dog crates 4 less image
vaishya va
i live with a 2 year old male husky dog who seems to have unlimited energy and giant sized stamina. Regardless of how much i play him or take him out for physical activity, he never tires out. In fact i will get tired faster than he will.
And as a result he is often restless and very playful.
When i go to work he is left alone at home all day with sufficient food and water. How to keep him entertained and busy when he's alone for several hours a day?
Answer
Wow--that's a tough one. Here's the deal: good sled dogs run up to 100 miles a day...in the snow...pulling a sled. That's the kind of breed you have. So unlike most who complain about this issue, your problem really is about the breed rather than an owner that expects a dog to just lay there all day and play fetch for 10 minutes.
The short answer is that there is nothing you can do that is going to solve the problem if your dog is crated for 8-9 hours during the day. Putting the dog outside will work for about 1 hour and then he'll start trying to dig under the fence or begin obsessing about birds or passing sounds (which will turn him into a barking maniac--not good). Turning on the TV will quickly become a nonfactor--it will become background noise. Putting dog entertainment CD's or DVD's on is a joke. A good bone or rawhide....well, if your dog is like I suspect he is, he probably finishes off a good rawhide in 30 minutes or less.
You've got a couple of options, none of them easy and none of them free. They all start with you being willing to give your sled dog a good workout in the morning and evening. Instead of reading the paper when you get up in the, put on some headphones, listen to the radio and take a 20-30 minute run with your husky. And plan on taking a 30 minute walk every evening. If you want variety, than get some roller blades. Also try throwing a ball for 10 minutes in the evening as well.
Also, these are smart dogs so you don't just want to push them physically (by going running or a long walk) but also do tricks with them--challenge him mentally.
1. Hire a dog walker. Have someone come to your house mid-day to walk your husky every weekday. It will cost you something like $10-25 a day. But for a 30 minute walk, it will get your dog out of his crate and take the edge off him when you get home.
2. Put him in doggie daycare. Not some place where he's crated all day with 1-2 short bathroom breaks. But one that has space where he's let out to play with other dogs for an hour or so each day. Or look for someone else who has a dog of similar size that your husky plays with well. Offer a trade: if the neighbor will let you keep your husky at their house during the day (so the two dogs can interact and he can be out of his crate most of the day) and maybe 1 outdoor potty break, you'll walk both dogs together for 30-45 minutes after work each day and then take them both to the park to run around on the weekend.
3. Sign him up for a couple of classes. If you can't do the dog walker or doggie daycare, then you need to enroll in 2-3 classes or performance activities during the week. These become things for your dog to look forward to. They get "this is thursday, it's my flyball class" or "this is saturday, time for weight pull." It will improve your bond with your dog, provide physical and mental stimulation for him but also gives him something to look forward to. Once you get into a routine, it makes it easier for him to handle the long day in his crate.
4. Join dog performance activities (agility, weight pull) that you do on weekends. This probably goes in tandem with the idea of classes (because you can't compete effectively without taking a class).
5. Push the dog harder. Get a dog backpack and load it down with water bottles so the dog is carrying more weight. Get some instruction first but then buy a harness and have your dog pull weights on your own. If it snows in your neck of the woods, have him pull you on a sled. The idea is--make the dog work harder. For indoors, there are dog treadmills. They're expensive and not all dogs love them. And you can't just put a dog on and forget him--it requires surveillance. None of these activities work unless you're willing to get up early and push the dog hard in the morning before you head to work.
What is the best way to train a dog not to go potty in the house?
Q. Well we have had our dog for about a month and a half and sometimes she likes to go potty on the floor and we don't know why. She doesn't even go to the door if she has to go. Please HELP me if you can!!!
Answer
You need to watch her for signals, like sniffing around or whining, and House-train her as if she were a puppy. It is not uncommon for a dog to "foget" her house-training in a new house, but if she was previously trained, the re-training will take very quickly.
House Training
Don't use ammonia to clean up any messes, because it smells like urine to the dog. Use vinegar or the special pet stain cleaners, instead.
1. Watch her very carefully when you are home and take her outside after she drinks, eats, or sniffs around. Keep her outside for 5 minutes, then come back in.... but keep careful watch. Always take her to the exact same spot outside for her toilet, and clean up solid waste every few days.
2. When you can't watch her, put her in a crate. It is only cruel, if you keep her in the crate all the time. You want to try to let her out about every four hours, but she is old enough that she can handle 8 hours, if you are diligent in walking her before and after meals, and before and after leaving for work/school.
3. If you don't use a crate, then confine her in a room, like the bathroom or kitchen that you can cover with newspaper.
4. Put food, water, toys, and bedding in one corner. When you come back after a few hours, take her outside for a walk. Then clean up soiled newspaper, clean the floor underneath with vinegar, and save a small piece for the smell. Place some clean newspaper in another corner of the room, away from her food, and place the smelly piece of newspaper in the corner. Keep newspaper on the rest of the floor.
5. The next day she should have tried to go to the bathroom close to the smelly corner. Repeat the process from above, clean the floor, use new paper, place a new smelly piece of paper in the corner opposite her food.
You are trying to teach her where her toilet is by placing a large blinking sign that says bathroom. Since your dog can't read, you are using a small piece of paper for the same purpose. Your dog has a good sense of smell, so the smelly paper doesn't have to be very large or disgusting. Just a few inches.
6. Keep doing this for a few days, until your dog goes to the bathroom consistently in the same 5' x 5' area. If you are patient and loving, then she may learn to go in an area less than 2' x 2' in less than 4 days, but don't push it.
7. If things are on track after 5 or 6 days, then remove all of the paper, except a 5' x 5' area in the corner, with a small smelly piece of paper.
8. Advanced: If she is a small dog, then you might slowly reduce the area to about 1' x 1', then you can train her to use a kitty litter box inside... but that may be pushing things.
9. When she is consistent, then remove all the paper, and move the smelly piece of paper to the outside to show her where her bathroom is. She may have a few accidents, so try to understand what happened and why she had the accident.
But this method should work for most puppies and dogs.
10. Things to remember:
A. You can remove the paper when you are home and watching her. You only need the paper during the training period of about two weeks, and only when no one is home to watch her, while she is confined in the kitchen/bathroom.
B. Always clean up the floor under any mess or mistake with lots of vinegar to remove the smell.
C. Remember that the smell to a dog is like a large, red, blinking sign to people.
D. Always get rid of soiled newspaper, except for a tiny piece with smell. Replace the soiled newspaper with clean newspaper for the first few days.
Also, walk her, pet her, and talk to her softly... so that she will learn that she has a loving home.
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