Thank you Jennifer! I will check it out ^_^

Also try Craigslist. We had a super small crate (that I got free from work) and I needed a larger one (obviously) to fit Cheyenne as she was growing. I posted an ad in the pets section and I actually got someone to trade me their large wire crate for my smaller wire crate, free! Of course, sanitize anything you get second hand like that but free is a good price

We have the same 42" crate for Ginger. The brand we have is iCrate but I'm sure there's other brands out there that is very similar. I got mine at Petsmart but they were having a big same on it at the time and it does come with a seperator to adjust as your puppy grows.

I also got a snap-in-bowl so she has water and can't knock the water bowl over in her crate:

http://www.amazon.com/Midwest-Snap-Water-Bracket-Quart/dp/B000MD3NLS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1294674337&sr=8-1

Nikolai has a 46" or 48" kennel (yes, it is huge!) but he LOVES it. It's totally "his room" and when we get ready to go anywhere or head up to bed, he runs to it and and sprawls on his bed in there. We actually have to coax him OUT of it with treats if we're not crating for that day... he's a little bit of a weirdo, but he's sweet. ;-)

Like Claudia, we also have the Snap-In bowl - it rocks.


How Nikolai spends his day... by CoffeeK8, on Flickr

We ordered all of our crate/kennel stuff from Amazon.com, they had great prices and free shipping, so it just worked.

Also, ditto the Twist n' Treat - Nikolai likes his, too. I usually smear some peanut butter on the bottom, put in his kibble, and twist it down to the smallest level. It keeps him occupied and entertained for about an hour. He doesn't have issues with being a lightning fast eater (he's actually really slow - take a bite, run a lap, take a bite, run a lap...), but my Mom's dog does. She ended up buying him an Anti-Bloat Bowl to make him slow down. It works great.

http://www.fetchdog.com/pet-supplies/dogbowls-feeders/dogbowls-dishes/eat-slow-dog-bowl/00148

Nik is so sweet in his crate! I got the snap-in-bowl from you Kate!
No wonder Nik is thin! He eats and then burns it off, eat and burns it off..!!

i wish embry would take to his crate, we got a 48" crate on Craigslist months and months ago for $40 to try and crate train Embry, he would just never have it Thankfully though he is fine left alone in the house

Jennet&Embry wrote:

i wish embry would take to his crate, we got a 48" crate on Craigslist months and months ago for $40 to try and crate train Embry, he would just never have it Thankfully though he is fine left alone in the house

We totally lucked out that way - he came completely crate trained and the times we leave him to roam free in the house, we're fairly certain he spends 90% of the time in his crate, with the door open. The two times I left him in the house and closed the crate door (so he couldn't get in) he went counter surfing and scored chocolate (the first time) and a whole tupperware of Turkey Cookies the second. *lol*

Nikolai is sooo cute!

Coal and yuki LOVE their crate. We actually crate them together because Yuki adores coal and visa versa. Its so cute I will come home and find a 60 lb dog snuggling up to a little pug LOL! Loki has been doing great with crate training he doesn't cry at night and he typically will sleep through the night as long as we let him out to potty. I just throw some of his kibbles into the crate and say "Crate" and then do that a few times before I lock him in and he doesn't mind walking in and out of it at all.

He has also been doing really well with pottying outside. No accidents at all today or last night since taking him out every 2-3 hours. ^_^ I hope this continues on! I am going to give him another bath tonight and hopefully I won't have to bathe him for another couple weeks lol!

I am going to petsmart tonight to get one of those twisty toys. I think it would be fun for atleast one of his meals and the dinner meal we can continue hand feeding.

I have a variation of the slow down bowl we used for our foster dog. He seems to hate it and refuses to eat out of it LOL! Dang smart dogs!

Lokipaws wrote:

He has also been doing really well with pottying outside. No accidents at all today or last night since taking him out every 2-3 hours. ^_^ I hope this continues on! I am going to give him another bath tonight and hopefully I won't have to bathe him for another couple weeks lol!

