Thanks for the help, Mindy!

I definitely think the first two things to do are to get them used to the crate and potty training. I don't think I'm at the point yet to where she will hold it for that long. In fact, we still protest the crate a bit, so I have some work yet to do.

All in all, she isn't scared of it or thinks of it as anything bad because she'll sometimes just go right to sleep in it and stay quiet for awhile. Other times, she'll protest for a bit and I have to work on extending her times. It's difficult, as you know, because after they are in there for maybe an hour or two and they start whining, you instantly think they have to go to the bathroom. I hate running in there then because it might give her the impression that whining gets her out (although I do wait in the room until she is done whining) buuut hey, she's young. All good things in due time.

Well, the bathroom thing has been improving. Very nice!

A new issue came up... one in which I'm worried about. I finally got her those pig ears to chew on to keep her busy and to help her teething. However, she's doing this thing when I want to get it off of her she grows pretty.. angry. Or so it seems. I'm a bit nervous to take it off her and do not know how to handle this... situation. I don't want her to be possessive as she grows older and am not sure how to correct this. Even if I go to pick her up she will growl. This makes me.. very nervous to say the least.

Any ideas?

One way to stop the growling is to do a trade.

When you go to take it away, grab something equal in value to the bone, whether it be a toy, treat or even another bone and have her give you the bone for whatever the other object it with lots of praise!

+1 on the trade. My trainer teaches "thank you!" Where you praise the dog and give treats when they bring you something. BTW, I dunno if you got the pig ears from what I wrote before or not, but I give mine pig/cow noses, not ears. They are softer.

Haha the pig ears do frighten me, but she seems to like them and I imagine they help with the teething and keeping her occupied at times.

We are making good progress lately and I don't feel as stressed. She is even ringing the bell sometimes at the door As for the guarding thing... It's a bit strange to me because she isn't like this with anything else. I can put my face right up to her food bowl and she's fine with that while I pet her and she eats. I can take things out of her mouth that she picks up off the ground without issue and no problem with toys.

What I tried last night was to simply hold it in my hand while she chewed it. I would not give her full control of it. She never growled once and I even petted her while she was at it. I don't know if this will work or not but it was nicer. If she tried to pull it away I would pull it back and away from her and let her think about it for a few. I also was teaching her the sit command with it. I'll also give the trade idea a shot when I give her full control over it if she starts the growling. Can't have that going on for sure.

SaraB - I'm not sure if I got confused about the pig ears with what you said. I may have. I was just looking for anything I could find to keep her busy and to help teething. They seem to do well. Might try your suggestion next time as well.

Parasomia wrote:

We are making good progress lately and I don't feel as stressed. She is even ringing the bell sometimes at the door

Yeah! That's awesome!

Driving me nuts!

Alright,

So she'll be here for 4 weeks on Friday and I'm just not sure I'm making much progress anymore. I think any of us can relate to being tired out and all that, which is kind of where I am. I hate to keep griping on these subjects, but I also appreciate the knowledge from everyone here in this community.

So, Juno..Juno..Juno.

Let's start with the potty training. I thought we were doing well, but we still are having accidents in the house, just peeing. Even on a 30 minute timer. I don't get it with as much as I take her out. And it isn't every time because we do make the 30 minute mark at times, but other times.. not so much. I will have her at vet tomorrow, but I can't see any bladder problems considering she holds it in her cage all night. Anyway, per usual, and as anyone here knows, that stuff drives you crazy.

I almost am getting this feeling that she thinks she's the boss. Out of all the toys she has, she chooses to either play with my hands (Ouch) or find something else to chew. I can't even hold her for long without her throwing a tantrum. Not submissive at all. She will whine and bite (but not a mean bite, more like a let me down bite.. I don't feel it as threatening, just annoying). Putting her leash on conjures up her wanting to bite my hands as well (in a playful way).

Her crate training is... not as well as I'd like to be honest. I know she doesn't fear the crate. She will walk in there to grab toys out of it and when She is tired she has no problem sleeping in it for awhile, especially at night. But if I can't keep an eye on her and have to do things, there is no way I can put her in her crate. She will throw the biggest fit if I'm not in the same room. I get nervous she's going to hurt herself trying to get out of it. It's very strange for her not to be okay with her crate at all times, in my opinion. And I don't put her in there all the time. In fact, she's out quite a lot and playing. I'm starting to think maybe she needs the crate more to help with potty training? But she is very defiant.

