Can't Hardly Wait

It’s been slow going with Leeloo and the crate training. By far she is the very worst puppy I’ve ever had to crate train.

Every time she goes outside she pees within moments of feet hitting snow. No problems there. The only times she’s peed in the house is when I haven’t been watching her carefully enough.

The crate thing is now completely beyond me and I’ve given up. Three days in a row this week I came home to a pee covered puppy and crate. I know she hasn’t peed in anticipation of me coming in because it’s partially dried to the crate and her. She doesn’t care if she sits in it for hours. So rather than waste my time cleaning her and a crate for a half hour whenever I come home, I’ve put her back in the ex-pen with paper. No pee on the puppy, easy to clean up and it preserves my sanity. I didn't anticipate or appreciate the poop smearage of Thursday but I need to be consistent and will stick with the expen for now.

She is a smart dog. I know she’s smart. This … huge stumbling block. She can hold it for 9 hours at night (yes I get 9 hours of sleep most nights … sue me) but she can’t hold it during the day. Very annoying.

So I’ve changed the routine. She gets about 2 cups of water in her food in the morning and that’s it – no bowls are down. She won’t die of thirst while I’m out. She gets peed when she wakes up and then again just seconds before I leave. There is no water in with her. She needs to develop the habit of not peeing in her pen during the day. It will be slow progress and I’m pretty much prepared for that at this point.

One thing I hate is a dirty dog. Hate it. Can’t have it. Raimi can hold it all day and has been able to since he was about 3 ½ months old. There is no reason Leeloo can’t too.