Tuesday, July 20, 2010

More Often than Not..




I am learning first hand what it is like to have a siberian husky-the muddy way! :) I've read that they like to bury themselves in the snow to keep warm, and in the mud to keep cool. Suka is as stereotypical as they come I guess. Almost every afternoon I am greeted by this wet, muddy, jumping crazy boy. If there is mud to be found in the yard (which there often is) he finds it, rolls in it, covers himself in it. He isn't too keen about the cleandown afterwards, but sloshing himself in the mud is worth it apparently because he does it over and over again! :) It has been hot here, and although he has plenty of water he still likes to cool down in the mud as well. Usually I catch it quick enough but occasionally the mop has to come out because I get muddy pawprints all over the kitchen before I can catch him and quickly usher him outside for his clean-off. He was REALLY covered yesterday and wasn't so impressed with me after his spray off but he's since forgiven me (good thing!) :)

Here is a question for those professional potty trainers- Suka has a lot of accidents in the house still. He could be out all day, then come in and mess in the house. For this reason, when the weather is good, I let him be outside alot. Originally I thought maybe if he was outside alot, he would realize that the outside is the place to potty, (since he would be pottying outside alot and smelling his scent)but now I'm not so sure if I am doing the right thing. I've potty trained both our other dogs. Takoda was easy peasy and trained by the time he was only a few months old. Ruger was stubborn and it took a little longer but he figured it out fairly quickly in the general scheme of things. Could I be hurting him by leaving him outside so much when the weather is good, rather than having him in and out of the house all day long, every 10 minutes or less?? Any advice would be wonderful!!! I only want to do what is best for him, not make it more difficult for him.

We had our second puppy class yesterday. Suka did pretty well, I was proud of him. The class has been reduced to half of it's size from last week so apparently a few others felt the same way as I did last week. It will be good to learn things away from our home environment and our own dogs, and have him be exposed to other dogs. One thing I'm thankful for is that Suka doesn't seem to be aggressive at all towards people or dogs. He gets very excited and wants to attack in play (which some of the dogs don't particularly care for) but he does seemingly well with others. He is a smartie in many respects :) The trainer was impressed by how many things he already knows, she said that she could tell that I am not a first time dog owner and that I work with him often. That was a nice compliment for sure :)
Posted by Picasa

2 comments:

  1. Hi there! I have to say, I give total credit to Kirby's breeder for the potty training. He didn't have an accident for the first 3 days! He's also in and out a lot- He wants to be in the same room as me nearly all the time- He's only happy outside for a few minutes. He's had a few accidents since we've come home- The first one was when we had guests over, and one of the guests was blocking the back door. He's had his other two accidents in the same place. I don't have many tips- Kirby is our first dog, and the breeder did the hard work. It sounds like you have a good handle on dog training in general though, so I guess just keep it up! He'll learn! :) Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  2. BOL at the mud. Lucky for Mom, it has been so dry and hot here that there isn't much chance for mud. Ciara loves the mud too, or maybe she just loves to dig.

    For the potty training, what works best here may not work for your schedule. Mom took Ciara out on a leash and use the go potty command. Lots of praise once she would go. If she didn't go, then back in the house and then try again in a bit. She didn't get to go free to play in the yard unless she had gone potty first. They have to make the connection that when you come out here, you need to take care of business first, then play. And remember lots and lots of praise for success.

    Woos ~ Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara

    ReplyDelete