Harness Time

If you ever read this blog, you probably know that Maya is a puller.  If you didn't know that, well now you do.  Although I've looked into getting a harness for her before (click here), I never actually bought one.  But after a day of horrible pulling and gagging, I decided it was time.  I rather spend a few bucks on a harness than a few hundred bucks on a vet if (and when) she hurts herself. 

I already knew the selection at the local Petsmart wasn't very good, so I went online instead.  And I soon realized that I needed a measuring tape.  I own two of them, but I had no idea where they were.  So I did the next best thing -- I grabbed Maya's leash and a ruler.  In no time I had the measurements I needed, jumped on Amazon, found a good harness, and it's on it's way.  Hopefully it will arrive before my puppy decides to choke herself to death....

To be continued......

Stop It!

I don't know what's going on, but Maya has been driving me crazy!  For some reason, she insists on chewing on things she's not supposed to chew on.  I know puppies like to chew on things, that's why she has chew toys. 

Lately, she's decided that her toys are no longer fun and she'd rather chew on my things.  Yesterday, she destroyed a nail file; Tuesday, she attacked a crochet hook; Monday, she chewed a pencil to bits; Sunday, she got a hold of a pen.  I forget what she got into before that.  And before you say I should keep a better eye on her or keep things out of her reach, all of this happened while I was in the shower, and I thought I had put everything out of her reach. 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I have to find a way to stop this.  She never used to chew on my things, but it looks like that's changing.  I need to find a way to stop this behavior before it gets out of hand.  Any suggestions?

Comfy Couch

I'm one of those people who does not like dogs on the couch, on the chairs, on the bed, etc., so I've tried to teach Maya that these are forbidden areas.  The bed is easy -- she can't get up there.  The chairs have been easy too -- I think she's scared she'll fall off because they're not very big, so she doesn't try.  But the couch is another story.

Until recently, Maya was just too small to jump up on the couch.  However, a few weeks ago, she figured it out.  She has to take a little bit of a running start, but she can jump up there now.  I tell her to get off whenever I catch her, and she usually listens.  Only once have I had to actually pick her up and put her back on the ground.  But I don't know what she does when I'm not around.  She's in her crate when I'm at school or running errands, so I know she can't get on the couch or into other things.  She's has done a few things in the past (if you'd like to see what she likes to do with a roll of paper towels while I'm in the shower, click here), but for the most part, she stays out of trouble.

For the past week or so, I've been convinced that she hangs out on the couch while I'm in the shower.  But since I haven't been able to catch her, it's not like I can do anything about it.  Today, I got proof that she was up there.  I left the TV remote on the couch, and when I got out of the shower, the TV was on a different channel.  I guess she sat or stepped on it while chilling on the couch.  But again, what can I do about it?  I know I'm never going to catch her (she gets off when she hears the shower turn off) and I can't do anything about it unless I catch her.  I guess I'm just going to have to accept that she's found a new place to relax for a few minutes each morning.

Not My Shoes!

One of Maya's favorite places to hang out is my closet.  For some reason, she loves laying on my shoes.  I always let her because she never chewed on them; she just liked laying on them.  And for the same reason, I never worried about leaving shoes lying around the living room.  Unless there were three or four of them together, she ignored them.

That has changed.  Two days ago, she discovered that shoes were fun to chew on.  She started with the shoe laces.  When I moved shoes with laces out of the way, she decided that chewing on a shoe was fun too, even if it didn't have laces.  So now all my shoes have moved into the closet, and the closet door stays closed. 

Right now Maya is teething, so I'm hoping that she'll outgrow the chewing stage.  In the meantime, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and my closet door closed.  Until she figures out how to turn the knob, my shoes should be safe. 

New Trick

I've been teaching Maya a few commands over the past month or so.  She had mastered "sit," "down," "off," and "come."  I was going to teach her "shake," but that's pretty boring, so I taught her "pound it" instead.  After that, "high five" was a piece of cake. 

However, her latest trick she learned all on her own -- she can take off her leash.  What I learned while teaching her those commands was that she is really smart.  What I learned after she got off her leash is that she's a little too smart for her own good. 

