I have to brag a bit

[Joy Originator of GiantSchnoodles]

 

Hi everyone, I've been MIA. I wonder if anyone remembers me? Joy, Giant Schnoodles. Are any of my old friends out there? And hi to new friends. 

So here's my brag. I usually get my puppies potty trained by 6 weeks. I've written a book on it.  With this litter I changed my method a little. They were potty trained at 4 weeks. They go in a kiddie wading pool inside an xpen in the house. The next step is usually taken by the puppy parents when they go to their forever homes (5 out of 7 will be going next Saturday). The puppy parents have to train the puppy to go outside. Right now, the puppies have an xpen in the living room attached to a door directly out into the doggy run. There is a carpeted no pee, no poop area at the beginning of the doggy run.

I  have a have a 15 lb rescue named Jacque. He's so ugly he's cute. Jacque is an obsessive licker. I've tried all kinds of things to extinguish the behavior. Jacque is full of charisma, charm & loves to please but I can't get him to stop licking. Jacque does nothing to  raise my confidence as a trainer. When the mama dog weaned the puppies, Jacque started licking & loving on them. They loved him nurturing him.  He loved to do it. Jacque is Mr. Mom. I let them be.  I woke up one morning & there was no pee or poop in the potty pool inside or outside beside the door or on the carpet in the dog run. Then I noticed during the day that Mr. Mom was leading the whole group out to the potty pool at the far end of the dog run.  .Jacque lead them out there & they hopped  into the potty pool outside without peeing or pooping on the carpeted area of the doggy run. All this before they were 5 weeks old. Jacque had done the training job of the puppy parents.

Then I noticed every once in awhile, loud angry sounds from Jacque toward the puppies. I almost intervened but it didn't seem like anyone was getting seriously hurt so I let them be. Then I noticed a  dramatic change in the puppy behavior. They stopped doing normal puppy nipping. Mr. Mom was making them behave. No more nipping when he was around. They are no longer doing the usual puppy nipping of my shoes, toes, pants, fingers. Now, it seems, no nipping at all. So I think I'm a trainer but Mr. Mom is an amazing trainer! 

Meanwhile, I have been trying to figure out where I am going to place Jacque. I've been trying to find him a forever home. But it now occurs to me, that Jacque's annoying licking behavior could actually be a valuable asset. Jacque should be placed at a zoo in the nursery to help with the baby animals. One instance that comes to my mind where he would be really appreciated & valuable is for the zookeepers who take abandoned baby polar bears home. They have to be stimulated every 2 hours including all night in order to digest their food. Just think how grateful a zoo keeper would be if they had Mr. Mom to do the job & let them sleep through the nigh! The zookeeper would finally be able to sleep with Mr. Mom on the job! Puppy love from Joy & Furry folk

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Welcome back - glad you are feeling better, well enough to post anyway. Darling story.

[Dori & Rua]

What a cool thing!  Love the Mr. Mom role.