I love Mishka and am enjoying her a great deal. BUT, she is doing a few things that are making me crazy and I would appreciate advice on....

1. she is still HATING her crate. Screams in there and it takes a while to calm down, if at all. Every time I have to leave for 40-50 mins she will pee in there and she must be releasing her scent glads, as she has a TERRIBLE musty smell. (how do I get rid of it? I have tried everything) But, she will go in her crate and night and be quiet. Sometimes I have to force her in there, but she is quiet and goes right to sleep. ?? It's the peeing that bothers me.

2. She has started to (in the last couple of days) run away from me when we are outside (and inside, too!) and doesn't come when called. I think she knows, playtime is over, so she balks. Normally, I let her drag a leash when playing, so I can catch her and make her come to me. But, I am trusting her a bit more off leash in the yard, as she has been staying close to the other dogs, and she has responded well to the invisible fence collar (No, she will NEVER be trusted outside and totally relying on that shock collar!) Maybe she is getting "big britches" attitude because she is more free? I randomly do "touch" for treats...which is a come command, but more a game for her. When I do want to go in, I try to wait a few moments instead of going straight in...so she doesn;t think coming to me = end of fun. It is fairly annoying to have her run away from me like this. I want to nip this in the bud right now...HELP!

I guess I really only have two big concerns.... Thank you for your help on these!

The crate just takes time.

For some pups it is a lot of time and for others they just get it right away.


Keep going about it being a positive place and keep it clean, and feed her inside it, or reward her simply for going in.

Get an enzyme cleaner for the smell and air out the room for a bit. Water and Vinegar can work but there are products out there that can do the same. Nature's Miracle comes to mind, thought there are better or safer out there I'm sure.

Have you tried leaving a TV or Radio on so she can hear something?

Have you tried A recording of your voice, be it video or audio?
Even just a recording of you snoring at night could help make her feel like you are around.

Are you Tiring her out like crazy before you do crate?
20 or 30 minutes of tricks and treating should tucker any pup out.




From day one with Tika I always played in a way where she had to chase me. I never tried, or showed any interest in chasing her. The second I run away from her is the second she runs towards me. If chasing is fun for her I just wouldn't acknowledge it (Unless you need to) and instead find ways I could trigger her need to come to me and work off that, in my case it's chasing me.

You can also try using a completely different word for when you want to go inside other than come.

We use the come command simply when we need them close or to return to us.

If however we are going inside any house we instead use HOME as the command word.
If near the house they will run to the yard when issued Home.
If in the yard, front or back, they will come or go inside.
If we are out they will walk towards the car.
If on a walk they will start heading home.

This allows us to use COME when we really need it. If for what ever they don't want to go home or aren't listening to that command we have something we can fall back on that had more weight behind it because they get rewarded for it more often then not. We reward a solid recall EVERY TIME.

Riley was the one who gave me the idea for HOME so all credit goes to him. Like him, there's a part of me that likes to think because of how and when we use home as a command if they ever did get free they would actually go home. It's a ludicrous and outlandish notion, but it's nice to have none the less.


Hope some of it helps.
~Chris~

Chris that does help quite a bit. Thanks for your input.