Kerrigan is doing great! I thought I would post an update on everything she has learned in the months we have had her but then I went on a rant about potty training so I guess I will be making this into two posts.
She is 99% potty trained. I really don't get why people think potty training a puppy is so hard (ok I do get it but it has way more to do with the stupidity and laziness of humans than the inability of their dogs to learn). It really was not difficult at all. Only thing it required was consistency and near constant supervision when she was out and allowed to run around. When we could not watch her we kept her in a playpen, when she was out we made sure to take her to pee every hour or so. When she went outside she got a treat, if we caught her going inside we said no and brought her outside really fast. Once she started scratching at the door to go out we tried to wait until she asked before taking her out, gradually letting her go longer and longer before making her go outside in the hoes that she would ask first. As of the last few weeks we have only had accidents when she asks to pee but we are not paying attention to the door. She has such tiny paws and they make so little noise. I was thinking of getting a bell but am worried Copley might REALLY enjoy ringing it. Oh, and she also knows the command "Go Pee" and will squeeze out any pee she can, that's handy for when we are about to leave.
She also is we we pad trained. That has been a big help with her as a puppy but not something I think I will continue into the future. We did it because she can only hold it for a few hours and sometimes we have to leave for longer than that. Right now she is doing good holding it for 4 hours during the day while we are gone, or 6 hours at night while she is asleep. When we leave for 4 hours or less she is crated, more than 4 hours and we leave her with a pee pad in her pen. When we first got her our limit was 2 hours, but she has been doing a lot of growing since then.
So in summary- housetraining is not rocket science. There may be the occasional dog that is difficult to train and of course puppymill survivors (they are a whole different story) but other than that it is not hard. I really have no patience for the many many people out there who have had dogs for a year and they still are not housetrained. I blame 99% of that on laziness, ignorance and general stupidity. For the 1% of you out there with dogs who really are genuinely having trouble with potty training despite your absolute best efforts, don't be offended, keep up the good work.
A woman I take agility class with told me that her boss would only hire people who had successfully housetrained a puppy, but unfortunately they can't ask people that in their interviews. That is probably sound logic as housetraining is a simple task overall but requires the virtues of patience, persistence and control of rage even while sleep deprived.
I will leave you with a video of Kerri showing off. You sill see she waits at the door until released then goes immediately to her potty spot when I tell her to. I left out the actual peeing part, it seemed a little gross for the blog.
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