So you’ve got a puppy. You need to toilet train this puppy, and people might tell you, ‘Use puppy training pads! They are brilliant. Simply put them on the floor and they emit a scent only the dog can smell and encourage them to pee on this. Move the pad closer to the door until you start taking the pad outside, and voila! Your puppy will be house trained.’
Brilliant. And it certainly seemed to work. Unfortunately the pads are white, and now Ozzy associates anything that is white with something that he can pee on. He tried to squat on my Wii Balance Board - I just about managed to stop him on time; he has weed on our futon mattress, our duvet and white duvet cover, our brand new guest duvet and duvet cover, and his brand new bed (which wasn’t white, so I can only assume he was telling us that this is what he thinks of his new bed).
And if he gets away with going to the toilet in the house, it seems to give him the idea that it is okay to go in the house again. He begins to squat and wee right in front of me, and when I notice he looks at me as if to say, ‘I just do pee. Okay?’ He can’t understand what the problem is.
I am confused as to why he will pee in our bed, yet he wants so badly to sleep there. We let him in one Sunday morning and he happily settled himself down between us under the bed sheets. There he lay, on his back, before shutting his eyes and commencing snoring. That made him realise that our bed is significantly more comfortable than his bed, and is also more comfortable than the sofa. He tries to get into our bedroom at any available opportunity, and if he beats me to it when the door is open he is either so delighted that he will jump all over the room and bounce on the bed looking utterly elated, or he will lie down on the bed and refuse to get up.
‘But is comfy.’ He tells me with his eyes.
He refuses to come when called, so I must resort to scooping him up in my arms to which he groans at, remaining as floppy as he can in protest.
He is also very fond of the sofa. This is his bed, and he sometimes feels mildly annoyed that we are taking up so much space on it. I admit that I quite like sharing the sofa with him, especially when it is just the two of us. He snuggled up next to me the other day and I spooned him, and I realised that spooning a puppy is a nice thing to do. I nearly fell asleep with him.
However, I do want him to realise that although he may join us on the sofa in the evening, his bed is his place and that is where he should go if he wants some peace.
This is when the toileting occurred. Clearly he does not share my views on the matter.
After washing the cover and the blanket that were also soiled, I went to put the cover back on the cushion/bed. It ripped. I was most definitely annoyed; Ozzy had also peed on our new duvet and sheets that evening as well as his brand new bed, and to top it off it had ripped. I came to work not wanting to speak to anyone.
Still, I have persisted. One day I will get Ozzy to realise that his bed is his place, even if I have to lie on it myself to convince him. However I have a feeling that this will work out well for him – there will be more space for him to stretch out on the sofa.
