Dog troubles

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Home : 2003 : September : 10

Dog troubles
By Cathy-Dee

I agree with the others that a crate is a good way to go. You can buy quite large ones and your dog will be fine to stay in there during the day providing you offer her plenty of exercise in the evenings.

A second dog
while a nice thought is probably not the best solution as you've found out. It can work out in the end but you still need to train this first dog. Your new dog could end up with other habits that bother you in different ways. So learning how to train your pets is vital if you really want to have a pet in your home.
I like the idea of someone coming in to help you out with training as

one poster suggested. They may be able to see quickly what things you are doing wrong and help you take steps to correct them.

I'd hate to see you give up on your first dog - but if you can't find a solution then it may be the best thing in the end. However speaking from a personal experience - when I was younger we had to give our dog away (he wouldn't stay in our yard). The solution would have been to do the training (which we didn't do) or to build a better fence (which was done a few years later). I was heart-broken when we had to give him away and it took me awhile to get over it. Now as an adult I saw it was best for us, but back then I was even angry for a short time about the decision. So be prepared to really support and talk with your daughter because she may have a difficult time dealing with your decision.

And here are a few sites that might help if you want to try a bit more training first.

http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/cratetraining.htm
http://www.perfectpaws.com/chew.html
http://www.dogpatch.org/obed/
http://www.doggiedoor.com/articles.shtml