We have a critter door in our garage so the cats can get in from the weather in the winter. We are pretty rural and I would NOT put a critter door in our house. I currently do not have an animal that I want coming and going freely (very elderly dog who wanders, lots of ouside cats) so it isn't an issue. We have coons, possum, coyotes, and any number of wild animals running around here at night. I wouldn't think you have to worry about coyotes coming in but depending on your climate, coons and possum can get desperate for food and become quite bold when the weather turns cold and resources are scarce. I agree with Marlingardener, walk her or let her out before bed. I personally don't think it is safe for a small dog outside in a rural place overnight or unattended for an extended time. Lori

Our 15 acres backs on 138 acres of woodlands owned by Mead paper company. We are also very close to one of there 3000 acre woodlands. We rarely have bear in the area, but there are coyotes back there and feral dogs are a big problem in the area. So in some ways, we're dealing with a similar wildlife situation to you. We have two fenced areas: The night pasture and the perimeter fence. The night pasture is about an acre enclosing a bit of pature, crossing a small creek, and then enclosing a bit of hillside wood. We fenced that ourselves using galvanized T-psts and 48 inch welded wire fencing from tractor supply. Materials were somewhere around $600, and it took a bit of time getting the fence to conform to hilly land. Lots of crimping and tucking to get it secure. One overgrown acre can be eaten down in two seasons by a pair of young goats. One acre will not support six goats if you want them to make browse their primary feed. (Ours only have a bit of hay for super rainy days, and a tiny little bit of corn & sweet feed for a snack.) We got the first two goats in May 2003, and had only the small pasture until December of that year. After the goats had settled in for a few weeks, we started taking them out for a couple of hours a day to hike with us and settle into browsing on the rest of the land. We set up the small pasture so that it is close to the house (less than 100 feet away) so we can intervene quickly if there are predators. For housing, we started with Poly Jumbo Hutch calf hutch from Loyal Roth in Wisconsin. Ample and cozy for two goats. When we went to 6 goats, we got the Poly Group hutch - and that's serious luxury accomodations for the herd! We had the perimeter fenced put in last December. The estimate was about $12,000 and actual cost was $16,000 because the linear length of the fence was so much greater than on the plot drawing due to hills and ravines everywhere. We cleared the perimeter line ourselves. (Took hubby most of the Summer that year.) We had a really good fencer put in the fence for us, are pleased with the work, and expect this fence to hold up for at least 30 years (with occasional repairs if needed). Some of the fencing cost was also due to the fact that most of the fence line was too steep to get to with a Bobcat or ATV, so there was a LOT of hand carrying materials and that added some time and labor to the job. The fence is mainly 7 strand high tensile with 3 hot wires. It circles the perimeter, but by the house it cuts around so that we actually have the house, front yard, driveway and garage fenced out. The part right near the house is 4 board fence with welded wire to dog proof it and wooden fence posts. Also, 4 heavy duty stock gates - two near the house, and two so we can go hike the Mead land. :)Except for right by the house and at corner posts or braces, we have metal T-posts instead of wood posts. The land is so irregular that the T-posts make a lot more sense. We have the perimeter livestock fence come up to within a foot of the back porch. That makes it easy to let dogs in and out, and lets the goats come hang out near where we are. Since we don't keep a billy and the goats free range for food, they always smell like talcum powder. We like being able to let them come right up to the house now so that they bond well with us, and so that they know where to go for safety if there is ever danger on the land. It is also great to sit at the kitchen table and look out the window to see happy cud chewers. We sunk a lot of money into the fence, but there are much more economical ways to do it if you do it yourself or if you have flat or rolling land. One of the guys at work has got about 150 acres, mostly farmland with some low bramble area, and he fences with three strand hot wire and really cheap metal posts. He has straight lines and open land and can set up or move a fence in no time. Since at least 80 acres of his land is visible from the house, that's more than adequate for security. Some of his goat kids do go in and out of the fence when they are young, but the adults have plenty to eat inside and don't want shocked noses. The kids don't go far from the herd, and eventually outgrow their ability to escape. The stuff outside the fence isn't any more tasty than the stuff inside, so they eventually stay put. Our fence is more solid than that one, and we feel that is important because most of our land is out of sight over ridgelines. The fence was constructed well, but my husband had to do a bit of tweaking as the posts settled in - especially in the spring thaw. Then again, in spots the only thing supporting the fence posts are coal seams, so our land may be more challenging than some - the fencer did say it was the toughest job he ever did. Some of the fence goes up over 60% grades. I'm glad he did the fencing, not us! The high tensile is sturdy, even if a tree falls on it. Just cut the tree off. We do spray under it to keep green stuff from growing up and cutting out the charge. We also brush cut a bit of a swath so that the goats never get to see something super tasty and tempting coaxing them to challenge the fence. Hubby has had to replace a fence insulator or two if a tree branch or running deer hits the fence. The whole thing was set up to look like a donut, with the night pasture being located where the donut hole is. We liked the idea of requiring that predators have to cross two fences to get to the goats at night or when we aren't home. Also, if there was a disturbance at night, dogs get let out and can go all away around the goats' night pen to make sure that things are safe. "Double donut" fencing takes a lot of worry out of raising livestock. We added 4 more goats this year and will hold at 6 so that we undergraze the land. We like how well conditioned they are from the food variety and from having to work to get it. We go through about 4 bales of hay in a Winter for 6 goats, and we go through a yogurt cup of corn + sweet feed each evening for their bedtime snacks. The snack makes going back to the night pen a real treat for them (we actually lock them out of the night pen during the day so that we spare the greenery for when we might really need to count on it.) The goats are pets and landscape crew, not a business for us. Next year, we are planning to get a calf to train as an ox so that we have a way to pull the wood chipper to the top of the hill. Except when it is very dry, there's no way a tractor will handle the grade and the runoff sections. The current fence will be fine for him as well. Lynda

