Dear Jubilee,

We have some questions about puppy training and whether we could be doing some things better.

1. Are we doing all we can to establish ourselves as ALPHA? We are not sure and could use some tips on how to establish ourselves as ALPHA with our Airedale puppy.

DEAR JUBILEE ANSWER: Too much emphasis is put on making yourself alpha. Stop worrying. Think instead of bringing up a well-behaved companion dog, one who is a joy to be around.

2. Topper is an expert countersurfer and often bounces from counter to counter grabbing whatever she can -- she particularly loves paper towels -- shredding them all over the place.

DEAR JUBILEE ANSWER: Mouse traps. Set some mouse traps,  and put then around the edge of the cupboard. You can interleave paper towels over them so that if one trap goes off, they will set off all the rest of the traps. You only need to do this about three times. Then just leave the traps along the edge of the cupboard, sometimes set, sometimes not. They hate the noise and will not knowingly set one off.

3. She is digging like mad whenever she is outside and has recently discovered the underground sprinkler system -- until we get this worked out, she cannot be outside unsupervised -- she is not out much without supervision, but nonetheless, she can do a lot of digging in a matter of seconds it seems. Anyway, this may be instinctive, but is there anything we can do about the digging?

DEAR JUBILEE ANSWER: In our house, it is the termite traps. One of our girls thought that digging up the termite traps was her vocation in life.

 Give Topper an area where she can do what she wants, including digging. Use some wire fencing that you can put up yourself, and when she is unsupervised, let her dig in her space. Some people have suggested giving them a sand box. I don't know whether this would work with an Airedale, but it might be worth a try. In any event, it does suggest that you might make a special part of your yard for her to dig in, but given the issue with the sprinkler heads, you will need a place fenced in somehow that is for her when you are not able to supervise.

Another thing you can do if she digs in a place that you really object to or that is dangerous to your walking in the yard: dump her poop in the holes she makes. She won't go back to the ones with poop in them.

4. We are trying to get her regular playdates with other dogs as she loves this as well as long walks, playing frisbee and soccer. How much exercise is adequate for Airedale pups?

DEAR JUBILEE ANSWER: Watch out for long walks on sidewalks or surfaced roads until she is over a year old. The repetitive motion of walking on concrete and other hard surfaces is not good for her long-term structural health. Puppies will exercise as much as you let them, but it should be play kinds of exercise where she is on a soft yard or something where the action does not have to be sustained for great distances.

5. What should we expect re: Topper settling with us in the evening when we are watching TV or reading?

DEAR JUBILEE ANSWER: Tether Topper to you for a week or two. To do this, take a six foot leather lead, hitch it to your waist and where you go, she goes. If you sit down, she sits down beside you. If you sit down to watch a show or read a book, she lies down and stays down. How to get her to stay down? Put your foot on the lead fairly close to her head so that she cannot get up. Whenever she tries to get up or does get up, put her back in the down position, without repeating the command, and tell her to "Stay." This exercise will give you incredible results: it will sharpen her focus on what you are doing and where you are going. It will teach her to stay quietly beside you when you need her to stay quietly. And it will teach her to watch out for your feet, which reinforces her focus on what you are doing.

6. She is not doing much of this these days preferring to bounce around and grab things from tables and bookshelves. What can we do? She is just so cute.

DEAR JUBILEE ANSWER: Remember: In all things, what is cute at 30 pounds may not be very cute at 50 pounds. Don't laugh at antics unless you want her repeating them throughout her life. When she grabs something that she should not have, say “eh-eh” very sternly and either squirt her in the face with plain water or tap her nose firmly with your finger. Pretty soon, a simple, but stern, “eh-eh” will tell her to stop what she is doing. Occasionally, you will need to remind her by picking up the squirt bottle.

She is a great sleeper though ... when it is time to go to bed, she goes right into her crate and goes to sleep -- This is good!