My dog ate my homework...

[Trek420]

Thanks gals. Again, no professional anything or expertise like TrekJeni. Mae's a rescue and she's taught me everything I know that and I read a lot.

I just think if you "win" the little battles now you may not have the big ones. So start now while it's easy to fix with simple things.

What will your dog "work" for? Praise, squeeky toys, favorite treat? All three?

All dogs are great but a well trained dog is a joy. Your dog's a learning machine, s/he wants to learn. It's fun to see the progress, the new trick, better behaviour.

Hey we have an advantage here over others with dogs in that we like to walk, run, get outside so combine the two. Learning or reinforcing how to heal, walk on a loose leash that can all be combined with a workout.

And with a trained dog you'll be able to leave them with someone when you want to go on that loooooong ride.

[TrekJeni]

[QUOTE=Trek420;206663]Thanks gals. Again, no professional anything or expertise like TrekJeni. [QUOTE]

Thanks Trek420. I'm a professional by definition but my usual asking price for judging assigments is some good beer!

Jeni

[HappyAnika]

We crate trained our lab for over a year from when she was about 5 months old. We had the luxury of my husband being able to go home at lunch to let her out on the days I was away for more than 6 hours (I was in grad school with a very flexible schedule and lots of working from home).

Before we started the crate training she chewed up hundreds of dollars in books and shoes.

She balked at the crate at first but definitely came to see it as her space. We started by feeding her in it, so she would associate the crate with a good thing, FOOD. Then she'd go in there for naps on her comfy blanket on her own while we were home. Soon it was no problem for her to run in there when we left the house. She began to associate keys with her crate so that if one of us picked up our keys, she'd run right into her crate, happy as a clam. All of this while our other, older, perfectly behaved dog got to wander the house and yard freely. The lab didn't seem to mind, she loved her crate.

[CyclChyk]

Have you gotten your baby rawhides or something similiar for her to "teethe" on?

Your post makes me laugh cuz last year I posted something similiar. We had recently gotten a boxer who has an affinity for clothing and shoes and my husband would always leave his bikes shorts etc laying on the floor where ever they fell. Or he'd leave the closet door open which basically told my new pup (I have 4 dogs) that the shoes where his for the taking (or should I say chewing?)

Rawhides and bones did not make my boxer want the clothing items less, but it did give him something to chew on so that he was not so adament about getting to our stuff. Socks and undies however are still a beacon to him tho.

I am a firm believer in crate training. Especially for potty training. Good luck!

[Aggie_Ama]

Hammer- I know you have gotten sound advice but I just wanted to say crate training is nerve racking but worth it. One of our dogs is a rescue and has a lot of trust issues. We trained her to stay behind a baby gate in her doggie bed in the laundry room. At first she would cry, throw the water everywhere and just be destructive of anything she could. Finally she learned it was not punishment and now I often find Maggie asleep in her "room".

She still whines and acts like she hates being in there before retreating to her bed. I know it is frustrating, but maybe you could try one more time before losing more expensive cycling gear?