Time for Change

Sometimes we make mistakes with puppies, ok, with every puppy we make at least one mistake. With Comet I made the mistake of too much freedom too soon. I got her as a 6.5 month old who'd been in training since birth but I ignored one small factoid, she wasn't with me. She wasn't in my home, I didn't know her habits (beyond what I was told), I didn't trust her and she didn't know or trust me.

So we've run into some annoying habits. We start tomorrow with no priviledges that an 8-week-old puppy wouldn't have. No sleeping loose, no being loose during the day, spending time in the yard unsupervised, etc. Our tie-down will be utilized and potty breaks will be done on leash in the front yard.

We will get far quickly, I hope, with this new strict earning trust regimen. She is far too much work at this point for me to take to work with me and trust her in the store while I work on the other dogs. We will get her there, to the point where she can be in the store and lay quietly at my feet while I groom customers' dogs and take care of the store on my shifts.

We have to get this under control! We only have 6 months at the most left with the crazy girl and I need to be able to trust her and control her before too much more time goes by and I'll be too big and exhausted to control her crazies!

Lesson learned. Especially when she reminds me so much of Iverson, complete with the way she tosses bones in the air, who never had freedom in the house!