Kioko vs. Crate Training

My husband has been gone on a 10-day business trip. Thank goodness, he's finally home! With him home, it's much easier to deal with the stress of cleaning up after Kioko. Plus, he's my partner. Everything is easier when he is here.

Crate Training is useless for a dog like Kioko (read the post, How We Got Where We Are to understand more about this). For that reason, we are adopting the following changes as of today:

1.) Rather than being confined in her crate, Kioko will be tethered to my waist via a 6' lead, thus having to be with me everywhere I go in the house. This is going to be a huge pain in the ass, but there's nothing else that can be done given the floorplan of our small home.

2.) The crate will continue to be used for transporting her in the car, but crating--as we have known it--is over. Since the "den instinct" logic does not apply to Kioko, we are reversing that logic and going out to get her a large crate that will supply ample room for a sleeping area on one side and an "approved" potty area on the other side with a piddle pad. It is this, we hope, that will teach her to keep her sleep areas separate from her elimination areas. Having the OPTION without anger or stress from her owners of a place that she is familiar with (the crate substrate vs. an outside grassy substrate) to do her "businees" might just do the trick. Our fingers are crossed.

The hope, of course, is that she will become reliably pad trained while in crate. I can live with that long-term. For regular "house" training, we will continue to take her outside during the day (hence...the tether to me so that I can see her all day long and observe her need to go). This will eventually result in a dog who uses piddle pads in her confinement uses the outside potty area when NOT in confinement.

We'll see how this goes. It's Saturday morning, so I must be off to puppy class.

God bless the beagles.