Hello!! I am the proud owner of three dogs!

My oldest is a Standard Poodle male named Prancer (yes, like the reindeer). He is a rescue, and I have had MANY ups and downs with him..and he is only 5 years old. But we keen truckin along .

My next is Miss Kennedy. She is a husky/lab mix who is almost two years old this November! She is the biggest love bug and my training star! I rescued her from a shelter where she had spent over a year of her life. She was three days away from being put down when I saw her picture on facebook. I fell in love and called the next day . She is my baby.

My newest and craziest addition is little Sheba. She is a purebred Husky pup. I rescued her after they busted a puppy mill here in Nebraska. One more bad breeder off the streets!! So far so good with her..no health problems. My vet said she looks like she got lucky to have good blood lines. I'm just happy she will not be used to pop puppies out left and right. She is a little spitfire of a girl, and she makes me laugh and drives me nuts every day.

But I do have some questions. She is still really young, only 3 months. She has been doing wonderfully on potty training and she is just a joy. I live on my own in my own appt. where I have three neighbors. I work at a steakhouse so my hours are pretty short. The longest I usually work is 5 hours. She was perfectly fine for awhile, but lately she has been throwing the biggest fits. She will howl and bark and whine for hours on in and we all know how loud those little puppy lungs are! I have tried covering her kennel when I leave and it worked for a little bit until she decided that it would be more fun to drag the blanket inside and rip it up. I have tried kongs, toys, chews. I went out today to buy a freezable puzzle treat toy because she is losing teeth like crazy, so hopefully that will help.. She is especially bad at night. I always take all three of them for a long walk before I leave and make sure she is pretty tired from playing too. I keep her in those completely open collapsible kennels, so I don't know if it aggravates her that she can see my other two dogs or what's going on. My neighbors however, are starting to get tired of it. I need advice FAST!

My other question is leash training. Right now I have her using a semi choke collar. It was recommended to me by veteran husky owners and breeders.She still needs to grow into it a little bit, but it fits. It doesn't seem to phase her one bit. I have taken her out on her own for leash training, and she is starting to pick it up, but as soon as all three of them walk together, she looses it. She is constantly pulling and running from side to side and she just turns into a basket case! On top of that, my other husky mix is starting to revert to her old walking habits too!

Thank you in advance for any help!!

Hello and welcome to the forum. It's great you were able to save all 3 of your pups! It's always great to hear there are people out there doing everything they can to find these pups a home and thank you for opening yours to 3!

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I have tried covering her kennel when I leave and it worked for a little bit until she decided that it would be more fun to drag the blanket inside and rip it up. I have tried kongs, toys, chews.

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I always take all three of them for a long walk before I leave and make sure she is pretty tired from playing too.

Sounds like you're doing everything right to me. The only thing it sounds like you need is more time. I'm sure you are well aware it won't happen over night, but if you keep at it and keep strong to this routine that you have laid out I would think it should start to get better pretty soon.

Something you can try to reduce the Whooing, which sounds to be the issue.

Where is the crate located? If it is separated from you at night that could be why she has issues then too. If you can try and bring the crate into your room. It might go a long way just having you close to her while she tries to sleep.

In terms of leaving for work leave the TV or Music on if you can. Hearing voices could in fact help her a bit to calm down and have the added benefit of drowning out a little of the noise.

Make sure the crate is positively reinforced as well. Feed her inside if you can.

While home and not going anywhere ask her to enter the Crate for a small period of time (5 mins to start) and reward her when you let her out. Slowly change how and why she gets presented with the reward (Being quiet for the duration, sitting before you let her out, increasing the duration) and keep working at it.

If you take it slow and present her with praise and rewards for doing it right she should start to catch on relatively fast how she is supposed to behave whilst inside the crate.

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I went out today to buy a freezable puzzle treat toy because she is losing teeth like crazy, so hopefully that will help..

Dunk an old face cloth in water and kind of roll it up. Drop it in your freezer for a couple of hours or until it is completely frozen.

It makes a GREAT, and cheap, teething tool. They tend to love to chew on them and it gets into all those hard to reach parts of their gums they really need it to.

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so I don't know if it aggravates her that she can see my other two dogs or what's going on

This one is a toss up. She might do better having them close and she might do better without the reminder of them around. If it were me I would try and separate them for now whilst Sheba was crated. If she is being stimulated enough she should just pass out and sleep after she gets over the initial shock of you being gone.

With the dog two pups moving about in view it maybe creating added excitement and the need to get out and PLAY.

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My other question is leash training. Right now I have her using a semi choke collar. It was recommended to me by veteran husky owners and breeders.

