In which we take the circus on the road

I was going to upload some pictures earlier and write a quick post about our Thanksgiving trip. That is until I got a notice that evidently I have used up my free storage on Picasa which means I cannot post any pictures. Well, unless I pay to increase my photo storage. I suppose I should have known that Blogger stores all photos on Picasa and that I have a Picasa account as a result, but I didn't. The whole thing was news to me. As to paying... well, I'll have to ponder that a while, so no pictures for the moment.

So you will have to imagine pictures that A. took on the road as you read this. I think she is becoming quite a good photographer, but you'll have to take my word for it.

We left for J.'s aunt and uncle's house on Thanksgiving morning, and it did feel a bit like a circus. Or a clown car because we were trying to make the trip without using the trailer. That made 12 people and their luggage in the van and the car top carrier. Oh, and a puppy. And a pen. And dog food and bowls. And dog toys. The puppy felt as though she required a lot more thought and stuff than anyone else.

The trip went surprisingly well. No one peed in the car, and since we were travelling with two newly trained three year olds and a four month old puppy, that is quite an accomplishment. And we made it with just one stop in our 3 1/2 hour drive. The rest of the trip was equally calm.

A lot of that was due to the fact that we kept Gretel on a leash and spent a lot of time running around with her outside. No accidents at all, in fact. She was a very well behaved puppy. Which leads me to the question I have for all of the more experienced dog trainers out there. Why, why, why did the puppy do so well and the minute we get home, she starts peeing in the house again? She does know how to ask to go out and we let her out the minute we notice. In fact, sometimes she doesn't even try to ask. She doesn't have the run of the house and is in just the kitchen and rarely by herself. Today we have kept her on the leash and close to us all the time (except when outside) and she has been fine, but I'm sure she would really appreciate not having to be leashed inside and I would appreciate not having to hold her leash. Suggestions? Please? She is such a good dog otherwise.

Well, it's not quite the post I was planning on writing, but it's the post you get. I hope life will have settled down a bit by tomorrow.

Comments

Lucy said…
Get a leash that goes around your waist, then your hands are free :-) Assuming you're doing everything else, like taking her outside right after eating/sleeping and frequently enough in between, "tethering" her to you is probably the best way to go. You're building a habit, and sometimes that just takes time. Crate her when she's not on the leash.

Shonya said…
Sorry, I'm distracted by the Picasa/paying for storage thing. I got the same message--now that I'm well and truly hooked on blogging and hate to give it up. Figures, hmmm?!

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