Puppy Chaos...

Tonight I was thinking how wonderful the little pups have been, so sweet, so easy to raise and train. Ive been on top of their trips outside to pee and poop so much that they know when the door opens its time to go!

Its been going so well that Ive only had two accidents in the house... only one pee and one poo! Its been an incredible achievement but, of course, I had to tempt Murphy's law and think how wonderful it was.

Both Thani and Boreas had their time inside today with Mercury who was also having office time. We had just finished up dinner and shortly after both pups decided it was time to pee... in the HOUSE! So much for the ease of their house breaking!

I don't expect this to be a trend. I think they had too much water early on and, if I keep them on their hourly outside times, we should be back to normal. I hope!

I caught Boreas in the act and reacted swiftly... poor guy, he was so shocked at my instant leap from the couch and swift spank on his rump he didn't know what to think! These guys are soooo sensitive and it took Boreas a long while to realize a spanking only lasts for that one event, I don't hold a grudge...

His shock was mostly in part to my laid back approach to their training. They have been so small, so sweet and so loving there have not really been any time for me to assert my authority. It really sucks to have to be the dominant one and to admit their puppy days are numbered but that is the way it must be. Now is the perfect time for them to start listening while their brains are growing and able to absorb so much.

Tonight we started another new thing to learn... when I fed them they all had free range to the food that was in the bowls in front of them. They were all small enough to share and able to get a few heads comfortably into one bowl. As they grew bigger I made a point to set down five bowls, still allowing them to free range.

Well, tonight I had two minor pup fights over who's bowl was who's... they are getting old enough now and eating faster that they really don't want to share. Chronos is the only one who acts possessive right now but I know its only a matter of time before they all start acting like that.

So now I am feeding one pup at a time, some times two if they are good, while keeping the others at bay. My hope is that I can get each dog on their own bowl without stealing and without my supervision as the adults have been trained to do. The hard part about this is that there are FIVE of them to teach and they are all at the very same level! I'm used to training a pup or two at a time, or adults one by one... not five fast pups all at once!

They are far too young to put on a line and I don't have five separate pens for them to stay in while they eat so I'm learning new ways of making this work. Its forcing me to find new levels of efficiency.

The problem is that with everyone so sensitive its hard to get them to come up to the bowl one by one when I call their name as they see me tap their siblings away if its not their turn. Of course they all now their name... its 'Puppy'!

Ive called them like that from day one, "Puppy, puppy, puppy..." and they all come running. Now its a lesson of who's time it is to eat and learn your name at the same time! Yikes! This is harder than I thought...

After I gave them their water for the night I decided to work on their training just a bit more. I brought in the food bucket and called each to me to give them one kibble at a time. I think the other dogs thought I was crazy calling each pup over and over... "Chronos, good! Thani, good! Boreas, good! Cali, good! Hermes, good!" Over and over and over...

Before long I had them all sitting in a half circle around me patiently waiting their turn. I wish I had my camera!

Hermes was especially cute. He takes extra care while training because he is much more sensitive than his siblings but when he became more comfortable with what we were doing he would put his paw on the food bucket, "Its my turn. Isn't it my turn again?"