No not that one. It seems we have been conned into watching someone’s pet. It is a dog. It is a little dog. It is a strange little dog. It doesn’t seem to fully comprehend that it is a dog. It remembers from time to time that it is a dog and that is nice to see. Mostly it thinks it is a child. A poorly raised child at that. Spoiled rotten as my sweet mama would say. We have been training it so that it understands that it is a dog and should behave like a dog and OBEY like a dog. Dogs are pets you see and should know that they are owned. Part of the family and loved yes, but owned.
Sure, you have to work in a framework they understand so we do. There is one ALPHA DOG. That is ME. Next is my Bride. After that are the kids and the dogs. The dogs work out their pecking order from time to time and all is well. That is understandable. However our new guest seems to think he can act as top dog when no one is looking. Wrong thinking in any dog, but a dog that is smaller than my last poo? Not happening. The thing is we had the same issues with one of our other dogs, Spazz. Spazz was about 6 months old then. A baby really. This creature is 10 years old. Not a baby. It is retarded. I mean that literally not insultingly. Dictionary.com says 3. a slowing down, diminution, or hindrance, as in a machine. However it is not a lost cause. The creature has been learning to behave better. It has learned to sit (mostly) and lay down (its default position) it dances well but that is because that is an easy trick. It is learning to speak on command rather than as a constant yammering. Most importantly it is learning to stay. Stay while its food is being prepared. Stay when I don’t want it to come. Stay. Good dog.
What it hasn’t learned yet is NOT TO PEE ON MY STUFF!! When it peed on/in my old shoe that was annoying but I was able to work with that because he had been left for a while and may have had to do his business bad. When I get reports that it pees on the recycle can in the kitchen I wonder if the little things bladder may be getting weak with age. I can almost relate to that but not yet. Now, when the dog gets caught digging out trash from the trash can, snaps at me when I take the meat wrapper away from it, gets gently corrected and reminded the I AM THE ALPHA DOG IN THIS HOUSE, then it waits 24 hours and pees on the bed, MY SIDE OF THE BED right before I go to bed…we got us a problem. Spazz did something similar but he was a puppy. This dog is 10 yrs old. Spazz grew out of it, pain is knowledge. Now if you’re going “this is constant bad behavior, the dog has to learn, you have to train him Brett”, you are mostly right. You see we had the dog for about 3 weeks before our cruise and he had peed in the shoe and had an occasional accident here and there. Stuff you expect really and frankly he was almost a real dog by time we left. At the end of the 3 weeks we left him in the tender care of his MOMMY who “watched” our house for us. We laid down ground rules and informed her of what we expect of the dog that is staying in OUR HOUSE. Apparently watching, for MOMMY meant letting the little monster pee, poo, and climb on whatever it darn well wanted for a week. I mean it was to the point where the boys were cleaning up after the dog. You know what? I love the boys. I do. They are not the cleanest boys and I hold no illusions about it, SO if it got so bad that our less than tidy boys were cleaning up after this dog HOW BAD was our house sitter?!
The GUEST is gone again, but now I have a little jerkwad dog peeing on my bed because it thinks it needs to run rampant in OUR house?! Time to go Scruffy!! So the little dog was stowed in his crate last night but then I got to listen to him scratch and whine until 1:30 in the morning. The alternative was to eat him between two pieces of bread with white grave on top and since we just started the Atkins Diet that idea is a no go! Ughh if only people could be fitted with shock collars my life would be so much easier.
