Q: We are getting a yellow Lab puppy from a breeder who has very good references. We have been on her waiting list for a year. This is the first dog I have had since I was a child, and we want to do everything correctly. The breeder forcefully insists that we keep the puppy in a crate to house-train it. She told us she will not sell us the puppy unless we agree to it. When I was a kid, we never kept a puppy in a crate and neither did anybody else on the block, and all our dogs eventually became housebroken. I do not like the idea of keeping our new family member in a cage, yet it seems to be the thing to do these days.

A: You are correct in that you really do not need to house-train a dog using a crate. Nobody in my childhood world used crates, and we all trained our dogs. However, our moms were home all day long to follow the dog about and keep an eye on it.

In the summer, the dogs were not even in the house during the day. They romped freely all over the neighborhood with the kids, and thus the only opportunity they got to eliminate was outdoors.

What house-training a puppy is all about is just restricting the dog’s opportunity to eliminate in the house or chew up your shoes. That is why the crate makes it so simple, and most likely this is why the breeder is insisting on it.

A puppy raised in a crate will cause a lot less drama in the new home and thus create a happier customer — you — in the end.

When house-training a puppy, there are no moral values to teach the dog. Dogs have two instincts owners take advantage of in this crate-training process: to not soil the area where they sleep and to eliminate in the same area when they have the opportunity to do so.

Crate training usually works just fine, but it is not the only way to house-train a dog. If you do it right from day one in a direct and unapologetic manner, the dog will accept it as a matter of course and not feel it is missing out on anything.

And remember, the dog will not be in the crate forever. If you use it correctly and consistently, then the training will most likely be over by the time the dog is a year old or so.

Q: There is a redheaded woodpecker that is pounding away at the metal flashing on my chimney and making a lot of noise. Why would it be doing this?

A: It does seem rather odd, as we all know that woodpeckers peck at wood to eat the insects they find under the bark and that there are no insects living in metal flashing. The reason for this behavior: Male woodpeckers cannot sing like mockingbirds or robins, and male woodpeckers need to advertise that a particular territory is theirs.

So the pecking on the metal is actually his way to do this. He discovered that drumming away on the metal creates a much louder sound than if he did so on a wooden branch, and thus his drumming is louder than that of the other male woodpeckers.

Thus, his status is elevated and he will have fewer threats from other male woodpeckers that may want to usurp his throne.

Q: We set up a garden pond with koi in it and we have a waterfall and filter on it. The water was clear at first, but now it is green, and we cannot see the fish anymore.

I read that the green water was caused by free-floating microscopic algae, and that if we put plants in the pond, they would compete with the algae and the water would clear up. But we were also told that koi will eat the plants, so we do not know what to do here.

A: To keep a garden pond clear, you really need two devices. The first is a filter that strains the water through a medium that collects the visible dirt and debris and also creates an environment for beneficial bacteria to grow. These bacteria consume the toxic ammonia from the water that is a result of the kois’ urine.

However, the green algae in the water is microscopic and cannot be strained out of the water. For this you need what is called an ultraviolet light sterilizer — basically a tube with an ultraviolet light inside it that kills the algae. The unit is connected to the water line that comes out of the filter so the water then passes around the light bulb, and thus the algae is killed and the water is crystal-clear as it returns into the pond.