Redetotry wrote:Pippa has regressed a bit on her potty training but not bad. She sleeps through the night and is of course the smartest puppy ever.
BJ, thinking about your sweet little Pippa brought something to mind that you might wish to consider. Is there much wildlife in your area? Raptors, to be more specific? (Keeping in mind that raptors - even large ones - are continuing to adapt to citified habitats).
The reason I ask is this:
Some years ago when I had my small acreage in the Sierra Foothills, I had a litter of Stafford pups. As part of initial potty-training (before they went to their new homes), I would always let them out into my (fenced) back yard immediately after feeding, and I would also go out with them - particularly after dark (but in the daytime, also).
One evening I was trying to get dinner on the table, the pups (then about 7 weeks or so, and maybe 2 or 3 pounds each) had been fed and needed to go out, so I had my two young children go out with them. I was met with the usual protests and complaints, the "why do we have to do it" comments, to which I replied that they needed to go out with the pups so that an owl wouldn't get them. "It's cold outside!! An owl? Really, Mom?" (I was aware that there were a few species of owl that lived in our area, from small to quite large).
After a lot of protesting mumbling, my kids went out with the pups, as I continued to stir the pot on the stove.
Within less than two minutes, I could hear my daughter screaming bloody murder at the top of her lungs as she rushed back into the house (leaving her brother outside on guard duty). As she came in the door she was literally screeching: "MOM!! MOM!! MOM!!! An owl came down and tried to get Rod [her favorite pup]!! And when I raised my arms and screamed, it flew away!!!"
My own heart pounding by this time, (and not wishing to alarm my daughter further) I calmly replied "Good job, Sweets! Now go get the pups and bring them all back inside."
She did this promptly - and never again did either of my kids ever object to going outside with the pups.
I know this story might sound unlikely - but I have often wondered if this sort of thing might happen more often than one might realize. About a month later, I was talking to a friend who had a couple of tiny pups.
She told me that she had let both pups out into her fully fenced, puppy-proof, backyard for no more than 5 minutes to do their business (again at night) and only one of the pups returned to her back door. She had no near neighbors, and no likelihood of any random people passing by.
She spent the rest of that night frantically searching everywhere for the missing pup (her favorite, of course).
The missing pup was never found.
She was aware that there were also large owls in her area (other raptors as well) but didn't think they could possibly be a threat, so took no precautions. To her lasting regret.
Those of you that have small dogs, particularly young, small-breed puppies, be sure to take special care when letting them out into your yard at night. Even those of you who live in cities or suburbs - raptors are moving into these areas as well, because of all of the "free food" (think rodents and such).
Thank you.
Redetotry wrote:I have bells on my back door for the dogs but Toby is the only one now that will use them. It will be a long time before Pippa ventures outside! She is getting good about following me so when she is big enough for a leash I think she will do well. Thankfully she is still sleeping through the night.
Thanks also to everyone for posting your "bells on the back door" stories. I have never tried this (although I think it a very good idea), my dogs have all developed "the stare" when they want to go out.
I do think that this bells thing is very similar (in a cause-and-effect way of thinking on the dog's part) and I don't think this is that different than the "talking buttons" that many are using for communication with their dogs (as I mentioned earlier).
This buttons thing was originally developed by a speech pathologist who works with language-delayed children. She then decided to try these buttons with her new pup, Stella. She was surprised to find how well it worked!
Here is a clip from CNN (this clip was from 2019, Stella has continued to learn new words since then):
"Speech pathologist Christina Hunger says she is teaching her dog Stella to communicate with the same method she uses to teach children to speak and learn words. Hunger joins CNN's Isa Soares and Cyril Vanier to detail her method."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJCxrc7Ns_g
Anne
