I've been beaten down.
I can handle the accidents. I can make peace with the poo a foot from the back door. I am one with the fact we have a way to go with crate training.
But it was the crying that really got me. The crying that morphed into a panicked, high-pitched bark every night when I put Lil' Frankfurter into his crate and I climbed into bed. I'd linger on the edge of sleep and think, "I should really get up. I should get up and grab the old comforter out of the hall closet and just sleep on the floor next to the crate. It would calm him down. I'm sure the floor isn't that uncomfortable. Except it's a wood floor. Of course it's uncomfortable. And that comforter isn't that fluffy anymore. And exactly which closet is the comforter in, anyway? And isn't he going to wear himself out soon?"
And so, every single night, I would have this exact inner monologue as I finally drifted off. Until two nights ago when this little dude finally broke me down.
Foxie Doxie, Frankfurter and I all slept on the bed.
I told myself I wouldn't let Frankfurter on the bed until the potty issues were completely resolved and we had established the kennel as a safe haven. But, to be honest? The two mornings he's woken up on the bed, he's been really mellow and hasn't put up his usual to-the-death fight over getting in his kennel when I leave. And he hasn't been panicked about being outside without me.
Actually, I think that last one is that he just thinks it's funny to make me stand outside in my pajamas for all the world to see. Sort of like a few pre-Frankfurter weeks ago when Foxie Doxie cornered an opossum at 11:30 at night. I found myself outside in my pajamas, pink Disney princess flashlight in hand, trying to figure out how I was going to defend Foxie from a mean-ass varmint who was hissing at us.
He is dedicated to defending the homestead.
I will tell you this: screaming at Foxie to "Leave it!" when he didn't back down from the varmint only made my neighbors' lights come on, one by one.
At least I didn't have rollers in my hair. And I did manage to grab Foxie before the varmint gave us both rabies. So maybe I'm not totally white trash.
Let's just not talk about the dog hair in my bed, m'kay? Thanks.
Posts
8 comments:
Sucker!lol... That pic of Frank is precious. The one of Foxie has "Don't F with me" all over it.
Vinny is trying my patience. We have the crate in the laundry room. He stays in it at night, no prob. I take him out in the morning, and he sniffs and circles and searches. And sniffs. and shivers. And refuses to take a crap... for 20-30 minutes he jerks around. I give up, we come back in the house where he proceeds to take an immediate crap on my dining room carpet. I have tried everything... He's just not that cute anymore... help!
Yeah, I know all about those kind of 'compromises'. And I still tell myself that I'm the owner.
Just an FYI - opossums are very resistant to rabies and snake bites. The experts think it is due to their low body temperature. While they do hiss and act fierce, they are usually not aggressive. The reason I know all this? One has frequented our backyard in the daylight this winter to eat the fallen birdseed under the bird feeder. I was concerned about rabies too. I researched and found out that that they will come out during the day in the winter because it is warmer. They are usually transient and don't stay in one place more than a few days, but 'Petey' has been around a few weeks now due to the free grub.
I'm okay with "compromise." Any pet owner will understand.
I can't believe it took you this long! How did you do it?
Fitting that my word verification is "rest".
When we adopted our supposedly "potty trained" mop top who either wasn't fully or regressed, a colleague turned me on to the monk method - in case you decide to take a vow of silence you can still train your dogs because even monks have a limit on indoor potty patience. You get a jingle bell to dangle from the doorknob (tied low enough they can reach it themselves) and bop their nose gently with it right before you take them outside. They associate the two and figure out to ding the bell when they need to go. Within 24 hours she had it down!!!
Oh man--dogs and kids are more alike than I ever knew.
Just put rubber sheets on your bed. It's so not worth it, right?
Post a Comment