This week was full…really full. And not only was it full, but we had several ups and downs throughout the week.

Right after I published last week’s post, Wellie decided to have the stand off of all stand offs. I had spoken about how we bought the water guns and that they were working in helping us correct her behaviour, well what we didn’t realize was that it extended to water in general. She decided that water falling from the sky was also bad and she didn’t want anything to do with doing her business outside. Ugh.

That evening we knew she had to go to the bathroom and was just waiting to do it inside so we had a stand off…a 45 minute stand off in the pouring rain. It was warm out, so nobody got cold, but we definitely got wet! We wanted to end the experience on a a positive note so we made sure to wait until she went pee and then we were more excited than we’ve ever been. She still doesn’t love the rain, but she’ll go outside and do her business in it now…most of the time.

This week was Wellie’s first long car ride. A friend of mine from high school got married this weekend in Toronto and we brought the furry family along to my parent’s house for the occasion. I was so proud of her – she did fabulously. All three dogs travel in their crates when we travel and Paddington and Corduroy have always been amazing travellers. We were both so happy to discover that Wellie is as well! We gave her a bully stick to chew on and either she chewed on that or had a nap. She didn’t make a peep the whole time and waited patiently to have a pee stop midway through. We were both really proud of her. She was equally as good on the drive back yesterday as well.

When we arrived at my parent’s house, we were greeted by an ever growing Sonnet, who is 11 weeks old now and completely and utterly fearless. She was so excited to see Paddington, Corduroy and Wellington and she basically bugged them the entire time we were there. Wellie was pretty good about it and played with her the most out of the three dogs.

Continue reading →

Sometimes I look around and can’t believe that we have three dogs. A friend was joking with me right after we rescued Wellie and said that even though we have three dogs, they are all so small that combined they really only make one big dog – kind of like those Transformers that combine into one big one. Sometimes I really notice we have three dogs, and sometimes it’s not really obvious at all. One will be sleeping while two play, or they will all be napping at once – or alternately, all playing at once. What I do know, is that Wellie belongs with us and it was the best decision to rescue her.

This week has had its ups and downs. Jane and Sonnet were here until Sunday and Sonnet and Wellie played a lot. Sonnet got braver and braver as the week went on and by last weekend she was launching herself on the other dogs and grabbing onto their hair in her mouth. They didn’t like it much and it only really worked on Wellie at actually getting her to play. Wellington was the only one who seemed to actually like Sonnet, whereas the other two just tolerated her. Jane left back to Kingston on Sunday and Wellie kept going in the basement looking for both of them.

Since Jane and Sonnet left, Wellington has been really testing our patience. I’m not sure if she’s angry that Jane isn’t home with her all day during the work-week, but she’s been having housetraining “accidents” all over the house so frequently now it’s not even funny. On Monday, while I was at work and Thomas was teaching, she peed all over her organic pet bed – so much pee. And this is the second time she’s done it! What is even worse about this is that because it’s organic, I can’t wash the stuffing and the cover isn’t waterproof, so the stuffing got pee in it too. Argh. The store told me to wash the cover and leave the cover and inside poof out in the sun and that should help – something about the sun getting the smell and stain out with UV rays. I’ll also be spraying it with pee stain and odour remover to see it that helps.

As If that wasn’t enough, Wellie then proceeded to poop and try to eat it right in the next room while I was doing laundry (washing the bedding she peed on!!) and then had three pee accidents later on in the evening. Then another pee accident overnight on Monday night – the first time in a few weeks! So many setbacks all at once!

It’s not that she can’t hold her bladder, because she has shown us she can. I really think now it’s behavioural. We have been urged to try to tether her to us so we can catch her in the act and correct her immediately by putting her outside, so we tried that last night for the first time and it seemed to work – no accidents yesterday! She doesn’t mind being on the leash either so that’s good. Wellie is also being, what my husband has been calling, meddlesome. She is getting into everything and it’s been trying our patience. I think that having her tied to us all the time will help with this as well…I hope!

I know that when we were raising Paddington and Corduroy from puppies, that the puppies learn quickly and then go through a “rebellion stage” where they test you (and their boundaries) like teenagers do. Do rescue dogs do the same? Even ones that are over 1 year old and should be done with their teenage stage? Wellie is really leading me to believe that yes, they do, but I’m not sure if that is just me rationalizing her behaviour.

