Just a little vent…

[wizard]

Standing out in the rain in the early a.m. until the job is done just didn't work with Gossy – she'll pull, she'll fight, anything to get back int he house. Then I tried waking her up about 30-45 minutes before her normal time (I'm a light sleeper and wake up when it starts to rain) and play run-around-the-house for a bit and by then she really has to let go. Unless it's a downpour, she'll do her job pretty quickly when we finally do go outside -- it helps to hold an umbrella over her too.

[Shannanigan]

Paco surprised us and didn't complain too much last night while he slept in the crate instead of with us on the bed. Just before our alarm was set to go off, he started pawing loudly at his crate, and Chris got up, put him straight on the leash, and too him outside to pee. Success! Then he got to join us for our last few minutes in bed, lol.

Now today it's just a matter of watching him and trying to catch him before he has to go again.

[ToughAndPrissy]

Wow, all these stories sound just like what I have to put up with. I have to go first and drag Link out. Once we're out on the street he'll walk but shake off every 10 feet and look under every car we walk by (city cats are always under cars on rainy days). I don't know what's going to happen next year when I move back east. Time to buy a silly raincoat….

[AJs Human]

AJ is a complete priss where it comes to getting his feet wet. He hates the rain. I'll let him get by with just a piddle, but if he hasn't dumped the trash by evening, we'll both stay out until he has. He found out the hard way that I can outstubborn a cat, so he's no match. The first couple of times were total gully-washers. We stood out there in it, both soaked like drowned rats, but he went. After he did, I said, "okay, let's go." He dragged me back to the truck.

I don't have a yard for him to be in. We live in this truck. But when he did live in a house, his previous human would shovel a spot so the dogs wouldn't have to wade through the snow. First winter with me, he found out he gets a warm jacket and then stands in the snow until he dumps. I don't care how long it takes…unless it's bitterly cold. He has no problem going in the snow now.

We use the commands: Go potty, Dump the trash, Hurry up, You done? And Let's go! He knows that if I resort to Let's go, he better get going or he won't get to go...and he'll have to hold it.

[Janneke]

I think you need to buy some good rain coats for yourselves and Paco and just take him out on your normal walks..

We walk Tillo in the rain. It can rain quite a lot overhere, so we have no choice. And not pee/poo and back home… No.. at least 45 min to get some of the energy out of him.. He doesn't like it, we don't like it, but we all have good coats that keep us warm and sort of dry.

I know for sure Tillo would hate me if I would just put him outside in the rain..

[Shannanigan]

I'm not able to take him on normal walks in this situation; we're dealing with tropical storm conditions, so schools have been closed for three days and the rain has been going for over 5. I can't walk him on my road because it's dangerous enough when it's not this rainy; I usually drive him to a dog-friendly area to walk him, but I can't drive because the roads are so bad.

So, I walk him up and down the long driveway, waiting it out. Last night was another success keeping him in the crate overnight. Chris woke up this morning first thing and took him outside to pee; second morning in a row where he immediately peed even though it was raining. It's harder to get him do it later in the day, when he hasn't been "holding it" longer than he's used to because he's in the crate - we've resorted to leaving him on an extendable leash on the porch for a length of time before bed, to give him a "last chance" before putting him the crate. He's always "dumped the trash" (love that, AJs Human!) during this time, and I assume he pees, though I can't tell since the ground has been continuously wet for nearly a week now.

[dmey]

Hey, I think we ar? having the same storm here in Santo Domingo. Its been raining constantly for about two weeks now, and its the same with Ayo, except he doesnt pee or Poo inside , he holds it till I take him out when it has stopped raining and find a dry spot for him, he hates walking on wet floor. I try putting newspaper like when he was smaller but he doesn't pee on it. As far as his boredom, I bought some marrow bones in the supermarket and he is happy to spend all day chewing on them!!!

[Shannanigan]

Thank dmey! Yeah, Otto is really having his way with us. There are no dry spots around me, unfortunately. At least Ayo holds it until you get outside, though; we are getting there with Paco.

I have to keep playing fetch and having tug-o-wars to keep Paco amused. If he's really bored, I'll put some hot dog bits in one of the dog-puzzle toys for him to goof around with. Plenty of b-500's to go around here, as well!

[Shannanigan]

Just wanted to pop in and thank everyone for their advice; we are doing a lot better with Paco now! He sleeps in the crate, usually without much complaining, and we take him outside first thing in the morning for him to do his thing. He pretty much doesn't have to go again until nighttime, and if he's lollygagging, we put him on an extendable leash out there and just peek out the window from time to time to see if he's done his thing. He seems to now associate being on the extendable with having to go now - even if he's just gone, he'll pee a little bit again and come to be let off, lol.

We haven't had an accident in the house in over a week, and I couldn't be happier about it!

We're hoping to find some bells to put on the door and see if we can train him to ring them when he wants to be let out, so that he can sleep in the bed with us again and wake us up if he really needs to go.

Thank again all!

[thunderbird8588]

Great to hear things have improved with Paco's toileting. We find that Malaika goes more when on the extending lead. Think she likes a bit of privacy.