Hi Guys

I shall try and keep this brief but the aim of this post is to make sure i am doing thing right for my new dog Meg and for my resident cat Willow. (i have never been a dog owner my partner has always had dogs)

We took on Meg Last Sunday; she is about a year old and we think she is a doberman cross although she looks like she has german shephard in her as well. She was a stray picked up by the RSPCA.

We have thrown her straight into a routine. I work from home 3 weeks out of 4. Because we also have a resident Cat we have introduced Meg to a Crate which is kept in our entrance hall.

She is happy with her Crate and is shut in during the night. My partner gets up at 6AM ignores her and goes to the kitchen where he feeds the cat and leaves for work. (the cat has access to and from the kitchen and the door to the hall is shut)

I get up at 7 and walk her for an hour, after i have eaten i feed her and at 9am i shut her in her crate again. I leave the kitchen door open so the cat feels she can walk through if she dare!!

Due to signs of seperation anxiety i have been using tips on here and leaving for 10 mins every hour. She seems happier for me to do this with the cage open and free access to the hall way. I have a Kong arriving today hopefully!

At 12 i let her in the garden, she is not quite at ease and tends to sit by the door. i leave her for an hour after which she comes in and has free reign of the lounge and hall way for another hour.

I then crate her and again open the kitchen door so the cat feels free to walk through.

Meg gets let out at 5pm and walked at 7 after which she is fed and again crated for a while just to give the cat a bit of freedom when she chooses to join us.

So far the cat has ventured through a few times but doesnt stay too long; i feel this is a good sign so far.
Meg isnt a barker (unless i leave the house) but she gets extremely excited at other dogs, the cat and horses (Horses seem to be the worst!!)

She is SO obedient as long as something doesnt spark her attention at which point its pretty hard to distract her!

Do you feel this routine is ok for her?
Do you have any tips for Cat/Dog integration; OR even on how to best distract the dog when other dogs cats and the dreaded HORSES are about?

Thanks for listening!! :O)

Great that you have gone down the rescue route!!

Sounds like an awful lot of time in a crate to me, especially when you are there. Why does your husband ignore her when he gets up?

yes leave her for 10 mins every hour but why does she have to be in the crate aside from that and at night? Does she need to be in the crate from 9-12??????

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Starting a routine during the first day is a good thing to do with rescues, away, mixed with attention/affection enought to let her feel she is part of a pack & not some isolated animal within a household of strange beings.

If they are going to test their boundries aroud 6 - 7 days is not uncommon, some do some never.

__________________
Operant symbols

+P = Positive Punishment
-P = Negative Punishment
+R Positive Reinforcer
-R Negative Reinforcer

Routine is good but this all sounds a bit sterile to me - why is she spending so much time in the crate?

What about time training her, taking her to classes, - and what about her interactions with other dogs?

I think it's too long in a crate too. I know you have the cat to think of too, but a babygate or two could solve that.

Hi Guys

Thanks for your feed back; maybe i overstated the crate a little..
For example this morning she was in 9-11 then i let her have the freedom of the entrance hall.. its now quarter to one and she has been outside for the past half hour.

My thoughts on the crate and not letting her be with me all the time is twofold;
Because we were not 100% of her breed and thinking along the German Shepard route i didnt want her to become attached to me and be aggresive with others that come near me. Also there are going to be times when i am working away; she will have to be on her own. I dont want her to be too used to me being here.

Then there is Willow; if she see's the dog in the crate she will feel safe to come into the house..

Listening to your advise i shall change the routine.
I will leave her in the hall way with the crate door open in the mornings, i know my cat tends to turn up after lunch for a sleep so i will crate her once she has been outside and let her out again late afternoon.

We have dog classes planned; she needs her second innoculations first she has kennel cough as well so i want to shift that.

Just to ease your concerns i AM spending time with her!!
I have already taught her 'Paw' and 'turn around' i think Roll over will be next!!

I agree totally, not least OT going out in the morining and apparently showing no signs of recognising her presence at all, that might lead to probs between dog & him, OR, it might not.

__________________
Operant symbols

+P = Positive Punishment
-P = Negative Punishment
+R Positive Reinforcer
-R Negative Reinforcer

Sorry let me clarify; when i say he ignores her, he leaves her in her crate; he says hello and good morning and gives her a stroke but through the crate.
The reason being is i dont need to get up at 6am, he doesnt have the time to let her out for a wee in the morning so my thoughts were to keep her calm until 7 when i get up and walk her straight away.

Do you think this is the wrong thing to do?

To be honest after your comments i am thinking of not shutting her in her cage over night. The cage WASNT ever going to be a perminent fixture, its more for her and the cats protection until integration is complete.

The way you wrote that my interpretation is that you leave alone in the hallway.

I see you have to be away from home, I accept your reasons for not much interaction with her for those reasons, but, dogs are a gregarious species, their social groups are called packs & from what you have written so far of your lifestyle & needs, based on all your writings, to me, everything points that you are not a family suitable for a dog at the moment and even worse for a rescue with unknown background. Your a cat person but a dog, no.

Righly or wrongly, if I bred a litter of pups I would never let one go to anyone to live under those conitions, it would have a life of misery.

Thats my opinion based on what you've written.

__________________
Operant symbols

+P = Positive Punishment
-P = Negative Punishment
+R Positive Reinforcer
-R Negative Reinforcer

For time alone could she not just be in a different room? rather than crated? I understand you do not want her following you round, but currently she will feel insecure, not know where she is and need a bit of reassurance from you both- can she not be let into the garden alone, by your OH in the mornings?

__________________
www.RescueRemedies.co.uk
http://www.dogsinneedofspace.co.uk/