Anyway, we headed to the library today and checked out several books on puppy training, as well as a video (yes, so old it's actually a VHS not DVD) that's supposed to get the whole family in on the training process. I made all the kids gather 'round and we watched the video together. (To which Luke commented at one point "We are having 'shamly' night" - that's 'family' in Lukey-speak). Well, we watched 'Lesson 1' and then tried it out on Maggie. It worked pretty well! We actually accomplished 2 things - we've got Maggie beginning to sit, AND (even more importantly) Luke wanted to 'try it', so he took the food in hand, commanded her to sit and then fed her the very tiny nibblets of food. As in, he had to actually get his hand close to (even touching!) her open mouth. For a child who is coming from running in terror every time the dog even looked at him, this is a HUGE step! So, I'm feeling pretty satisfied with the progress in that area...though the housebreaking nearly has me pulling my hair out! Last night, and then again this afternoon, she was peeing literally every 10 minutes on the floor. She finally ended up out on her tie in the yard for a good while because we simply could not keep stopping school to clean up another 'accident'!! She's been better tonight. I'm hoping all the books I got (and maybe lesson 2 of the video?) will deal more with this issue. But for now, Mags is pretty wiped out from all her hard work.
Also tonight, amidst our 'obedience class' being held in the family room, my hubby began the installation of our new coal stove. I'm always cold, so I'm looking forward to it being toasty warm in our family/school room this winter! I'm also hoping Todd can get the installation done this week and is finished before Saturday so I can go on our ladies' retreat without feeling guilty for taking a Saturday that he needed to do this job. He and I will both be able to relax much better if this isn't hanging over our heads.
No comments:
Post a Comment