That would be the word. She is very defiant. I have heard people say various things such as use a spray bottle with water or close her mouth when she is acting up, but I don't know about that. I understand she's young, I guess I'm wondering if a lot of you went through this since they are babies at this point. She has warmed up to others a bit, which is nice. I don't expect miracles over night, and I'm not going to give up or anything, I guess I'm just exhausted and venting

Eventually I'd like to be more apart of these forums once I can get these issues ironed out. I literally wish I could have her in her crate for 3 hours or so during the day while I worked on my projects and such, but it ain't happening at the moment. She's a toughie.

It sounds like that little husky girl has you wrapped around her finger. "If I sit here and cry and throw a fit, daddy will let me out of the crate." Everything you do it sounds like you're worrying so much that you're giving in, which is exactly what she wants you to do and is exactly what's causing the problems.

Have you REALLY cleaned the areas with Nature's Miracle? Sometimes it takes a couple of tries to clean it up completely, especially if you weren't doing it before. If she's only peeing in the house, it really leads me to believe that she's just thinking it's okay because she smells it.

I'm beginning to think your problem is just not being consistent. When she mouths your hands, what do you do? Do you yelp and separate yourself EVERY time, or just "when you have the time?" You absolutely can keep her in the crate for 3 hours while you clean. They're called ear plugs Sounds like you might be letting her out when she whines?

Training from puppyhood is ALL consistency. One false step and you're done for. I know you're just venting, but good luck and I hope you can get a handle on it! Or she's going to be one unruly DOG soon, not puppy

But yeah... chin up. We've all been there

Defiant is a perfect word to describe a Husky puppy. Adolescent. Adult. Senior. They ARE defiant. You aren't alone in that

Have you tried the tether method with leash training? Val(Huskyluv) did that with one of her Chihuahuas and I know that's what it took to housebreak her. Although, Juno is still young and she is still learning. I KNOW how frustrating it is. Cheyenne wasn't housebroken until 9 months old! GAHHHH! It's good you're going to the vet just to clear a UTI out of the realm.

The crate. Ahhhh. The crate. How does she react when you place her in there and then leave the house? Is it the same as when you put her in it and leave the room? If you're really concerned that she'll hurt herself you may want to get a plastic crate (the airline ones.) But, if Juno was my puppy... I would stick a kong/frozen rope toy/ect. ect. in there and walk out. JUST ignore it. I know it's hard and annoying and frustrating and at some points ear splitting... but it has to be done. She probably throws such a fit because she isn't in there a lot except for at night.

Mickey was doing this biting/chewing the leash/collar thing a few months back. I would ask him to sit and if he got up or went to bite the leash/collar I would verbally correct and start all over. Sometimes I had to do it 15 times for him to get it, but that's what it took. Now it's a rare occurrence that I have to do more than 1 time.

I think the key is as stubborn and defiant as they are... that's how much more patient we have to be.

Koda - I think you're right. She probably does somewhat have me wrapped around her fingers. I keep putting the puppy boot camp mentality in my head, but I think exhaustion kicks in. I have and do wait until she stops whining to let her out. My problem with letting her alone and walking out is that when I've done that before, she freaked out after awhile and piddled in the cage. Not much, but she did. So I'm unsure how to approach it.

I have cleaned every spot she has gone in with it. Mostly right after she goes. Perhaps I'll try putting her away for a bit and redoing it. She does fancy this one corner of the house for some reason.

I don't let her out when she whines, but I haven't let her alone too often. Usually when I start hearing her whine, I do go into the room and then wait until she settles down and then leave her out (thinking she has to potty or something). I am consistent with potty training, but probably not so much with everything else because I'm constantly worried about the bathroom issue and the crate thing plus the work I have to do and classes to work on. I think I get very sidetracked and very tired. I really haven't done the yelping thing much. I was trying the close her mouth tip whenever she was biting. It worked for a little bit and then she turned it into a game .. ugh.

Thank you for your tips and advice. Honestly, lack of confidence on my part is the key here as well.

arooroomom - I haven't tried the tethering thing yet because I have a feeling she'd get wrapped around me or other things... plus I think she'd drive me nuts haha. It is something I may need to look into. 9 Months! That is a long time! How did you survive to tell the tale?! Well, as soon as I leave the room (95% of time) she will start throwing a fit. I'll try maybe sticking a pig ear in there with her and walking out? Or maybe freezing the rope toy. I tried a frozen carrot (not in the cage) but it gave her bad poop

I will say this, she does know how to sit and I do make her sit for nearly everything. If she wants her food, she has to sit. If she wants me to throw a toy, she has to sit. You know, all that stuff. I'll try out the sitting thing for going outside when she's biting while I attempt to put the leash on.

