I love my Bailey to death, and for the most part she's calmed down a lot and is doing very well. She LOVES people, so no socialization issues at all. She gets excited when she hears the doorbell but she doesn't bark (yay!). I used to have lots of issues with her biting, but she's much better now. She still just nips at my toes a bit when she wants to play but she's so much better at listening when I tell her no.
But now that I've gotten past the possitives, I have 3 issues with her that still bother me. I would really appreciate help/suggestions.
Bailey will be 7 months on the 16th, and I've had her home for 4 1/2 months.
1. The most annoying thing at the moment is that she grabs things she shouldn't have, runs away from me once I notice, and when (if) I catch her, she gets very aggressive, growls, snaps her teeth and even bites hard. For a while she wasn't actually biting me, just acting like she would, but not biting down hard, but yesterday this just happened when my parents were over. She got a napkin and even though we caught her right away, she bit my dad and my brother when they tried to retrieve it. My mom grabbed her by the scruff of her neck so hard she made her yelp, and she managed to get it back. Just now it happened again as Bailey somehow got a q-tip, and after chasing her around and finally catching her, I got bitten getting it away from her. Trainers say you shouldn't yell at dogs, but it's hard not to yell at her as I'm chasing her around the house when she has something dangerous! I really want her to learn "drop it" so she will listen. Any help with teaching drop it really well? Also any ideas on how to get things away from her in the meantime without letting it get so heightened or getting hurt?
2. This one is frustrating me constantly: Bailey and my cat. The cat's about 9 years old, and for a year before I got Bailey it was just the cat and me. Ever since I got Bailey, I'm always in the same area as Bailey and I never get to see my cat. Bailey goes crazy over the cat (jumps on her, eats clumps of her hair, chases her if she runs) and the cat is terrified of her. So I never get to see my cat now. I am still keeping Bailey gated in the kitchen/family room in the day and my master bedroom at night, mostly to keep her separated from the cat (also partly because of #3). When I put them in the same area, the cat will run if she can. Sometimes she backs herself into a corner and hisses, growls, and bats at Bailey, which keeps Bailey away. When the cat sits still, Bailey knows better than to get too close, but usually the cat will run and Bailey chases her all over the house. I don't want my cat all stressed out. I feel so bad about my cat being lonely and afraid that I've considered giving her back to my mom, but I think she might be even more unhappy there with their other 2 cats. I think what I really need help with is taming Bailey's crazy obsession over the cat. Will she continue to settle down on her own as she gets older (and when she gets spayed), or can I do someting to make her act calmly around the cat?
3. I hear about this happening all the time, so I think it must be normal, but I don't understand WHY. Bailey was been very well potty trained pretty much since I first brought her home, on puppy pads though. We've never been successful transferring her to outside. But recently she's having more accidents on the carpet. For a few days she was peeing next to the fireplace in the family room, which really puzzled me because she's had free run of the family room for months with no accidents. All summer I've started letting her sleep on my bed, and she jumps down a lot to explore the bedroom. I was letting her, becaue she was still always good about going to the pad in the master bath. But recently she's started peeing near the bed and the door. I always clean it well with Nature's Miracle so I don't think there's a lasting smell. I just don't understand why all of a sudden she's not going to the pad all the time. I still do want to get her going outside eventually, but that's a whole other problem that I don't even know how to begin (especially because I'm a teacher and going back to working and leaving Bailey alone for 8 hours a day).
If you can help with any of my problems, please do!
