Nova is Amazing

Last night for the first time Nova ran to the door, scratched at it, ran towards me to make sure I saw, waited at the door while I opened it and then barked when she wanted back in.  ALL BY HERSELF.  No Kerri, no Copley, just a Nova wanting to go outside.  She saw a cockroach on the patio and wanted to eat it.

To you this may not seem like a big deal.  For Nova this is a momentous occasion.  So exciting that I have dropped what I am doing to blog about it.

Nova is only housetrained because she goes out with the other dogs and has a DoggieLawn in the house for when she can't wait till someone else has to go out.  I let her out sometimes when I have the inkling that she wants to go, and if I open the door and call her over she will run outside if another dog goes with her and she has to pee.  I have never pushed this issue with her because this is actually not a housetraining problem, it is rooted in a much much bigger Nova issue.  She will not take any action that she believes will cause a person to stand up.  Even when she initiates play with me she does it in a way that she is sure will not cause me to stand up and move around.  If I do she puts her ears back, tail down and crawls into a corner or crate.

She scratched at the door- knowing I would get up.  Happily waited for me to do so then she barked to come back inside- knowing I would get up to let her in.  My mind is totally blown, this is one area that I thought was never going to change and then she goes and proves me wrong again.

I have no idea why tonight was the night she decided to take this leap, however like all things Nova it appears to be the new norm.  It is like she waits until she is ready to do something all the way before she does it at all, because she asked to go out again this morning, once again like it was no big deal.  I have responded by not making a big deal out of it but inside I am jumping for joy every time she trots over there.

Finally I have to share what Ben said about this.  "Are you sure it wasn't actually Kerri?"  I am sure, because she did it again.

DoggieLawn Product Review

I want to start this review out by saying that I never thought I would have a dog that was "pad trained" fake grass trained or in any other way trained to go inside my house.  No matter how small the dog was the very idea of it just seemed disgusting to me.  In fact I thought people who had their dogs trained to go inside were just plain crazy.  Copley was of course trained to go outside and Kerrigan was trained to go outside from the time she was a puppy.  It was not until I got Nova that I decided we needed to find an indoor solution (and started to realize a lot of people have perfectly good reasons for needing an indoor potty solution).  It was at the time not going to be a permanent fix but she needed a place to go when she was not yet willing to go outside.  So I put pee pads in her pen.  For a variety of reasons a year later still have pee pads in my house.  Nova only uses the pads once a day, if that.  Kerri will now use the pads if we are gone for a while but overall they are occasional use products.  We tried taking them away but then Nova would totally un-housetrain herself and the only thing worse than pee on pads that I have to pick up is pee somewhere else in my house.

When I was contacted by the folks at DoggieLawn about doing a review I was intrigued and interested in trying the product but I did not at all expect to love it as much as I did.  In fact I plan to subscribe to DoggieLawn myself at the end of the month when my grass is worn out.  The stuff is AMAZING!  Take it from a skeptic, this stuff is the best solution I've ever seen if you need your dog to do it's business inside the house.  Me and Mr.DogInTheDesert were both skeptical going into it but the grass just keeps coming through for us at every turn.

First of all it is real grass.  Just like the stuff you have in your backyard, except that it is grown hydroponically so there is no dirt.  Because it is a real plant you do have to water it.  I was a little skeptical about that.  Won't watering peed on grass make the room smell like pee?  Well I am pleasantly surprised that the stuff does not smell!  I got the petite size (it is the size that is available starting at $29 monthly depending on how often you want it) and with occasional use over two weeks you can't even tell its been used.  I can't smell anything at all in the way of dog pee.  We did have one "incident" where Nova had a slightly runny poop and even after picking it up there was some *stuff* left on the grass.  I was pretty bummed out about that because it seemed like the whole thigh would be kinda ruined by one only slightly iffy poop.  Then it occurred to me to try to rinse off the grass.  I took it out of the box, put it in the backyard and hosed it off.

As you can see it held up perfectly.  I let it dry out a little bit for a few hours, put it back in the box and replaced it in the potty corner in the dog room and it has been great since.  This is certainly not the intended use of the DoggieLawn but it does prove even clean freaks like me can use the DoggieLawn.