Not sure why she throws a fit when being held? Could be due to everything else and her thinking she's the boss? If only I could remember what I did with Zoe! She became so submissive when holding her.. eventually. And by the way, a lot of my fears stem from Zoe. Now I'm always worried that something bad is going to happen like... getting hurt in the cage. I wish I had the plastic ones to test this out in. But alas, maybe I'll pick one up in my next Amazon orders.

I appreciate the help and thanks for listening to me vent.

Went to the vet today. Juno's checkup went well and she weighs around 13 pounds. She was pretty good there besides being typically shy. I then asked about this peeing issue and she said she shouldn't be going as much, but depends on the puppy. She said she may just be drinking too much just to drink and to limit her water a bit. Or to even try to flush out her system in a way by not giving her water for 12-24 hours to let her kidneys and such reset (forget how she put it).

I also got pills in case there is a bladder issue which I will give her through the course of the next 7 days. I also was told to cut anything with cheese out of her diet, as a just in case thing for now. If it still continues then the next I'm there I will take a urine sample in for them (if she's still doing it). So that's how that went. She's currently in her cage screaming her head off... ugh. I hope she doesn't piddle in there again!

I think I'm gonna beef up puppy security around here I need to buy some new gates and fences and such (like a training/play pen fence) and gate up the areas I don't want her in and all that. Might also get a new cage with a divider so she has less room. Something's got to give, eh?

I'm wondering if they think she might be incontinent. That was sort of my first thought when you first started explaining all this. If she is, it's not a big deal, it just means pills for the rest of her life, but they are affordable and not serious. My sister's dog is incontinent. They diagnosed her at about 1 year old after they got her from a shelter (so she likely had it for a long time, but the shelter didn't notice it).

Breathe I think you're on the right path!

I do have a question though (thanks Koda for responding so quickly) What if she never stops whining in the crate while I leave her in there without me being in there? She's been at it for a good 30 minutes so far. I gave her her kong toy with a treat in it, but she ate it and started going nuts. I mean, I dont' want to walk in there and show her, "Okay, you win". But what if she just doesn't stop?

She'll stop. Your mistake is that you think there's a possibility that she won't. It's like a baby. Sometimes you just have to let them cry themselves to sleep. They'll learn. The problem comes when you think that there's a chance that they won't.

She has everything she needs. She went out. She has/had a treat. She's fine. She needs to sleep. You NEED to give it a while of not giving in before you start to panic, ok?

Well, I think my other worry is that she'll pee a bit in there and have to walk and lay in it while I'm not there. But I guess that will teach her that she shouldn't do it. I had to walk in as I noticed she somehow pushed the plastic bottom part out so she was essentially on the carpet. Had to go fix it, ugh. I will wait it out, though. She was out, she got treat for going in, and she was ready to sleep in the living room, which is why I figured it was perfect time to do it. You're right, as much as it isn't fun. Have to let her just go nuts. Daddy has work to do lol!

For the plastic tray in the crate, my sibe used to push his out as well when we were dealing with his separation anxiety. You can use a cage clip or simple lock to keep them from pushing the tray out. I had some extra locks laying around and put a lock on ours (the bottom part so it does not affect opening and closing the crate door) and he was never able to push the tray out again.

This is a long thread so I'll admit I didn't read all of it, just the second half of page 2 to the end. I will say that one of mine was insanely hard to housebreak, it took literally about a year and even today she still has accidents more frequently than I would like. I'll echo what Tori mentioned, give her time to cry herself out and she will stop. I have one who loves to be running around the house all the time, when I do put her in her crate so that I don't have to watch her or worry about accidents she will cry and cry and cry and cry! Eventually she settles down and gives up. One thing I never do though is let her out when she's carrying on, I don't ever want to send the message that crying and carrying on will get her what she wants.

Just how interesting and inviting is her crate anyway? Is it a boring place with nothing to do or is it full of stimulating things and challenges for her? The kong is a good idea which is sounds like you've tried. Have you also tried some chews or other puzzle toys? Bully sticks are a great chew that not only give them chewing stimulation but also last a little while and make them work. Another challenge I used to do with my sibe during crate training was I would hide treats throughout his crate to make him work and search them out. Definitely kept things interesting and kept him guessing...plus, it made his crate a much more inviting and pleasurable place to be.

