i cant take it anymore

Question
Hi, my name is victoria and my family has two dogs. one is a black lab
the other is a black lab mixed with a pitbull. the mixed dog is in a
cage all day b/c she goes through things when shes not in the cage.
everytime that they come in from being outside the mixed dog knows she has
to go to her cage. after she is in depending on how she acted i will
give her a treat. but if she didnt behaive i wont give her one. after she
is in the cage the older dog the black lab starts to bark at her and
then she barks back at him. the black lab always stands in front of her
cage and barks at her. Can you please tell me why he does this and why
the mixed would bark back?? i have been told that the older dog the
black lab would just bark b/c hes trying to make the mixed on jealous b/c
she is in the cage and he is not. i know that could be true but why is
he still barking and what can my family and i do to stop it??  

Answer
Hi Victoria;
First, the dogs are being treated too differently.
The dog being in the cage all day is constant punishment, and I don't think it is a jealousy thing.
Rather,. I think they are just communicating in a way that they are in cahoots to get her out of there.
They could be trying to make bother you untill you let her out, or they could be just talking about how unfair it is.
Maybe because they want to play together.
At any rate, this arrangement is not fait to the dog.
You just need to train them as to how they are supposed to behave in the house, and everywhere, for that matter.
Keeping her in the cage all day is not natural for her, and she is bored to death.
I think the male is barkung in sympathy for her. She is barking back. That is the way it is. Quite natural for them to behave this way.
You have to train them what you want them to do.
Some dogs can be shown once, and some dogs take a little more training.
You have to show and teach them, or they don't know what is expected of them.
She may know she has to go into the cage, but she doesn't understand WHY, she has to go in there.
Petsmart and Petco have good obedience training courses on the weekends. Man's Best Friend is a dog training school with stores all over the country.
Most SPCA chapters have obedience classes too.
You need to get into one of these classes so you learn how to train a dog.
Being in such confinement is not good for the dog's health.
She doesn't have enough room to properly keep her muscles exercised, and that could make Arthritis set in sooner, and make it worse.
Dogs don't know how to talk to you.
Both dogs are tr\ying to get somehing across to you, and they are not making you understand, so they will keep up the barking until you get what it is they are trying to communicate to you.
I would think it is unusual if the dogs WEREN'T barking like that.
The way it is now is as if you had two children, one was allowed free rein and the other one was made to stay in bed all the time it was at home.
Very unfair, and can only lead to worse problems in the future.
Charlotte