I never used my crate as a convenient place to keep my dog during the day when I was in the house. I only crated when I wasn't able to be home and around to be with my dogs and train them the proper way to behave in the house, be it housebreaking or not eating the sofa. I know my puppies were very social and to be separated from me when I was home, running around and having a normal day, would have (at the least) earned me alot of HEY HOW ABOUT ME with the barking whining whatever. And my clever girls would definitely connect the 'um, when I pee and make a mess, mom lets me out of the crate to be in 'the real world' so I can do that.

I only have 2 dogs, and I know people with many more dogs have different issues. But for me, I crated the pup in the room with me at night, and got a full nights sleep the first night. And I only used the crate when I had to leave the house, whether for work, shopping, whatever. So my puppies never felt left out of the rest of what was going on in the house. I would let them out when I got home, go out for the poop/pee thing, and then that puppy was in the same room with me for the rest of the night. Whether I had to use child gates, close the doors, or leash the puppy to myself.

And I laid a massive blue tarp on the family room floor so if I wasn't paying attention to her (my fault not the puppies) and she did have an 'accident' it only took 2 seconds to clean up the tarp rather than the carpeting.

It sounds to me like you puppy is lonely and isolated. How many hours of exercise she getting a day? How many hours out of the crate? You been able to socialize her alot? Out to visit friends and their dogs? Have friends and their dogs over to the house?

She was only in the crate if we went out, and at night. During the day she was always out with us. She gets a lot of excercise but it never seems to tire her out, I think I'd have to run her into the ground to tire her out, which obviously I'm not about to do. She gets to see lots of people, real social and loves everyone. If someone comes to the house, she gets excited for a few minutes, and then forgets about them and goes to play with her toys.

I asked a friend if I could borrow her wire crate, I don't know if it'll make a difference or not but I'll try it.

She gets a lot of excercise but it never seems to tire her out, I think I'd have to run her into the ground to tire her out, which obviously I'm not about to do. Why not?

You say she's never tired? Seems like she needs more exercise. I also couldn't tire my girls out by playing ball (I have the attention span of a gnat and throwing a ball for hours was not happening) or on a leashed walk. That is why, FOR ME, we started up the off leash hiking. My dogs run back and forth, up and down the hills, in the creek, chasing squirrels, generally like maniacs while I just walk on the trail for and hour or so. If I meet up with other friends and their dogs the resulting games of chase do even better.

I think one of the challenges of owning a puppy/dog is finding out what works for them. I know some people herd. Some do agility, some will tear around the yard on their own, flyball, frisbee, whatever (and some puppies are always angels and THATS NOT FAIR). The point is (and you are doing this by being on this site) that if what you are doing is NOT working, to be open minded enough to try something else.

And I would be awfully tired of cleaning up urine.

What about taking your dog to a golf course at night? I know many of you dont approve of dog parks but golf courses have tons of room and most have paved trails for the humans to walk on. Of course i have th luxury of living on one so my dog goes there quite a lot, be careful of ponds, smelly mess after their done swimming in them. I only suggest this cause I know some people dont have any place to hike nearby that they can do most every day.

Golf courses! What a great idea. See what happens when we can get creative!

I was always under the impression that golf courses DO NOT want animals walking on their golf courses.
Of Course, this could be because I grew up horseback riding right next to one, and it was soooo tempting to try and sneak on, but we were warned that the fine if we were ever caught was 100 dollars per hoofprint!! I didn't know if this was true, but it seemed possible and I didn't want to find out! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

So, I would be sure it is allowed before you go dog walking on the golf course!!

Don't mean to pop anyones bubble about golf courses, but I remember when I was taking horticulture classes, the turf grass instructor said he would never walk barefoot on a golf coures. They aren't that pretty by accident. The grounds keepers use TONS of weed killers/insceticides, etc, to keep things looking nice. He also said that golfers who kiss their balls for luck could be asking for trouble. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Man....a golfer that can kiss his own balls for luck must be pretty darn flexible....


Ohhh......I'm gonna get it for that one!

Well considering golf is my line of business, I have never had a problem with kissing my golf ball <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> . yes they do use a lot of chemicals on the grass but now a days they are so animal friendly its not that much of a problem. A couple times a year they put on a fungicide that is very visible (green/blue) and that would be the time not to kiss your golf ball. By the way what they mean by that kiss is that many people lick their thumb to wipe the mud off the ball, and they do this all during the round so the green stuff gets in your system. And yes they would get mad if you let your dog run around, but trust me no one is around after dark!!! The biggest problem is when it snows and you walk on the grass, it kills the grass and it stays brown all through the year till it grows out, it looks ugly and greenskeepers have a COW! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Seems like she needs more exercise She is still so young, I don't want to overdo it and do any physical damage.