My Dog – She’s no Lab!

I’ve had Pacha for a month now and we are still working through some issues. Namely; house training. The move to her new house has been good, but the poor girl has forgotten how to pee outside.

We spent a fairly horrendous few weeks of poopapalouza (where she would panic in her crate and pee/poop while in it, then stomp or roll around for hours). She had more baths in the last month then she normally has in a year! Last week we started a training class which has been helpful in identifying her particular needs. The trainer felt she was suffering from separation anxiety and suggested I place her in a small closed-in area instead of her crate. Now she spends her days in the mud room at the back of my house, which appears to be helping. She’s still having accidents, but at least she’s not panicking all day long. Poor baby. :-( The trainer also reassured me that it was completely normal for a dog to have house training issues whenever they change to a new environment.

Pacha cracks me up to no end! I call her a dumb blonde because sometimes she appears completely clueless. The first training session was done without the dogs and the trainer used a young lab pup to show us the commands we would be working on. The technique used is based on positive reinforcement. No yelling, no pushing, no pulling – you just reward the dog every time he/she does the appropriate action. Anyway, at the orientation session, the lab puppy quickly caught on that, when he sat he would get a treat. It seemed so easy when the trainer did it. I’ve been working on “lie down” with Pacha for the last few days and she still doesn’t get it. Each session we’ve spent 30 to 40 minutes starring at each other waiting for her to lie down. When she finally does (usually out of boredom) I reward her with a yummy treat, but still she doesn’t associate the lying down with the treat. Hah! I can’t help but laugh at her.

She appears to have a fear of garbage bags and bicycles. If she sees a garbage bag on the side of the road she’ll go around to the other side of me so I am between her and the evil garbage. Last week during garbage pick-up day there where bags on either side of the sidewalk which meant she would have to walk between both bags. She wouldn’t do it. She placed both front paws firmly on the ground and wouldn’t budge. I finally ended up carrying over the bags. What a goofball.

Then there was the time I was at my sister’s place and Pacha was sniffing around checking out the surroundings. She sniffed right into a corner and stood there for a good minute – I think it took her that long to realise she couldn’t move forward anymore.

This morning she was super thirsty and drank her entire water bowl in one sitting. When she was done we headed out for our morning walk. At one point I could hear a strange noise... gloo-gloo-gloo... I didn’t know what it was. I heard it again... gloo-gloo-gloo. That’s when I realised it was all the water Pacha had drank swishing around in her tummy! Oh man – I love her so much!