Deefer is growing in confidence, size and of course cheekiness! We normally use a NO command followed by a loud clap when required to stop him doing naughty things. When he is really excitable and ignores that we try to place him in his pen in another room (we leave the connecting door open to where we are) for 5 to 10 mins by which time he has settled down. this seems to be working pretty well.

However when he is let out in the mornings and during our day time visits home is when he is at his cheekiest, understandable as he is a bundle of excitement at being let out of his pen. The problem is that we have such limited time with him at these times and he already spends so much time in his pen without us that it doesnt seem fair to place him there again!!

please, if anyone has any other ideas for discipling and training we would be so grateful as right now we feel like horrible owners for constantly 'imprisoning' our gorgeous puppy!!

i wouldnt disipline anymore then you are doing, too much can cause doggy depression. sounds like your doing a good job so far.

When you leave the house what does he do then, and what do you do when you come back, are you calm or are you just as pleased to see him as he is??

If you dont want to pen him when he gets over the top, try to ignore him for the first couple of mins when you get in, then go to great him. if he gets excited again ignore him until he sits, then fuss him, if he gets up again ignore him, only fuss him when hes sitting. ignore him for a few mins before you leave too. or give him a treat (ours get a largish bone shaped buiscit) before you leave then leave quietly, without making a fuss. this teaches him that you leaving is ok i only mention this as it might be a mild case of seperation anxiety and its best to not let it develop further.

to be honest i think your doing a good job, i know it seems unfair penning him up at the moment but he will learn.

What is your routine like?
I would suggest a good walk/exercise in the morning first thing - depending on the age of your dog of course but a good run/walk for an hour at the start of the day is the best way IMO to get a calm dog for the rest of the day...

When I need my boy to be calm during the day (for instance if I have an important paper to write and although ill be home I need peace and quiet) I ask my OH to tire him out in the morning, then I feed him...he'll be resting and calm until the middle of the afternoon
Then in the afternoon Ill do a training session with him to stimulate him mentally - before he goes for his evening walk, with either me or OH.

And I agree with the post above as well

xx

I assume from your post you are crating him while you are out? How long time period is that for then? Personally I hate crates and have never had a reason for using them but if it's the way you are going with your pup you have to restrict the length for time he's shut in it and make sure the time he's out of it he's stimulated mentally and physically. I think for a young dog 2 hours is more than enough time locked in a cage. Is there a reason he cannot have free run in one room of your house? Just imagine yourself being enclosed in a small area for a length of time, and then when you are released told off for being full of energy? He can't be blamed for being glad of being free?

If you are only in for a brief time at lunch time, and obviously need to eat etc.
Would it be possible to get a dog walker to take him out just before you come home for lunch, even for half an hour?
He sounds as if he knows that you will be leaving him shortly and is making the most of his freedom
He probably needs a little more stimulation during the working day

Cassie and Oblada – thanks for the positive comments, we are a young working couple who are trying our best and just hope that is good enough.

JSR – I have read your previous comments about crating elsewhere and am well aware of your thoughts towards it. It isn’t a crate it is actually a very large pen which knowing your opinions I am sure you will say is irrelevant. However I do not have a ‘puppy proof’ room that he can remain in within my apartment and will not allow him to wreck all of my furniture or more importantly possibly harm himself with a splinter off the wardrobe or a chipped floor tile etc. I completely agree that it is not the ideal situation to leave any animal in an enclosed space but the fact is that there are many other factors involved in making such a decision for yourself and it is not correct to simply state that crating a dog for more than 2 hours is cruel/unfair etc etc

Rona – the idea of a dog walker is a good one and labour costs are extremely cheap here however 95% of the population that is here in the middle east are petrified of dogs!! Even my little puppy!! He certainly is no mug and he knows that we are leaving him and is indeed making the most of his time with us but he is also settling a lot quicker in his pen when we leave which to me is encouraging. I would love to be in your situation where your life revolves around your dog and not the other way round but unfortunately I am not there yet! Maybe a few more years in the tax free sunshine and my better half can quit work as I know she wont let me be a stay at home dad to the dog!!!!

My dog is the same as yours in the way that he gets excited when i return. What i have started doing (his crate is left open when im out ) but i make him go to his crate and stay (with gate open) that way he wont associate you coming home with him coming to get gate open.

You could maybe do this while you get your lunch made, and feed him, then once your both finished you can have a little play with him?

Does this sounds reasonable?

if you dog is excited just give him the command for "bed" (everyone is fdiffere). then once he has calmed down you go to the cage and stroke him etc, if he gets hyper say bed again and walk away. this may take several visits but he will realise that once he is calm and you can pet him without being licked to death or trying to jump on you he will get out!. by opening the gate it gives him the freedom if needed.my puppy is really good now that if he is out and about in the hall and i come home i can look through glass and he will be jumping into bed waiting on me.

just a suggestion x

If you cannot give your dog the correct and right place to live then maybe you should have questioned why you got the dog in the first place. You have created this issue because of the enviourment you have choosen to force the puppy to live in and now you want a way out. Well the way out is to remove the cage the dog is shut in. I cannot begin to understand why putting a dog in a cage for hours on end is considered to be okay? It's nothing short of owning a zoo animal. Before this trend of caging our dogs how on earth do you think people coped? For goodness sake generations of families have bought up puppies that haven't died from chewing furniture or electricity wires!

As 0400772 states cages are NOT for the dogs to be shut into for long periods, there dog uses a crate but not as cell but as a secure and safe home so why not ask their advise on how to properly crate train instead of just locking the door and leaving the poor creature.

I'm really loosing faith in people today, this is supposed to be a pet lovers site but so far today we have people wanting to lock their dogs away and others admitting to hitting them as a form of training. I really do give up.

Have to say I totally agree on this. Exactly how long is the dog kept in the cage for? If you cannot provide for the dog, then you shouldn;t have got one - very selfish! Not only that but you have helped bring yet another dog into the world! Maybe you should have got a rescue dog, who is already used to a cage rather than a pup - disgraceful!

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Quite frankly JSR I do wonder what exactly you are hoping to achieve with your consistent rants regarding crates and pens etc. If it is your purpose to simply denegrate people for not conforming to your idea of animal treatment then you are succeeding.

You do not know where my dog has come from and you do not know what could have happened to him if we hadn't adopted him. I would never use either of these points to justify any form of mis-treatment of an animal but for you to quite openly call me a bad dog owner is not acceptable.

This moral high-ground that you take with anyone that uses crates or pens with their dogs is completely ridiculous and un-founded. I have no problem in accepting that people in general, never mind dog owners alone, have differences in opinion hence my initial reply to you. However for you to question my decision to adopt my puppy when all you know of me is a few posts on an internet forum is outrageous.