Thursday, November 5, 2009

Houdini Strikes Again & Surrogate Mommy

First of all, last night went a bit more smoothly. We crated Marley down stairs this time. I let him out to potty at 8:30 & fully planned on letting him out again at 11 (after I was done watching my fav show from bed). Wouldn't you know I fell asleep before my fav show started (UGH!). So I wake up at 3am & it is quiet as can be. As I head down stairs, I was pleasantly surprised that it was still quiet. That was however, until I noticed a gray streak running in front of me at the bottom of the stairs. D'oh!! As seen in the photo below, we double latch the crate because little Maxie likes to open crate doors. I failed to realize the side door wasn't double latched so Maxie must have gotten tired of the noise & let him out. LOL All was well except the fact he had been "accident free" until that point. Oh well, one little set back & the thoughts of what *could* have happened a couple potty accidents was more than okay with me!

Secondly, Matilda has sort of become Marleys "surrogate mommy". While I do think it's great Matilda is being so accepting of Marley & is being extremely gentle, patient & loving to him I've also noticed she's becoming a bit possessive over him as well. I'm thinking if I don't nip this in the bud a bit it could become quite a problem. So far if Marley tries to play with any of the other pups, she gets in between them & lays down & digs, rolls or kicks at him so Marley has to play with her and not the other dogs. Same seems to go for humans as well - she's got to be in the middle. She's not nasty or mean or anything...but Matilda is always the insecure type & I don't think could or should handle the "responsibility" of a puppy. LOL Also, when hubby comes home at night it's not unusual for Matilda to whine & be extreamely excited to see hubby & give the occassional "whine" of excitment but tonight she was absolutely off the wall! It was almost as if she was saying "DADDY, I got a BABY!!". LOL Yes it is cute & I am proud of my Matilda being so great with our new addition. But I also know enough about dog "psycology" that it could turn into a problem. So we'll see what tomorrow brings.

I am going to add a little clip of Matilda & Marley at quiet play. They are adorable, aren't they?!

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4 comments:

  1. Nellie, Yuchie, Calvert and BaileyNovember 5, 2009 at 4:33 PM

    Love the video! Amazing how Matilda just took to that role.

    Don't you just love those D'oh! moments. I hope you were able to go back to sleep.

    Oh how I don't miss training; I'm sure you'll get back on track with the training.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Claudia

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  2. HeatherNovember 5, 2009 at 4:38 PM

    It is amazing. Matilda is generally a very anxious dog (like I said in my post) and is very nervous with other dogs typically. She really loves puppies though which is so so sweet! It's almost like caring for Marley is giving her a little ego boost. :o)

    I know - the training can be so stressful! Luckily he is pretty easy as long as I put him out the doggy door every hour or two. I can't wait until he starts to use it on his own though.

    Thanks for the comment Claudia!

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  3. Sketching with DogsNovember 6, 2009 at 1:51 AM

    That video is so lovely, Matilda is loving her new role as Marleys mum. Matilda sounds a lot like Bridget, she is a nervous little dog. Dippy is really getting along with Elliot now but Bridge is still quite wary. I had to laugh about Max the escapologist, there was a dog on the news over here that could open any door - even the cooker and take the joint of meat out!
    Best of luck with the training.

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  4. Draco and his MomNovember 7, 2009 at 4:07 PM

    The video is so sweet. Matilda is being the little mom and I did see how she made Milo leave them alone. Nice that Marley has that warm connection with her.

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