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| This is the second closest they ever got |
Okay, so the night before ended in yapping, and the morning started out with yapping. Why? Let me tell you.
Because Bip has such a dominant personality and our dog, Tootsie, is proving to be surprisingly submissive to this tiny barking machine (whilst barking fiercely toward other bigger dogs), I decided to have Bip be taught some discipline slowly throughout this trial adoption. So we officially started at night. I let Tootsie sleep on my bed, while I provided Bip with a dog bed, a big bone-shaped pillow, and old newspaper with a few drops of Beaphar's puppy toilet trainer (I let her sniff it before so she knows where to do her business).
Aaaand the barking began. That was around, I think, 1 am in the morning when we decided to hit the sack. They were sleeping peacefully while I was busy with my laptop (see photo above). So when we went to the room, Tootsie was at the bed, while the dog bed and everything else (toys and all) were at Bip's disposal. But she would not have it. She wanted to go to the bed as well -- immediately. But I wanted her to know that Tootsie is older and that Bip needs to know when to become submissive. So, no matter how much she barked, I never gave in -- not even to the heart-breaking whines she sometimes emitted. After around 5 minutes of constant yapping (with brief intervals in between), she stopped and sleep gave way at last.
Around 7 in the morning the barking started again, demanding to be allowed on the bed. It became louder and more consistent -- probably because she had ample energy after that sleep. But I was still too sleepy to pay heed, and she needs to know that barking will not get her what she wants, so her yapping was subsequently ignored. It lasted a good 10-15 minutes non-stop. Surprisingly, it elicited two low growls from Tootsie. I was secretly hoping that Tootsie would bark at last to show Bip that she wasn't going to take it lying down anymore, but she didn't. I should be glad she didn't, otherwise it may have provoked a dog fight from these two fluff balls who think they're bigger than they really are.
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| The morning after |
When I woke up around 10 am, Bip woke up as well when she heard me and greeted me with her tail wagging. I picked her up and cuddled with her for being quiet and affectionate despite the little discipline lesson she had. She had used the newspaper with the Beaphar puppy-trainer, so that earned her rewards of affection, too. Not sure if it was the liquid that worked or if she was trained by her foster to wee on the newspaper (will ask later), but she did poop on the edge of the carpet. Yikes. Will have to work on that.
After that, she ate three hearty meals the whole day. I gave her dry kibble with just enough Century Tuna to coat everything because she doesn't really like dry kibble and we just ran out of wet dog food (another item to add to my growing shopping list. Daddy, come back soon please!). Bip had learned how to climb three flights of stairs and earned much love and applaud for being such a fearless pup! She couldn't go down though, so I helped her. Maybe when she gets bigger she'll eventually learn how to. This smart spitfire has enough spirit and brains to do it.
Now I just have to figure out how to get Bip and Tootsie become close.
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