Puppy Problems
 

So I got a pair of half-husky pups yesterday, and I'm keeping them in an enclosed area for the protection of my house's furniture. Then today, my dad gave one away, because two was seriously too much for us.

Now the one who's left is whining piteously. I'm sure he's sad because his brother is gone and he's lonely, but I can't go down there and be with him all the time.

Any ideas for help, fokes?

I'm no expert on puppy or dogs, but you could always buy a pluche dog and place it in the enclosed area to keep. This way the puppy has some company.

I'm not sure if this works, but who knows?

Not an expert on dogs here, but have you tried distracting him with a toy? Like, a tasty chew bone or something? Just my suggestion. ^_^

Dogs like tasty chews and toys for the first 30 seconds, and then ignore them like they ignore chewing on the walls and floor. What your puppy needs is something to do. It's probably not a solution for you, but I live out in the country, and my dog stays outside. It's not as easy to get bored when there are bugs and grass to play around with, as opposed to carpet and sofas.

Of course, this only works in a city if you get a fence.

They're like people. Nobody likes being kept in an enclosed area for long hours of the day.

Strangely enough, letting the Dog watch TV actually works, for a little while.

Huskies are active dogs, and the are really social. You should give him a stuffed animal to play with, that kind of dog won't get bored with it that quickly, and if he does switch it with another one. You should try to play with him every day and take him for walks alot.

One of my neighbors has two adult huskies and most of the time they are outside. You don't have to live in the country, if you're in an urban or suburban area then you should be able to let him outside. If you don't have a fence then do you have a clothsline or a tree? you can always tie him to one of those so he won't run away.

and that's all I got.

I would suggest getting a cat, so that they could play together, but that's just what I'd do. I personally can't have pets here in the dorm, but if you have two animals, they can almost always entertain each other. Heh, get a hamster and one of those balls for it to run around with, the dog would have lots of fun with that, and it'd probably be cheaper than a cat.

http://www.usask.ca/wcvm/herdmed/app...s/anxiety.html - I glanced at this article, and it has some pretty good methods for dealing with your problems. I'll skip over the stuff that's in there, so read it. I've worked with my share of trainers over the years, so I've picked up a couple of things.

There's a toy you can get called the, "Buster Food Cube." It's basically the best thing you can give any working dog in the city to keep them occupied. Doesn't work for all dogs, but it works for a lot of them. It looks like a big six sided dice. How old is the pup? He might not be quite big enough for one yet.

Walk him regularly. That's important. Anything you can do to help him work off some energy will make a world of difference. Also try to cycle his toys around. Give a couple to him, and then switch them out every week or two. He thinks he's getting something new, and you save money. If he likes to chew, the Kongs are really good. They have a little hole that you can put some cheese or peanut butter in. I usually freeze it like that, so it takes longer for them to lick it all out. I've known other people to put treats throughout the peanut butter.

Next time you dry yourself off with a towel, lay it out in there. Having something that smells like you can help.

Most important of all, take him to a puppy training class. Puppies develop all of their social habits before the age of five months. It's important to get them out and around other people and dogs in a friendly environment as much as possible. If there is a PetSmart where you live, they offer some good classes pretty cheap as training goes. Your trainer will also be able to suggest some different approaches for dealing with the separation anxiety.

That outlines a few things you can do, but by no means all of them. There is a really good series of short books that address single problems made by Simple Solutions. They look like this - http://store.worldpetstore.com/worldpets/sisoba.html - Kind of kiddish, but they're very helpful. Basically, you have to be willing to put some time and money into this.

Out of curiosity, what are you feeding the dog? Have you ever house broken one before? I can help with a few things.

Edit: Don't confuse the Food Cube with other, cheaper treat balls. I've seen them all, and it's basically the only one that's any good.

Edit 2: If you're actually at home, there's really no reason to keep him locked up. He'll probably just follow you around anyway. You'll have to keep an eye on him for a bit, but you can catch any chewing problems early. Just make sure you always keep his toys in one place, otherwise he'll think anything he finds on the floor is a toy. There's another of those books on chewing that helps a lot too.

Edit 3: Look at this page http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/dogdestructive.htm It basically says everything I've said, and more. Read it.

Once a dog understands that a certain place is it's home it won't urinate/crap in it. At least as long as it has another choice. Try installing a doggie door and walking him through it fairly often until he knows that's how to get outside. That'll save your furniture, and let him run around the back for awhile. If you're in an apartment, take him for walks about twice a day so he can go outside. If he does go inside while you're training him, rub his nose in it, tell him "bad", and smack him on the nose. He'll learn it's bad to go there and stop.

Or you could do it the easy way after you try to teach it yourself. If the dog continues to pee and crap in the house give him away...for three days to the animal shelter. Thatll teach him. make sure they make the conditions as horrible as they can. You know small dog in a high cage. But make sure they feed him and give him water but by no means visit while your dogs there. They have an extraordinary sense of smell. Then after 3 days come back to get him. You will have to pay a fee, it was like 100 bucks for us, but it was well worth it. Our dog never crapped in the house again and he only peed on the newspapers we set out for him for the nights. and he didnt go wild and crazy on our toys. He learned to differentiate for the most part between his toys and our toys...as long as ours stayed off the floor. Also try to teach your dog to scratch on the door or something whenever he wants too do his business if you dont have a dog door.