My Dog Year Continued

Part One of My Dog Year

The change in Wyatt was immediate, he had a companion that could keep up and relished the chase. With in days Wyatt was noticeably calmer in the house, grabbing at my families clothes less and generally more pleasant to be around. Josie was in heaven too endless running and romping with a canine companion, treats and a comfy bed to sleep on. However those were the high points of Josie's arrival. It was clear she was not housebroken like we were told and it was then that I learned that because a puppy appears housebroken in their last home doesn't mean that it carries over to the new home. The challenge began to get Josie to potty outside in the right spot. At first I took her out every few hours but after two months of accidents in the family, living and dining rooms I had a light bulb moment to take her back to the very beginning. I restricted her access to the family room, kitchen and her crate, the same way I potty trained Wyatt. The downside to this meant that access was not only restricted to Josie but Wyatt and Chester as well. I was left with two rooms for three dogs, two of which were not having potty problems. But restricting access to all was the best solution and wouldn't last too long at least that was my hope.

As a parent to older kids I thought I was finished with baby gates, but I wasn't. I was now shopping in the infant departments of K-Mart and Target for my dogs. Carefully looking at the gates trying to choose the right one to keep my dogs in our family room and kitchen. The choices are endless you have plastic, metal and wood gates to choose from. If that wasn't enough you had to decide if you wanted pressure or wall mounted. Eventually I went with the simple wood gates with the slide arm as they had the height I needed and I figured they would cause the least amount of damage to my walls.

With the gates in place, potty training began. Instead of dealing with Josie as a seven month old puppy I treated her as she were just weeks old. She went outside no more than thirty minutes after she ate and with in minutes of playing inside. The entire family would cheer and ply her with treats each and every time she potties outside. While this was a huge headache and time consuming, Josie was wearing Wyatt out and after two months he wasn't leaving rips and tears on our clothes. There was light at the end of his early puppy hood tunnel.

While Wyatt was learning patience and going to obedience classes Josie was learning where to potty. It was during this time with Josie and Wyatt I began to understand why puppies of this age end up in the shelters. They're no longer cute cuddly puppies, they're bigger, harder to handle and the behavior begins to irritate owners, me included. The difference for me is I chose to bring the puppies into my life and home and I owed it to them to take the responsibility seriously. Help is out there for the taking whether you find a trainer, read a book or two or three or scour the Internet it's there. I used all three places to gather information to help me with Wyatt's pushiness and Josie's potty problems. I tried everything I was comfortable with and did what worked for my dogs and left the rest of the information for another time.

It was a long summer with three dogs and two children cooped up in the two rooms but I saw small improvements after the first month. Josie began giving me signs of when she needed to potty. She was a pacer. Actually her sign was always there, I was the one who missed it. By restricting my dog’s access to the two rooms, it forced me to pay more attention to how the dogs behaved.

To be continued...

Until Next Time Woof, Woof and a Roo.