Good dog, Bad Human

Before Kodie came to live with me all the time, I was unable to leave her alone in my apartment without her totally flipping out and wreaking havoc. At her house she was sometimes kenneled because the two big dogs fought so much. So, when she came to my house, I naturally thought the solution to her separation problems with me would be to kennel her until she was accustomed to her new home.

The first time I left her in the kennel it was for a short time...about 30-40 minutes. She did fine. The next time I left her it was for a longer time…about 3 hours. She did fine.

Then I left her for about 4-5 hours and she barked constantly, which annoyed the business under my apartment. I tried several things to keep her from barking but nothing worked. She just got worse when I went back to work.

She decided to take matters into her own paws on day two of my return to work. She Houdini-ed herself out of the kennel! I must not have had both latches secured because she was alone all day and when I returned home, she was loose in the house with a belly full of cat food. But that was her only mistake. So on day three I decided to leave her loose in the living room only blocked by a large picture and a chair that always kept her in when she was younger. I returned home to an empty cat food bowl (thankfully this time I had only put a small handful of food in it) and a dog that greeted me at the doorway. Day four: same story; blew through the gate and this time took an empty treat container off the table and swiped a candy wrapper from a trash can that didn’t have the lid on tight.

I decided the picture just wasn’t going to cut it so I purchased a baby gate for day five.

And it worked! She gladly stays loose while I’m gone at work. She no longer eats the cat food and as long as I keep the trash lids on tight and the food put away she doesn’t make any mistakes. And no barking…well, maybe a little when she is rough-housing with her toys but after all a girl has to entertain herself!

The moral of the story? Good dog, bad human. I think all that barking was to try to tell me that I can trust her outside of the kennel. She also gave me some nice reminders that I shouldn’t leave food out and the trashcan lids should be snugly fastened. Both good ideas even if I didn’t have a dog.

So I took down the kennel tonight because I'm confident that we don't need it. She was a little confused until I remade the bedding into a kennel-less bed. Now I think she just plain likes it.