So today was one of those days when lots of interesting things happen and you just want to go back to bed and start over. To start off the day, Blake kept escaping the house to go outside. Deadbolts and two different types of child proof locks are not Blake proof. We normally spend much of our morning outside but today we couldn't. You see I needed to do a bunch of things inside the house plus I wanted to make a "real" lunch since I had not made dinner the night before to redeem myself with Bradley since he was working from home this morning and leaving for the next four days. So anyways, Blake kept escaping resulting in me running outside to retrieve him many times. I should have just given up but I didn't as I had to finish those darn ham balls! Then to pay me back for making him come inside, he decided to retreat to my bathroom where he got into his bathwash and began washing his hair. So that resulted in a bath for him to rinse it all out! Then Sadie, our puppy decided to get in the trash and eat one of Blake's dirty diapers which resulted in her getting a bath and the sidewalk a washing. Fun stuff, huh? This was all before 11 am! Never mind the 8 million times I've wiped up pee and poop from our puppy on the garage floor who has decided puppy pads are not for her. Which brings me to my point of whats on my mind.
We adopted Sadie a month ago with the idea she was going to be an outside only dog. Mainly because I don't want her shedding hair in the house. I however had guilt about this since I grew up with dogs in the house and feel bad about her being outside all the time. I've thrown out the idea to Bradley about at least letting her come as far as the mud room but he hasn't agreed as of yet. So anyways, I've been talking to friends and reading way too much on the internet about crate training dogs. I dismissed this idea initially because I thought it was only for dogs indoors. However, I'm wondering if I need to do it so she learns the proper place to eliminate is outside and not wherever she pleases in the garage. But of course everything you read on the internet makes me feel guilty that Sadie is not being an indoor dog! Things like dogs are pack animals and their family is their pack, etc. I feel like I'm causing great distress to my poor puppy because I make her stay outside!! Ahhhh! So, I need to talk to people who have outside only dogs and find out if they are happy dogs. I want Sadie to be happy and know she's loved and be well behaved. And as far as crate training, wow I'm overwhelmed and not sure we will be successful with her being outside and me not able to catch her everytime she wakes up from a nap, etc. I guess I'm going to start with crate training her at night and see where that gets us. Hopefully soon she'll learn that eliminating outside is the right place. Until then, I'm going to try not to worry myself about whether or not my dog is happy!
