 When to give free rein
I had a real chuckle with this posting because when I nagged my hubby to get a yorkie, I wasn't about to ask him to help me with training, so I was up 24/7 for weeks. I was so tired, I was sure I had made a big mistake. Fortunately I am retired so I could devote a lot of time to training but it still was 7-9 months before Chloe was able to get the "housebroken" title and I could leave her alone, in the den for a few hours. At first I would go to Sunday School and come home before church to let her out. Then, how dumb, I wanted another one, so I could start all over. Lacey is so small, her bladder is very tiny, so that brought another set of issues. Then, it got better. I still try to make time away pretty short, about 3 hours, only because of the girls getting into mischief, like chewy electric cords, tearing up my carpet, etc. But Lacey pretty much followed Chloe out, so she was easier to potty train. I still make use of their kennels when it is night night time. |