Sorry if I missed this along the way but is she carrying on due to anxiety or is it more attention seeking? If it is anxiety, how much time alone is she getting on a daily basis and have you tried using a DAP (dog appeasing phermone) diffuser or spray? If you leave her alone in a room uncrated and leave so she can't see you, does she still carry on? Based on what you've said about her response to being alone, it really sounds like she needs more alone time truthfully. But again, I may not have the whole picture.

Regarding the throwing a fit when held, some dogs just don't like being held so she may or may not be one of them. Our Faith is one that HATES being held and she will generally put up a good fight if you so much as try to pick her up...holding her once you catch her is yet another challenge. *sigh* I don't think it's a dominance thing at all since our Faith is the lowest ranking (most submissive) dog in our pack yet she's the only one who absolutely abhors being held.

I was reading up on incontenence (had a scare with Odin) and generally they will pee without noticing it (while sleeping, leaking urine while walking, ect. ect.) at least that's what it seemed while I was reading up on it.

Huskyluv - Thank you for responding. A whole year to housebreak? I again ask, how does one survive it!? I think I solved the plastic tray from pushing out, thank you for the tips! Yea, I think it is going to come down to tough love with her and the crate. Like I've said, at times she is pretty good in it and especially at night she has no issue sleeping in there for hours upon hours. I'm also in the same room of course watching TV or sleeping. I think it is just time to keep putting her in it during parts of the day and let her go crazy awhile I'm not in there. I'm debating if I should move the cage to a different room at night.. maybe I should wait until she settles down in it more without me around.

As for how nice it is.. hmmm, I don't have a blanket in there, but I do have one on top of it to act as cover. She never went crazy with eating the blanket but she would seem to wake up panting more and I figured it was making it too warm for her? What do you think? I'd rather her have comfort, but not if she's getting too warm. I do try different things such as putting the Kong toy in there with the peanut butter treat and even have tried one of the pig ears to let her chew on and stay occupied. She's fine until it is done lol. I also keep a stuffed toy in there and an old shirt of mine (she doesn't rip or eat it). My guess is she simply doesn't want to be in there when I'm not around.. got too used to me or people. The howling and barking and whining doesn't bother me too much. I generally just put music on and do my thing. So, I'll just try forcing the issue and let her go nuts. Hopefully... after an hour she'll eventually lay down. I keep the TV on or music (piano) on for her to create a better environment.

I honestly couldn't tell you if it is due to anxiety or attention. Right now, she is sleeping out in the living room. I am back here in my office. She is fine and will sleep for an hour or two. There are people out there also, but she does do okay without me around in that scenario. I need to order a play pen/training fence to keep her in so she doesn't have full roam of the house every time she's out. Might be a good idea.

Good to hear about the holding thing not being a dominance issue. Sometimes she's okay (when she's tired) but mostly she would rather be let down. It is probably due to her wanting to run around and get into things. It's just difficult when you have people (not on here) telling you different things. I'm trying TOO much to make a perfect dog, I think. Gotta relax more, you know?

I was having fun with her last night training to her to lay down. She picks things up real fast. But I got ahead of myself due to the bonding and tried to teach her to roll over as well. That didn't work yet and now she gets a bit confused with the differences of Sit, and (lay) Down. Guess I'll have to rework it a bit! What can I say, teaching tricks is ace! I think it is a real bonding thing.

arooroomom - If that is the case of incontenence (sp), then that probably isn't Juno's problem. She knows when she pees. She will find a spot and do it and I have had no accidents of her just going without squatting or during sleep or running/walking. Think I may just scrub the carpet down and see if that helps and redo the Nature's Miracle. If it is anything, we have had less accidents the past 2 days since I started her out on the pills and have not let her freely have access to her water (I will put it down when she eats, and randomly a half hour here and there). Just for now. She doesn't seem bothered by it or going crazy from thirst.

Juno turned 12-weeks old yesterday! Ah, and we haven't killed each other yet

Sheesh, I write long posts I appreciate all the responses, as always!

Parasomia wrote:

As for how nice it is.. hmmm, I don't have a blanket in there, but I do have one on top of it to act as cover. She never went crazy with eating the blanket but she would seem to wake up panting more and I figured it was making it too warm for her? What do you think? I'd rather her have comfort, but not if she's getting too warm.

