Whatever I Feel LikeGosh!

Despite the fact that Grace just chewed up my last pair of white sandals (she already got to the other 2 pairs), her behavior is getting much better in regards to going outside to do her business. I can’t believe how mad I am about those sandals, though. They were so cute. So cute. They were thongs with a soft fabric lining so my feet didn’t stick to them, and they had the cutest little shells on the thong part. :CRIES:

Anyway, moving on.

I came up with a plan that seems to have worked.

1 - I put up a baby gate so she can not get to the front living room at all.

2 - I brought her crate out to the hallway entrance to block the back area where the bedrooms and master bath are.

3 - I made sure the door to the basement was closed.

Those three things effectively made her living area *much* smaller and possibly safer because it changed her demeanor and everything.

She has only asked to go outside when she actually has to go except for 2 or 3 times and has not had one accident in the past 3 days. I’d say that is a success!

The other thing is we are being consistent about giving her lots of praise and a treat every time she goes outside after asking to go out. She gets the praise just as she is finishing up, so she doesn’t stop mid-stream and gets the treat as soon as she is all done. The few times we’ve gone out that have been non-productive, she knows we have a treat with us and still wants it - and gets disappointed when she doesn’t get it. I think she’s caught on to the fact that she won’t get it unless she actually goes. Hopefully this will keep up. I’m not sure how long we should continue the treats for - I don’t want to have to be giving a 5 year old dog treats every time it goes to the bathroom, but I guess we’ll sort that out as time goes on.

So, yay for progress! Now if only we could do something about the shoe chewing…