I’ve had
three or more foster dogs over the years. The last one was Daisy. Of all the
fosters I had, I decided to keep the most problematic of them. Daisy. Don’t get
me wrong, she’s a sweet little dog and she seems to love and trust me. Her only
flaw was that she was not completely house broken when I got her. Already ten
years old, she had most of it down. She knew that outside was where you pooped
and peed. What she didn’t stand for was me not taking her out exactly when the
urge hit her, so she’d leave me a reminder on the floor. One day I decided that
I would put one of the leftover puppy pee pads from previous foster dogs, on
the floor. Sure enough, Daisy used it. She left a little wet circle in the
middle of the pad. I praised her for her good aim and gave her a baby carrot as
an reward. Bad move, because Daisy is a very smart little dog. She immediately
realized that for every pee spot on the pad, she got a carrot as a reward. So
now I’ll be sitting in my chair and a very excited Daisy will come prancing into
the living room, all proud, expecting that carrot. Instead of excitedly trying
to get me to take her out, she just pees on the pad as if it’s an ATM for
carrots.
Lately Daisy
has added another dimension to peeing on the puppy pee pad. Poop, she poops on
the pad. The worst thing about that is, Daisy eats poop. Daisy eats dog poop,
Daisy eats bird poop, Daisy eats whatever poop critters leave behind. The only
reason I know she poops on the puppy pee pads are the poop stains left
behind. Anyway, it does make it easier
on me in the winter or if it’s raining. Let her do her thing on the pad, and
give her a carrot.
One more
thing. Daisy does not pee, nor poop on the pad if I leave the house. I can be
gone for eight hours and when I get home Daisy will not have done it on the
puppy pee pad. I’m sure her reasoning is, why waste a good pee if I’m not immediately
going to get a carrot reward.
