When I lifted her off the bed she made a beeline for the carpet and squatted, but this time I was anticipating that move so I scooped her up, carried her outside and praised her relentlessly for finishing her business in the yard.
I've never seen this in a dog, but she seems to react better to praise than treats so even though it was below freezing this morning and I just in a t-shirt, I followed Lana around and every time she finished peeing she got lots of praise. There were lots of spots for her to check out, and I bet I was a frightful sight for the neighbors, but it was for a good cause, right?
During our kitchen-time this morning she still paced a bit and went after the cats, but she's not so agitated anymore when they show up. Lana will huff and puff a bit and run towards them, but then back away especially since they're starting to stay their ground.
Finally she went to lay on one of the dog beds in the kitchen and relaxed . She also relaxed in the dining room while I was having breakfast.
No accidents!
Tom and I are in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and were going to attend little brother's basketball game this morning. What to do with Lana?
I came up with the great idea of leaving her in the sunroom (it has the doggie door leading outside) and blocking off access to the rest of the house, thus avoiding any activity of the lower bodily regions anywhere but the laminat of the sunroom, which is easy to clean.
Luci never goes out on her own anyways, and Josi holds it easily for a few hours, so having no access to the doggie door was no problem for them.
It would give the cats a break too, because they use the cat entrance in the kitchen door.
We made it comfortable for Lana, leaving her with food, water, her bed, and tasty duck-breast jerky.
After the game we brought little brother home with us, and when we opened the door to the sunroom Lana was nowhere to be seen.
I started to slightly panic when suddenly she showed up behind us - she had mastered the use of the doggie door, gone outside and enjoyed the sunshine in the yard!
She learned how to come in from outside a few days ago, but had never gone outside through the doggie door.
She really is a smart little girl!
Little brother, who's 10, connected with Lana, sitting down beside her and running his hands over her back. He commented on how thin she was, then proceeded to counting the number of vertebrae he could feel (it was 11, in case anybody was wondering).
Later on we went for a walk and he was put in charge of Lana. She stopped to sniff every 2 seconds and took her sweet time, but he was right there, patiently waiting for her to move on.
He's a great kid!
It is now almost 8 p.m. and so far, no mess in the house. I let Lana out about every 2 hours and keep on praising her when she pees outside. Other than that she has learned how to relax more and now even rolls on her back for a belly rub. Such a cutie!
Of course I won't break out the champagne quite yet - maybe this was just a lucky day.
So I'll just break out the wine instead and pre-celebrate just a tiny bit.
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