Yay!! So happy to hear that

I picked up one of the twist and treats tonight as well. We are going to order his new crate next week and he was very happy to goto petsmart today He loves all the attention he get and its good for socialization as well. He doesn't act scared in public at all I think its just when he feels like he is being cornered or punished which I've been trying to put less pressure on him and not running after him rather have him come to me using his favorite monkey toy. He is being a lot better and seems happier which I am glad

-sigh- I am trying hard to be patient and be calm and I am doing okay but I can't help but feel extremely sad and frustrated when things seem to back track. I take deep breaths and put out the calm vibes while I work with Loki but once he is crated I feel just uggh. I guess I just didn't expect to deal with these aggression issues in a puppy. I hate to say I feel disappointed but I can't help feeling that way. I am a very dedicated pet owner and I give every dog a chance and I strongly believe in keeping a dog for life once you adopt them. That being said I have never dealt with aggression before, I have never dealt with such heavy food guarding and resource guarding. We had a foster dog who did guard against other animals and it was solved by just not feeding in the same room and it went away after the dog gained weight and didn't feel like she had to fight for her food like she did in her previous situation.

Loki growled and bit me today for trying to pick up his monkey toy off the ground. He was chewing on another toy and it was a couple feet away from him and he jumped up growled and bit me. It didn't draw blood luckily but boy do those puppy teeth hurt!

I am trying hard to be patient and understanding but I have NEVER been bitten by a dog before. I just threw some food in his crate, shut him in, went in my room and shut the door very calmly so he didn't pick up on my shaky ness. I know dogs are VERY intuitive with emotions and I am good at being the calm but strong leader. My lab coal has always been a dominant dog and he has never gotten the upperhand.

I am practicing NILIF, I am feeding him with 2 bowls so I don't put my hand near his food but I am still making him sit and then I use one bowl to pour food into his other bowl, I've been doing the "toy trading" thing where I offer him one toy to get the one he is holding so he doesn't try to nip or bite.

However should I just not let him have toys at all? If he is going to be THAT aggressive.

I am just actually a bit scared of him at the moment. I won't lie. I've had dogs try to attack me at work and I leave them be and do their own thing. But this is my personal dog.

He isn't allowed on the furniture and he is normally good with following my commands. He sits on command and he doesn't try to push my leadership besides this toy and food guarding.

So what do I do?

Oh I should say I've never been bitten by any dogs I HAVE owned before, I have been bitten by plenty of other dogs in the past. just wanted to clarify.

I know it sounds futile right now, but all we can tell you is that you are doing the right things. Guarding is not a problem that is solved over night and it's not always an issue that shows even minor immediate results.

If toys are the source of his guarding behavior, you could try to limit his access to him. Part of NILIF is that everything good comes from you. However, if his toys (good things) are laying around for easy access, then the good things are his for the taking. Does that make sense? Try giving him access to only ONE toy at a time. He can put it anywhere he wants, but if you want to clean or move it, you must offer him another toy.

Another tactic you can take with guarding is giving him too much to guard (in a controlled setting). So whereas he gets only one toy at a time, you could try laying out his breakfast in 5 bowls separated by a couple of feet each. He can't guard all 5 at the same time.

One other thing I'm sure you might be doing but I haven't seen you mention is teaching him the "Leave it" command. This can be really helpful. Giving him a command associated with positive reward when he obeys could have helped in the instance with the monkey. Telling him "Leave it!" might have encouraged him to back off for just long enough to safely get the toy.

I'm so sorry you're going through this. However, before you get to that point or feel like you want to give up, contact a behaviorist in your area. I don't think you're there yet, but at such a young age, with the proper training, he really is going to be a good boy. He's just got some large barriers to overcome. Keep working at it, and keep trying. But if you start to get too frustrated, call in a professional.

Good luck! And we're here for you.

Thank you very much ^_^ I appreciate that!

I am definitely not giving up on him! I know that he is not a lost cause I mean he is only 3 months old and very very intelligent! He knows what he is doing you can see his little brain tinkering away. I also know when to back off and take deep breaths and try again when I calm down so I don't get angry and take it out on him by yelling or anything cause that just back tracks even further. Luckily I have done quite a lot of research reading about training and behavior. And watching its me or the dog is a ton more helpful than people may think! She has a great method of training Leave it.

