounds now (which is 12 more pounds than when we got him several weeks ago) and a lot taller too--taller even than The Demon at this point.

He seems to be OK with the whole crate thing (thank god) and we're going to try it for two 4 hour stretches on Monday because we just found out that the bathroom contractor will be coming in and the last thing I need is for him to get out when the door is opened and the contractor isn't looking.

Both of the babies are down here in my office with me right now napping so angelically, but I just know that the instant my back is turned there goes another door frame, LOL!