After watching a the Pack Structure DVD, I have a few crate training questions. What do you recommend?

My husband and I have watched your video regarding establishing pack structure, and we have some questions. Let me preface this by apologising for the length of this email.

John and I are somewhat new parents to a 9 month old male, altered Havanese, named Zippy. We got him when he was 4 months old, so we've now had him for 5 months - just enough time to spoil him and turn him into an undisciplined small doggy that everyone thinks is adorable. We, however, continue to see bad behavior that needs to be stopped, such as:

* Jumping on us, biting our pants legs, and being very 'mouthy' when wanting our attention, like when he wants to play and we're busy doing other things.
* Growling at us when we want him to do something that he doesn't want to do, like when we go to lift him to carry him up the stairs to his bedtime crate, which we keep in our bedroom.
* Barking incessantly when we try to make a phonecall.

After watching your video on establishing pack structure, we came to realize that we did everything wrong, and created this little monster ourselves! John and I are recent retirees, empty nesters for over 10 years, and this little doggy was meant to be the grandchild I'm still waiting for ... BIG MISTAKE - he's an animal, not a small child. I thought I had the skills to raise a dog from puppyhood, since I had previously done it twice - with Saint Bernards - who were naturally big lovable slobs and who were never allowed to rule the roost because we were too busy raising our two sons, and couldn't put up with any doggy-nonsence.

Anyway - now, as far as Zippy is concerned, we need to go back to square 1 and confine him to a crate 24x7 for a few weeks, or however long it takes, until he realizes that we are the boss - not him; we cannot begin to address and successfully correct his unwanted behavior until our household pack structure has been established. John and I have some questions about this technique that we're hoping you would answer.

At this time, we have a puppy playpen set up in our sunroom. The sunroom is a 4-season room off the family room (where all the activity takes place). When John and I both need to be away from the house, we put Zippy in this playpen, turn on the light (if it's in the evening), and turn on the radio. (When we're home, we have baby gates set up so Zippy is confined to the sunroom, kitchen, and familyroom.) We're assuming that the crate should be kept in a place that is away from the household activity, but ideally not in some dark, dank basement or garage. Does it make sense to keep his crate in this sunroom, replacing the puppy playpen with the crate?

You mention feeding the dog in the crate. Zippy is a picky eater, and we have been adding dry kibble (puppychow) to his food bowl 3 times a day - allowing him to graze and nibble whenever he wants. I'm guessing that we'll have to stop that, not leave his food bowl in his crate all day, but only feed him 2 or 3 times, removing the bowl after 20 minutes. Is that correct? Also, he's now 9 months old and weighs ~ 12 lbs; should we be feeding him twice a day now, instead of three times?

Zippy is great when we get him upstairs to his bedtime crate. We keep it in our bedroom, and he knows that it's time for sleep when we put him in it. He usually sleeps for a good 10 hours up there. It's a small crate that's big enough for him to lie down, sit, stand, and turn around. We keep a folded bath towel on the floor-tray; works great and is easy to wash and change. There's no room for any food or water bowls. The crate we'll get for the sunroom, the one that will replace his puppy playpen, will naturally be larger with enough room for food and water bowls. My question is this: at bedtime, when we take him out of his daytime crate and outside to relieve himself, is it ok to move him to his bedtime sleep crate in our bedroom, or will we have to keep him in his larger sunroom crate at bedtime also? My initial inclination is to bring him up to be with us where he'd be a lot happier, but I'm afraid that I'm, once again, treating this dog as a human child and not an animal, and continue to send him mixed messages.

Thanks for your help.

Holli and John