Letter From A Frustrated Puppy Owner
Heres a letter from a puppy owner that wrote to me recently
"Dear Sarah,
Oops she did it again. That cute little ball of puppy is really starting to stretch the friendship now.
We were the proud new owners of Molly the golden Labrador. She was just so perfect and affectionate but she had a dirty little habit that was really making things tough around the home. We always wanted a dog that could live with us, beside us and sleep at our feet.
Unfortunately for Molly, she was looking at a life of peering longingly through the glass sliding doors as she couldn't be trusted inside.
Molly would pee on our carpet, on our tiles, on our floor boards and once she peed on my daughters I heart NY tee.
Even though she looked like an angel, she had some less than angelic behaviour that was testing us.
So I asked the Vet. "Oh its common!" he said. Common, perhaps, but it didn't stop her knowing she wasn't alone in the habit.
I started restricting her water, locking her away on the tiled floor should she pee by putting a barrier across the doorway. I put out newspapers in a designated spot in the laundry hoping she would pee there only.
None of these things seemed to work. I cant tell you how many nights I stood outside in the bitter cold waiting for her to pee or poop! And just when my fingers had gone completely numb from the cold, and I couldn't feel any sensation in my nose I would bring her inside timberland chukka boot thinking that we would both die of hypothermia if I didn't.
And there she would go. Right in the warm confines of the living room.
I can tell you it took some searching but I found someone who gave me all the tips, tricks and tools of the trade to remedy this dilemma.
I think the most important lesson I learned was that I had to be trained! She was just trying to work out what we needed from her but I had to show her. That's why I was so pleased to have been given your advice when I did.
Molly is now a 2 year old bundle of energy. She lays at the foot of the bed, she sits next to me when I'm on the sofa, and she travels on vacation with us each summer. She hasn't had an accident since!
I knew she didn't mean it, I just didn't know that I had to be the one trained so I could teach her.
Warm regards,
Nancy Findale and Molly"
Alleviating this problem is very straightforward, with the only requirement being that you are consistent with your training. Dogs and puppies learn from repetition, using the same commands with the same reward and having a routine is the most effective way to reach the success that you desire.
Don't give up. Your puppy needs to take clear and calm cues from you as to when it is time to go potty. You should also remember that a puppy cannot hold on all night and will need in the first few months, to go during the night. Sure, this may mean in the short term you are going to have some restless nights, but the effort is well worth it in the end. See below for the website that I refer all my new puppy owners to. It is very straight forward and will give you results in a short space of time.
There's brilliant information out there to prevent your puppy from going Oops, they did it again.
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