#twoarebetterthanone

IS this true? Are two better than one? This will be a short post but it is what is on my mind tonight! It's been on my mind since Sam brought it up at the beginning of this year. It's been on my mind since we started quarantine. It's been on my mind since my coworker got her second dog. Should we? Get a second dog? No, why rock the boat? How could be manage a second? Lula was only in the apartment for a month or so before we moved in with Sam's parents so she was spoiled and got to go outside anytime she wanted. She was also the PERFECT dog! She never pooped in the house! Not once!! She was potty trained within a week. She NEVER even tried to chew up any of our stuff. She ripped up her toys, but they were just that, HER TOYS. To this day she isn't much of a barker, other than when the door bell rings. She is obedient. Walks right by your side on a leash and is great off leash. She loves people, probably even more than she loves other dogs. She is friendly. She is playful but also easily entertains herself. She sleeps through the night and has since about 2 weeks into the process. Did we just get lucky? This can't be normal right? We hear the horror stories about puppies and people just act like that is normal. What to do???

It's valuable to walk back through exactly what we went through with Lula. It wasn't all roses. It's easy to forget how it began because it seems like forever ago. Now, although we did get lucky with Lula and her temperament, I have to say we worked our butts off training. Even before we got Lula, Sam was looking up videos on what to do/what not to do with puppies! I had grown up in a family with very highly trained hunting dogs, so it was more normal and natural to me to train. I came from a world where a dog was not rewarded for sit, stay, heal and lay down. It was expected. Consistency was key. You didn't let the dogs on furniture or the bed. No people food. Ever. Sam grew up viewing pets as the complete opposite. They were a family member. I think the first time I went over to Sam's house, he fed his boxer, Ginger, lunch meat from the container as her "night time snack". I had never heard of such a thing. So despite our differing definitions of a "good dog" we vowed to be on the same page and be consistent. We put jingle bells on the front door of our apartment and rang those freaking bells EVERY TIME we took her out to pee. Ring the bell, open the door, run down the hall to the elevator, go to the 1st floor, run outside, say POTTY POTTY POTTY or POOP POOP POOP and hope she could hold it. If you're wondering if that walk felt like a mile, it did. Every. Single. Time. We wanted the key words for bathroom so that in case she picked up on it, it could turn into a command later. The key here was to say it while she did it too and then praise her. Eventually they will link the two things. She learned basic commands quickly. We made her sit and wait for her food for at least 15 seconds before we gave the "ok" command. This taught self discipline as well as that we were the masters and the givers of the food. Seems simple but helped build trust with her. We crate trained her. No need to try to back peddle from the human bed to a crate when she proves that she can't handle the freedom. You can always go forward, it's hard to go backwards. Her crate was NEVER used as discipline so it became a positive and safe space. We used the command HOUSE to tell her to go to her kennel. We put a towel over her kennel for a while so that she felt safer and also didn't feel like there was anything better going on outside of it. When she cried we would say "it's okay, Lula" and if she continued, "shhh, no! It's okay" This seemed to work and she would stop. It took a few weeks for her to realize that she was going to be let out eventually. She would get up twice a night to go out at first, but that's to be expected. If she did have an accident in the house, we were sure to point her nose to the potty and say "no potty" and then take her directly outside. Seems harsh. Also seems difficult to do every time. It works!! I promise! She learned quickly with our tone if we were happy or frustrated with her. Much better than she handled spankings. We did spank her, no doubt. The quickest way to teach is an instant consequence or instant reward. We rewarded much more than we disciplined which she learned a lot from. When she did what we wanted, we wanted to remind her that it was good! Praise is a great form of reward, so remember that when you're handing the treats out left and right. Sometimes food can be distracting and create begging habits.

When we got Lula, it was very spontaneous. One day we were solo and the next day we had a 9 week old puppy with no preparation whatsoever. I was in real estate school during her first month with us so Sam was left with all the night training. I would see her in the morning and for 15 minutes on my lunch break and then for about 15-20 in the evening when I got home super late. It was tough!!! Sam would take her on runs around the apartment halls and train her to heal, how to go up stairs and how to go to the bathroom outside. We tried to get her into a routine. She handled it very well! I didn't handle it as well. I was so bummed about the "firsts" I was missing out on, while also trying to block that out of my mind so I could study for a big and EXPENSIVE test. I have to think the second time around with a new pup can't be harder than that. The circumstances have truly changed. For one, we are home owners now. We are actually putting thought and time into researching for a puppy before making the decision. We know what we want as far as looks and breed. We have a red nose pitbull so we have to get a blue nose, of course! We are fine with male or female. We prefer a puppy but are open to 3 yrs. old or younger. We want a puppy that is good with people and other dogs. Also, non-dominant traits would be ideal for Lula, since she is always trying to dominate (yes I mean hump) other dogs. We want to adopt from the shelter (see my last post #adoptdontshop about why). Other than that, it just needs to feel right. I had an instant connection with Lula, even over the internet. Then when I saw Sam on Facetime in the shelter with her, I just knew it. Timing didn't make sense. But it didn't matter. To read about her full adoption story, go to my latest blog post called #adoptdontshop.

Names are hard! That's one of the hardest parts. We have already been trying to get ahead of this since we struggled with Lula for the first couple of days. We are wanting to both feel good about the name and have agreed on Banks and JoJo for a girl. No boy names yet because.......drum roll......there is a 9 month old, female blue nose pitbull, ready for adoption at the dumb friends league in Denver. We are already approved since we live in Castle Rock, which is one of few cities that don't ban them. We have had multiple calls with Dumb Friends since they are not allowing visitors due to COVID-19. They are launching their Foster to Adopt program so that we can shop online, apply to foster but then request the specific dog we have our eye on. Then we would meet her in the parking lot at the facility, see if we want to take her home to meet Lula and then go from there. Unfortunately, we can't get the interaction with our dog until we bring her home, which is a risk since Lula could be territorial. But the good news is that it is a foster situation and not a permanent one, which you usually don't get when you go to adopt. There are a lot of pros to this COVID-19 situation. Like the fact that we are home 24/7 and can afford to train and house break her. We most likely will remain working from home for another month or so. Who really knows. But it will be a great time to get her up to speed on our routine. We can take frequent walks, our backyard should be done in May so yay for being able to poop on grass! We have the unfinished basement with a play pen for both dogs to be contained TOGETHER when we leave the house. And we don't really have anywhere to go...so that's a plus. Undivided attention for the puppy to adjust. But it's also hard when that goes away and it's what they are used to. But, as I've learned through Lula, dogs adapt!

So we have some big decisions to make. We are trying to go see her tomorrow in person and then deciding from there but please pray for us and that we make the best decision for everyone. As I mentioned in my previous post, I don't want to return a dog ever, so I don't want to make a rash decision. But even if I am a temporary home that leads to her forever home, at least it gets her out of the shelter for a bit. Any wisdom or advise is welcome!!

More to come!

xoxo,

Kaley