Oh, how I wish that Emma could talk and share her life prior to us. It would make understanding her behavior so much easier. But then, life isn't easy.
Right after Christmas, Mike bought Emma a doggie bed. When we brought it home and set it on the living room floor, we wondered how we would go about getting her to sleep in it. Silly humans! Emma went right to the bed, curled up in it, and took a nap. That night we moved it into our bedroom, next to our bed, and she again curled up in it and slept there all night. So for over a month we had needlessly fought her every night to get off our bed or to get out from under our covers. The answer was so simple, but she had no way to tell us. The old blanket and new fleece blankets I had gotten for her just weren't what she was used to. Obviously, she had had her personal doggie bed previously. And now, every night, she happily gets into her doggie bed and spends the night there.
This afternoon I bought a doggie crate for her. I got one of the metal ones that folds down flat. During the drive home from the pet store I wondered as to how I would get her to accept going into the crate. We have been having some issues with separation anxiety, and I was getting tired of cleaning doggie pee from the carpets. I can only imagine what this house will smell like once summer comes and things heat up in here. The carpeting is old (circa mid-1960s) and direly in need of replacement, but I have no intention of putting down new carpet only to have to pee'd on every time we leave Emma home alone.
When I brought the doggie crate box into the dining room, Emma was immediately interested in it, sniffing at it. Okay, it came from the pet store and it probably has all sorts of interesting smells on it. Again, silly humans!
As soon as I got the crate out of the box and set up, Emma went right into it. She had no concern that there was no bedding or toys in it or that we could shut the door on her and "trap" her in it. For the next hour she went in and out of her doggie crate. I finally got an old pillow and one of her fleece doggie blankets and put them into the crate. Emma immediately got in there and began rearranging her bedding, then once it was to her liking, she laid down and took a nap.
As the evening progressed, she kept wandering into the kitchen while we were preparing dinner and then cleaning up. Each time that we shoo' d her out, she immedately went to her doggie crate and laid down. Later, when I got on the computer -- which is next to where we put her doggie crate -- she got into her crate, again rearranged her bedding, laid down, and took a long nap.
It is obvious that Emma had been crate trained in the past. If only she could have told us this, it would have saved us all thee of us a lot of angst. She is comfortable in her doggie crate, actually, she seems to feel "safe" there. And if she feels safe there, then her bladder won't go into overdrive when left alone in the house, even if it is just for a half hour.