Does she have a bed or a crate pad in her crate? If she's getting hot from having a blanket in or covering her crate then I would do away with it. My sibe gets really hot in the plastic kennel carrier style crates which is why I don't use them and opt to use the wire crates instead. Blankets will make my sibe hot as well but certain styles of dog beds he does just fine on in his crate. I don't put blankets or sheets over my sibes crate simply because he always shreds them to pieces when I do.

Parasomia wrote:

My guess is she simply doesn't want to be in there when I'm not around.. got too used to me or people.

That's what I'm thinking too based on everything I'm hearing. Be patient and more importantly be consistent. Do you reward her for being quiet when you let her out? When we were crate training our sibe with separation anxiety we would wait for him to stop screaming and carrying on and when we got a full uninterrupted 3 minutes of silence we'd praise him to high heaven and let him have some play time with us. As he started to get the idea we would start increasing the amount of time we wanted for uninterrupted silence to 5 minutes and continue increasing as they catch on.

Parasomia wrote:

Think I may just scrub the carpet down and see if that helps and redo the Nature's Miracle.

If you suspect that the Nature's Miracle might not being doing the job as well as it should, you might try shampooing your carpets and/or treating with a different product. Nature's Miracle is a pretty popular product and has been around a long time but I've heard time and time again of users who complain of Nature's Miracle not getting the area completely clean. If you happen to think that might be the case for you, I would recommend trying a product called "Get Serious!" or "Spot Shot". I've heard a lot of complaints about Nature's Miracle but have never heard a single complaint about Get Serious! or Spot Shot.
Links if you decide to check them out:
Get Serious!
Spot Shot

Sounds like things are going well. I know so much information from so many different sources can be so overwhelming!

Mishka didn't like to be held when she was younger and still won't stand for it now except for the rare times she wants to cuddle. Cheyenne on the other hand would LOVE to be carried around all day if you wanted!

When you're doing a training session it's best to stop while you're ahead. At least for an hour or so. Let the training sink in a bit. And if later you want to do more, that would be the time to train something new. It's less likely to confuse them.

Glad to see you've survived these first 4 weeks with Juno!

Huskyluv - She is in an wire style crate so she has plenty of air. I no longer put the blanket in there for her to lay on since it seemed to make her too warm. I do put it on top though unless we're crate training when I'm not in the same room cause she pulls it off and gets mad! But she has no bed or anything, just the plastic bottom which she seems to do well with. She tends to lay her head on my shirt, depending on how she feels like sleeping hah.

She gets lots of cuddles and kisses when she is good in her crate (she gets a treat for going in it), but when I leave her alone in it without me in the same room, I have yet to get more than 3 minutes of quiet time yet So, just like I'm doing right now, I'm just going to keep letting her go at it and hopefully she gets tired and chills out (think it has been 50 minutes so far). She definitely doesn't hate her crate because even now at night she'll start giving me the puppy dog eyes and whining to actually go to bed in her crate. And when I say "Go to bed?" she'll move her head in that funny doggy way! It's pretty funny to see.

Yea, I'm not sure if Nature's Miracle is really working. Thanks for the tip on the other two! I'll try them out when I put my next order in. I have scrubbed the carpet this morning while she is going crazy in her cage, hopefully this takes a lot out of it.

arooroomom - Oh it's crazy when you hear different things from different sources! I get pretty confused on what to do which is why I'd rather just stick to the advice given here considering everyone here has done it all with their huskies.

That's pretty funny about the way your huskies are. I can't remember how Zoe was when she was a puppy, but as she got older, she was extremely submissive being held. Not sure that she wanted to be held, but she never put up a fight and would become instant calm!

Yep! I agree, I got ahead of myself having fun with the training so now it is back to just Sit and Down and try to get those wired into her before doing other things.

With Nature's Miracle, you have to make sure you're following the instructions correctly too It's not a spray and scrub. You really need to let it sit for 3-5 minutes and let it soak through the area. For really soiled areas, you do have to use a lot of it. It's harder with wall-to-wall carpeting too... just a thought in case you hadn't tried that yet

Hi Koda,

Usually what I do is when she pees, I'll clean it up and then put Nature's Miracle down on it and usually just let it sit and sink in and that's about it. Today, I mixed in some of it with some other cleaner into our rug scrubber and did the whole carpet. Hopefully this gets a lot of it out on a much more wider range since it was an actual scrubber.

That might help Was just a thought. Val's products are good ones though, so there's always those if it doesn't work this time!