Roxy was a bit confused and forlorn yesterday. She and I went to our local pet store on Monday afternoon and we both received a lesson on how to walk on a leash. I was trained in how to stop her from jumping up on us and from biting.
It’s not that we didn’t discipline her, we did. The biting was awful. For the first couple of weeks that we had her, I was chewed upon everywhere. Everywhere - ankles, hand, stomach - there wasn’t a body part that she didn’t chew on. I even thought a couple of times that I’d loose a nipple.
I can only imagine that emergency room conversation.
She even bit three holes in my vintage NorWesCo / Huttig tee shirt. While I was in it.
Dad gave me a good idea of putting coins in a plastic bottle and shaking it when Roxy did something wrong. I have some mini cans from my NorWesCo days, so I put some change in one of those and taped it shut.
Worked like a charm. Scared the liver out of her.
While it stopped the serious attack biting, it didn’t stop the little nips here and there, And it seems if you let her get a little love bite in, that gives her the okay to start biting harder. Randy especially is getting chewed up pretty good. Or from Randy’s point of view, pretty bad.
The jumping up just started in the last week. So our first class came in the nick of time.
Amy, the trainer, is a sweet young lady that comes to the Mountain Home area once a week from Missouri. Roxy, being the smartest dog in the universe, caught on real quick to what Amy was teaching us. I, on the other hand, was a nervous wreak when it came time to leave and be expected to walk out all the while using the leash correctly.
Please, Amy, please, can’t I stay? There’s plenty of water and food here for us. And I have my eye on that cute monkey toy for me. I mean for Roxy.
No worries, Roxy and I made it out to the truck just fine.
Yes, Randy let me out into the wilds of Mountain Home, alone, with his truck. I have a key for the truck. No key as yet for the Camaro, though. (Update - I have just been reminded that I do, indeed have a key for the Camaro. Opps.)
Poor Roxy got pretty offended at our new methods to discipline her. I think that is part of her strategy is to look at me with those sad puppy dog eyes so I will relent and allow her to chew on Randy. Not me, the part of me that is made of stern and stubborn German stock is stern and stubborn. And unrelenting at times. Roxy had a couple of spells of talking back to me, but I have succeeded in winning those battles. Randy, on the other hand, is more of a softy.
It hasn’t even been a day and already Roxy is showing improvement on the biting and the jumping on us. On the other hand, she is spending a lot of time curled up under the table pouting.
To add insult to injury Roxy also had to go the vet yesterday. Three shots and her temperature taken.
Not orally.
Have the BEST day ever!
~ Dorothy
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