[globemaster]

Just wanted to reiterate that I'd gladly take any amount of bashing to get my girlfriend's dog trained so that SHE can be happy with him. My happiness comes from the smile on her face which comes from the dog.

I'm not a Yorkie owner, but probably will be in another year by marriage. I didn't have anything to do with letting him and the cat destroy the apartment - she did. I've been disgusted with the carpet and I'm the one attempting to help the situation. I wouldn't have bought a dog without training him and I wouldn't own a cat who did what it did.

I found out yesterday that she's never housebroken a dog despite being a previous Yorkie owner. She has less knowledge about dogs than me (I've housebroken 3 dogs - all within 6 months). I believe her when she tells me that she never intended for the apartment to get to the state its in and is disgusted with it now. She claims that she wants to change all of it and that's all I wanted to hear from her - that she thinks the apartment is filthy and wants to make an effort to train HER dog. I also told her that as much as she loves her dog that he should be taken out every 3 hours if for nothing else the comfort of her precious angel.

While I don't appreciate some of the nasty things said about me around here, I really don't care about myself or my feelings. I want a SANITARY living environment AND a HAPPY girlfriend with her dog for the benefit of my girlfriend and the dog. This is a means to that end. As soon as I get a day off I'm going to be the one paying to have HER carpet cleaned.

I'm still attempting to get her online here (I need to get her a better internet connection) and get her to read the books I bought over a month ago. I'm hopeful she'll be responsible with the dog this weekend while I'm flying. She pledged to me that she'd start taking her dog out every 3 hours. She also promised to restrict his movement so that he can't run off and pee out of sight. She's open to bell training him which will probably start as soon as I can get a day off work which is usually a weekend every 3 weeks (There's a war on that needs fighting - actually there's 2).

As for the dog... I drove to her apartment from work today for the sole reason of letting him out before I drove 2 hours home for a 0530 show time tomorrow. This was around a half hour out of my way. The dog was thrilled to see me and I felt sorry for only being able to spend 15 minutes to walk him. He definitely got treats from me for being good. When I opened his crate he laid down on the carpet and looked VERY depressed to be put back in. I did feel horribly bad for him, but my job keeps me gone too much to be the spearhead on this. He'll get to spend tonight with his "mama" tonight...

My girlfriend had two questions for all of you who she called my "friends"....

1. She doesn't believe the dog should get treats every time we take him out. I'm trying to double down on the positive reinforcement and have been doing that, but she isn't. Which route should we go, because we need to standardize his training? She's worried he'd be getting too many treats and some "junk food". The treats I give him were supposed to be healthy ones, she gives him pieces of "Beggin' Strips". I like giving him special treats that come exclusively from me, because I want him to relate to me.

2. How often can you bathe Yorkies? She claimed it was 1 time a week because their skin would get dried out. It's been rainy here and he's spent extra time in his crate due to our (my) work schedules.

I wasn't attempting to dodge any of you. My job is more important than even my own mother, because I save the lives of the guys who've sacrificed their bodies to save all of our lives. Its also time consuming... I regularly volunteer to fly Christmas's and Thanks Givings so that the Married guys can have time off with their families.