Monday, February 11, 2013

The Prince and the Pee

I am a bad dog person! The dog got only one walk all weekend and it was late Sunday night and it was short! I id found out though that a ride in the car also takes a lot out of him.

We didn't go on any walks but he did join me on many, many, many errands in the car and he spent a lot of time in parking lots protecting the car and as it turns out, this takes a lot out of him. I don't know how looking out the window tires him out, but I think it has a lot to do with amount of time he spends actually being awake and alert. If I had left him at home he might have spent five minutes barking before he curled up and slept until I got home. If I had run all of the errands without him, he would have gone back to bed five or six times both days, instead of he was forced to remain alert for almost the entire day. Score!

Who knew?

He was sound asleep by mid-evening and was really annoyed at 10:15pm when I took him out for his last pee. he probably would have been dry Sunday morning if I had been more disciplined and gotten up at 5am and taken him out like I was supposed to. Instead of me waking him up , he woke me up at 7:30am because he had wet his crate and he wanted me to clean it up for him. I think I'm going to stop with the newspaper beause it doesn't seem to do much except make the area harder to clean up and it would be easier to just sop up the puddle of piddle and spray the area down and move on.

His crate has "areas" now, its probably too big for him if he can both wet the box and escape from it. He also now has a bed instead of bedding. I shopped  traditional dog beds but they were all really expensive and looked like he would destroy them immediately or they were really cheap and they looked like he would destroy them immediately.

I needed bed options, I knew going in that I was not going with a traditional dog bed - Daisy never had one either but she was fine with a nest of  layers and layers of repurposed bed sheets and later with a huge couch cushion and still later, the futon.  She did eat several dog beds in her early days, most notably, a crib mattress. I  want to think I have learned from the experience and I want to be smarter this time around, at least I am going to start off cheaper than a crib mattress.

Rocket would eat a cheap dog bed or pee it to death. A crib mattress is a really, really good idea! And I already know he he feels about repurposed bedding - he feels it very easy to shred. I do not want him to sleep on a hard floor, it seems cruel and unfair no matter what the literature tells me about what a puppy needs or wants bedding-wise "Needs : a warm, dry place to sleep" Wants - "To sleep on your bed, I hope you have water wings" . I needed a middle ground.

My first choice was very high end bath mats but I discovered they all they featured the word "ABSORBENT" in big letters on the labels and that rendered them a no go. Then I discovered out door furniture  cushions. They are not absorbent and are even somewhat water proof, are made for rough use, and even better, they are soft and cushy! The ideal puppy bed!

So far, two nights in, so good. Hopefully he will sleep more soundly and longer now that he has a bed, one that hopefully, he won't make into a chew toy.

 Can dogs catch  "the elevensies" from cats? Rocket all ready caught "Standing on the kitchen tableies" from the kitty. Is my dog catching "Cat" from the kitty?

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