Thank you for your comments. Last night was a good night with our
puppy. When I got home I laid down some ground rules for my husband in
regards to ALL the dogs. We spent lots of time with our older lab
giving her lots of TLC and also with the other dogs and puppy. We
found a nice area in the house and boxed it off for the puppy so that
she could have a lot of room to play/sleep and eat during the
night....there is absolutely nothing she can hurt in this area so it
worked out fabulously....why we didn't think of it earlier???? Who
knows!!! We have decided that we will make an effort to drive home
once a day to let her out of the area so that she can go outside we
will be sacrificing our entire lunch hour and fighting icy roads but
that is what we must do so we will do it....I called several places
around the area and could find nobody interested in the task. It is
differnent in this area....we don't have dog parks or dog
sitters...other than a couple of kennels which are 10-20 miles
away......we are originally from a little larger area in MN and there
they do have all those things but in this small town USA they just
don't have those things for animals. Although our hope is that come
summer when kids are out of school we can find someone (a teenager) who
is willing to go over to our house and play with our pets during the
day.

We stricly brought our puppy out on a leashe every 2 hours or more and
she was extremely good about eliminating during that time and she got
lots of praise in the mean time. She cuddled with me and the others on
the couch for a period and we played a lot both inside and outside. We
have been lucky this winter that we have had a mild one so that we can
be outside. Tonight the plan is to go for a long walk with our outside
lab (we both need the exercise) and then do lots of playing with all
the pups. This is definately going to be a lifestyle change for all of
us but one that will be a lot of fun too. We will have lots and lots
of enjoyment from all four of our pets they are all extremely sweet and
well mannered. Our outside lab was thrilled last night to spend so
much time with us and will benefit the most from our changes....I won't
even be opposed to having her in the house if she wants to........she
needs a good grooming also so I am going to work on that tonight as
well. We are going to step up to the plate and be good doggie parents.
Not to mention we want our little girl to learn the PROPER way to care
for animals. She is two and loves her puppies so we want her to be
good with all of them too. We have seen children who kick at animals
and are mean to them and we certainly do not find that acceptable and
would never want our child to do that.

I think I really needed an awakening from you guys and I got that.
The whole puppy thing....I think that we got so used to the way it was
with our other dogs that we forgot all the extra work that goes into
it....I know we will have our up and down days but we will make her
life a good one and I will see to that.



Paula wrote:
"Snackle" wrote in news:1167851568.655099.228860@
48g2000cwx.googlegroups.com:

Also Tara, yes I can see that I will need thick skin on the group
because I am obviously on a site where I am a minority and up until
this point thought I was a good animal person but now feel like scum.
I am willing to make changes though and that is a good thing. But I
tell you what it is going to be awfully hard because my life is already
very full with a toddler and full time job amongst other things.....I
just wish my husband shared the same feelings as I do. I assume there
will be another discussion this evening and this time I am putting down
my foot!!!!

Don't think people here think you are awful. If you were arguing that it
was great to bring in dogs and then throw them outside by themselves or
else keep them in crates all day and night, people would be wondering
about you. But I don't think any of us started out as pet owner of the
year. I know for sure I didn't. I didn't know any better. Once I
learned, I did better. That's what we care most about. Are you willing
to learn better and do better? It sounds like you are, so that's fine
with me, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Husbands are hard. Often they are harder than kids because they don't
listen as well! But your husband does have to either step up to the
plate or let this dog go to a different home. As you have seen, the long
hours of kenneling are just creating a messy crate problem. The
behavioral problems will get worse, not better. While the puppy is still
really young, he has a better chance of finding a new home. If you wait
until he is older to decide you just can't put up with all the trouble of
a puppy with your current lifestyles (and no judgment there, I have
decided I never want a puppy in my house again because it's just too
hard), the dog will pay the price. As will your marriage as you clean up
the messes of a dog that your husband wanted and get more and more
resentful. Having a young child just makes it harder because you have
two little creatures that are too dependent on you and not very well
trained to stay out of trouble if left on their own.

Maybe you could get an adult dog. In fact, given your husband's
intentions and expectations, perhaps he could be talked into an older dog
that already has some training. Check places like petfinder.com for dogs
that are adults, so they can hold it longer and aren't going to go
through teething stages. If they are already housebroken and have some
house manners, which many of them are because many of them are being
fostered in homes, you can have the dog in with the house dogs right off
the bat. You can let the dog out to play with the lab and in the
meantime work on making the lab more able to come in more often, but at
least then you only have one dog to work on. Make your husband clean out
the messy kennel that "his" dog is creating and perhaps he'll think it
over even sooner. As long as he doesn't have to pay the price of his
decision, he's not likely to change his mind. Would you? But the longer
this goes, the worse it will be for all involved.

Paula