It’s back to basics for our dynamic duo.
After our scare on Monday, when they got into a nasty fight that we had great difficulty breaking up, we brought the trainer back in for another round. Pat told us what we already knew, of course: We’ve spoiled them terribly and let them walk all over us.
Dogs, from everything we’ve read, look for a pack leader. If we don’t provide it, then they fill the vacuum themselves.
That’s why, as they approach their first birthday, they’ve retained far too many of their worst habits and have started developing new ones:
- They jump on people when they first come in the door. They will calm down, but I can see how someone might not want to deal with it. Plus, they have sharp nails that leave marks.
- They’ve started using their mouths to direct us or get our attention. That is unacceptable, but we had no idea how to address it. Now, when they use their teeth or their paws that way, we stop them and basically reset things.
- They’ve become more difficult to walk, pulling so hard that Annie often has to let me have both dogs — not an easy chore. A few weeks ago, while we were walking on Hodge Road, one of the dogs went to the bathroom. Annie took both dogs as I cleaned it up — which seemed OK at that moment. Until someone nearby let their two dogs out in their fenced-in yard. All four dogs went nuts and Rosie and Sophie pulled Annie across the yard and into a pile of firewood. She was bruised and strained her shoulder, but the firewood probably kept it from getting worse. It all happened in seconds — like Monday’s fight — but seemed to unwind in slow motion.
- They’ve been jumping on the counters again, after not doing that for months. Last night, with the trainer here, Sophie stole a loaf of carrot bread Annie brought home. She got to it twice, but we caught her right away. We’ve got to work on keeping her off the counter.
- They also like remote controls — we’ve had to replace three so far and have another two that need to go back. They’ve chewed on a Blackberry, two laptop chargers and this morning got to a mini video camera.
None of this is acceptable, but it also isn’t their fault. It’s ours. We have done a terrible job raising our pups and now we’ve got to work twice as hard to make up for lost time.
You’d think we’d be better at this, given we’ve had dogs since shortly after we started dating. But it has been a long time since we’ve had puppies this young and now we have two. I wouldn’t trade them, but we probably should have thought a little more about it at the beginning.
In any case, this is a lifetime commitment, like raising a kid. Monday’s fight reminded us of that.
Hank Kalet 