I gotta keep my mouth shut from now on. No more premature assumptions or exclamations that my new puppy, Skylar, has overpasses every puppy obstacle in the books. Last week, I was so excited because I thought Skylar was potty trained and going where she was supposed to be 95% of the time. I was so excited I expressed my proudness in my new pup on Facebook. FOR ALL TO SEE! Was I bragging? Maybe a little. I mean I only had her for a couple days at that point so I was thrilled! Well, a couple hours later she peed on the floor of our apartment 3 times in a row... THREE "BAD POTTY's" IN A ROW.... Right after publicly profisizing how glorious my dog was. So naturally... I took to my Facebook status again... "I take back what I said... Skylar is NOT potty trained". Just pure humiliation. AND I got more likes on that status than the one before! Clearly, public failure is more liked on social media than publicisizing your successes.
We've seriously been messing up with potty training. I remember it being so easy and short lived with Luna. It was like we spoke the same language. This Skylar girl is not on the same brain waves as me, clearly. Drew keeps trying to convince me that I'm crazy and that Luna wasn't fully potty trained until she was 6 months old! WHAT?! Impossible! I'm a better dog trainer than 6 months of failed attempts of getting my dog to pee on the grass, and poop on the wood shavings (makes it much easier to pick up). After trying to prove him wrong, Drew says that I have unreasonable expectations for a puppy we just got. That is true. He wins. More potty training struggles in an upcoming post...
So I've accepted that she's not 100% potty trained. Whatever, if Drew's timeline is in fact correct, I suppose I'm not a complete dog mom failure. At least she's pretty much sleeping through the night. We decided to keep her in her crate at night (especially since she is not potty trained). Luna isn't crated at night, because she never has been and I've read that you don't want to change your first dog's habits when you get a new dog. So Skylar gets to sleep in her crate, and Luna on our bed. Skylar whines a couple minutes after being in her crate but then falls asleep. She sleeps great in the crate. Only wakes up once at 5:30 to go potty, which isn't too bad. I remember waking up 3 times in the middle of the night with Luna. So again I start telling coworkers that yeah she's peeing everywhere but at least she's sleeping through the night! ....But what's the title of this blog post again? That's right... I freaking jinxed it again! The next night she woke up at 4am, I tried to ignore her for what seemed like 30 min but she started barking and whining at the same time! I resentfully got up and took her out so she could drain her dime sized bladder. Then an hour later she started crying again, but I really ignored her that time. She fell back to sleep. THEN AN HOUR LATER AGAIN, she woke up. By this time it was about 6:30am and about 30 mins before I usually get up and get ready for the day so I caved and let her out again. So, no... Not sleeping through the night as I thought she was.
Then again, I try to look at the silver lining - at least she's not going potty IN her crate. I say this again to my coworkers. And since I'm aware of my jinxing the last two times, I knock on wood. My one coworker reassures me that dogs hardly ever pee in their crates cus that's their bed, and they don't like peeing where they sleep. I already knew this, but I also knew the power of my jinxing lately, which is why I superstitiously knocked on my wooden desk (which actually isn't wood, but that cheap fake Ikea wood). I get home from work and the pups are in their crates and I see Skylar. Oh, sweet Skylar. Her fur looks wet. Hmm... That's weird to me. Then light bulb on in my head... SHE PEED IN HER CRATE! I mean of course she did. Because whenever I try to give her credit for being a decent puppy, she goes and does the exact opposite of what I say she's improving on. I throw the pee soaked wiggly butt in the shower. I feel bad. The poor pup has been a victim of my sorcery and jinxing, and now she's been sitting in her own filth for who knows how long (well I know less than 4 hours since I checked on her at lunch).
So I've taken an oath to myself that I will no longer talk about the progression of Skylar's training and ability as above the puppy curve. I will only say how I'm trying to train and how she's reacting. No "Slylar's the best puppy in the world and can do triple back flips". She's a puppy, and it's like Drew says, my expectations are unreasonable. And there you have it, I'm officially relearning everything I did when Luna was a pup. Oh the joys. As much as this stage sucks, I do not regret a single second of getting Skylar. Drew thinks I'm having my second thoughts, but I couldn't be happier. I love my two dogs, even if they are covered in pee when I get home.
We've seriously been messing up with potty training. I remember it being so easy and short lived with Luna. It was like we spoke the same language. This Skylar girl is not on the same brain waves as me, clearly. Drew keeps trying to convince me that I'm crazy and that Luna wasn't fully potty trained until she was 6 months old! WHAT?! Impossible! I'm a better dog trainer than 6 months of failed attempts of getting my dog to pee on the grass, and poop on the wood shavings (makes it much easier to pick up). After trying to prove him wrong, Drew says that I have unreasonable expectations for a puppy we just got. That is true. He wins. More potty training struggles in an upcoming post...
So I've accepted that she's not 100% potty trained. Whatever, if Drew's timeline is in fact correct, I suppose I'm not a complete dog mom failure. At least she's pretty much sleeping through the night. We decided to keep her in her crate at night (especially since she is not potty trained). Luna isn't crated at night, because she never has been and I've read that you don't want to change your first dog's habits when you get a new dog. So Skylar gets to sleep in her crate, and Luna on our bed. Skylar whines a couple minutes after being in her crate but then falls asleep. She sleeps great in the crate. Only wakes up once at 5:30 to go potty, which isn't too bad. I remember waking up 3 times in the middle of the night with Luna. So again I start telling coworkers that yeah she's peeing everywhere but at least she's sleeping through the night! ....But what's the title of this blog post again? That's right... I freaking jinxed it again! The next night she woke up at 4am, I tried to ignore her for what seemed like 30 min but she started barking and whining at the same time! I resentfully got up and took her out so she could drain her dime sized bladder. Then an hour later she started crying again, but I really ignored her that time. She fell back to sleep. THEN AN HOUR LATER AGAIN, she woke up. By this time it was about 6:30am and about 30 mins before I usually get up and get ready for the day so I caved and let her out again. So, no... Not sleeping through the night as I thought she was.
Then again, I try to look at the silver lining - at least she's not going potty IN her crate. I say this again to my coworkers. And since I'm aware of my jinxing the last two times, I knock on wood. My one coworker reassures me that dogs hardly ever pee in their crates cus that's their bed, and they don't like peeing where they sleep. I already knew this, but I also knew the power of my jinxing lately, which is why I superstitiously knocked on my wooden desk (which actually isn't wood, but that cheap fake Ikea wood). I get home from work and the pups are in their crates and I see Skylar. Oh, sweet Skylar. Her fur looks wet. Hmm... That's weird to me. Then light bulb on in my head... SHE PEED IN HER CRATE! I mean of course she did. Because whenever I try to give her credit for being a decent puppy, she goes and does the exact opposite of what I say she's improving on. I throw the pee soaked wiggly butt in the shower. I feel bad. The poor pup has been a victim of my sorcery and jinxing, and now she's been sitting in her own filth for who knows how long (well I know less than 4 hours since I checked on her at lunch).
So I've taken an oath to myself that I will no longer talk about the progression of Skylar's training and ability as above the puppy curve. I will only say how I'm trying to train and how she's reacting. No "Slylar's the best puppy in the world and can do triple back flips". She's a puppy, and it's like Drew says, my expectations are unreasonable. And there you have it, I'm officially relearning everything I did when Luna was a pup. Oh the joys. As much as this stage sucks, I do not regret a single second of getting Skylar. Drew thinks I'm having my second thoughts, but I couldn't be happier. I love my two dogs, even if they are covered in pee when I get home.
