Oh Dear! Venus!

Late last night I wrote this on one of my group sites.................


ohh tonight my heart is so heavy. The honey moon is over and reality has set in!

Venus peed twice in the house today, knocked over the garbage, climbed and layed on the furniture and only pushing her hiney to shover her off was the only way to get her down. She jumped on Hannah to get a treat and scratched her neck, and knocked her over. Then, Hubby tells me she is too big and her only saving grace is that she is such a lug and so mellow; except when in training and steals a treat from Hannah. Other than that he doesn't really like her. Hannah told me she wants a "tawny" dog. ( My mom's golden retreiver.) I am stressed because I am now getting a bigger picture of what I may have gotten myself into and have no idea how to handle it.

On one point I am commited to having a dog and working with her to train her into a good dog.

On the other hand, I am wondering if I should cut my losses before the girls get too attached.

Realistically, hubby is right. She's a sweetheart. But other than that things are not good in her favor. She doesn't play ball. She half drags me on the leash, so we can't take her for walks. She has started to refuse her kennel; even with treats in it. She howls in her kennel. Now I am learning that she probably wasn't house trained and I will have to treat her like a puppy and train her. I am so afraid that Hubby may be right in the fact that she has never really been around people or learned manners. A 50 lb dog jumping on kids 1/2 her size scares me to death. She hasn't responded at all the the "sit" command. I have treat for her and half the time she just lays down. I know if it was me and me alone. I would be fine in training her. She is good when she is with only me. The problems start to surface with the distractions of the girls and I just don't have a clue in how train the three of them; especially when I see her manners in some ways get worse.

So I have been sitting here reading about problems dogs and find that the best thing is to keep her with me on a leash. Take her out walk her til she pees and praise her. To train her in house manners, she needs to stay with me on the leash or be in her kennel.
I just feel so bad, because, I gave what I thought was a clear description of what our family could deal with behavior wise and feel a bit bamboozled over it. I haven't gotten a straight answer from the gal about any previous training which really makes me wary.

I just don't know what to do. I have a house to run and kids to raise. I didn't get a puppy because I needed to have something that was less needy. Come to find out, I may have gotten a puppy, just in giant propotions.

So today.............Now she is on a leash in the house and hasn't been potty yet today! argh!