Housebreaking: Part 2

I didn’t realize how babyish a 9 week old puppy is and quickly found out. Their tiny bladders cannot hold much. I lost the extra 6lbs I wanted off by walking 2 puppies. I would like to add that bringing home a new puppy causes the older one to regress in certain ways. Additionally, I was also being reminded of what life was like when my 3 kids were toddlers having only a 4 years age difference amongst them. To this day I will say potty training children are easier than puppies. Either that or I have failed miserably with canines.

Week 1 : Did I mention this is February which is one of the coldest months during winter in Western New York? Max decides he wants to also be a baby puppy again and starts to have a few accidents here and there as well. Great!

Peanut loves the snow! If she could bathe in it, she would. So here we are in single digit temperatures with a puppy wanting to play in the snow and not go potty. The books say come right back in and try again a short while later. Thus, my weight loss now begins or should I say the most natural diet that is free. I was spoiled and so was Dave. Take Max out and he gets right down to business, playing in the snow afterwards. Peanut on the other hand would wait till we became a human ice sculpture till we saw any signs of yellow snow or mounds. It got so bad I would wear ski pants, a scarf, gloves, a hooded mask with only my eyes showing, and my warmest ski coat. I was going out there prepared for a blizzard as I refused to freeze. I hate the cold and now I have another reason to add to my list of winter dislikes. And what was I thinking when we got a 2nd puppy during the middle of winter?

The first two weeks are a blur as Peanut didn’t sleep through the night, would pee 2 times outside finally and leave some mounds then come inside and 10 minutes later leave a cute puppy puddle on my tile floors. Sleep deprivation set in, Dave and I were taking shifts. Nature’s Miracle was our new found friend. My teenagers would comment how I was crazy. And I was beginning to think they were right. Making hot chocolate was a daily event for warmth. I also was so happy to fit into my old jeans once again, so all was not a loss. Dave didn’t lose as much weight as he snacks more than me. I told him to walk the dogs longer. He didn’t appreciate my humor at the time.

Now a good way to upset housetraining is for your puppy to have roundworms. So the day Max was being neutered, Peanut had uncontrollable diarrhea due to roundworms. To this day I will never forget my 15 year old son helping me out. My heart grew so warm. At the same time I had the vet calling by 11am to inform me that I could take Max home at anytime. Seems he was full of energy to put it mildly and barking his head off as I could hear him in the background. I was up to my eyeballs in poop, walking a dog in artic tundra temperature, trying to get ready for work, telling my son I would PAY him to help out (he refused the money) and said Max would be picked up around 5pm or so when Dave got out of work, Besides a vet charges you for daily care. I was getting my $20 worth for sure.

Dave brings Max home and medicine for Peanut. Her poop firmness is restored the next day and we get back on track to housebreaking issues. Max is moving slowly and now decides to dribble here and there in 4 ft long sections. The following week we buy a black light and special urine remover. That very night we turned off all the bedroom lights and went to work with our new black light urine finder. Oh no, we had a mine field in our own bedroom! I had purple spots and trails from one end to the other. So while Dave showered I sprayed and sprayed till my fingers became cramped up. I kept muttering under my breath with Dave going, “Honey what are you saying I can’t hear you! ” to which I replied, ” Never mind ok?!” It took me over an hour to erase the purple hues of urine off my grey carpet. At this point I realized life was getting more complicated. I don’t ever remember having this much trouble with dogs in the past. So back to square one and start all over again. Now I must say one has to have a sense of humor when raising 2 puppies or you will go nuts. And nerves can get frayed thus attitudes can develop like a silent volcano coming to life unexpectedly. I get creative with walking 2 dogs; I begin to barter with Dave. Hey, why not, if it works! Dave says something about not winning with women. I offer to cook better meals, do more wash, run errands, or whatever it takes not to go back outside again in what I consider to be insanely cold temperatures. Also, if it’s snowing outside and this is your dog’s first encounter (with snow) he/she will try to jump up to catch snowflakes forgetting about going potty. Dave is good sport only cashing in on about 50% of my bartering favors. We begin to get along better now. Now I would like to know who said dogs can’t remember when they go poop or pee in your house. Was it B.F. Skinner? Because I find it hard to believe a dog can remember Stay, Come, Sit, Down, Heel, different words and sentences, not come up on your bed except by invitation only, stay off all furniture but NOT remember going inside your house when you walk them almost 24/7 to go outside giving tons of praise. I have now figured out a way to determine who went what inside! And I am not selling my secret at a low price of $24.99 today only as seen on TV! Nope, I am giving it to you for free due the kindness of my heart. Take each dog out and whoever goes both numbers for you did NOT go inside. A plain and simple strategy if you ask me. However, things do get complicated when both dogs don’t go outside and now you scratch your head. Freebie lesson number two: learn to memorize which dog does what kind of poop. Now if they get sick or have worms, good luck cause then it gets frustrating and puzzling.

I have heard of doggy camps where they will train your dog for you. I am almost ready to ship one of mine for this. I can teach a dog numerous tricks and respect, I am the leader, I am the Alpha, and I am first, and so on. Max is 95% housebroken with only an occasional accident if sick with digestive issues. I can deal with that. Heck I’ve known grown adults to leave skid marks when in times of troubling digestive issues. Peanut on the other hand presents challenges. She can pee 2 times outside, go leave a beautiful firm mound come inside and 15 minutes later while playing squat at your feet and release a puddle! I think she’s catching on though as well I yell the infamous “Nooooooooooooooooo” she stops and promptly is put on a leash and finishes outside. I say she is slow to mature in some areas. I have to do some justification or I am going to start losing my patience.

