A clever person once said that the best way to housetrain a puppy was to get yourself a nice, firm, rolled-up newspaper. Then every time the puppy messes in the house, you smack yourself very hard on the head with the newspaper whilst repeating ‘I must watch my puppy, I must watch my puppy’.
So listen, we’ve taken on a very new puppy, one that probably shouldn’t even have left her Mum yet. Ergo, we’ve resigned ourselves to living in a sea of piddle for a good few weeks yet (’Jeez’, says Hubby, ‘I might have to invest in some scuba gear’). We realised pretty quickly that there was no point in scooping her up every time she attempted to pee and rushing her outside. The reasons being:
- It’s raining
- By the time she’s ‘assumed the position’ she’s already started and therefore you’re just allowing her to leave a big trail of wee between wherever she decides to go and the back door.
- She’s already peed by the time you lift her up, and even though she always manages to do another one outside, she’ll still always have another ‘in the barrel’ ready to go again when you get back in.
So we decided to adopt an ‘on the hour every hour’ routine, where if she pees in the house it’s just cleaned up (ignore the bad, praise the good), and then she’s taken out regularly (as well as after meals, and before bed etc) just to get her used to doing her business in the right place, where she gets tons of praise and cuddles for doing the do. Eventually she’ll get the picture.
This morning, then, saw me trying to clean up two puddles of pee, plus a long line of piddly footprints leading away from said wee, whilst supervising #2 making pancakes for breakfast, washing Bert’s bed (yep, she peed on that too), and trying not to step on her. Then, bringing his plate back from the table, #2 fell over a strategically placed laundry basket (oops, my bad) and fell sprawling to the floor, whacking his arm on a box of Stella (also left strategically on the floor, this time by Hubby) and smashing his plate. Bert fled trembling into the utility room, everybody else suddenly found somewhere else they really had to be, and I was left trying to pick up shards of china, whilst simultaneously pushing the puppy away with one leg, clearing up the mess left from #2’s culinary efforts and mopping up her earlier emissions. While all this was going on, she sauntered to the middle of the kitchen and calmly left a fresh puddle for me to clear up.
Right, said I, enough. Well, actually what I said was ‘OY! WHERE THE F*CK ARE YOU LOT?! I’M NOT THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS HOUSE RESPONSIBLE FOR CLEARING F*CKING TABLES, WIPING COOKERS, CLEARING UP DOG PEE AND SUPERVISING THIS BLOODY PUPPY Y’KNOW!!!!’, (what a lady) but you get the gist.
A family conference ensued, where we decided that, for the time being, we need to allocate a ‘toilet corner’ which we can cover in newspaper and encourage her to use. At the moment, as soon as she wees, it’s instantly cleared up and she’s not getting the message that there’s a particular thing she should be doing, it’s just a ‘pee and go’ kind of thing. So ‘toilet corner’ has been created in the corner just between the kitchen and the lounge, and we’ll be putting her on there on a regular basis, then when she gets used to it, we can start to move it closer to the door. In the meantime, I think I need a lie down.
July 1st, 2008 at 12:27 pm
xx
tracey
July 1st, 2008 at 1:33 pm
July 1st, 2008 at 2:15 pm
July 1st, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Oh, you poor wretch!
Having said that, there’s nothing like a fit of Psychomammy to pull the gang together! A word of warning though, more than once in a while is technically an anger management issue…
Wait until she’s older and if she hasn’t got the jist, try the lemony water thing. I think she’ll be grand, though!
July 1st, 2008 at 2:42 pm
William has been protesting that I went away for a few days last week and left him and Taffy with OH so I have been returning home from work to protest puddles
July 1st, 2008 at 3:04 pm
July 1st, 2008 at 5:39 pm
The Lemony Water Thing is the quickest and gentlest way to show a dog that the thing they just did is Not Good.
Fill a spray bottle with water and a bit of lemon juice / citronella / anything to produce a lemony smell. When he pees on the floor, give him a nice cold, wet, lemony spray on the nose, then the pee, then the nose again. I absolutely promise you’ll never have to do this more than twice - just holding the bottle after that is enough to convey the message that whatever they just did is forbidden.
