Another Approach

After four full days of consistently watching, waiting, and taking scheduled potty breaks, Luna is still showing little progress toward being housebroken. She potties well when we take her out, but she still potties inside which confounds us. Yesterday wasn't too bad of a day with only a couple of teeny accidents, but today, despite having just been outside, Luna pooped in the floor. No more had Dad cleaned that up than she took a teedle, too. She does these with no warning whatsoever--no circling, no sniffing, no nothing--just squat and go, which makes our taking quick preemptive measures difficult. We have the luxury of Marc's being able to stay with her all the time, so she is getting consistent training and attention. She eats, plays, and potties on a very regular schedule and is never unsupervised. Marc has been amazing with her. She has had more effort spent with her than any other dog I have ever seen be house broken, but she is making slower progress. Certainly she isn't stupid; she just doesn't seem to "get it."
Frustrated and bumfuzzled, Marc reviewed the articles we have been following (http://www.worldclassgsd.com/Tips_Resources_For_German_Shepherds/House_Breaking_Your_Puppy.htm & http://www.total-german-shepherd.com/PuppyHousebreaking.html) one more time and decided that we needed to go back to the crate (or the "den," as we call it). We had thought that since we were limiting her space significantly, the space in which we were keeping her would function as a sort of den all on its own. Obviously it is not, so we are putting her in the crate between potty and play breaks. We drink and/or eat, potty, play then go back into the den. She had been tolerating this surprisingly well, but seems to have gotten a little frustrated with it this evening. We are heartbroken to have to do this. We want her by our sides, with us, not put in a box, but we don't know what else to do. We're not even sure where you go from this schedule, honestly. Do we eventually give her trial runs with some more space, gradually opening the space we put her in? Will she magically know what to do after a few days of this? We are at a loss since both of us grew up training them "the old-fashioned way" like we were trained as kids, with a spat on the butt when needed. We both continue to research further methods, and I'll call Linda, the breeder, tomorrow to see if she has any recommendations. Otherwise I'll pick the vet's brain later this week when we see her for our first vet visit (other than the opthalmologist).

Meanwhile, big sister continues to get antibiotics for her bladder infection and require a diaper. Though the diaper is the bane of her existence, she is at least slightly happier now that the stinky puppy is corralled and out of her hair. Fortunately, we caught this one early, so she hasn't suffered the nausea and diarrhea that she often gets with this sort of thing. Hopefully having caught it early will keep her from having to wear the diaper as long as well. The diaper can occasionally be entertaining for the rest of us, though. She always things she's tied down when we first put it on and will keep her hind legs still, looking over each shoulder to ask us to free her. Then when she finally figures out she can move, she waddles around and sits down like an old lady. When she catches us not looking, she does a wiggle dance against the closest upright object she can find and tries to get the diaper off. If she weren't so pitiful, it'd be hilarious.

Poor Big Sister

Every year since Abbie joined us, she has gotten a urinary tract infection in January. We have tried many times and seen many doctors trying to figure out why this happens but have had no luck. We had hoped that her being able to roam more on the new 10 acres would increase how frequently she emptied her bladder, thus decreasing the likelihood for bacteria to grow. Unfortunately we were wrong. We noticed the tell-tell signs today, and now have one puppy in training, the other in diapers. Poor, Abbie, she has been so heartbroken and dejected about another addition to the family, and now she has to deal with feeling bad and having to wear a diaper, one of her least favorite things in the world.
Naturally, one of our first projects is house training. We are trying to do this as intelligently and humanely as possible, not repeating any previous mistakes or blindly following the advice of well-meaning friends and loved ones. We've read and researched and tried to make sense of conflicting "expert" advice. Our conclusion for now is to take little Luna our for frequent potty breaks, using treats and praise as reward, preceding the trip out the door with taking her paw and patting a large jingle bell hanging from the door and saying "outside." Some say that at 10 weeks, 1 day old, Luna is too young to begin this process; others seem to think starting the process as early as possible is best. Our thought is that we have no choice but to start now. Luna is responding to the treats and praise. She potties pretty well when taken outside, but she is showing no initiative to indicate to us when she is ready to go out. We are having to watch her diligently to catch her before she begins to "have an accident." Some information suggests that we should not scare her or punish her for peeing or pooping in the house, only provide frequent potty breaks and praise her when she does the right thing. We have been doing this, but we are beginning to doubt the value of it. Somehow the lack of negative reinforcement for the accidents resonates as a potential issue. This is a work in progress, and I suspect we will adjust our methods as we see their effects.
Because we have to watch her so closely, we have "fenced in" the living area with first one thing, and then another. Even the ottoman has to be shifted so we have a view of the entire area where she can't sneak around and teedle without our seeing it. I look forward to this phase being over. Everything, for now, has to be out of its ordinary spot, but the disarray messes with my fung shui.;)
Our other project is crate training. At least for a while, we need to have a safe place for Luna when we are unable to supervise her, and the crate will provide that safety. Our research tells us to leave the crate in our common area, so she becomes accustomed to its being a regular part of comfortable life. It tells us to hide treats in there, even feed her in there if need be, to make her comfortable and confident that the crate is not punishment, that it is a safe, good place. So we moved the crate to the living room and did just that. Here, Luna checks it out. She's now taken to randomly checking it for treats. :)
Of course, helping big sister understand that she is not being superceded, and we still love her just as much as we ever have is of the utmost importance. Here Dad works on doing just that.