I also remember my kids and potty training them. My first child we tried at 2 years old. That was a no go and tried again with success at age 2.5 years old. My second child was 3 years old and my third child was 3.5 years old when they were full potty trained. Like I said, justification tells you they all mature at different rates. Possibly this is the same way with puppies and I keep hearing an old saying in my head, “This too will soon pass”. I have faith, patience and a gallon jug of Nature’s Miracle on hand at all times. I figure by the time I finish writing this article Peanut will be housebroken and I’ll be bored not having to walk her constantly and scrub floors. Also to remind myself that dogs do not take years to housetrain only months in my case.

Oh, for those of you that think I am not good at housebreaking. You are 100% correct and can come over anytime to show me the right way. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. For a limited time only, I can lend you my puppy that will shower you with kisses, lie by your feet, snuggle in your arms, greet you eagerly every time you enter a room and promptly pee on your floor the second you turn your head. And then you can tell me how easy it is to housetrain my puppy.

NOTE: Since writing this article BOTH Max and Peanut are 100% housetrained (finally). Guess what? Dave and I had recently experienced a case of “temporary insanity”. Last week we managed to come home with Beau, a sweet, red, 4 month old male Goldendoodle puppy who is NOT housetrained. Hopefully ‘Housebreaking: Part 3” will be written as a success story. If not then “If at first you don’t succeed, Try , try again “ and make sure your bottle of Nature’s Miracle is not empty.

The contents of this blog site are copyright (c) 2007, Annmarie Sparks. All Rights Reserved

Read more: Housebreaking: Part 2

HOUSETraining….Part 1

Housetraining: where an intelligent adult human tries to teach a canine puppy how to PEE PEE and POOP OUTSIDE on the ground and NOT inside the house. There are no instructions attached to your puppy’s collar or any taped to the crate.

Fine, I know how to read articles on the internet and use common sense as well. Besides, I raised 3 kids born 4 years apart. One was trained at age 2, the other at age 2.5 years old and the 3rd child at 3 years old. I didn’t use treats, kept a constant eye on them, bought them the “big boy” and ”big girl” panties. OH and what praise I would lavish on them when they went potty. Yes there were a few accidents here and there but in a short time period each and every child of mine were easily housetrained. Each child was different due to maturity and willingness. But now we’re talking about a cute 13 week old puppy that I am told can be trained in weeks, not months or years, using consistency! Alright, how hard can this be? Dave was just looming over my shoulder a moment ago reading this and now is in the other room snickering away. I asked him what was so funny and got the reply, “Nothing honey” while he wears his Cheshire cat smile and stays quiet. (Smart man if you ask me)

Alright, here is the real truth on our housetraining skills: I have a college degree in computer information systems, graduated in the top 4% of my college with a 3.85 GPA, was vice president of Phi Theta Kappa, have 15 years experience in landscape design, completed Toastmasters Inc with numerous awards, was on the board of directors for Cornell University Cooperative Extension, a Master Gardner and the list continues. So for the time being I consider myself to be a responsible, somewhat intelligent, organized woman that uses common sense daily along with humor. HOWEVER, housetraining is NOT a course you can take at college (notice I did not use the phrase “hands on training”). I may not possess the greatest of canine housetraining skills. Yet I do have the power of positive thought and the good old “try, try again till we reach success” attitude! So what do Dave and I do? OH, we enthusiastically read every article on housetraining [success] stories we can find on the internet, absorbing that puppies primarily need walking right after sleeping, playing, and eating. Okay, we walk Max every 30min for the first week, commending him with GOOD BOY! Good POTTY MAX! And Max is so darn happy wagging his stumpy tail like he won the jackpot of dog treats. Wow this is great! Or is it?

When your puppy does circles acting like it is trying to catch its stumpy tail, well it is cute. That is till you realize your puppy is now doing number two on the floor while you stand there in total shock. Finally the brain registers what is really happening. Then you try to remember quickly where the leash is, try to run out with your puppy that is in mid poop, saying “Noooooooooooo” while picking him up and run out the door so he can finish outside what he has already finished in the house. Some dogs I hear are trained in under 2 weeks. Is that a mail order dog? Or am I just lucky enough to get the dog that helps me lose the extra 6lbs by walking him every 30 to 45min for weeks on end? I must say my Labradoodle puppy is great for speeding up my metabolism and other times curbing my appetite. Nature’s Miracle is now a household word and we bought the 1.5 gallon jug complete with a motorized power spray handle as Max somehow didn’t quite catch on quickly to housetraining. I now re-strategize what ARE WE doing wrong? Why? Well, Max does prove himself to be highly intelligent in other areas, like faking a poop or pee when he sees a treat.

BUT at the moment carpets seem to be the number one choice spot for Max, with tiles and laminate floors being second, the crate being the third, and for some reason the icy, partly snow covered grass being last choice. We do not tell anyone yet of our failure, instead when asked how it is going we just reply, “Max is doing really well as he doesn’t pee in the house at all and can hold it all night long” and promptly change the subject.

To be continued later on as right now Max needs a potty walk OUTSIDE and NOW.

PS: Did you hug your doodle today?

The contents of this blog site are copyright (c) 2007, Annmarie Sparks. All Rights Reserved

Read more: HOUSETraining….Part 1