I got Rosie on December 23rd. I was in the mid-grief and got her before I really took time to think it through. I know…a bad decision. But, I had rationalized it out. I thought I would have extra days off through that time to spend with her. I figured housetraining would be a challenge…the extra time, I thought, gave me a chance to address house training.

I’ll be honest. I was in heaven the first few day. The puppy love was in full force. I missed Ruby terribly but was happy with Rosie…but that that all changed. She was terrible at house training and then some “well meaning” blog readers and friends would say, “our dog only had two accidents ever in the house”. I felt like a failure. What was I doing wrong?? I was doing all the same things I did with Ruby for house training. Yes I had the bells for the door. Yes I was limiting her space in the house. Yes she was kenneled and immediately taken outside but she still wasn’t getting it. I was so frustrated. Rosie was not a textbook case.

She was terrible about “mouthing”. Absolutely terrible. She couldn’t be out of the kennel when the childcare kids were here. I have a baby and five year old that are terrible with the dog. They squeal and flap their arms and giggle and Rosie takes that all as a sign to play. So she mouths hands. She doesn’t bite- Just mouths hands. I’ve talked to the five year old but it isn’t clicking with her. So Rosie had very limited time outside the kennel during the day.

Then…I was feeling so terrible in the evenings. She would get out of the kennel, be all excited and run and tear around everywhere. I would sit down to write a blog post and I’d have to get up three times in 10 minutes to take childcare toys away from her.

Then with my new furniture she would zip around behind the couch and loveseat and hide from me. To say I was frustrated was a gross understatement. I was ready to cry and honestly, a couple times I did.

I was struggling to sew. I was struggling to cross stitch. I was struggling with childcare. I was struggling in the evenings. I was struggling to try to get to town to get groceries as I felt so terrible leaving her home in the kennel as she had been in the kennel so long during the day. (for us a fast trip to run get groceries and hit up Wal-mart is a minimum of 2 hours)

Kalissa tried to be helpful but her dog, Betsy, HATES Rosie. She is quite aggressive and makes me really nervous when kids are around. I don’t want kids getting between the dogs.
Well…I’ve had her close to six weeks now and FINALLY I feel happy that I got her. She is turning into more of a companion and less of a nuisance.

-House training. We had two accidents this week and she has full range of the main floor.
-Mouthing. Her teeth aren’t as sharp and she doesn’t do it as much.
-In the evening she will often hang out with few problems. I kennel her if I am taking a shower but other than that, I can write a blog post without jumping up like a Jack in the Box every three minutes. She might take one or two childcare toys over the course of a whole night and when I tell her to drop it, she does.

The other night we reached a milestone when she did this with Karl….

Played video games!!
She even let the childcare kids do this with her. She’s learning… This is why I wanted a puppy so she grows with kids and learns to love them.

Then last Friday I was sick and spent the day on the couch with the flu. She finally let me cross stitch.

It’s taken some spankings with a slipper, some had chases around the house to get her to drop a toy, some sprays with the spray bottle to keep her out of the dishwasher, learning to close the bathroom door and lots and lots of patience but I think we are finally heading down the right road. I really miss sewing in my sewing room so that’s on my list of one of the next things to try to tackle. Oh Rosie…you have been a handful.
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