Q&A with Celebrity Dog Trainer Kate Perry

My dog is very well-trained and never tries to eat any food that is not his. We have left full dinners on the table without having to worry that he'd eat them. However, last week, my girlfriend made lemon cookies, left the plate on the table and my dog devoured almost all of them! He's never tried to eat our food. Why did he do that?

[Dogs are] a little bit like toddlers. Dogs are developing throughout their life, just as we are. When people call and say, "My dog has never done this before and now he is doing this," the first thing I ask is what age the dog is, because anywhere between 6 months and a year is the adolescence phase. This phase can last for a year and a half. Just like toddlers, dogs like to see what they can get away with. Just because they didn't do it yesterday doesn't mean it's not in their natural disposition to want to do it. Sometimes these things are brewing, but your dog just didn't act out until the cookies came out.

Here's the thing about dog psychology -- just like a toddler, once they've gotten away with it, they will continue to do that behavior. So, my cookie-cutter approach answer to this right off the bat is that it's not that the dog is never wanting to do it, it just never probably has an opportunity to. The concept here is probably the dog realized, "OK, no one is around, I can probably get away with it." The solution? The dog needs to get trained. Teach the dog to either be in its crate or in its own place any time there is food on the table.

I am getting a new puppy at the end of the month. What are the most important tips for new dog owners?

The first thing I would say to new dog owners is to get the right books so you have something to refer to -- you need a point of reference. On a very basic level, as a trainer, I am going to say to get a trainer to help you set up for this dog. Good books will help support that. Make sure you have the right place for the dog, what I like to call a containment area. You want a crate, a comfy bed and a safe gated-off area. Overall, you want a safe, puppy-proofed area.

You also need the right chew toys, or what I call "occupiers." Give this dog appropriate safe occupiers. My top three are products from Premier Pet Products which are called Busy Buddy. They're interactive treat toys that are safe and durable rubber. Obviously, you need appropriate equipment: a leash, collar and a harness. My favorites are the no-pull harnesses.

You want the proper setup for this dog and then you need a support system. Also, exercise, exercise, exercise. A good puppy is a tired puppy. If you want the puppy to be good in the house, exercise it, play with it and socialize it. 

Whenever I leave my dog for even a few minutes, he begins to cry and bark. I feel like he has really bad separation anxiety, even though I spend so much time with him. What could this mean?

All puppies and dogs come with a level of separation anxiety. They're social creatures. They want to stay with their pack and not necessarily be alone, so we need to train them. When I have owners that work from home, I say, "Don't let your dog sit next to you. Your dog should be in another room in a gated off area in a crate." It's important to start teaching the dog a boundary even while you're at home so you're not always in sight. The dog has to learn to be alone while you're home. On a very basic level, you need to teach the dog a very basic boundary while you're at home and not be with the dog all the time. For instance, when you first get a puppy, put the gated area off to the side or in another room. Make sure you have very high-value occupiers so that the dog has something to do and focuses his energy on something, as opposed to sitting there and whining.

They have to learn to settle and it's a little bit like baby training. It starts with increments of space. My dog actually has separation anxiety, so I'm still dealing with this issue. I am always teaching her to go off into another room and be in an area without me. You want to teach a dog to have boundaries while you're at home, not always coddle it. 

I have a 9-month-old Bloodhound puppy who destroys everything when I'm gone. I can get up to pee, leave her out, come back, and at least one thing is torn up. We've tried crate training her and as soon as she gets out, she destroys stuff again. Help!

First of all, if she's destroying everything, the first thing I would suspect is that the dog is under exercised. I would up the exercise and walking. How many walks is she getting? Is she getting any playtime? Regardless, we're talking about a dog still in its adolescence. We all know what adolescence is. There's a little rebellion that goes on. Also, if the dog is not neutered or spayed, that could be adding fuel to this fire. We want to make sure the dog is spayed or neutered, double the exercise and tire the dog out. In addition, there should not be free items around the home that this dog can get into. Items like shoes, remote controls, things like that, those items should not be left out at this stage in the dog's life because this is a phase.

Third, get what I call "hundred dollar bill" occupiers. Back in the day, they would say give a dog a bone. So give it a real bone! Exercise the heck out of it and entertain it in the crate with a bone. You can't give dogs small bones. Since this dog is a Bloodhound, it probably just needs to gnaw on something. I would say add more exercise, give the dog a raw bone, a bully stick or an interactive frozen Kong. Don't leave these things out, but I think exercise is a big issue here. A good puppy is a tired puppy. Tire the puppy out! 

I have 2 dogs that are nine years old now and have grown up together since they were puppies, but now they absolutely hate each other! My boyfriend & I both got hurt pretty bad trying to separate them. I don't want them to fight until death. What should I do?