I recently adopted a dog from questionable circumstances who has 2 major passions in life: protecting her crate (from within or without) and being OCD for tennis balls. Weaning her off her tennis ball addiction was very easy, but she isn't yet trustworthy enough around the house to leave outside the crate at night or when humans are away from the home.

Have you experienced this issue and how do you wean an unconfident young dog from her crate without removing crating entirely from her life? She can climb any combination of baby fences we have yet invented. She is a counter surfer and cat terrorizer (even though she loses every run-in) We keep the crate lock closed when she isn't "put away" which keeps her from actively protecting it but she hovers around the crate when it's locked.

The crate is away from the active part of the home, upstairs in the main bedroom so she can be close during sleep.

I ended up placing a heavy water dish inside a shallow tub. Beneath the water dish are several flat weight plates under a towel, preventing the dog from tipping over the entire shebang.

Dog has almost completely given up on trying to dig or tip the bowl, although she still digs and plays in all her outdoor water dishes.

Thanks to everyone who suggested ideas!

only a squirt bottle diverts her but it just makes her more "up" because she loves water.

she has a baby pool outside she loves to cool off in. I'm afraid I just won't be able to disassociate the behavior from the "swimming" pool to the tiny water dish "swimming pool" indoor.

thinking about this option but afraid she will tip anything over that I buy or construct.

Tried a no spill bowl, she just tipped the whole thing over. :/

My dog LOVES to play in water, and when she's excited and in a playful mood, sometimes she runs straight to her water dish and dig dig digs all the water out onto the floor. I hate having to restrict access to water so I'm looking for suggestions and ideas to try!

This dog is a 32 pound Boston / Frenchie mix (heavy on the terrier attitude lol)

One of our Boston Terrier Friendzy readers has a Bostie named Zena who was recently diagnosed with Cushing's. She would love your experience and advice on the matter! (Personally I'm only familiar with it in horses.)

Thank you!

I feel your pain! I've tried all these and what works best is a "go to rug" and then have the guest basically play red light/green light to approach ie: only approach when dog is sitting on her rug. She is three and we rescued her at two. May never "grow out of it" at least she loves people!

A "dremel tool" style sanding tool might be a great thing to try! http://www.amazon.com/Furminator-1040...11?ie=UTF8&qid=1449513863&sr=8-1&keywords=FURminator+Nail+Grinder+For+Dogs+and+Cats

Thanks for sharing this. What a powerful story. It's hard to know what's best for our friends who can't speak for themselves sometimes.

All the spam should be cleared! Feel free to flag spam when you see it. It takes more than one flag to make spam disappear on it's own. Changing threshhold id under review.

Hi Kathleen, new users can make their own accounts! If they run into any difficulty, customer support is there to help.

Hi Dawn, You can always check this tag on the blog https://www.rover.com/blog/category/s...

and keep an eye out for the regular sitter emails. If you aren't seeing those regularly you may need to check your junk or spam settings in your email account.

Do you have any specific topics you'd like to see addressed? Rover's blog team is always looking for great relevant topics to cover :)

Hey Dawn, it's not a perfect solution, but you can always reach out to other sitters in your area using the Rover contact form. Maybe take some time to craft a "Reach out" email and send it to some folks in your area (maybe by zip code) along the lines of " Hi , I'm also a Rover sitter in the area and would love to chat with you sometime about _" Maybe you could set up a meetup or coffee group in your area if there was enough interest?

Hope this helps~

I have been with Rover for about 2 years now and I think it would be nice to compare opinions with other sitters.

Others have already said my ideas, but I just found this today. It's a Rover article (I couldn't find a shorter link) - https://www.rover.com/blog/how-to-fly...

I frequently take my dogs out for a walk in the woods and it seems they cannot resist deer poop. I haven't seen any negative results from this little hobby but interested in hearing if anyone knows more...

My new rescue dog loves going for walks.. after the first 2 blocks are behind her!

The second she leaves the house she is raring to go--until we reach the front of the house. She usually poops immediately (convenient!) but then refuses to move forward. If I don't try various methods to encourage her to move, she will lay down in the grass and belly crawl while whining piteously to go home.

Things I have tried with various levels of success:

• Carrying her for a block or two (last ditch only - she loves being held but I don't want to encourage this)
• Squeaking a squeaky toy (worked a few times only)
• Throwing a cookie on the sidewalk out of her reach in the direction I'd like to go (works but requires multiple cookies and throws to get her really going)
• Crouching down and calling her to me and petting her when she comes (works but like cookies, takes multiple tries to get anywhere)
• Ignoring the behavior and waiting on the end of the leash until she gets bored (whining, crawling away, leash biting, drama)
• Redirecting to another direction that isn't directly back home but also isn't where I really want to go (can be successful when combined with waiting and ignoring but you better have a lot of time on your hands to get anywhere)
• Leash correction mild to strong with verbal encouragement (most forceful and quickest method but I don't enjoy it. I would prefer not to create a tug of war espcially because she is a great loose leash walker 90% of the time)

Am I missing any methods? What should I try next?

Hey Laura - great answer! I bought a short leash with velcro that she can wear with her collar all the time, then when it's outside time, I unhook the velcro and she has a convenient leash! We have been working on the door thing, and it's working great. For this dog, she stays much calmer if you don't bend over her or reach hands out towards her --you just calmly and quietly herd her with your body towards the door and she gives up and heads in quite speedily. :)