May
11
There is more to talk about than MABEL DOG but she sure has been a great distraction lately, in plenty of good ways and some potty-related frustrating ones. I was telling my mother about how baffling she can be, peeing on the floor after so much time outside, and I had about one trillion excuses for why she might be doing it, and my mom was like, you may have to consider the fact that she simply does not care, and I must say that did ring true. I DO think she cares in the sense that she appears to know before I even react that it is Unwanted Behavior, but there does not yet seem to be any connection on her part that it is possible to make a Better Choice. Or, perhaps she does not consider Consequences until after the Action.
Well, I am working on it. I keep taking her out, praising her to the heavens when she goes outside, and correcting her with a sharp but not scary “AH!” sort of sound (as opposed to NOT AGAIN JESUS FUCKING CHRIST ARE YOU KIDDING ME) when she goes/starts to go inside and then hustling her back out.
(It has occurred to me many times that this will be all more difficult/maddening when the weather is not so pleasing and summerlike and the yard is a treacherous mudzone.)
On a friend’s suggestion who also owns a very small unreliable dog, I have ordered some dog diapers. Apparently some/many dogs will not go with the diaper on and so that might be a way to let her at least romp around the house without me having to keep my eyes glued to her at all times.
Oh, and I have a dog trainer scheduled for later this month! This is a behavior-focused specialist who comes to the house, and I’ve requested that we work on 1) potty, 2) barking, and 3) walking on leash properly. There was a field to enter the breed, and I assume whoever reviews these will take one look at “miniature dachshund” and burst out laughing. Ma’am, a meth-addicted incontinent donkey would’ve been less work.
Taking her on walks around the neighborhood has been a comical new hobby, sort of like being hauled around by a crazed centipede. She’s eager to explore everything but also hugely overwhelmed by traffic, which is unfortunate since you have to cross busy areas in all directions to get somewhere more peaceful. She does seem good with other dogs and people when we are outside, which I’m thankful for.
I myself have been on less of my own longer, exercise-focused walks; I find that I’m kind of bushed after all the hyper pet wrangling and just want to secure Mabel in her crate for a while and hunker down. Thank heavens for crate training, honestly. At first I was hesitant to pop her in there, but it’s clear she views it not as a cage but rather her tiny little private wolf cave. I put some soft bedding in there and she likes to root around until she is fully burrito’d and it is both cute as hell and a massive relief: okay, time for a breather.
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I am so happy you and Mabel have found one another. I hope the trainer helps with her “issues.” I am also so happy for her that her crate seems to be a happy place. I love watching Mabel and Billy antics. So much fun!
I also live in the PNW and have had mission-distracted dogs, and now a wiener-chihuahua mix. I got tired of standing in the rain while they did everything but pee and then, when puppies, would make a mess when we went back inside, so I trained them to “go pee”. It’s soul crushingly tedious while training, which involved keeping them on a leash and just standing there (nothing fun…no walks or sniffs) repeating “pee. pee. pee…” and then going nuts with praise when they actually did (Good pee!). Even once housetrained, it’s a godsend when it’s cold/rainy or I’m in a hurry and they need to just pee, already.
Good luck…it’s a lot, and the pervasive smell of Nature’s Miracle gets old pretty fast.
It took our dog a long time to be consistent about NOT going in the house. We trained her starting at 3 months old and she was a year plus before she was good about only going outside. Anyway, now she does respond to a ‘Go pee pee’ command. Especially before bedtime, when we want her to just do her business already, its helpful. Training on walking with a leash helped us somewhat, but its a constant battle to overcome our pup’s fearful personality and get her to walk without pulling. She gets spooked easily by loud noises like trucks and barking dogs and wants to bolt. Walking the dog is not a relaxing endeavor.
My dog wasn’t as old as Mabel (she was about 7-8 months at the time), but still – very late to learn to go outside in comparison to our previous dogs. I was worried! I was googling, “how old can a dog be before they just. Can’t. Learn. It?”!
But! What finally worked? Was just leaving her outside, like all damn day and WELL into the night.
We hung out with her for good portions of it. I was lucky to be working from home at the time, but she was also on a long, well-secured lead line and well, she ate, slept, and hung out there for extended periods.
I think it really helped that she smelled her own pee, and finally associated that with repeating the behavior in those same spots.
Possible with your yard and house and life set-up to do the same?
I have a rescue dog who we think lived outside. He was not housetrained, he was confused by doors, and had never seen stairs.
When we first brought him home, he would just pee whenever the mood struck him, no matter where he was. We took him out a lot, praised him effusively when he peed outside and reinforced with treats (he’s a beagle, so very food motivated) and eventually got him on a schedule. It took longer than I hoped, but he did get there! There was a period where he would pee in the house if we had to deviate from the schedule, but I think he’s past that now too.
Here’s hoping Mabel will figure it out too!
“Crazed centipede” !!! This is the most accurate description of this particular dog I have ever read! HAHAHA! You win the internet for me today! xoxo
I’m chortling at “some/many dogs will not go with the diaper on” ergo diapers preventing the activity they are designed for. Gotta love the pooches.