That will definitely be our next command. He has sit down although he is very stubborn about it but he will do it. He is very food motivated although I hate giving him treats because he snaps it out of my hand. Is there a method for teaching gentle other than not letting him take it immediately? I normally close my hand around the treat until the dog barely nibbles and I only let it go if I feel no teeth around my hand and I say "gentle" and let them have the treat. Its harder when they have such sharp chompers lol!

If I sound like I am giving up I am totally not! Its just nice to have a place to privately vent my frustrations!

Oh and I did have another question.

He does this thing where he runs around the house like a nut which is tolerable cause he actually does come back when called decently well for a 3 month old puppy. However when I attempt to pet him he will lick and lick and then CHOMP my hand. Is there something I can do to stop this chomping and mouthing on my hands when I attempt to pet him? He seems to not like my hands on him all that much for affection. Sometimes he will come to me and let me pet and love on him gently but alot of the time he will try to lick and nip my fingers if I pet him.

I think one of my biggest concerns is if I do all this training and continue working with him and he eventually stops doing this behavior or it becomes less. Will it eventually go away completely? Or will this be an issue when he is older like 1,2,3 and so on? I guess I just wonder if I will always have to watch him every little second and worry about if this person takes a toy from him or picks up a food item off the ground (you know those weird what if situations...) will he bite them? I guess I worry about him becoming vicious as he gets older. I realize dogs don't turn around and snap its all about how they are raised and trained. I just worry about him becoming a liability. I always think of the future and I DO eventually want to have a baby (in the way future) and even now I wonder once he hits a year old and I've done his training or what not I have a 2 year old sister and a 3 year old autistic brother. If they come over to visit they always bring over toys for my brother. And if Loki steals one of his toys and no one sees and my brother takes the toy will he get bit?

I guess what I worry is that this will always be an issue and that even with all my training I wonder if he will grow out of it. Does that make sense?

I understand! We're here for venting

And yes, I LOVE Victoria Stilwell and use a lot of her techniques as well. I would continue with that method of "Leave it" but perhaps use a thin leather glove (walmart or target sell them cheap). At least until he starts to learn it.

You're doing well, and to be honest, it sounds like you're a LOT better at controlling your frustrations than I am, so kudos to you! One hurdle at a time though. Be proud and happy that you have the eliminating in the crate issue resolved. Praise him and focus on that when you get frustrated. Think of the hurdles that he HAS overcome and stay focused for those yet to come. You will get there and so will he. It sounds like he either had a very rough start at life or a very sheltered one. Either way, he's learning and be grateful he is with someone like you rather than someone like his previous owners. My guess is that his previous owners got him like this and made it worse. I bet you it's a combination of all factors: likely the runt of the litter, poor socialization as a puppy, and then ill-equipped first owners and voila! Unruly, insecure, and "aggressive" (I use that term VERY lightly) puppy.

Chin up! You'll have better days.

Lokipaws wrote:

Oh and I did have another question.

He does this thing where he runs around the house like a nut which is tolerable cause he actually does come back when called decently well for a 3 month old puppy. However when I attempt to pet him he will lick and lick and then CHOMP my hand. Is there something I can do to stop this chomping and mouthing on my hands when I attempt to pet him? He seems to not like my hands on him all that much for affection. Sometimes he will come to me and let me pet and love on him gently but alot of the time he will try to lick and nip my fingers if I pet him.

I think one of my biggest concerns is if I do all this training and continue working with him and he eventually stops doing this behavior or it becomes less. Will it eventually go away completely? Or will this be an issue when he is older like 1,2,3 and so on? I guess I just wonder if I will always have to watch him every little second and worry about if this person takes a toy from him or picks up a food item off the ground (you know those weird what if situations...) will he bite them? I guess I worry about him becoming vicious as he gets older. I realize dogs don't turn around and snap its all about how they are raised and trained. I just worry about him becoming a liability. I always think of the future and I DO eventually want to have a baby (in the way future) and even now I wonder once he hits a year old and I've done his training or what not I have a 2 year old sister and a 3 year old autistic brother. If they come over to visit they always bring over toys for my brother. And if Loki steals one of his toys and no one sees and my brother takes the toy will he get bit?

I guess what I worry is that this will always be an issue and that even with all my training I wonder if he will grow out of it. Does that make sense?

