Wish Us Luck!

[IrishAyes]

Brigid didn't join us until almost April of this year. Since she'd lived outdoors most of the time already, I never had to worry about housetraining her entirely because except for periods of close observation, she was in the big baby bed or outdoors. She and Molly Maguire love that baby bed and seem eager and happy enough to snuggle up in there.

But this winter, even though I know they'll sleep much of the time, Brigid simply can't spend 90% of her waking hours in there. She'll have to have more free floor time than before, and that means a greater degree of housetraining since she's already reluctant to go out at anything below 50 degrees. We're going to get way below that soon, and for the worst of the season will be virtually housebound.

Since she's already chosen to pee on the floor 3 times - not bad, I know, for an 11 mo. old - I've ordered a new xl utility pan 26"x20"x6" - that should keep the newspapers in place and even hold in the dirt if I start using a little of that, gradually mixing it with a little sand in case my source of free old newspapers runs out. I know Brigid's smart enough, and I've been praising her in the yard with the same phrase when she does her business - so wish us luck this winter. Molly can stand colder weather than Brigid, but she needs to learn to use a pan too even though she's a few months older.

There is of course a strong strain of self interest in my winter project. I don't like having to go out and clean the yard when it's that bad. The only thing I hate worse is a dirty yard. For some reason it's more fun to play in the snow; I made 4 frisbees out of plastic plates glued two together for weight. Balls would get lost in the snow.

[NYC_SKP]

1. Good luck!

They're always so filled with love and energy early one.

The energy fades over the years, but not the love!

[Granny M]

2. seems like a good plan.

Wishing you and Brigid and Molly good success.

[IrishAyes]

3. Well, with the way things are in the 'outside world' today, I'm reluctant to part with $

But that purchase seems necessary. Regardless how much the dogs love their baby bed, as cushy and comfortable as I can make it for them, they can't spend all winter there even if they wanted. I'm very lucky that the local weekly newspaper will let me have all their leftovers for free. If they go out of business, I'll have to try sand, still $ but at least not so bad as potting soil or even puppy pads. Some dogs eat kitty litter, so that's dangerous. Couldn't afford official dog litter if I tried.

[Granny M]

4. I would guess that you'd be happier with newspaper.

I think sand would get all over the place. I have a cat who has a covered litter box, which helps, but there is still a bit of litter that comes out on her feet.
Let me know how it's working out.

[Auntie Bush]

5. The tray/pan with newspapers gets my vote.

Sand would be a disaster! Good luck with Brigid...I know she can do it...smart little bugger!

[TorchTheWitch]

6. I'm confused

You WANT your dog to do her business in the house? Is she disabled or something?

I don't know, I'd FAR rather pick up frozen poop in the winter when it doesn't stink. It's not a big deal if you do it every day (which you should do anyway... poop should be picked up right after it comes out of the dog). You can also train the dog to use one specific area in the yard for doing their business in and only that. Potty training is easy as long as you do right with crate training. Took only about two weeks or less with my first two pups when they were old enough to leave their mamas. Yoshi was already potty trained when I got him at 4 months, so all I had to teach him was where his potty area was in the yard. Took only once for him to figure that out once I put a paper towel with a bit of his pee on it in that spot for him to smell.

I'm kind of stunned that anyone would keep their dog indoors for months either. How would it get fresh air and enough exercise?

Am I missing something here?

[IrishAyes]

7. Yes, you are missing something here.

Last edited Sun Oct 13, 2013, 04:43 PM - Edit history (1)

And since you asked so nicely, if the spirit moves me long enough, I'll fill you in.

Despite your presumptions, I certainly do clean up after my dogs quickly! Except for 10 pm - 6 am, they're outdoors most of the time when the temps are between 50 and 90 degrees. Other than that, short haired dogs BELONG indoors unless you can provide them with heated and/or cooled outdoor cabins. When they're indoors with me, the minute I stop and sit down in the recliner (sofa's off limits) they race to jump in my lap for a group hug, and in between times they have their own toys or we play games together several times a day. As for where and when they poop or pee, I don't care how you taught Yoshi, the arrangements we decide to make are none of your business. Asking people's best wishes is not an open invitation to outraged disdain, or didn't your mother teach YOU any manners?

My house won't stink either unless some 2-legged busybody shows up. Quickly removed and bagged newspapers placed in a smell-conquering diaper pail can handle anything the dogs do.

Besides, did it never occur to you that for some people it MIGHT be a real problem accompanying a pet every 2-3 hours out into the freezing cold, no matter how well wrapped they might be? I don't owe you a damned thing, much less justification, but you're not thinking past your own self-righteous nose.

Just for that, go to bed without your kibble tonight!

