In Trouble Again. . .

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Not the best of weeks for my darling pup. First he munched a brand new pair of shoes. He likes to chew the heels of my shoes, especially ones with no backs. The result is a misshapen back of the shoe, usually ratty and showing the inside lining that was chewed through.

To be honest, I didn't much like wearing that pair of shoes. They are very cute, but very uncomfortable. I wore them Saturday night to see Indiana Jones and to walk around Victoria Gardens(our local outdoor shopping center) and by the time I got home I was limping. Still, Ninja should not be munching on my shoes. My next step is apple bitters I think. His first birthday is Saturday and he's not showing any signs of leaving my shoes alone. So more drastic measures are required.

Tonight my husband had a rib to offer the pup, so he called him over. He motioned for Ninja to climb into his lap, and the puppy got excited and wet on him. This is a huge no no to my husband. He is absolutely horrified by puppy pee. To me it comes with the territory, like baby throw up or diapers with kids.

Poor Ninja didn't get his rib and was sent outside. I'm not sure how to solve this one. All the dog people I talk to say this wetting when excited is very normal, but it really upsets my husband. I did some research on the internet, and there are two types of wetting- one out of excitement and one out of submission. The submission one is what happened tonight, I think. Poor Ninja- he's telling my husband that he (husband) is the Alpha Dog by urinating. And by getting angry and disciplining, we did exactly the wrong thing. What I've read says that yelling at the dog makes it much worse, because he thinks he should wet more to show submission. I'll have a chat with him tomorrow and hopefully we can both agree to handle this issue the same way.

Hopefully we can all find a happy solution. The good news is that most people say that puppies will grow out of this. Let's hope!