He should grow out of it if you can train him consistently, but you should always be cautious and continue to train even when he exhibits no behaviors anymore. For example, Hailey is a little bit of a guarder (you can tell cause she hoards all the toys too). She is no longer "aggressive" about it because we've worked with her, but we still continue to put our hands in her food dish, take her rawhide away and treat her, or work on little training tid-bits to help constantly reinforce her training. I would recommend doing so with Loki, but your fear and stress should go away with time.

As for the mouthing, this is a common puppy problem and his behavior is a common husky problem. LOL. Koda does the SAME thing when people try to pet him and he doesn't want them to. It gets annoying explaining to people that "No, he isn't trying to bite you, he's telling you that he wants to play and doesn't want to be pet right now." (That's what it means for Koda).

When his mouth comes in contact with your hand (Victoria S. does this too) yelp like a puppy and IMMEDIATELY sever all contact and interaction with him. Shut a door behind you or physically separate yourself from him. He needs to learn that if his teeth touch human skin he will NOT be paid attention to. This takes a lot of time and consistency, but it WORKS. Trust me. It's just sometimes you need the added physical barrier instead of just ignoring him to make it work.

Yeah I try to keep my chin up and know that if I had not taken him he could have ended up with whoever knows else and they could have just made it worse, chained him in the yard, and then he would have eventually ended up in the shelter. I know that he CAN be worked with and I know that his issues are all stemmed from fear and lack of confidence. That is one thing I got from Victoria that makes perfect and total sense. And I don't think he is being like vicious or dangerous. And he isn't going after people, or biting people for no reason. And he has only nipped me mostly accidentally. Today is the first time he has ever bit/nipped and gave a warning growl for touching the toy. I was working on playing tug of war with him and reached for the other toy. It was my mistake for not having the other toy in my hand before giving him the one he had. We all make mistakes I suppose and I just have to be more careful.

I do have some leather gloves I could use while training to protect my fingers! ^_^

That makes sense to me. I suppose with any dog you always have to "watch" them to make sure they are behaving themselves. I just was worried that since he had prior issues with growling and nipping if it would make him more inclined to react like that but I guess with training he will learn that that is not an okay reaction to my taking things away. And hopefully leave it will help alot with his guarding.

I ordered that book recommended to me on Amazon so hopefully it will be here and provide me with a lot more information as well!

I am the type of person who likes to read every scrap of material available and I learn alot from reading, watching tv shows, documentaries, how to videos, ect.

I am also lucky to work for an animal shelter where the ACO's are VERY willing to help you out. Especially since I foster alot and it helps build contacts such as trainers, behavioralists, and so on. I know a dog trainer and she is willing to give me a discount since I work at the shelter so I feel very thankful.

Also I am hoping neutering him will help a tad. I know it doesn't always affect behavior but it might take a bite out of his dominance with other animals atleast. I think like it was said he just doesn't know his place in the pack yet so he needs to learn that I am his leader and he can look to me so he doesn't NEED to be in charge of everything.

Atleast I am learning these things! My big boy coal is a toy guarder with other dogs so it will help with that as well I hope!

Wow. Lots to comment on here...

I too *love* Victoria Stilwell and the whole Positive Reinforcement training movement. For sure, the "Mine!" book will be up your alley. If I had my act together, I'd offer to lend you my copy, but since you've already ordered it through Amazon, even better! ;-) I also lurk on the training forums at Positively.com - there are hundreds of trainers/behaviorists who blog and write awesome responses to questions, if you're up for it, definitely check those out, too. Right now, I'm reading her book, "Its Me Or The Dog: How to have the perfect pet" and while I feel like it's pretty basic (and a very fast read, geared toward new dog owners) there's still some good stuff.

Like Tori, I think you're doing everything right - it just takes time and consistency. Is your fiance on board and reinforcing your training, too? I know there have been a few disconnects between the way I do things and the way my hubby does things - once he came "up to speed" on my most recent learning, we were a united front in every aspect of Nikolai's life, but for a while, a few things were different and I think it stressed my dog out a little, and then he'd act out.

I agree with Victoria and others - when he nips or bites at you, YELP and separate. It worked with my cat, who used to SHRED my arm if I tried to pet his belly.