The first time she did it, I figured it was an accident.  She likes to grab the leash in her mouth while we're out walking.  This time she grabbed it by the latch.  She was biting it as we walked, and it opened.  She realized she was free before I did and took off running after something (a cat, a leaf, her shadow?).  Luckily we were in the parking garage and no cars were driving around.  The next day, she did it two more times.  I was pretty sure these were not on accident.  As soon as we started walking, she grabbed the latch in her mouth and went to work to get it off.  I figured that the first time was a fluke and she wouldn't be able to get it off again.  I figured wrong.  She got it off twice. 

I went to the pet store that night and got a new leash with a different type of latch.  As long as she doesn't have opposable thumbs, we should be good. 

Lying Puppy

As it turns out, Maya is not very trustworthy.  I've mentioned before that she loves eating leaves, especially off of one particular house plant.  Today I found this in the middle of the living room:

 

 In case you can't tell, it's a piece of a leaf.  I asked her if she had taken leaves off the plant, and she swore she hadn't.  She even put up her right paw as she said this.  Not 10 minutes later, I caught her red-handed (red-pawed?):

I'm not sure what I can do to get her to stop.  She knows she not supposed to do it, but obviously she doesn't even care that I'm standing right next to her.  Now this particular plant happens to have thorns.  I wonder if getting stuck with one of those will finally put an end to this, but I somehow doubt it. 

Vegetarian Puppy

For some reason, Maya loves eating grass and plants.  I've heard that dogs like to eat grass when they have an upset stomach, but I don't think that's it.  If she did it every now and then, I would say it's a possibility, but she does it daily.  In fact, she does it every time we go outside. 

My problem right now is that she does it whenever we're inside too.  I have one plant that she loves to munch on.  I've tried keeping her away from the plant entirely, I've tried catching her in the act and telling her to stop, I've tried almost everything I can think of, but nothing works. 

She knows she's not supposed to be near it, which is what makes it frustrating.  She'll wait until my back is turned, and then sneak over to it, grab a leaf, and run away with it in her mouth.  My poor plant used to have a lot more green leaves towards the bottom than it does now.  Any tips on getting her to stop?

House Breaking Again?

I'm not sure what's up with Maya, but she's decided that she rather not go outside to potty.  Yesterday, we were hanging out in the living room when she got up, walked to the middle of the room, looked straight at me, and then peed.  She'd never done that before, even when I just brought her home.  A couple of weeks ago, I just about had her ringing the bell whenever she wanted to go out, and now we're back to this?!?!  And she did it again today.  Help!!

Ringing Bells

One of the things I decided almost immediately was that I needed to teach Maya a way to tell me she needed to go out other than just walking to the door.  If I'm in another room or studying, I might not notice that she needs to go out.  When my brother's dog was a puppy, he taught her to ring a bell when she needed to go out.  I figured this would work perfectly.

I remember he had a little Christmas-type bell that he tied on a string around the doorknob.  He would hit the bell every time he took her out, and she made the connection.  So I got a bell, tied it to the doorknob, and every time I took her out, I would hit the bell.  She was just starting to hit the bell when she needed to go out.  And then we went out of town. 

I made the mistake of not taking the bell to my parents' house last weekend, and by the time we got back, she had forgotten everything that she had learned.  Right now I'm having to keep an eye on her because she's not ringing, but at least she's going to the door.  Guess we're starting over on this one.

No Habla Ingles

For the last week or so, I've been working with Maya trying to get her to voluntarily go into her kennel.  I started by giving her a treat when she walked towards it, then when she put a paw in, then when her head got in, etc.  And I'm saying "kennel" each time hoping to form a link between the two in her head.

Last night, I thought she finally got it.  I got her attention, said "kennel," and she walked right in, all the way!  Yahoo!!  But alas, it was not meant to be.  This morning, I did the same thing, and this was her reaction.

Apparently, "kennel" in English translates to "come sit in my lap" in puppy-speak.  Oh well.  Good thing she's cute.

Who's Walking Who?

I haven't really taught Maya how to walk on a leash yet.  I know it's something that I'm going to have to do some time, but she's so little, it just hasn't been a priority.

One thing that everyone thinks is really cute is that I don't even have to clip the leash onto her collar.  In fact, if she's in a hurry, she won't even let me clip it on.  Instead she'll grab the clip end in her mouth and start pulling me.  And she'll do this all the way to wherever she's going to do her business.  I guess I haven't stopped her because I think it's really cute too.