She did as well as anyone could expect. She wanted to get out, but she just stood there and let it happen! I shampooed her twice and rinsed her really well. She smells SO much better now! Still doesn't smell like roses, but a lot better than before. I got so much dirt and gross stuff off her, I had to scrub my shower out. And I think I loosened up her downy coat, because shes shedding now. So tomorrow we'll work on brushing her.
Last night, she slept in the front room with no pen, just baby gated into her side of the room. I went in this morning to scoop Stanley's litter box and feed them and she was actually pretty excited! She was whining and wagging her tail! She also let my dad touch her this morning!
I think shes going to start sleeping without the pen, I think it makes her happier to seem more "normal".
I got my upstairs stuff done in the morning and then tethered her to me for a while. Not as long as I wanted to because I decided to give her a bath in the middle of the day, so it was warmest when she was drying.
She did really well on the tether! She walked with me, explored the kitchen, my son's room, and the bathroom with confidence. As soon as I took her off the tether though, she went to the couch and hid under a pillow. While tethered, she would sit right next to me at the desk or sit a few feet away, on the rug in the middle of the floor not trying to hide.
Walking outside today was still as its been. Shes still trying to escape. I noticed that after her bath she REALLY wanted to get out of the fence! I guess shes mad at me, but she seems to bounce back from the little set backs pretty quickly. I've giving her treats when we come inside, even though she still isn't using the bathroom outside.
While we're here, I can address some bathroom issues shes been having since I got her. So maybe we can suss it out.
I have a few theories as to why shes not going to the bathroom outside.
They are:
- Maybe she doesn't want to put her scent in the yard? She goes out with Woody a lot, but doesn't go potty with him. She goes outside with me a lot by herself, still doesn't go.
- Maybe she hasn't found her "spot". Woody, has certain places that he goes potty, most of them are not even in the yard, but out in our field. The one spot in the yard, is in the corner of the fence where we don't walk. So maybe, she hasn't found the right spot to go yet.
- Maybe, she was mistreated while she was being house trained when she was a puppy. We never respond negatively to her when she goes to the bathroom in the house, I just quietly clean it up behind her. But maybe when she was house training as a puppy, she got her nose rubbed in pee or hit, so now shes afraid to go to the bathroom in front of humans, for fear of being hit? Even outside.
- Shes still not confident enough to go potty outside. I think this leads us back to her not wanting to put her scent in the yard, because shes still pretty insecure.
Ideas for helping her go potty outside:
- Going outside every 30 minutes, for about 20 minutes at a time. To give her a good chance for some action to happen.
- Taking her further into the field area, to see if we can find her spot. Maybe she doesn't want to go in the yard? I have plenty of field to walk her into, so maybe walking her further out will help.
- Possibly taking her somewhere that isn't our house. Maybe taking her for a real walk, in a real place might help her. There is a church down the road that has a nice circle driveway area, so maybe we can take a loop around that and see if she goes potty there. I would definitely have to do that with a partner, I wouldn't want to walk her away from the house by myself.
- Work on building her confidence. As she becomes more comfortable and confident, I know that she'll become more "normal", its just making sure that she feels confident! I thought that going outside with Woody would help with her confidence, and it does, but maybe not enough for her to go potty out there.
I have another discussion about anxiety prepared, but that will wait for a different time. I think that she has high anxiety, which makes sense because of the life that she's lived. But we'll address that in another post.
Thanks for reading!
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