My dog is 13 years old and will be 14 in August. We got him when he was 4 months old. The lady who gave him to us had named him Leo, because of the month he was born. He was only partially house broken. He had a few accidents on the carpet, and the kids (age 6 & 7) often times got the honor of taking care of the problem. It was nice to have the little green machine around, because it was designed to be a carpet spot cleaner. It was a little bigger than a shoe box. We would just add the carpet shampoo to it with water and use it on every accident. But soon the accidents stopped occurring so often. My wife at the time was a big contributor to that evolution. Because of her, we accidentally learned trained our dog to do his thing outside. My wife was the biggest pain in the rear: Constantly telling us to take the dog outside. I mean every ten minutes we were taking him out. One of the kids would take him out, and of course they would praise the dog for being such a good boy. (And maybe because it was one less mess they had to clean up.) My wife didn't know she was training the dog to go outside by constantly nagging at us all, and neither did we. But pretty soon, he was going out every 15 minutes. Then it went into every 20 or 30 minutes. Pretty soon it was an hour, two hours, and half the day. He learned, and he had a high degree of intelligence, so he also learned quick. He is 3/4 Rot and 1/4 Golden Retriever: And what a beautiful dog. Long hair like a Retriever and black with the markings of a Rot. Yet only 60 pounds. He has been a house dog all of his life. And a great companion. I don't go anywhere without him. He stays inside the truck if he can't go inside wherever I go to. It's like home to him. You'll be happy with your dog, when you both get through this difficult time. Be patient with him, and he will return the favor throughout his life a hundred fold. And you'll be glad you treated him right. Your dog is worth it all!
Jerry |