I also agree about elevating the older dog to a dominant position in the house. When our dog died, and we brought in a new companion for Ricky, we intentionally always went to Ricky first, and said so. Ricky, let's go outside. Our pup learned to "wait for Ricky" as he would walk proudly out the door first. When we fed them, we would say Ricky eats first. Actually we only set down his bowl first, then fed the pup. Even now a year later, we always let Ricky go first and make a big deal of it. Blaze knows nothing else. Ricky leaves and enters the house first. He eats first and gets in and out of the van first. We brush him first and pet him first. Even if Blaze runs up to us to the gate first, we often will stop petting him and pet Ricky when he arrives. All of our dogs are lap dogs. We just sit on the floor. In time when the older one feels more comfortable, the little dog may be a more exclusive lap dog, but for now, I would sit on the floor, and pet the older one first. We keep our dogs in the most popular area of our house, so we go to them. They are rarely alone, but we do not allow them into our living room or bedrooms. Those are off limits, so we don't have dogs with us 24 hours, and we sleep without dog dander since we are very allergic. Therefore we can easily declare that Ricky is first in whatever we do. I don't think you will have a problem after a couple of weeks. If you do, you might consider discussing this with the Vet to see if there is a mild medication you can give your older dog for anxiety. One more thing - when we were walking our dogs, Ricky used to always poop. We would scoop it up, and walk with it. Once my husband hurt his back and had to stop walking with us for a couple of weeks, I quickly got tired of this process. Before our walks I would take the dogs out as usual, and I began telling Ricky to do his business. He would walk inside, and I would call him out. I kept telling him to do his business, and he began doing it. Now he understand that he must do it before we walk. We haven't needed the bags for about 6 weeks. It may be that your dog is performing for you in a more dramatic fashion than the pup can do. You might keep the dog outside with you (and not the young dog), and insist that he poops before he comes in. Even give him a treat if he performs for you. We all know that a dog's brain is wired completely different from ours. Sammy

My dog gets mounted all the time from my daughters' neutered male dog! Our dog is a spayed female but everytime they play he mounts her and she doesn't growl but she does tire of it and struggles to get away. Finally, when my daughter brings her dog over we yell at her dog to "quit" and he does. It's almost as if it is habit with the two of them so "breaking the habit" seems to be working. They are each wonderful dogs and at first, we all just ignored them but I think this is working.