We recently adopted a puppy from a shelter, and she’s sweet and adorable, except when we go to put her in her crate. Sasha will notcometome,infactwe must chase her down and then put her in her crate with some difficulty. I’m worried that we are being too

Carlos and BEDFORD, TEXAS — Neydi Romero don’t follow the traditional rules for anniversary gifts. Instead of commemorating the occasion with paper, cotton, or lin en, the Bedford couple celebrates each May with fur.

They’ve been married three years and have three dogs to show for it. Their anniver- sary tradition went viral after Neydi’s sister Odalis tweeted about it and received nearly 9,000 retweets.

Carlos proposed to Neydi in 2013 in front of their church. Neydi,only18att he time, knew she wasn’t ready for children. But both of them wanted a dog.

A few days before their first wedding anniversary, Neydi received her first furry sur- prise. Carlos was waiting for her in the parking lot after work with a jacket in his arms.

“He was holding it weird, like a baby,” Neydi said.

When she asked what was going on, Carlos told her to come see, and he got a “just priceless” reaction from Neydi.

she

I think you sense that it really isn’t OK, Katie, and I would agree. If for no other reason than as Sasha continues to grow and mature, your prob- lem in this area is likely to get bigger and become even more difficult to handle. My best advice is to stop everything you are currently doing in relation to the crate, and start from the beginning. The goal should be to change Sasha’s CER (Condi- tioned Emotional Response) from a negative one to a positive o netothecrateingen- eral, and going into it in par- ticular. Since I don’t have all of your unique details, I will do my best to cover all of the

Palo Alto PALOALTO,C ALIF. — tech companies and startups are known for giving employees perks such as free food, valet parking, laundry ser- vice and bring your dog to work days.

Lately, employee benefits have extended to pet insur- ance for dogs and cats as businesses look for more ways to attract and retain workers, and such policies have been the fastest-grow- ing employee benefit, typicallyprovidedatnocostto employers, said Adam Fell, a spokesman for Nationwide.

Rich Lang, senior vice pres- ident of human resources at VMware in Palo Alto, said

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“Heopenedit,anditwas a white and black fluffy ball,” she said.

Captain became the first addition to the Romero family.

Carlos, 24, and Neydi, 21, think of their dogs l ike chil- dren.

Like any older child, Cap- tain, an Australian Shepherd Blue Heeler mix, was reluc- tant to welcome the Rome- ro’s second dog, Teddy.

But eventually, Captain basics.

First, don’t ever attempt to call your dog to you when you really need her to do some- thing she finds unpleasant. Not only will you be unsuccessful, but you can ruin a good recall as well. So in the future, if you ever need to place Sasha in an area that she isn’t fond of — like the bath tub, for example —gotoher.Attachaleashto her collar and gently lead her to where you need her to go.

Now on to the crate. I’m going to assume that you have a common plastic crate with a metal door. Take it apart; remove the door and leave thebottomhalfofthecrate in a place where Sasha can easily explore it on her own. If she has a favorite blanket or toy, place those in the bottom portion of the crate too. Give Sasha the time and opportu- nity to become at least less concerned about the crate. Youcan help too, by incorporating the crate into some activities. For example, when watching television, sit on the floor and toss one of Sasha’s toys in the general direction of the crate. As she retrieves it, keep throwing it, some- times landing it in the crate itself, giving her a reason to offering pet insurance as an employee benefit aligns with the company’s core value of building community.

Part of having a supportive work community means helping employees, whenever possible, not feel as if theyhavetoseg ment their lives between work and family, Lang said.

“And for a lot of people, family includes their pets,” Lang said.

VMware is even considering offering bereavement days for employees who lose pets, Lang added.

Not all VMware locations allow e mployees to bring dogs to work, such as the Palo Alto site, because it depends on the owner of the building. But VMware offers all its employees discounted pet insurance through the My Pet Protection plan by Nationwide.

Monthly premiums start at Spot page. The memorial will include a photo. For more information, call 937-223-1515 or email coh. classified@coxinc.com. came around and now acts as a protector to his younger brothers.

Together, Carlos and Neydi decided to take Teddy, a Labrador retriever beagle mix, into their family for their second anniversary. They found him through a Facebook page after his original owners sought a new home for him. When they brought him home, he had tape worms, fleas and was severely underweight.

Teddy is only 20 pounds, and what Carlos wanted was step inside to retrieve the toy. If toys aren’t her thin g,dothe same with treats. You might also try burying a handful of treats under the blanket that is in the crate, and let her dig around in there to locate and eat every one. Another good practice would be to feed her near the crate. Begin by plac- ing the food bowl within a foot or two of the crate, and let her eat on her own. At each meal, you can move the food bowl closer, and eventually place it inside the crate itself. What these examples have in common is t hattheyarepair ing the presence of the crate with something positive. With repetition, and without pressure, Sasha will likely form a new CER to the crate, and it will be a pleasurable one!

Of course, you will need to putthecratebacktogether again, but do it in stages. Put the roof back on, but con- tinue to leave the door off. Give Sasha lots of reasons to go into the crate, by throwing toys or treats into the back of it for her to get. Next, put the door on, toss something into the crate, and gently close the door when she gets in. Leaveitclos e dforonlyasec- ond or two, t henopenitand $40 for Palo Alto residents and go up to $66 for the most robust plan, according to Nationwide.

The price covers accidents, illnesses and preventive care such as vaccinations, flea medicine and wellness exams — but not preexisting conditions.

