When a puppy is quiet and out of your sight, there’s usually trouble to be had. The other day when Hershey was neither in sight nor making noise, she was indeed making trouble. She had pushed over one of the baby gates and was exploring the off-limits-for-now living room.
“What are we going to do? She’s going to be able to jump over the gates before we know it,” I said to my husband.
“Well, now that she’s pretty much potty trained, we’ll be able to let her in the rest of the house soon,” he said.
I looked at him like he’d sprouted another head. “What do you mean pretty much potty trained?”
He shrugged. “She is.”
“Our dog? Hershey?” I asked in disbelief. Did he remember how many bottles of pet odor remover we’d gone through? How many paper towels were now clogging up landfills?
But then I thought about it. Hershey’s been doing well with the potty training thing. Was he right? Is Hershey really potty trained? This whole process has been one, long blur of endless trips out doors, and daily spot cleaning of the rug. Was the bane of my existence for the past 3 months over? Hershey has gone many days without an accident. And when she does have one, it’s usually because we’ve missed her polite sit-and-stare routine to let us know she needs to go out.
Maybe Hershey is potty trained, I thought. What counts as potty trained anyway? Even potty trained kids have accidents. I do think she tries her hardest to let us know when she needs to go out. Sometimes, she even bats me with her paw when she sits and stares at me. (Usually she goes immediately when I take her out if it was initiated by a paw swipe.) But sometimes, she just gives up and goes inside. It’s not like she’s jumping at the door, trying one last desperate attempt to get us to take her out. How hard can a dog try? We have yet to try the bell trick, but usually we seem to be able to know when she needs to go.
And even when she does have an accident inside she seems to regret it. She’ll go hide under the table or look ashamed. (If a dog can look ashamed, anyway.) No dog, potty trained or not, can hold it forever, so accidents can happen with any dog. (Although my husband had a cat who would pee in the tub if access to his litter box was blocked. Now there’s a well trained cat. That would be a good trick to teach.)
So wow. Did we do it? Did we get through the never ending nightmare known as potty training?
Well, the poop on the rug later that night was a good hint, that no, we’re not quite there yet. But I do think the finish line is in sight.
That is, if she can properly train us to know when she needs to go.
—————–
Have you missed any of the articles in this series?
If so, you can find them at:
The Bringing Up Puppy Series page.
Related posts:
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – Counting My Chickens Too Soon
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – Two Weeks Later
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – Two Steps Back
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – Not Such a Notable Nose
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – The Furs Flying
