Day 2

So I do not believe my little guy is crate trained. He cried ½ the night; either he isn’t crate trained or totally stressed. Anyways, he awoke me at 4:32 am, so I got up and pottied him and then took him for a ½ hour walk. When we got back I got Quinn up and took care of him. He is still petrified of the pup. No incidences this morning with ‘potty mouth’ (the snarl and vocalizing to sound like a big meanie.) I put the pup up in the bathroom with his crate left open, some toys and a fresh marrow bone. Then I took Quinn and headed to the Tech, dropping Quinn off at daycare so that he had a “normal” day.

After teaching I picked up Quinn and headed to work in Wilton; along the way I stopped in and found my trainer and explained the situation. She came up with the “potty mouth” phrase. She was very confident we can correct this problem. Her first suggestion was to set boundaries with him and not let him get away with it. I am to grab him by his scruff and lift his front feet off the ground and spray his mouth with bitter apple. I will also set up some one on one sessions with her and then move him into Basic Obedience class. With that information I continued on my way feeling much more confident. I stopped at Agway and for $5.99 purchased 8oz container of bitter apple, choosing it over the pint size, optimistic that we can nip this in the bud.

I stopped by the house on the way to the office to see what destruction occurred in the bathroom over the past 5 hours; happily the only upset was some towels pulled off their rack and a piddle spot. I can live with that!

Quinn went from daycare to work with me and seemed to be pissed at me, but at least his tail was wagging.

After work all went very well initially. Everyone pottied and then Quinn and the pup actually played for about 10 minutes. Then the pup got rambunctious and tried humping Quinn. I corrected him and that ended the play. Then the pup growled at Tasha and got a taste of the bitter apple. We had a couple more growling incidences; then I took Quinn and pup for a walk on the double dog leash. It went great! Everyone walked nicely and seemed to enjoy themselves. Next I decide to take the two down to the ambulance bay so the pup could begin his socializing. Again all was well until he suddenly struck out a Quinn. Unfortunately I could not separate him and get to the bitter apple in time to make it effective; but that ruined Quinn’s mood and he moped the rest of the time.


Here are my boys!

Tonight we are all resting; Tasha is on her couch, Quinn is on the back of my couch behind my shoulders, and the little guy is on the floor chewing on his marrow bone. All in all I feel everyone is in a better place tonight.

FYI: I brought Mr. Rabbits cage down from the attic and set it up in the TV room so that he could be with us but protected from the pup while he is home. When we are gone I will let the bunny out.

Have not thought of a name yet.