a poops oops!

When bringing the dogs out late, late at night and waiting long enough and expecting them to actually poop outside, it is beneficial to have a flashlight in hand if one expects to clean up after oneself (which one is certainly expected to do, especially when the offending present is laid on the landlord’s lawn). I guess I know who’s on clean-up duty in the morning…

Resolved at Last

We started potty training today, in earnest, at least. I’ve been talking about potty training since Gracie was 3 months old, and we had a good start on it…until Cyrus started shredding the training pads. That was unfortunate. Then they started using the rugs and I stopped having guests…and now we’re trying to remedy both of those situations.

I have to admit, after numerous failed attempts, my resolve was fading, but after a motivating phone call from Kristen Magil (who reminded me that if she could take Maddy to the potty every half hour and clean up poopy underpants when accidents happened, then I could certainly do the same with my dogs!!), I made a pit-stop at Checkerhill Farms on the way home to pick up the necessities: namely, treats, and lots of them!

While I was trying to decide whether Beafeaters Liver Treats or the All Natural Baa Baa Q’s Dog Treats would be more enticing to the pups, a helpful employee (noticing I was in the training treats section) asked me if I had any training questions she could answer. Our extensive conversation ended with her essentially stating: “Well, you’re doomed with the little one, good luck with Cyrus, and I still think your best bet is to dog-litter-train them both.”

This was not the first time I had been told it might be hard to train Gracie, and it was not the first I had heard of litter-training dogs, but it was the most convincing argument I had hear yet…so I pondered. I pondered so much I almost pondered right over with my check book…until I thought of lugging a doggie litter box, in addition to all of the other dog paraphernalia I lug with us wherever we go, and I made up my mind resolutely – to the grass they will go. And by they, I mean we (blasted renting a second-story apartment with no first floor yard access or doggie-door!!!). Let’s see how fun this gets when it starts snowing and I’m trudging outside at 5:30am in my p.j.’s and boots.

At least Maddy’s potty is INside.

Stay tuned for updates on our progress!! No graphic pictures will follow, I promise. SJV.