They All Call Me Mom

Penny Update

Remember the dog we adopted back in December?  Penny is doing quite well.  Of course she gets into everything, as most puppies do.  If it’s lying on the floor, she will have it in her mouth soon enough.  Shoes left out get chewed. Toys get destroyed.  Paper gets shredded.  Food gets eaten.  (crayons, too, for that matter. Penny’s poop is always very colorful.)  We have to “Penny Proof” the house constantly. During the Christmas season with all the wrapping we did, she was in Heaven.  Every time we finished with a roll of paper we’d let her have the cardboard tube afterwards.  She’d carry that big thing around in her mouth all day, before finally shredding it.

If there are any dog experts out there, here are a few things that Penny does that I need to break her of.

 
1)  Penny will dart out an open door and just RUN into the street!  She doesn’t stop to look around first, she doesn’t sniff the grass or the surroundings.   Nope.  She just runs straight into the street and then runs around IN the street.  I can’t figure her out.  When Milo used to get out, he would at least run to the nearest tree or some grass or bushes.  But Penny just runs right out into the street.   She gets walked at least twice a day, so it’s not like she’s deprived of the outdoors and runs whenever she sees the chance of freedom.   I don’t know why she does this other than just the simple fact that she’s not trained well.  But how do you train a dog not to run outside?  I’m so afraid that she will get hit by a car.  We live on a fairly busy street, so she has been extremely lucky so far.
 
2)  Penny will not go outside in the morning.  I let both dogs out of their kennel at around 7:00am so that they can go to the bathroom. Then once they go, they get let back in again.  Penny knows the routine, so as soon as I let her out of her kennel, she runs around the house.  She will not run outside with Milo, but instead just stays in the house.  I call her.  I even go outside myself and call her to entice her to come out.  But she won’t go outside on her own will.   I can’t have her run free in the house when I know that she has to pee after being in her kennel all night.  So I go  pick her up to put her outside, but then she does that nervous “piddle” and makes a mess on my carpet each morning.  Rich is NOT doing well with this habit of hers, by the way.  He is a cleanliness freak and cannot stand the fact that this dog pees whenever she’s nervous or excited. 
 
3)  Penny will growl at people when we are on our walks. She either growls or barks at them.   Adults and children,  which I just can’t understand because she is so good with our kids and has never done anything even slightly aggressive towards them.  But it seems that with strangers she is always in “guard dog mode”  and it’s not only embarrassing,  but I can’t trust her.  She has never bit anyone in our family, but the way she growls at others makes me wonder what she’s got going on in her head.  
 
So what can I do about these three things?  Any advice?  Other than these two things, she’s a great dog and we all love her so much. 

me and my “baby” 

 
Vote for me @ Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog Directory
click this link once a day to vote – thank you so much!

Comments

  1. Love the last pic of you two. :) I don’t have advice except to get a gate for right before the front door. It is a huge fear of mine that something horrible like getting hit by a car. Good luck. She looks so sweet :)

    Reply

  2. Ok. This is going to sound stupid and it might annoy someone.. but oh well. My dog has a nervous bladder as well. They sell a band of some kind that wraps around the important relavent places that will catch little piddles. Not a full fledged GOING in the house, but enough that it might keep hubby happy. They are washable and reusable.
    Can’t say that they outgrow this though.. Sorry :(

    Reply

  3. For the street running…I do not know. Especially since she is running out. You might have to resort for her own safety to one of those “hidden fence” collars that shock her when she goes out of the allowed perimeter. After a while, you might be able to remove it permanently because she will have broken the habit. Of course, always remember to take it off her before going on walks!!!!

    For going outside…would a treat entice her enough? You might need to find the right treat but something is bound to get her more interested in the outdoors than the house! A favorite toy, food treat, game. Will take some time and effort in find what makes her want to be out there. Her previous owners may have put her out in the morning and left her there for a long time and she didn’t like that. Even though you don’t do that, she might fear that is what is going to happen.

    For the growling at strangers, that is a hard one. I know that when we had our sweet dog to break her of this we would make her sit if she started to growl. She would loose the privilege of walking. To them a walk is a treat, so possibly the thought of the other people and dogs intruding on her special time bothers her. When she growls firmly say, “No” and stop walking. Once she stops you continue the walk. We took a puppy class and they taught us soooo much and this was one of the things we were taught. It really did work but it took time and consistency. The walks will take longer and you might have to have 2 people walk the 2 dogs or walk them separately so that Milo isn’t punished along with Penny.

    Reply

  5. My sister had problem with her Cocker Spaniel running off, they got a special collar for him that comes with flags that you put up at boundary points, when he goes past the boundary flags he automatically gets a small electric shock – like a static shock, when he comes back inside the boundary the shock stops….My sis says it is great because the dog quickly caught on that the flags were the trigger and doesn’t run off anymore…

    As for the barking and growling at other adults and children, we cured our dogs of that by getting to their level when they did, holding them still and in one of those lovely even toned voices of death that work so well with children, would say “No” and continue to do so until the dog stopped, then carry on with the walk….It worked well with our dogs, so it may work for you. You have to be consistent with it though.

    I have no clue about the weeing – female dogs spotting indoors with excitement is just part of the territory. In the morning I would make a huge fuss of her when she does wee outside, and try the voice of death thing when she wees inside…

    Hope this helps

    Lou :-)

    Reply

  6. I feel your pain with #1. We live really close to a highway. We have 3 Dachshunds that have to be walked multiple times a day. The youngest, Uno, tries to dart out the door everytime it is opened for more than 2 seconds!! He either darts out to the highway or heads up the hill to torment the neighbors 20 Cane Corsos (they are breeders)–I’m not sure which terrifies me most!! I do know that age is the only thing that we have found to be helpful. Age and experience. Each time he darts out the door we spank him (NOT beat!!) firmly but gently and place him into the dog carrier (portable kennel) for about 15 minutes. He is definitely getting better about not actually getting out though he still runs for the door. So patience and training, I guess.

    My mom has a couple of piddling dogs and they’ve never grown out of it. :-( Sorry. Hopefully you can figure out something!!

    Good luck!!

    Reply

    • First off I have to say that “Uno” is the cutest name for a dog!
      Our Milo used to be a runner. Boy that dog would just take off, and we could never catch him. One time I had to turn around and just let him go, because I had left little kids in the house and I just couldn’t keep chasing him. He was gone for FOUR DAYS!! (I believe that story is in my blog’s archives for 2007) Well, now Milo is 4 years old and his “running for the border” days are well behind him. He might dart out the door every now and then, but he always stops at the grass, sniffs around, then comes right back in. I’m hoping Penny grows out of this habit, too. (But doesn’t get hit in the meantime!)
      And the piddling thing… she really needs to outgrow that because it’s a deal breaker for my husband. He let us keep her based on the fact that she should outgrow that annoying habit :(

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *