Day 14 -- Feet Forward

Mollie is so pleasant to have around the house. She still gets into puppy mischief but she is so response to my verbal direction and redirection. If she's being a little naughty, I can interrupt her and she happily comes over to me waiting to be praised for ending the behavior. My praise is a much bigger production than the interruption. It's a big deal for her to stop doing something that she views as fun, rewarding, etc. If all I'm doing is correcting her in a stern voice, there is nothing to motivate her to stop the behavior except avoiding the stern voice. I would much rather our relationship be on a different level than that and I want her to happily listen to my requests.

Mollie is really good at letting me know when she needs to go out to the bathroom. If we are downstairs she runs to the back door. If we are upstairs, she runs to the top of the stairs. If I don't notice what she has done, she whines a little and runs back to me. I better catch on by then or we will have a puddle at the top of the stairs. Puppies this age are not fully house trained yet but consistency with their training and observing their body language is going to go a long way towards getting that job done.

Mollie continues to approve in other areas as well. We've built up to a brightly bandaged foot and she's more than willing to give me eye contact instead of chew on my foot.

It's ok for her to investigate my foot but I don't want any teeth on my feet or any part of my body or clothing. I have worked with her in a variety of settings so she can generalize this to other feet, places, etc.

Even when on the floor playing with her she did really well. A couple of times she put her mouth on my feet but didn't put any pressure down at all and immediately removed her mouth when I said ouch. But most of the time while I'm on the floor with her wiggling my feet she is ignoring them. She's come a long way!

And even better, she would really rather snuggle up on my lap. That is so much more pleasant than a puppy who is nipping at your feet all the time.