I am a bad mother.

[BabyGrace]

Christi, missing pets isn't fun

no prob Angie, glad I could be of some help!

oh and just one more story to prove how bad my pup is and that yours isn't abnormal: the other night I set my hamburger down on the coffee table while I was watching TV and Sadie was sitting there with me. Well I saw her start to lean for the burger so I lunged at her screaming, "Sadie, NO!!!" and smacked her on her rump but you should've seen the way she dove for that burger! Then she promptly swallowed the whole thing in less than a second and sat there coughing. I was torn between being mad at her and feeling guilty for scaring her into eating it that fast. I ended up sending her to "bed" for 20 minutes as punishment, except I think it was punishment enough just being mad at her because she's such a sweetie and can't handle people being mad at her

she rarely does stuff like that but once in awhile she slips up...then there's the whole cheese story but that's for another time LOL

 

[anitram]

I'd recommend you read this.

My old dog (a Collie, so a highly trainable breed) died in January, and a month ago, we got a new Collie puppy.

This time, my mother wanted to try a different approach - no locking him in a crate, either during the day or during the night, etc. The link I gave you may sound like post-modern psycho babble at first, but it's the single best thing I've ever read about bringing up dogs, and about your relationships with them.

We've now had Samson for 4 weeks: it took us one day to teach him how to sit, he now sits, lies down and gives his paw on command. Amazingly enough, he will retrieve balls and any other toys and drop them for you without you even having to ask. The reason this is amazing is that Collies are not natural retrievers, and even with our old dog, you had to wrestle him to let go of the toy. He only peed inside the house for the first 3-4 days, and never again. He was never closed into the crate - we let him pick whatever spot he wanted in the kitchen or hallways (non-carpeted areas) at night. When he cried the first couple of nights, my mother went downstairs, scratched him a bit, and went back up. He didn't wail louder, he calmed down. He hasn't chewed a single thing in our home, he hasn't eaten any of our shoes, he can be left alone, and does absolutely nothing destructive. We're amazed at just how good this puppy has been (we bought him at 8 weeks, he's now 12 weeks old), and how trainable he is.

As I said, the approach may sound like psycho babble at first, and it's likely that 75% of people who read it will laugh, but sometimes a different approach can work best. Good luck!