I think the best feature about DoggieLawn is actually the free training help they provide!  Once you subscribe you can call and schedule a time to speak to a trainer that can help you out with any issues you are having AS MANY TIMES AS YOU NEED!  That's right- they have a trainer available that will listen to your specific situation and help you get on the right track.  Just that would be worth the subscription fee!  My dogs did not need any help, I just replaced the pee pads with the grass and they went right for it, but I did talk with one of the trainers and they seemed friendly, knowledgeable and their methods of housebreaking get my stamp of approval.

In conclusion DoggieLawn is great!  Two other great uses I wanted to mention are potty training a puppy.  If you plan to have the dog go outside only, but they are still to young/unvaccinated to use your outside grass DoggieLawn would be a great alternative to pee pads because you are actually teaching the dog to go on real grass!  Seems perfect to me.  Also if you live in an apartment and want a solution that can be put on your balcony or porch DoggieLawn would be great.  Of course it also would work great for people like me who are pee pad users (or as I am now going to say used to be pee pad users before I found DoggieLawn)!

*I was given a free patch of DoggieLawn for this review but my opinions are all my own.

A Nova Update

"I am blossoming into a beautiful flower, and using your plants as beds."

The other night I was at a fundraiser for one of my favorite local organizations Incred-A-Bull and I ran into a lot of people who I had not seen in a while and asked how Nova was doing.  Actually most of them asked about "tire store chihuahua" as she is more commonly known.  If you are a new reader you might want to check out some of my old posts about Nova, but to sum it all up she was a totally feral dog living behind a tire store until she was trapped and I got her.  It is hard to really say how she is doing in a few words of casual conversation, but what I came up with is this.  

"She is very comfortable around the house, very smart and she has taught me a lot."

All that is true, but it is so much more complicated than that.  Nova has come so far in the last year that I can barely believe it but many things are still a big challenge for her.  She has brought challenges to me as a trainer that I had never seen before and more than that she opened my mind to a lot of new ways of doing thing, and proved that what I before would have said "works every time if you do it right" I now realize is just a great place to start.  If nothing else at least every dog that enters my life from this time forward will benefit from the things I learned from Nova and the partnership we have (it truly is a partnership) in navigating the scarey world.

As far as day to day life, Nova is nearly a normal dog around the house with only a few accommodations.  She is potty trained 100% but because she will not ask Ben to open the door we have pee pads inside that she uses if he is the only one home.  She participates in barking that Kerrigan starts, but she is not an excessive barker at the outside world.  When people come over she does hop around nervously and will do some aggressive barking if she feels trapped in a room or needs to get past them for food but mostly is not at hassle to visitors.  She will take food from people, and even sit or touch for food from strangers and visitors.  She has never gone after a person aggressively, and it is obvious she is acting out of fear, but I always lock her up when kids visit.  She has proven that if she is actually cornered and grabbed she rolls over and goes to a submissive scared place, but I don't think I will ever trust that she would never go to an aggressive place.  Because of that I am never going to let her near children loose in the house.

She does do a lot better out in the world.  We have a regular walking route we take and she happily does that with me and Kerrigan.  If people approach us she sits by me as Kerrigan is petted and while on a leash generally looks to me for guidance.  Any change to our route however is a reason for panic the first time or two, then she goes with it like she is an old pro.

A few weeks ago we "graduated" basic obedience class.  She did not participate in everything at class, but was actually excited to go and I did not try to push her too far.  She LOVES her clicker and with it's help she accomplished a lot of things at class.  She walked around with other bigger dogs very close to her, she walked for a short while with someone else (our instructor) holding the leash and she did a lot of her clicker tricks in public.  Also on one day she tried to instigate play with another tiny little dog at class.  The owner was kind enough to let them go for a minute then moved on.  I am so proud of how well she did and I plan to take the class again.  Nova is a very smart dog and while nervous at parts I think she appreciated the challenge of class.

