People Training

So, we've spent a very entertaining last 84 hours. Maeby is just so cute we can hardly stand it. We have to keep reminding ourselves that she is just a baby, though. It's very easy to forget sometimes, because she looks like a small dog. She gets startled easily, and plays easily, and forgets things easily. She sleeps A LOT- far more than we had expected, and just LOVES her kennel. So, crate training is going well. House training is a challenge- but we never leave her alone- not even for one second, and she has started going to the door when she wants to go out! (See the previous post for a lovely mental picture...)

More than anything, however, we're learning how to train OURSELVES. One of the things that we've read (and heard from the MILLIONS of experts on dog training out there), is that, in order to train correctly, we must set routines and boundaries for Maeby. But she's a PUPPY and needs to test these boundaries. We just need to reinforce what the proper things are to do, and not just yell NO all the time.

For example, as part of the housetraining, we take her out when she gets up from a nap, after eating, and when she goes to the door. She got up from a nap last evening and we wanted to play with her. 20 minutes go by, and she squats on the floor and pees...we say no and promptly take her outside, confused why she did this. Then we realized our mistake. We hadn't taken her out right after she got up. Our fault.

Also, when Maeby starts chewing on stuff- such as curtain cords, rocking chairs, and tiny pumpkins, she has NO IDEA that these things are not toys. All she knows is that Nick and I yell NO! and then get all flustered as we remove the object. It dawned on us when we had taken Maeby upstairs and she started chewing on the hanging blinds cords in our room. We said NO! and took them away, but realized very quickly how ridiculous this must have looked to a puppy. "Oooo- look! Strings with little wooden balls on the end, this looks just like that thing I chew on downstairs- talk about FUN!...I think I'll chew on it for a bit...wait-why are they yelling?...?" It's a puppy's natural inclination to play with stuff- and our house is just at the beginning stages of being puppy proof.

We're reinforcing to her what our toys are, but the one thing we have to realize that when we're saying "good dog" to catching sticks in the yard, and then we go inside and we freak out when she starts gnawing on our amish rocking chair (fashioned out of what can only be described as sticks), that is CONFUSING to a tiny dog. Heck, that's confusing to ME!

Of course, we're not about to take the blame for this dog's actions for the rest of her life. We're really being strict with her, but praising the bejeezus out of her, too. We just need to make our house, and routines, more conducive to training a dog! And we need to stop just looking at her and saying "SHE'S JUST SO FREAKING CUTE!"