What I've learned so far about dog training...

Now that I've officially been a puppy trainer for a solid four days now, I figured I'd write a blog about what I've learned so far.

1) Don't leave ANYTHING in reaching distance, and I mean ANYTHING! I explained to Matt about 2000 times that he can't leave any shoes or slippers on the floor. And everytime he does, one of the puppies grabs one and drags it outside. And then Matt can't figure out what happened to it. If either of them can reach it- it will be grabbed and probably chewed by one of them.

2) Even if you don't think t hey can get to it, they can! We keep towels by the back door so when they come in from outside we can wipe off their feet. We put them in the very middle of the table, but they still manage to grab the end and pull it off the table. It's pretty ridiculous.

3) If you leave them alone for too long, they will pee. Matt decided to leave them inside for two hours without going outside...and they peed! We thought we had done so well with potty training (only one accident) and then I came home for lunch and they had both done it in the living room.

4) Don't wear socks anywhere near the water bowl. Anytime they take a drink, they slobber water EVERYWHERE they go for a solid five minutes. It doesn't matter how much water they drank, it's everywhere. Everytime it happens, my socks get soaked and I get mad, even though it's not their fault at all.

5) They HATE their kennels. Bella is getting better about going in because she knows its bedtime, but no matter when they go in, Buster DESPISES the kennel. He absolutely hates it. We are close to figuring out a different way for them to sleep, but for now he needs to suck it up.

6) They are exactly like babies. Basically they drool, whine, bark, and need constant attention. Just like a baby or a toddler, the second you turn your head they are into something and will probably make you upset. It doesn't matter how long you leave them unsupervised, they will get into something you don't want them in. It's only a matter of time.

7) They really LOVE other dogs. Well, maybe love isn't exactly the word. We took them on a walk around the neighborhood and they had to bark at every dog. I think it might be because they were fenced that drove our dogs crazy, but either way, I can finally feed my hands and fingers again.

8) Bones don't always work. It took our dogs almost a full three days to figure out to chew a bone. They didn't get it until another dog came over and finished it off that they finally understood. Surprising.

9) Toys are only somewhat necessary. Basically we bought both dogs a chewy red bone as a toy. They haven't touched either of them! It's almost like they're scared of them, but they just want to hide them in the yard.

10) Learning come is easy, off, not so much. We taught both dogs to come in like four hours. They still can't get the "off" command. They both love to jump on everything. As annoying as it is, no matter how many times I push them off, they just don't learn. I'll have to try harder.

There are ten things I've learned so far about training. Even though it's a constant learning process both for us, and for Buster and Bella. In their defense, considering they've only spent five days in a house, they are doing super well. I just hope no more accidents are in our future. Happy Reading! If anybody is reading...