Better

It might seem trivial but I’ve been so proud of little Cooper over the last couple weeks. We’ve been having issues with his potty training over the last couple months. He would often pee (and sometimes pooh) on the carpet when we weren’t around. We crate him at night and when we aren’t home to help curb his "accidents." Most dogs won’t pee where the sleep or in a confined space except as a last resort. Well, little Cooper just pees anyway and then stands in it till we get up and let him out. Naturally, not a pleasant experience. He tried barking a few times but after some "negative" reinforcement, he knocked that off. lol

Anyway, he has been doing really well lately. He hasn’t had a single episode in almost 2 weeks now. Even better, the other day I couldn’t get home from work on my lunch until several hours after his usual break. [1]My lunch is at a different time every day and sometimes it is very late into my shift. Of course, I’m freaked out that he would pee in his crate and I’d have to clean not only his crate but him when I get home. Imagine my surprise to find he held onto it like a good little trooper. Normally, when I come home on lunch I play with him and give him love’en. I took him out right away this time. I could tell he really had to go because he will usually wait at the top of each stairwell (en route to the backyard) for me to catch up. This time he ran all the way to the bottom and waited for me to get there. Needless to say, he did his business and life went on.

Anyway, I’ve been so proud of him. I’m cautiously optimistic that he is on the path to being a well house-trained doggie. We’ve been letting him out of the cage more and more at a time to test the waters. It’s too soon to know for sure but so far so good.

🙂

References

References
1 My lunch is at a different time every day and sometimes it is very late into my shift.

3 thoughts on “Better”

  1. When our Boston was a pup, we crate trained her at night, and kept her in a small gated area in the kitchen during the days when neither of us could be home. Her crate was on one side, puppy pads on the other, and a small space in between. We had started training her to use the puppy pads right away. And she used them pretty well (though, sometimes she her pee would trail off the end). When we were home, we kept the gated area open and if she felt the urge before normal walk time, she would run over there and use the pads.

    Worked like a charm.

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