[TorchTheWitch]

8. what the hell?

For heaven's sake, what on earth is your problem? Obviously you're either having a problem potty training your dog or there's some kind of disability that the dog can't go outside to go to the bathroom, which is why I asked since I don't remember hearing anything about this dog before so had no idea if it had some kind of disability or recent surgery or something that would make going outside to go to the bathroom a hardship for her. I just can't honestly imagine any real reason anyone would actually WANT their dog to go to the bathroom in the house mostly because it's one hell of a lot of unnecessary and unpleasant work several times a day every day. Silly me for imagining you'd want help in potty training your dog instead of having to go through all the bother and mess that her doing her business in the house will entail. I don't know where in the world you're getting in your head that I'm being self righteous or disdainful, for God's sake I was only trying to figure out what the problem was here since I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would want their dog to go to the bathroom indoors unless either the dog is disabled or the owner is or you just haven't been successful in potty training and gave up. Seriously, who in the world actually wants their dog not to be potty trained and actually prefers that they go to the bathroom in the house??? That's just the nuttiest thing I've ever heard of, which is why I asked if the dog had some kind of disability where it couldn't bo outside because having the choice of either a dog that's potty trained or one that isn't is just no choice at all... who the hell wants their dog to not be potty trained?

I brought up Yoshi and my other dogs to demonstrate that potty training is easy as long as it's done the right way, doesn't take long at all, isn't a hardship and that dogs can also easily learn to use a specific area in the yard if you don't like having to hunt all around for their poops to pick up seeing as you said you had an aversion to picking up after it though what you'll have to deal with having it go inside is going to be a million times worse of an issue. Training the dog to use one certain area of the yard just makes it easier so you know exactly where it's going to be and not have to hunt all over the yard for it.

Furthermore, no dog is unable to go outside to go to the bathroom in the winter just because it has a short coat even in subzero temperatures. If they're bothered by the cold then they'll just do their business right away and go back inside instead of dinking around the yard for ages having fun rather than getting their bathroom business attended to promptly, which frankly is a lot more convenient so you don't have to wait around for them to get busy and get it over with. Believe it or not, short haired dogs all over the world go outside to go to the bathroom in all weather, play in their yards or walk with their owners just fine though some may happier to wear a coat if outside in really cold weather for a length of time especially if they aren't doing any kind of exercising getting their body temperature up. Plus, a dog's body temperature is higher than ours, thus what we think is cold feels a lot warmer to them. And no dog even when it's old enough to leave it's mother at 8 weeks needs to go to the bathroom every 2-3 hours. An adult dog only needs to go out for a potty break two or possibly three times a day.

Hell with it. If you don't want help potty training your dog and seriously prefer for it to go to the bathroom in the house even though I can't possibly fathom why that would be preferred to having a potty trained dog, fine by me.

And I'll excuse your over the top rudeness and insults for just trying to be helpful and get some information about the dog and what the problem is in order to try to HELP you and chalk it up to your having a bad day or something.

[IrishAyes]

9. You bit first. I bit back, and you deserved it.

Your convenient outrage at having your head handed back to you on the proverbial platter is ridiculous.

You lost. Get over it.

Then leave me alone. I've still got a few teeth left. And I don't bite nice people. Your first reply was extremely presumptive, arrogant and high-handed, the second one worse. You might notice that I appreciated the nice people; so ask yourself why you got bit instead. Can't chalk it up to my having a supposedly bad day. It was quite beautiful until you jumped in like Rambo on steroids.

You chose your username well.

[TorchTheWitch]

11. i didn't do any biting - that clearly has been you

I was just asking if there was some physical problem with the dog as opposed to a problem with potty training. Te simple fact remains that an 11 month old dog that hasn't yet been toilet trained when there's no other legitimate reason why they aren't is a serious problem that can be fixed regardless of the age of the dog. There's no reason that a healthy dog needs to go to the bathroom every 2-3 hours, and believing that under 50 degrees is too cold for a short haired dog to go outside even if it's just to do their business and even with a coat is not only wrong but ridiculous. Frankly, trapping a dog indoors for months is a cruelty. They aren't cats. They're social animals that need fresh air, exercise, socialization, know how to walk on a leash and ride in a car and how to behave with strange dogs or strange people.

Forget it. If you'd rather have a dog that isn't potty trained and clean up their pee and poop in the house as if that's somehow going to be easier then have at it. It isn't luck you need it's knowledge and experience but when I try to find out what exactly the problem is and HELP you so you don't have to go through all this nonsense you're setting yourself up for it's YOU that acts like Rambo on steroids with a persecution complex.