Speaking if smart, Nova has learned a LOT of clicker tricks and is enjoying going through Kyra Sundance's book 101 Dog Tricks and learning even more!  She really gets the idea of the clicker and it is so easy to shape behaviors with her this way.  The unfortunate thing is she will not "perform" for anyone but me!  I am thinking I should get a tripod and video camera then make her a you tube star.  I was thinking of getting her to act out an entire Shakespearean drama or something like that.  I say thinking about it because the odds of me having enough time in my life to actually do that is rather slim, but we can dream.

So in conclusion, Nova is very comfortable around the house, very smart and she has taught me a lot.  She continues to improve in her relations with people every day, she loves Kerrigan and Copley and she is just a joy to clicker train.  Nova may never be a totally normal dog, she certainly is not ever going to run up to strangers like Kerri does but every day she gets a little less scared and figures out a little something more about living with people.  She is a lot of work, and I can't say I recommend adopting a feral dog but for me she has been a joy.

There is a Nova update for everyone!

PoochieBells Product Review

Last month the people over at Poochie-Pets contacted me about reviewing a few of their products.  I could not have been more excited because they are the makers of PoochieBells, the dog doorbells!  I have been thinking of buying bells to train the dogs but for some reason or another never got around to it till now!

I don't know why I waited this long because it was so incredibly easy to train the dogs to use the bells.  My dogs are already house-trained so I just hung the bells on the door and every time they wanted to go out I brought them over to the bells and had them nose touch them before I opened the door.  Foster dog George (who was adopted last week YAY!!) caught on to the bells in less than an hour, he was ringing consistently by that night.  Copley took more like three or four days to understand he should ring bells not just scratch at the door like before.  Kerri was a little harder to sell on the bells.  At first she was not crazy about the noise and didn't want to go near them.  I put the bells on the floor with some treats around them and soon she was happily rummaging around the bells to get the treats.  Then I hung the bells on the door and just like I did with the other dogs I would see she wanted to go out then lead her over to the bells. I have to admit it took Kerri almost a week and a half before she was consistently using them, but now that she is I am so happy!

What I love about PoochieBells-

• PoochieBells are made in the USA with custom, lead free USA manufactured bells.  If you read this blog regularly you know I am all about responsably manufactured products made in North America!  The bells even have a cute little paw on them to let you know they are authentic PoochieBells.
• When we go out of town I will be able to bring the bells with us!  This is a HUGE plus for me.  We often travel to cabins and other peoples houses creating a real quandary for the dogs.  They never know what door to ask to go out and it is usually up to us humans to predict when they need to go.  I can't wait to travel with them, it will be so easy!  I will be able to hang the bells and the dogs will have no question about what door to go to.  Skeptical?  Don't worry dear blog readers, I will be sure to let you all know how it goes the first time we go out of town.
• They work for my tiny dog.  Kerri weighs less than 6lbs and she has no problem at all reaching the bells.
• I can finally hear the dogs wanting to go out 100% of the time!  Copley was trained to scratch the door to go out, Kerri was trained to bark (because I could not hear her tiny little feet scratching the door) but also would get frustrated when I didn't notice THAT is what she was barking about and would start pawing at the door.  Foster dog George just sits by the door because I didn't want him pawing at and scratching it up!  With 3 dogs doing three different things it was very confusing and I often went to let dogs out only to find they were just playing near the door and had no interest in going anywhere.  Finally we have a consistent way for our dogs and any future foster dogs to all communicate to me in a clear way.
• The bells are attractive on my door.  Now that the dogs are trained I am thinking of moving the bells to a hook next to the door. My main reasoning for that is my door is glass in the middle and from time to time Ben closes the door a little hard and I am worried about the bells hurting the glass.  Luckily Poochie-Pets carries a selection of really nice hooks too!

Wow!  I had so much to say great about Poochie-Bells that I didn't even get to my review of the To-Go Pet Towel!  Look out for a post about that next week.  In the meanwhile if you would like some PoochieBells of your own visit http://www.poochie-pets.net/

Poochie Pets sent me my sample of Poochie Bells and the To-Go Pet Towel to review. however all of the opinions are my own.  I would still be saying great things about their products even if they hadn't sent me a sample!

House Training

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.