Quote: ross rapoport

 Quote: barbara schuler

Ross, sarcasm rarely comes across as humor. You can slink off or stick around, open your mind and let us help you with your dog.

Connie thought the pet store crack was funny. I think she was the only one who understood I wasn't being serious.

My mind is open and if my previous posting history does not suggest that, I don't know what will.

I've been on hobby-related forums for years, and my experience is that "help" is a funny word. People will "help" you as long as you are enjoying the hobby within the limits of their tolerance. As soon as they get a whiff of anything that suggests you may not totally know what you're doing, the bandwagon forms.

Concern for helping the offender through his problem becomes secondary to maintaining the identity of the forum. That is the breaking point at which we have arrived. For every post that may be helpfully intended, there will be at least one that tells me to rehome.

Even knowing how this works, I'm not immune to participating in it. I happily joined in on the Michael Arghnian gang-bang, and when was the last time we heard from him? I feel bad about that.

I've been lying low here so as not to distract the forum with inane questions from someone who hasn't had a puppy in 10 years. Evidently it wasn't low enough. My apologies.

Ross, this is all I've seen from you. Looking for a thread to pile on someone.

People on here aren't looking for trouble. There are some "Me Too-ers", you, that do pile on in an attempt to fit in. What you don't realize is that there is nothing to fit in to.

Opinions aren't formed to fit in. Yes, opinions do tend to be shaped by those you are learning from, but we are all humans with free will.

Differing opinions aren't attacked here. Stupidity is.

I'm not saying this because everyone else is. I don't care what they think. I'm saying this because it is getting old.

Excuse me, but I've got a bandwagon to catch. Its about time to find that damn ignore button again.

 Quote: ross rapoport

Niomi he definitely needs more exercise. That is obvious now. But it wasn't obvious even one week ago.

The reason I made this thread in the first place (which I now see was a huge mistake) was that it happened suddenly.

Roger went from peacefully sleeping all day and all night, to barking his butt off, literally overnight. As in, starting this Monday his behavior changed abruptly.

People here really care about the dog. "Huge mistake thread" comments (because you were jumped on) are counterproductive.

Yes, I thought the pet-store crack, the first one, was very funny. But when you have a real issue, then going on and on with sarcastic retorts is really worse than useless.

Seriously. People here want to help. And there is across-the-board experience. Heck, I live in a downtown Victorian neighborhood -- about as far as you can get from wide open spaces. So "People will 'help' you as long as you are enjoying the hobby within the limits of their tolerance" -- no, I disagree.

The suggestions from Niomi and Anne and others -- these are what we all have to do when we choose to share our lives with puppies, or high-drive dogs, or (in many cases) two or three dogs of wildly varying drive and energy.

 Quote:

Originally Posted By: Olivia Brown
this is a very high energy breed that requires a ton of stimulation to stay happy and content.

 Quote:

Really? The folks at the pet store didn't tell me that. Maybe I should sue them.

This was your reply to a well intentioned, encouraging hang in there post. You tee'd up the sarcasm, and now your crying about it. Everything up to that point was on topic and meant to be helpful.

Hi Ross:
When will we see more pics of this little guy???

Having raised quite a few Mal pups myself, I have to echo the advice of those who say more exercise is in order. Mals raised in crates without appropriate mental and physical stimulation have the potential to develop not-so-healthy behaviors - including nuisance barking, crate busting/biting, and spinning.

If you do a search for "Kadi Thingvall," you'll come up with at least one post where she describes activities suitable for high energy dogs (and there are also some great ideas from others in those threads). These are things you can do at home when you don't have a lot of time for hiking, training, etc. I've also posted some ideas in the past for hunting games. You'll want to explore options that exercise your pup's mind and body.

Aside from his crate time while you're at work, what is this little guy's exercise schedule like?

As you probably expected, your pup is going to change and grow dramatically every week. Just when you think things are going smoothly, he'll throw another curve ball at you. The key is to be proactive and stay one step ahead of him, which it sounds like you're trying to do. In a nutshell though, the more constructive exercise ("work") he gets and the more behaviors you shape at a young age with marker training, the better.

ETA: There were a bunch of good posts added while I was typing this. I'm not intending to beat a dead horse, but I'll leave my post as is anyways

Edited by Konnie Hein (10/15/2010 04:18 PM)
Edit reason: addition

Don't worry Ross just ignore the barking he'll stop when he realizes 18 hours a day in the crate is his life.

Yeah maybe you can teach him to pee between the bars into a tin cup! That way you'd never have to take him out if you didn't feel like it. You know on those wet rainy nights and you've already had a hard day at work.
Now it's just a chore isn't Ross.

Hmmm, I say change your life style or exchange the dog at the pet store for something more appropriate. Like maybe a cat or a gold fish.

 Quote: Konnie Hein

... ETA: There were a bunch of good posts added while I was typing this. I'm not intending to beat a dead horse, but I'll leave my post as is anyways

As you should.

I think that there are many here (all, in fact) who care a lot about a drivey pup in a crate most of the day and night, and want to help remedy the situation ASAP.

So the more, the better, regardless of person-to-person animosity.

Ross, maybe it's the cooler weather recently that started the barking. My dogs' energy and play drive increased significantly over the last few weeks as the temperatures have dropped to the 50s or so.

I think Barbara's suggestion is a good one. A doggie day care type situation where they can let the puppy out of the crate a couple times a day, at least until he gets a bit older. It also might be less expensive than a dog walker. Or, do you have a nieghbor or friend who is home all day with a fenced yard and wouldn't mind helping you out?

Ross, as an afterthought...

You mentioned that you live up in a 4th floor walk up appartment...I would not want to be walking that pup up 4 flights of steps numerous time a day. Frankly, I wouldn't want to even do it once. But that's just me. I, persoanlly, am very careful with overexercise & pups. I would seriously be concerned about his hips doing that. I would carry him.

 Quote: ross rapoport

I happily joined in on the Michael Arghnian gang-bang.....

Here's your afterthought. That is the only "gang-bang" that comes to mind that you got in on.

Maybe you should look back through your body of work. Way too many critical post in your 169.

The other end sucks.

 Quote: ross rapoport

Only starts barking when he hears my alarm go off at 7:10;

Nice thing about alarms; they can go off at 5AM too.

Ross,(no judgement intended in this question)
Are you willing to sacrifice to meet Roger's needs?

Nothing wrong with saying "No" and finding other options for him or "Yes" and coming up with a plan. The solution lies with you.