Last, but not least, make sure Loki is getting LOTS of exercise. Good, long walks, a couple of times a day. A tired dog, is a good dog. With Nikolai, that means 2.5 miles every night, weather rain or shine. (Last night, I bundled up and took him out for an hour in 5 degrees below zero, not factoring in wind chill - he loved EVERY SECOND of it, planting his face in snowbanks, eating snow, peeing on nearly every lump on our path...). Them's the ropes with Husky Companionship.

CoffeeK8 wrote:

Last, but not least, make sure Loki is getting LOTS of exercise. Good, long walks, a couple of times a day. A tired dog, is a good dog. With Nikolai, that means 2.5 miles every night, weather rain or shine. (Last night, I bundled up and took him out for an hour in 5 degrees below zero, not factoring in wind chill - he loved EVERY SECOND of it, planting his face in snowbanks, eating snow, peeing on nearly every lump on our path...). Them's the ropes with Husky Companionship.

Another really good point! And just in case you weren't aware, make sure as a puppy, he's getting exercise on his terms (meaning his ability, not whenever he wants). Puppies can injure their growing bones and joints with long walks on pavement or running, for example. A puppy's exercise should be limited to free running on grass, fetch, etc. He won't know when to stop for his own benefit, so you'll need to keep an eye on his breathing and activity level. There are plenty of things you can do, and I definitely agree to exercise and tire him out, just make sure it's done safely So no long walks/runs on the sidewalk around the neighborhood for a few months yet!

Koda wrote:

CoffeeK8 wrote:

Last, but not least, make sure Loki is getting LOTS of exercise. Good, long walks, a couple of times a day. A tired dog, is a good dog. With Nikolai, that means 2.5 miles every night, weather rain or shine. (Last night, I bundled up and took him out for an hour in 5 degrees below zero, not factoring in wind chill - he loved EVERY SECOND of it, planting his face in snowbanks, eating snow, peeing on nearly every lump on our path...). Them's the ropes with Husky Companionship.

Another really good point! And just in case you weren't aware, make sure as a puppy, he's getting exercise on his terms (meaning his ability, not whenever he wants). Puppies can injure their growing bones and joints with long walks on pavement or running, for example. A puppy's exercise should be limited to free running on grass, fetch, etc. He won't know when to stop for his own benefit, so you'll need to keep an eye on his breathing and activity level. There are plenty of things you can do, and I definitely agree to exercise and tire him out, just make sure it's done safely So no long walks/runs on the sidewalk around the neighborhood for a few months yet!

Huh. I've never actually had a *puppy* - all of my dogs have come in to my life as rescues/strays 1.5 years +. Good to know. ;-)

I, too, learned that from forums We adopted Koda at 7 months, Hailey at 2 years... you pick up things when you've been around long enough!

Thanks everyone for the advice!

Well I do most of the work with the dogs and cats. I feed them, clean up after them, and walk the dogs. I do most of the training as well. My fiancee works 40+ hours a week and when he is home he cooks dinner and he will help me if I ask him. But he definitely listens to the things I tell him to do and not do. Like he is throwing Loki treats whenever he enters the room, he isn't walking up on him so fast and he isn't raising his voice at him. And Loki really likes my fiancee alot ^_^

For exercise I play fetch in the house with him for around 30 minutes in the morning or until he doesn't want to play anymore and he seems tired. Cause he does lay down and stop playing when he is worn out. And at night he walks about 2 blocks around the neighborhood sometimes 4 blocks if he is really hyper. Then we come home and eat dinner and after dinner he lays down for about an hour, we take him out potty and we have been playing tug of war for 10 minutes and then doing about 5 minutes of obediance training.

It seems to tire him out pretty good. Is that sufficient enough? Should we be walking him in the morning too?

My big dog and pug walk together about 30 minutes in morning and an hour at night. We haven't walked Loki with the other 2 to prevent tangling and frustration and lack of obedience and it also helps keep control of all dogs and not have any accidents.

I didn't know Victoria had a book oooh! LOL! I will have to check it out. I really love reading so it is no biggie for me to get these books I will also check out those forums that sounds like a good read. ^_^

Oh and I just checked on my order status I just ordered the book yesterday so it should be here on friday I kept forgetting to order it LOL!