Recently, I answered a question about a new puppy that was having trouble sleeping in his bed without whining and barking through the night. I suggested some crate-training tips, but I’ve had lots of emails from across the country offering a few other ideas.
Here’s a collection of those tips, along with my thanks.
DEAR JOAN: We got our new puppy 9 months ago, and we bought a toy puppy with a plastic heart that beats like a mother dog. She loved it, and it helped her sleep. I think my wife found it online.
— Ron, Dublin, California
DEAR JOAN: It also helps to put a ticking clock underneath the puppy’s bed. I’ve used it with all my puppies over the years. It’s suppose to mimic their mother’s heartbeat.
— Julia, Orfordville, Wisconsin
DEAR JOAN: When I got my first puppy, I laid down on our kitchen floor, puppy in crate with my fingers in cage, for two nights.
Then I got a stuffed animal, and for two days I brought it with us and the puppy everywhere in the house. At night, I told the puppy it was bedtime and put both the puppy and stuffed animal in the crate. The puppy had someone with him.
— Marilyn
DEAR JOAN: For the crate training, a stuffed animal that is pet-approved from the pet store helps. When mine was 7 weeks old, I found a bear the same size as the puppy. They slept together.
— Laura, Kissimmee, Florida
DEAR JOAN: I got my new baby Chihuahua a cave dog bed (from Amazon) to sleep in inside of his crate. He loves it and has slept there since day one. He is 6 months old now and when I say “Let’s go to bed,” he knows where he sleeps. If I put him in our bed, he will sleep some, but wants back in his bed.
— Donna, Marshall, Texas
DEAR JOAN: In response to the puppy sleep situation, they make the perfect companion for her. It’s $40 on Amazon. It’s a small stuffed puppy that can be heated and has a simulated heartbeat to make her feel like she did with her kennel mates.
The product is called “Pet Anxiety Relief, Calming and Soothing Aid.”
— Nicholas, Raymore, Missouri
DEAR JOAN: My Maine coon cat seems to like watching the TV. She sits about 3 feet from the 49-inch TV. Her eyes follow what is going on and when the scene changes quickly, she will jump.
Is this normal? My previous cat could care less about the TV.
— Michael, Gilroy, California
DEAR MICHAEL: It’s actually not uncommon for a cat to watch television. That said, none of the cats I’ve had in my life ever paid a bit of attention to the TV, so I think your kitty is special.
Experts say that cats that watch television, especially those that follow the movements on the screen and react, might have highly developed prey drives, and they might be bored.
There’s little worry about letting your cat watch television, if you don’t count a serious case of cute overload. For cats that spend a lot of time alone, it can provide some mental stimulation for them. The biggest concern is if the cat gets too engaged and attacks the TV, which could injure the cat and isn’t going to do a whole lot of good for the television set, either.
For those who don’t want their felines turning into cat couch potatoes, try spending more time engaging with them, get some interactive toys and provide a perch for them near the window. If you don’t mind the TV viewing but don’t want them watching “The Catchelor” or too many cat food commercials, you can buy DVDs of birds and other animals for them to watch, but not harm.
DEAR JOAN: We had an animal visitor to our back yard the other night that has us stumped.
Our cat saw it out the patio door window first, and she made a sound that we’ve never heard her make before, which made sense because it was something we had never seen before.
At first glance we thought it was maybe a small possum. It had a very long snout but looked more like an aardvark than a possum. It appeared to be nearly hairless and when it turned sideways, it had a full tail like a fox. It was like something out of a sci-fi movie.
I just spent a half-hour online saying weird combinations into Siri, including, “Can a possum and a fox mate?” and I have come up with nothing.
There is a small gulley at the bottom of our hill. Last year we had both foxes and possums, but nothing like this. Any ideas?
— C. and M., Benicia, California
DEAR C. AND M.: One thing I can tell you for sure, I won’t be visiting you, not with a fossum or an opossox roaming the area.
Seriously though, I think there is an excellent chance that you saw something not a lot of people ever see, and it’s not from outer space. It sounds like you might have had a visit from a ringtail cat.
They are timid and shy, so they tend to stay away from people and developed areas, but because they have quite the appetite for a small creature — they are about the size of a small cat or a ferret — they sometimes sneak into back yards on a nocturnal hunt for food.
Although we call them cats, they’re actually in the raccoon family.
DEAR JOAN: Why are some hummingbirds territorial? My neighbor across the street gets lots of hummingbirds and yet I have one that will not let any others come near it. Even if I put two feeders out there, he or she protects both of them and chases others away.
— Jean, Lake Elsinore, California
DEAR JEAN: Some hummingbirds guard feeders for the same reason some humans bought up all the toilet paper at the start of the pandemic — they fear it will be in short supply.
To reduce the aggression, you can put out lots more feeders in the same area so that the bird, perhaps, will realize there is plenty for all — or will tire itself out trying to protect them all.
You also can locate feeders away from each other so that the bully hummer doesn’t see the other birds feeding.
