Search Results for: blog training housebreaking lally

Ask a Pets Blogger: Crate Time

We recently adopted a ten month old terrier mix from the shelter. My wife and I both work, and the pup spends eight to ten hours in his crate. He’s very good about going into his crate when it’s time to go to work, but more often than not we come home to a crate full of accidents! The shelter said he was housebroken… but maybe he isn’t. Is ten hours too long to leave him alone? Congratulations on the new addition to your family, and thanks for getting him from a shelter. There are lots of awesome dogs (and … Continue reading →

Retraining

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Now that Moose, Lally, and I are (sort of) settled in our new home, I’ve noticed a bit of a regression in my little girl dog’s training. When I first brought Lally home from the shelter in September 2003, the first thing she did was hop onto my bed and piddle. She also used to piddle in excitement when I came home from work, or if someone new came to the house. She hasn’t slipped that much in her housebreaking this time around, but we’ve had a few accidents in the new apartment. On Saturday, I came home from the … Continue reading →

Happy Lallyversary!

I don’t know my dogs’ birthdays, so I celebrate their anniversaries — the days they came to join my pack. Yesterday was my Lally’s third anniversary; I adopted this little boxer/shar-pei mix on September 13, 2003. We didn’t go too crazy with the celebrations. Her three favorite things in the world are: playing ball, chicken, and being with me. So yesterday involved all three. Lally and Moose got a little bit of roasted chicken mixed in with breakfast and dinner. Miss Lally Bee and I spent plenty of time playing ball in the yard. And when I did have to … Continue reading →

Just When I Think I Understand Them…

I’ve had my dogs, Moose and Lally, for a few years now. Lally joined the family in September 2003; Moose was adopted in January 2004. But just when I think I know them pretty well and can guess what they’re going to do… they surprise me. A good friend of mine bought a pair of cushy beds for her dogs, only to find that the dogs weren’t fond of them. She gave one of the beds to me in the hopes that I could reclaim my sleeping bag from Moose and Lally. And let me tell you — this is … Continue reading →

Wipey Feet

My dog Lally does a funny little dance after she goes to the bathroom. She scrapes her back feet against the grass: right, right, left, left. I call it “wipey feet” (as opposed to Happy Feet, I guess). The topic came up in one of the dog lover sites I frequent, and nobody had a definitive answer. Why do some dogs wipe their feet after they piddle or poop? No expert in wipe-ology came forward to solve the mystery. All we could do was make some educated guesses. Some folks thought it might be similar to a cat burying messes … Continue reading →

Pets and Pregnancy

One of my best friends in the world is pregnant, and I’m just delighted. You might remember her dog Casey, who’s appeared in a few stories here and there. Now that my friend has entered her second trimester, Casey has started to act differently. She’s been having accidents in the house — specifically in the kitchen and the bathroom — both while her owners are home and while they’re out at work. I turned to one of my favorite online dog communities to see if anyone else had experienced something similar during their pregnancies. They had! Several ladies wrote in … Continue reading →

How To Help A Chained Dog

If you are the owner of a chained dog, here are some things you can do to make your pup’s life better. Bring your dog inside! Your dog may need some help with housetraining and behavior to be a good inside dog. The one and only thing he wants is to be part of his human pack — so he’ll be eager to learn how to please you. Put up a fence in the yard. This will give your dog a chance to explore a wider area AND make it easier to approach your dog. A dog lunging at the … Continue reading →

The Folks at Tupperware Never Thought of This One!

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When I first brought Lally home from the shelter, we had some piddling problems. Okay, a LOT of piddling problems. The shelter folks put me in touch with their trainer/pet evaluator, who suggested we rule out physical issues first. An overactive bladder could be a sign of a bladder infection. So I called the vet. They asked me to bring in a urine sample. A reasonable request, sure… but not exactly an easy quest. I asked for their wisdom in attaining this holy grail of specimens. They suggested slipping some sort of flat pan or pie plate beneath Lally when … Continue reading →