By Way of Introduction

For several years now, we have been a family of three--Abbie, my husband and me. To say that we love one another would be an understatement. We three are three of the most blessed creatures on earth, and we try very, very hard to never forget that fact. We have everything we need and more. For several months, though, Dad and I have been talking about adding to the family. Our sweet, precious Abbie is love and gentleness incarnate. She protects us from sadness and heartbreak. She guards against loneliness and self-pity. As scarey as those things are, however, Abbie is a fraidy cat with regard to physical dangers. We had been talking for a while about adding a member of the family who might be more inclined to protect against more physical dangers, and when we recently moved further out in solitude into our new home, that talk became more frequent and more earnest. So Dad started his research with more fervor this time and decided that a German Shepherd Dog would seem to suit our family best--next to decide between a pup and a trained adult. While we liked the idea of an adult dog who would already know her role, we decided to get a puppy who would come up in our home and hopefully be a little easier to integrate with Abbie. The process of finding the right sister would present its own challenge, however. Both Abbie and her big sister, Chelsea, were rescues, brought into our home not only for our good but for theirs. The idea of buying our new family member who might already be going to a good situation rather than providing a home for a precious pup that might otherwise be less fortunate was a difficult one for us to justify. As with almost everything else in our lives, however, when the time was right, everything fell into place just as it was supposed to have.

Ever the thorough researcher, Dad found a breeder not too far from home who had recently weaned puppies and decided to give her a ring. After he told her our needs and mentioned our history with rescues, she had an answer to her own dilemma. Linda from J-Lyn Kennels had been wondering what she should do about her little "Miss White." Miss White was her 9 1/2-week-old who has a dermoid (a group of wayward cells that grow hair from them) on her left inner eyelid. While not causing any permanent damage, the dermoid would cause irritation and problems with time and would need to be removed when Miss White was big enough to tolerate anaesthesia in about 4 weeks. She had actually already been sold to a family down south, but when they found out she wouldn't be able to come home for 6 more weeks because of the dermoid on her left inner eyelid, they decided they didn't want her. They didn't want to wait another 6 weeks to bring her home; they wanted to bring home a young puppy, and they didn't want to go to the trouble to have the dermoid cared for themselves. So Linda had to decide whether to try to place little miss with a family she felt she could trust to have the surgery done, thus allowing her to bond at an appropriate time in her development, or risk slower bonding later but be assured that her eye was well-cared-for. Linda told me she knew when she heard our history that we were the answer to her worries.

Marc first talked to Linda on Tuesday, January 26th. She sent him these pictures, and we had hoped to go together on Wednesday to meet Miss White. Life got in the way, though, and I had to go on my own.

The sire is "Leo" CH. Avion Chief of Staff OFA

The dam is "Cheyenne" Lady Cheyenne the First of Kensington OFA

Wednesday before work that night I headed to town to get puppy supplies "just in case." Crate, Iams puppy food, toys, itty-bitty collar, lead and treats in hand, I headed to Middleburg. Linda introduced me to "Mom" and "Dad" first, and they were both beautiful, affectionate dogs. Their pens were clean. They were clean, and they were happy. Next in line was my introduction to Miss White who was in a pen with her sister and their half siblings, a litter that had been born 2 weeks later. She wasn't the most aggressive in the pen, but she held her own, and when we brought her out, she was comfortable being held, satisfied on the ground. Once we put her down, she roamed curiously, checking out the adults and sniffing out the interesting plants, but she didn't go too far. She was calm but light-hearted, and I could find no reason not to love her, no reason not to take her home. Linda and I completed the paperwork, and Miss White and I were on our way home. She lay calmly in my lap the whole hour-plus trip, sitting up now and then to see what was whizzing by the window.

As you can see, she had no worries upon her introduction to her big sister, her dad, or her new home. Big sister, however, was not particularly happy about the new addition. She is always kind and patient, though, and doesn't offer even a warning growl to the wee one.

This pic was taken within about 20 minutes of our arrival.

Putting together the "den." By now "Miss White" is "Luna."

We are now at the end of our third Lunar day, and I have worked all three of those nights. Abbie continues to boycott the situation, avoiding the puppy when she can, giving everyone the stink eye when she can't. Her pervasive sadness worries us, but we are optimistic that with time she will realize that we do not love her any less and that she will continue to be queen of the roost. Luna doesn't even realize I am an integral part of the pack. I have been gone too much, and this hurts me. I am worried that she will always see me as an "other, " a competitor for her dad's attention. Dad is doing a great job with the potty training, and Luna is learning and having fewer accidents each day. For some reason, pooping seems to be a bigger issue than teedling. Perfection will come with time, though. My first day off since Luna's arrival is tomorrow (Saturday, the 30th). I'm hoping to give Dad a break from constantly being on the lookout and do some bonding myself.