Cruel? I had twenty rescue dogs at one time! It was that or the Laughing Academy for Jenny! Hahahahaha!
Missus, a small, black, loud, fluffy kitten strolled into the house today and is refusing to leave. Did you send her for revenge?
July 1st, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Be patient
they don’t mean to wee inside
they will learn
NEVER hit the dog, it’s not their fault (not saying you are EW, but that advice is so poor)
They will learn by praise and words alone
She will learn from Bert, take them out together
Thats all part of having a puppy, you have to be patient, there is no secret to it …. keep taking her out, rain or shine.
If you follow the advice to hit the puppy, they will always be nervous of people going near them, esp on the head or snout … that is not fair on them… they are like a baby, they will learn by watching, and praise of the doggy biscuit…
also, more advice … remove the Stella, and deliver to Arbour street, Orange County please ….
July 1st, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Mary: Too right. You can forgive an awful lot of pee when caught in those big brown eyes! x
Nutty: Cuuuuuuute, yes. Piddly? Certainly.
Jen: Nah, she’ll be grand. She’s grasped the ‘toilet corner’ theory already. Clever things, greyhounds!
TM: ‘Protest puddles’ LOL! Bert is protesting about the unwelcome interloper by withdrawing his affections. He usually bounds down the stairs with us in the morning, but has taken to staying upstairs. He’s also on hunger strike and refusing all cuddles
Ma: Welcome home! Hope you held my Prada handbag carefully in your hand luggage all the way back
I thought Maudie was fab, but the fellas thought it was too old fashioned. Shame. xx
Jen: Well, we’re working on the ‘ignoring the bad’ theory at the moment, but I can see how that will work on an older dog. The piddle corner is quite successful, if a little stinky (although that could be my bucket of fermenting elder flower champagne in the corner of the kitchen, which also smells like wee!!) x
Moon: 100% agree. I’m a training with kindness gal meself. And Bert is fahbilis dahling, so she should learn by following his lead (when he finally comes downstairs that is) xx
Oh, and if you’d only volunteer to come and stand out with her in the pissing rain while she faffs about chewing the grass instead of peeing, I’d be delighted to send a few bottles in your direction.
July 1st, 2008 at 8:43 pm
July 1st, 2008 at 9:13 pm
As for her name, a bumkin friend of mine in Adelaide called his dog “Oi”, reall easy to call the dog inside …. !!!, also, his second dog was called “Girl” .. again, you have to admire his simplicity …
July 1st, 2008 at 9:22 pm
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:40 am
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:32 am
BTW - if ever another cat comes into my misspent life - haha - it will definitely be Maudie - LOVE that name!
I do NOT envy your puppy training adventures - all reasons I never took on a puppy. Sure makes for great blogging, tho!!
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:39 am
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Moon: Yep. Permanent, freezing cold, stair-rod rain. Ah, the Irish summer eh? Don’t you just love it?
Baino: Well, it’s kind of what I’m aiming for. Two week’s be a right result!! She’s actually peed on the paper loads of times, but only when put there. Otherwise, she’s managed next to it, which is a start I guess!
June: Oh poor Bert is absolutely heartsick. Actually, I’m really worried as he’s not eaten a thing since she’s been here. Even lovely treats like sardines. And he’s really gone for her a couple of times. I’m watching them closely x
Susan: Ick, it’s a nightmare to be sure. I love the old fashioned names too. And Maudie’s a great name. If I ever have another child (very unlikely) and I have a girl, I’ll call her that!
TM: I looked up house training on line and there’s quite a bit about crating. Worth a look?? x
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:26 pm
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:48 pm
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:19 am
I am not too keen on crating one and not the other and feel it would be unfair to start crating Taffy after 3 years of him having the run of the house when we are not there (Plus I don’t really have the space in the house for one crate let alone two!)
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:33 am
TM: I know how you feel. I’ve been offered a puppy crate, but it just seems unfair! x
July 16th, 2008 at 6:34 pm