Dog - crate - sorry it's in GD but I need some advise

[mopinko]

41. my advice is prolly dont ask about animals on du, but you are doing fine.

how old is this dog?
is it housebroken?

keeping a new dog under closes control is the smart way to do it, and most dogs love their crates. most that dont can be trained to do so.
people who think it is cruel are just anthropomorphizing. dogs are denning animals, and esp in a new place, a closed crate is safe and snug and just what a dog needs.
feed him in his crate, give him the good chew toys only in his crate. play in and out w treats, and give him a signal to go in. do that from farther and farther away, and you have taught the place command. a truly valuable thing to teach that most people dont.

my 2 fave sites for training info are-
leerburg.com, which has tons of article, free videos, and q&a. i like michael ellis, and there are a lot of old vids of him and ed frawly that are worth sorting through. ask cindy has answered every imaginable question at some point. browse the archives.

also dr patricia mcconnell. i am old enough to have seen several waves of new thinking about dog training, starting w the guys who trained the wwII war dogs, through operant conditioning, debates over possitive v negative reinforcement.
people are doing really amazing things these days. working dogs these days are happy and fulfilled and doing stunts that were the stuff of ed sullivan back in the day.

feel free to pm me if you dont want to get beat up.