Last night we went to the Small Fries Social at Bark & Fitz in Westboro and all three dogs had a great time. While there, they all got their nails trimmed and Wellie did MUCH better than the last time. Our vet showed me how to calm her and it worked so well. We have also been touching her paws a lot and I think that helped as well. I was so proud of her! She wasn’t perfect, but is well on her way to being ok with nail trims.

Continue reading →

This week has been a whirlwind. I am trying to remember everything that happened and it’s not easy! haha.

Wellie has been doing well this week, learning her commands a lot better and she is really getting the hang of “take it” and “leave it” but she still dives for things that are dropped on the floor and man is she fast!

We are still working hard on housetraining, and it’s coming along slowly. Our vet suggested giving her the treats straight away after she does her business outside and that is working for sure, but she is still having accidents inside. Over the past week she hasn’t pooped inside and eaten it as much as the previous week, but she still has done it. The pee accidents have gotten less, but again, she’s still having a few.

One issue that we are having is the door and it’s not just with Wellie, it’s with all three. They all go crazy nutso when someone comes to the door. Today a friend dropped by for a bit and it was not good. It got heated and Wellie ended up snapping at both Paddy and Cordy. I’m not sure if she was trying to keep them in line or something, but it was too much excitement for me and I want to work on them being calm when someone comes to the door. It caused me a lot of stress this evening – even my friend noticed!

Saturday brought some pretty big changes for Wellie and she has adapted so well – I am so proud of her! Friday night my parents and sister, Jane, arrived from out of town to pick up her new puppy, Sonnet. Saturday, My Mom, myself and Jane drove to the breeder to pick up little itty bitty 8 week old Sonnet, a Maltese/ShihTzu mix. She is actually from the same breeder that we got Corduroy from and they actually share the same father so they are half sisters!

When we brought Sonnet in to meet the other three, we closed her in her crate and let Paddington, Corduroy and Wellington sniff her through the crate. This way she stayed and felt safe and sound while the others could smell her and see there was another little creature in there. We then let them meet her outside of the crate and it went really well. All three were interested but ultimately didn’t care she was there and that is exactly what I was hoping would happen. Jane is staying with us for a week so we wanted everyone to meet and get along well right from the start.
Continue reading →

Well I must say that this week was the best week we have had so far! After posting our week two update, I got some really good advice and tips and they have made the world of difference – mostly having to do with changing MY behaviour.

In the second week, I was really stressing about the three dogs’ relationships to each other. One reader pointed out that maybe the reasons for me being stressed out were on me, and not on the dogs. She was right. I was humanising my dogs’ emotions when really, they were just fine.

We have also changed tactics in regards to training. One reader pointed out that there are holes in the dominance theory and that there is a lot of documentation on the Dominance Myth. It’s actually very interesting and makes sense. One point they argue is that it is unfair to compare our domesticated dogs to wolves because they have been domesticated for so long that it just doesn’t make sense. It would be like asking a monkey for parenting advice.

Having looked into that I started to research into other methods of training and came across the amazing Ian Dunbar. I have featured his videos on the blog before and I ended up spending a whole afternoon watching some of his lectures. They are really captivating and if you have some time, I suggest you check them out. Another great resource is Dog Star Daily, which is a website filled with info by Dr. Dunbar.

Having said that, Dr. Dunbar teaches that we need to really focus on the positive to shape the appropriate behaviour. Thomas and I tried this and saw results immediately. It will be up to us to consciously make an effort to recognize and reward good behaviour constantly. Usually I would think to myself, wow the dogs are being good, and now I want to TELL them they are good. As I mentioned, this is going very well and we are so happy about it.

One thing that I’ve noticed this week is the relationship developing between Corduroy and Wellington. They are really starting to get along very well and I’ve even caught them snoozing together which I find adorable. I will be watching how their relationship grows over the next few weeks.

This past Sunday we went to Global Pet Foods in Hintonburg for a nail trim fundraiser for Bullies in Need. It was the first time Wellie had her nails trimmed with us and we discovered that she doesn’t like it. We suspect her previous owners didn’t touch her paws very much so we will be gently touching her paws over the next few weeks and praising her a lot for letting us do so.

We are still working on the house training, although the accidents are getting fewer and farther between. We have discovered that she LOVES her Kong stuff with a mixture of yogurt, peanut butter, bananas and honey and then frozen. She also loves her treat ball with blueberries in it! This is a ball with a hole in the end and she has to bat it around to get the blueberries to come out. She is very good at it and I recorded a video that you can see below. If you feed kibble, I know some people who feed their dogs their dinner using this. It’s amazing.

Watch a video of Wellie and her new treat ball Continue reading →