Hi I am in need of some advice! To better understand let me first give you her
BRIEF HISTORY: Ema Lea is a 5yr old Basenji mix that I got from the pound about a year & a half ago. She is fully trained, spaid, and extremely smart. For the first month I had her I was able to leave her in the house while at work w/o any destruction. After that month she began to get separation anxiety and would destruct anything & also defecate on the floor, therefore she now stays outside while I'm gone.

THE PROBLEM: She has recently been peeing in our closet while we are sleeping (aiming for my shoes when possible : ) & the other time when the closet was closed she peed right outside closet. The two evenings that this has happened we were at a playdate for her before bed. I have been meeting up with a friend for playdates for Ema Lea with her male dog & they play at her home. They get along better than any dog that Ema Lea has ever played with, but they have so much fun... eating the rib bones from our dinner & getting spoiled that she doesn't want to leave. I know that she DIDN'T learn this behavior from the other dog for he is very well trained & has never had an accident in the house. She has been there 4 times & has peed in my closet 2. I feel like she is doing this out of spite & to show me she is angry... but I don't know how to prevent it & I don't want to eliminate playdates if at all possible. Any advice would be great! :o

An intelligent, strong willed dog can be a handful. The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/ For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm

You also should keep her in house. When you are around you need to keep a close eye on the dog. Use closed doors or gates to keep it in the same room as you are, and perhaps as I do, a short chain fastened to the computer desk. If you catch it in the act, give it a sharp ''Ah, ah, ah!'' and take it out. When you can't watch it, crate it.

It is only natural that a puppy resists its crate at first. What the puppy wants more than anything else is to be others, you, anyone else in the household, and any other pets. In our modern society, even if we are home, other things distract us from the attention an uncrated puppy must have. The only real solution is to crate the dog when you aren't around. The dog may be happier in its den than loose in the house. It relaxes, it feels safe in its den. It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving its self. Dogs that have been crated all along do very well. Many of them will rest in their crates even when the door is open. I think the plastic ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling. Metal ones can be put in a corner or covered with something the dog can't pull in and chew. Select a crate just big enough for the full grown dog to stretch out in.

Leave it some toys. Perhaps a Kong filled with peanut butter. Don't leave anything in the crate the dog might chew up. It will do fine without even any bedding. You will come home to a safe dog and a house you can enjoy.

A dog that has not been crated since it was little, may take some work. Start just putting its toys and treats in the crate. Praise it for going in. Feed it in the crate. This is also an easy way to maintain order at feeding time for more than one dog.

The "shut the puppy in a safe room" is a fallacy. Very few houses even have a safe room. How many of us have a room with a hard surfaced floor and nothing else? Most rooms have electrical cords to chew if nothing else. In addition to destroying anything a bored puppy finds to chew, it may choke or have intestinal blockage from the pieces. I had a friend that left her dog in a "safe" room. It ate a hole in the floor covering. The safe rooms fail to give the dog the comfort of the enclosed space their instinct requires. Nor do they restrict activity extending the time the dog can go without relieving itself.