Rachel Simon, who works at Pivotal in Palo Alto, said she got her mini goldendoo- dle Brady a year after she started working at the com- pany. Having a pet-friendly office and the pet insurance benefit made it easier for Simon to decide to get a pet, and such policies will affect where Simon works in the future.

“I was so thrilled to learn about our pet policies,” abigandfluffydog.

So for their third anniversary, they picked Chewy, a German Shepherd Husky mix thatcamefromafri end’s litter.

Chewy is named after the Star Wars character Chewbacca, because he has a similar growl. He also likes to get under chairs and chew on them, Neydi said.

Neydi says she wants the next dog to be a girl. And for all those concerned, don’t worry, they plan to stop after five.

“I think five is pushing it,” Neydi said. “But I think it’s doable.”

The couple live in an apartment, but they want to move to a house. They want to give the dogs more space — and theymayad d a human child to the brood in the future.

Someday, Carlos wants to buy a ranch to train shelter dogs and help them find new homes.

“That’s been a dream of mine,” he said. “I just want to save as many p uppiesaswe have in the animal shelters.”

But until then, Carlos and Neydihavetwo m oredogsto go, and a couple years to figure out what to gift each other on their sixth anniversary. let her out with lots of praise and play. As you repeat this process, add in a cue as she is going in, like “In your kennel.” Gradually add to your duration. Remember, you are doing this outside of the context of needing to put her into the crate — this should be sold to Sasha as no more than a series of fun games.

Once the concern about going into the crate has been resolved, remember these final important points: Have Sasha go into her crate for a few short periods each day, even when you are home, letting her out again after just a few minutes. When you need to leave her crated for longer periods of time, be sure she gets a good amount of exercise plus some recovery time before crate time — a tired dog is more likely to settle down and go to sleep. And finally, place something in the crate with her, like a raw bone or enticing chewy of some kind, so she continues to maintain a positive association with being in the crate. Simon said. “We wanted our dog to have a good quality of life and not just left at home all the time.”

T he cost of i nsurance almost pays for itself because of the coverage for monthly heartworm and flea medicine, and tests or shots, Simon said. Some of Simon’s colleagues have signed up for insurance after pet accidents that required thousands of dollars out of pocket, such as a dog eating a kitchen towel or breaking a leg after jumping in the shower.

“It’s always better to have insurance so you never have to make that hard decision when the time comes whether you can afford to treat your pet,” Simon said.

Ed, my husband, loves ice cream. Teddy, my lab, loves ice cream, too.

For Teddy, chowing down on a bowl of vanilla smoothness may taste good, but it’s not good for his overall health.

I could argue that ice creamisbadforEd,too. But since this is a column about dogs, I’ll stick to Teddy.

According to the website DogHealthNe ws,ice cream contains lactose, fat and sugar. These subst ancescan be harmful to dogs.

Dogs that are lactose intolerant can have intestinal distress. The richer the ice cream, the more likely Teddy will have gas.

Fat and sugar are added calories that dogs, and I would argue some humans (Ed), don’t need.

Too many sweets can add on the pounds for even the most active pooch. This added weight could result in diabetes and shorten life spans.

Both our first and second dogs, Mocha and Lucy, were overweight at one time in their lives. We limited the type of treats we gave them so they would stay at a healthy weight.

Mocha and Lucy lived long, healthy lives, the former 13 years, the latter 16.

We want Teddy to have a long and healthy life, too.

So that gets back to the ice cream. Teddy loves ice cream. But ice cream doesn’t love Teddy.

If it’s true that Mom rules, Te ddyw on’t be eating ice cream anymore.

Ed and our daughter, Jordan, both fervent Teddy fans agreed to the “no ice cream policy.”

Jordan, being lactose intolerant, was quickly on board. Ed came on board after learning the health implications for Teddy. Now to convince Teddy. Ice cream substitutes were half of the solution.

Teddy’s three “dieticians” found both store bought and homemade alternatives.

Ice cream substitutes from the grocery store look like the ice cream cups kids get at birthday parties.

Teddy enjoys these ice cream substitutes. But instead of licking the tasty treats he usually gobbles them up in two to three bites then nudges us for more.

I love making homemade ice cream.

In the past, I’ve searched the web for human ice

Mix ingredients in blender. Freeze mixture. The mold should be large enough that your dog can’t swallow the treat whole. cream recipes, so why not dog ice cream recipes?

I wasn’t disappointed. Countless recipes were posted. Most didn’t require a lot of work.

Teddy especially likes a plain yogurt, banana, peanut butter and honey mixture.

The second half of the solution came with “a little” or depending on the family member “a lot” of guilt.

Teddy no longer goes on our summer dri vestothe neighborhood soft serve ice cream stand.

How could we dive into that creamy goodness in front of the pooch?

Teddy’s big brown eyes could charm the ice cream cone out of Attila the Hun’s hands.

Some evenings it feels like we’re sneaking past the pooch so he doesn’t know we’re heading out for the decadent treat.

After we’ve finished eating, the evidence is destroyed, so Teddy doesn’t figure out where we went.

Ice cream cups, spoons and napkins are thrown in the trash can inside the garage before we head back into the house.

Does our sneakiness work? I’m not sure. I’m sure when Teddy gets close to anyone of us he can sniffoutwhatwe’vedone.

My pangs of guilt get him one of his ice cream treats. Usually, two.