Sean Lange (10/13/2015)

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Lynn Pettis (10/13/2015)

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Sean Lange (10/13/2015)

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WayneS (10/13/2015)

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Sean Lange (10/13/2015)

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Brandie Tarvin (10/13/2015)

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My cats are always happy to see me. They just get irked when I ignore them to do MY thing instead of worshipping the ground they walk on.

"Dogs have owners, cats have staff."

Besides, I didn't have to spend two months house training them. Plus when I go on vacation, we just need someone to drop by the house every few days to make sure they're okay instead of throwing them in a kennel.

I will give you the vacation and kennel bit but house training a dog take no more than a couple days if you use a crate. Crate training is a super effective way to house train dogs incredibly quickly.

I guess I've been lucky - all the dogs we've had have been trained by their mommas. So, just how do you crate-train a dog?

We crate trained our last two dogs and have had less than a handful of accidents in the house between both of them. The methods we used are very similar to this guide. http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/crate_training.html

The important thing about a crate is to make sure it is never used as punishment. It is the dogs safe spot where they should always feel comfortable and secure.

If our dogs do something that upsets us, like shredding pillows, they'll run to their kennel until we cool down. Then they come out looking for forgiveness. Hard to refuse when they give you those big puppy dog eyes.

Our dog hasn't set paw in his crate in quite some time. Now that he is old enough to not destroy stuff in the house we allow him run of the house during the day. He has a bed tucked away in my wife's office that he sleeps on in the evening when he wants to get away from us, otherwise he sleeps on the bed tucked in the corner of the living room.