Everyone is different in the tools they use to get leash manners. There has been much discussion here what is the best collar and the best method. In the end it really comes down to what works the best for you. If you feel confident while walking your dogs they will pick up on it and start to obey. Being firm and fair goes a long way into getting respect from your 4 legged friends.

Find a way that works for you and stick with it.


What works the best for us is a mix of a bunch of things, but Kelly and I tend to use Voice and Collar / Leash corrections. If they fail or are too excited we like to use the link Below (All Credit too Mykeeonah AkA Sean)

Diamond in the Ruff Leash Training

I've found with Tika that forward motion is Huge. Depriving her of it tends to get my message across pretty fast with her. We reset and start to move again. It has worked very well for our two.

Hope it helps and best of luck to you and your pack . Keep us up to date

~Chris~

I keep her kennel is the same room as where I sleep. She can always see me. Also, she loves her kennel. And I mean LOVES it! She will always take naps in it when it is left open, and if she wants to take a nap and it is closed she will sit by it and stare at me until I open it for her. So she definitely doesn't associate it with anything bad. Yesterday I tried putting her kennel in a different room like you suggested, and so far it has worked. I'm not sure if it is the new placement of the crate or the new puzzle toy I gave her. We will just have to wait and see.

Thank you for the link!! I will keep updating as we move along!

First Sheba is beautiful and welcome to the forum. Second, Chris has again given some great advice. I would add that if you have an old t-shirt that smells like you, you could put it in her crate to help sooth her (this is a trick good breeders use to ease the transition away from the litter. My breeder gave me a towel that the litter had been on to put in with Saphire until she got comfortable with her new surroundings.)

Finally, having spent the majority of my life in Nebraska, I have to ask where in NE you are located?

We are crate training our pup too, and holy hell the first 2 months were HORRIBLE! So much barking and whining. We took some advice from a Husky book, and covered his crate with a sheet so it feels more like a den, and then we also put a fan in front of the crate because the room he is in get so dang hot in the afternoon! Did all that about 2 months ago and its getting so much better He will still bark when he goes in, but he quiets down in a few minutes and goes to sleep.

BeBopBandit wrote:

We are crate training our pup too, and holy hell the first 2 months were HORRIBLE! So much barking and whining. We took some advice from a Husky book, and covered his crate with a sheet so it feels more like a den, and then we also put a fan in front of the crate because the room he is in get so dang hot in the afternoon! Did all that about 2 months ago and its getting so much better He will still bark when he goes in, but he quiets down in a few minutes and goes to sleep.

Fan is definitely a good idea. I actually have two circulating air in my room. No a/c in the house unfortunately.

I tried putting a sheet over Keeonah's crate. When she starts feeling anxious she just pulls it through and rips it to shreds...soooo... no more of that.

Really, positive association with the crate (favorite toys, treats, kongs, WHATEVER your pup goes batty for), time, and consistency are the most important factors. Eventually they should become de-sensitized to the trapped feeling. Keeonah is as tall as she is going to get now, so I got her a biiiig crate with a comforter down in there. She will run right in and lay down now, and is quiet when i get home from work 95% of the time now. We have it down to a routine, so she knows what to expect. "Daddy's going to work, so here are a bunch of delicious things to snack on while he's gone, just wait it out, he'll be back later"

I am from Southeast Nebraska! Like...WAY southeast!

I have two fans on her at once. I can't put a sheet over because as I posted earlier..it's more fun to rip up . I actually have not tried putting a shirt in, but every time I put a blanket or a towel in, she pees on it. When I don't put anything in there, she doesn't have an accident. So I really don't understand why she only has an accident when there is material in there or when there is not. Anyone have any idea why she would do this??

She gets a lot of treats in there, but she ignores them. I will get home and nothing will be touched. So far though she is loving this new freeze puzzle toy I got her, so maybe she just needed something to challenge herself I'm not sure. I got bully sticks to see if maybe she just wasn't into the raw hides and other chews, but she will only eat them when I am there. I don't know if maybe she is just testing me or whats going on. Some times she is just fine and other days she just goes batty!

Like I also posted earlier, she loves her crate. I'm not sure if she just likes her crate when she decides to go in it or not. I will open the door and tell her "time to go in!" and she goes right in and plops down. So far she is doing better with it being moved into a different room. I think seeing my other two dogs was just over stimulation and was just frustrating her. It is still early and she is still young..Iiii dunno. Thank you all for your advice. I will try a tshirt to see if that helps, but I'm afraid she will just pee on it!!

Sheba&Kennedy wrote:

I am from Southeast Nebraska! Like...WAY southeast!

I grew up and went to college in the panhandle but I have family all over southern NE as far east as York.