Woohoo!! I have the next 7 nights off! A mini Home Vacation, if you will. After last night, which started out being Chapter 3 of Hell As We Know It, I made it known at work that I don't care if the whole place comes down with the Bubonic Plague, I am NOT coming in, so don't call me.
Well, that's not entirely the truth. I might come in if I (1) answer the phone (not bloody likely), (2) accomplish everything I want to do in the first 3 days (ditto) (3) have a weak moment. (Nope. Not gonna happen.)
Today has been wonderfully rainy, complete with thunder. A little south of us they are under tornado watch, but here, we're just getting rain. Lovely, drenching rain. It's been so dry the last year; we have desperately needed days like this. I'm itching to get out and fertilize the lawn and maybe re-seed the increasingly larger bare spots after it's over.
Tandi, on the other hand, is NOT happy about the thunder. She makes a leap for my lap each time it happens, and 24 pounds of anxious cocker spaniel is no small force when it hurtles at your chest.
Rainy days are the biggest obstacles to successful housebreaking. Little Miss Prissy Feet will not willingly go into her leaky bathroom unless she gets major treats or Momma goes with her. This poses a problem when Momma sleeps, because J-Man can't go in and out with her. Of course, since DD brought The Puppy home a couple of weeks ago, Tandi has figured it's okay to potty on the kitchen floor, or worse, the carpet. AND she has ventured into previously unsoiled rooms.
I was about to resign myself to just getting puppy pads for rainy days, when I had a flash of inspiration. I put about half a dozen pennies in an empty coke can, taped it up and kept it close by. Monday night, when she deliberately squatted to pee on the carpet, I yelled "NO!" and threw the coke can towards her.
Remember, she has always been easily startled by ordinary house noises anyway. Well, this really freaked her out. I opened the front door, she left like her stub of a tail was on fire, and after cleaning it up, I had to coax her back into the house. She lay on her favorite place, the back of the couch, and just looked at me. And looked at me. And then she put her head down on her paws and looked at me. And when I went to pet her later, she flinched.
Broke my heart. I felt SO guilty.
But you know, she hasn't had an "accident" in the house since.
Drastic times....
3 comments:
yeah, they've got that guilt trip thing down pat....it's how they get away with so much.....
in the midst of my own 4 night vacation....bliss huh!!
I meant to tell you, you can rent those cleaners for about 20 bucks a day...........save a lot on the cleaning bills....
Well, I have an old carpet cleaner somewhere in the garage--if it still works. But it's in the pad now, and I'm seriously considering letting that last guy do what he recommended--pull up the worst area of the carpet, cut that pad out, put new padding down and clean the carpet over it. He'll do it for just $250.00. Since I can't afford laminate floors right now, which is my REAL desire...
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