You might also notice that despite you're being unbelievably nasty to me without cause I'm still biting my tongue and being reasonably polite to you though in no possible way do you deserve it. And I'm doing that for the sake of all the many many very kind, loving and helpful people in this forum that makes it far and away the best place on DU and that you just took a massive shit on. Your shitting in this forum offends me FAR more than any of your disgusting behavior toward me no matter how many extra teeth you have.

I'll have absolutely nothing more to do with you.

[IrishAyes]

13. Really? Do you promise? Be still, my heart! Oh, joy unconfined!

Friends like you I can do without. Never did care for bullies.

[laundry_queen]

14. I don't get it either.

I'm in Canada and I've lived in some more northern areas where it gets to -40 regularly in the winter for weeks on end (Without the windchill) and I've had small dogs that were sensitive to the cold and they all went and did their business outside.

Now, I can understand in an apartment or condo or something. My brother had a small dog when he was on the 8th floor, so his dog used a litter box on the balcony. A friend of mine was also high up in a condo and put fake grass in a tray in her shower and that's where the dog went.

What we did is create a little wooden box right outside the back door (we call it their 'corner') and filled it with sand. We train our dogs to go in that corner. We pick up the poop once a day or so and put it in the trash bin next to the corner (and empty that every week). It's so easy. We open the back door (no going outside needed) and say, "Go in your corner!" and they know exactly what to do. When it's cold they hurry and run right back in. No poop in the spring to clean up, no need for me to bundle up and go outside...it's a win-win. Besides, even our small dogs love a good snowfall to romp around in. They run like hell for 5 minutes, then come in panting and shivering soaking wet. We towel them down and sit in front of a heater or fire and they are as happy as all get out. And they get so excited when the next snowfall comes around, snorting in the snow, looking back at us to 'ask' if they can go for a quick tear around the yard.

So, a dog having short hair does not mean it has to stay inside. I didn't really want to get in the middle of this, but I wanted to post in response to you, since I have experience with cold-sensitive dogs and living up north. I'd like to know the reason for the defensiveness with that poster...am I missing something?

[TorchTheWitch]

15. dogs are so funny in the snow

Big or small, they all seem to just love it. Even though I'm not a fan of snow since I hate shoveling it and driving in it I'm still rather disappointed that since Yoshi was born we just haven't had much of anything that was more than a dusting. Every few days though I walk him up to the skating rink, and winter or summer there's always a mountain of "snow" that they shave off the ice rink and dump behind the building. It's really indistinguishable from a mountain of real snow. He thinks snow comes out in a great big lump from a huge machine and only in that spot behind the skating rink. He was fascinated when we did get those few dustings the last two winters that snow comes out of the sky in tiny bits that coats everything everywhere even right in his own yard. Neato! I'm actually kind of hoping we get at least one decent snowfall this winter just for his sake.

As for that other poster, I haven't a clue in the world what the heck that was all about. Crazy.

[Auntie Bush]

10. Time for an update on the house training. How's it going?

JR's can be a little stubborn about that.

[IrishAyes]

12. Yes, they can. But this one is up against an Irish person, & we invented stubborn.

Actually, Brigid does pretty well for the moderate weather; although I believe her 3 misbehaviors over the 8 months she's been here were NOT mistakes. But she's a good dog, devoted and incredibly intuitive. I've just been trying to think ahead for Winter Plan A to make it as comfortable as possible for all concerned. She's sure to keep me busy keeping her busy.

Despite the incredible stink Torch raised in her rant against me, if the dogs get a choice about where to go in bad weather, I'll feel better about it. It's true that I'm not the imperious alpha with them, but to call me a lazy, crazy dirty housekeeper is way beyond the pale. She just jumped in with guns blazing and then dared me to defy her. I think I kicked her butt pretty good, though.

I think Brigid will do fine this winter. I did appreciate the nice people's suggestions and comments, and took care to point that out to TTWitch. I wonder if she's ever heard of diaper pails.

Here's one reason I have high hopes and confidence in Brigid: one day we'd been out playing, and when it was time to go in, she stood at the door with a yard-long stick in her mouth. All I had to do was look at her and say gently, "Now, Brigid, you know you can't bring something like that in the house." That's all it took for her to understand the first time. She dropped her stick toy on the porch right away and flew right on in. For a dog that's pretty intuitive.

Also, even though she's 3" taller than AKC standard, she's a classic of the breed. Totally fearless. When firecracker season started, if one went off that we could hear, she'd rush the fence in a mad fury to protect us. Sounded like a whole pack of dogs! Might be as good a watchdog as the chows were, regardless of her general friendliness. She's worth catering to a little so long as she agrees to cooperate in return. I'm more a consensus builder than martinet.