Bad Puppy

Question
I have a 1 year old Rat Terrier named Tinkerbell>
She is a bad dog . I know part of her problem is that she is in her kennel for long periods of time . When i am at school and at dance. She also keeps peeing on my carpet . I really don't know what to do. If I keep her in her kennel at night she barks and wakes up my family . If I  let her run areound she eats holes in my wall and uses my carpet as a bathroom. PLEASE HELP if she doesn't stop I will have to get rid of her.

Danielle
dancingbelugas@aol.com

Answer
Danielle, you need to set some rules and boundaries for your dog. It doesn't sound like she gets enough exercise, so taking her for a walk every day would be a good thing to start doing. The walk should be at least 30min long. While on the walk, you should not let her walk out in front of you; she should remain at your side or slightly behind you.

She needs to be confined at night if she is being destructive and is not house trained. If you cannot use an x-pen, and must put her in a crate, then you and your family are going to have to put up with the barking for a little while. Once she figures out that barking doesn't work to get anyone's attention, she will stop doing it. If your family doesn't want to compromise, then you might consider a bark collar that she can wear at night in her crate. Innotek's BC200 is a good one.

As for her house training issues, please take a look at the following page, where I have compiled all of my suggestions on the subject:

http://housetraining.angelfire.com