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!

My Life with Venus Bowie Snugglebugs - the Hound

I think getting a dog is a lot like getting a child. They both need lots of attention and we all have to get to know each other. Initially, you might have 2nd thoughts, but you know it is a forever deal!

I admit I have had 2nd thoughts. at 18 inches to the withers (shoulders) she is bigger than I wanted and solid. She has had a couple of run ins with the girls and we have had tears. I have to remind herself if we had gotten any dog, this would be the case. These run ins have shown the girls how important it is that we teach Venus Bowie Snugglebugs good manners, so we can always love her! At first they weren't so sure that this real.

I am sure there will be lots of I never realized in this case as this is a new breed for me. I never realized what a pack really meant until Venus arrived. She has completely bonded with Hannah.

This is a photo I took when I went to check in on her at nap time. I am not a dog on the bed kind of gal. However, I am a realist and think that this is a losing battle. Hannah told me she told Venus she could snuggle with her....good think she is kennel trained! I don't know if I could handle a dog in the bed all night......just waiting to visit mine!

In a secondary manner, Venus has also bonded with the rest of us. I noticed this when she seemed very reluctant to go outside with out any of her mates. Of course, for me the answer is another dog. With Hubby that would be as easy to do as to get him to move to a new place.....not going to happen unless utterly forced! I would secretly love to adopt Venus' brother who is also at http://diamondsintheruffpetrescue.com/dogs.htm. I know this is an unrealistic wish for me! Beside training two dogs at once would completey insane and disaster would occur.

Then last night, at bedtime, she refused to go to her kennel until the entire family went with her. I got the girls in the room and she went right to Jeff, sat down and looked at him until he got up and had Venus follow him to her kennel. Right in she went. You could see in her eyes that she secretly wanted to sleep with Hannah.

This big lovable pack hound, woke up, just like a kid, whined in her kennel. From the night before, I had learned it wasn't that she needed to go out, but rather, she needed to be reassured that the rest of her pack was near her. Since my pack was in bed with me, I left it and went in and stuck my finger in her kennel. She gave it a lick and went back to sleep!

Today we will try some more leash training. I guess a trait of a hound is if it benefits them, they will train. If it doesn't, they won't. This seems to be true for Venus. We have a lot of work ahead of us to show Venus that it is imperative that she get a good handle on the leash.

Losing my mind and other such things

I have gone and lost my mind! AGAIN! Those darned ingrained beliefs and such! Here I was living a nice life with two kids and a great husband. Was there anything wrong with this life? NO. But in my mind for the last two years something has been missing and I have have dilly-dallied, wish-washed over the issue as there are always pros and cons to such things. I had a discussion with Hubby and finally got him to agree to this new adventure. Then I made the plunge!

Yep! We got a dog. I am sane enough to know that a puppy would be true insanity, and found a lovable, stinky dog! Her name is Venus Bow-ie Snuggle Bugs. She is a hound mix. We found her living in a no-kill shelter. She had been waiting for a home for two years!


She is so sweet and loving and just thinks the girls are her pack mates. As she has been living in a kennel environment for so long and probably ran free for a while before that, she has a lot of manners to learn. She is smart but hard-headed. In hopes that she will be the perfect dog for us eventually. My free time is now all focused on helping her find some manners and give her some loving consistency in her life!

So the first night we sent her up into her kennel and went to bed. and her this howling sound. As a mommy who needs her sleep, I knew listening to the howl all night would not work, just to get her in the habit of being by herself. So I let her out of her kennel and she zoomed upstairs right in to Hannah's bed. She is about 40 Lbs....no small dog. So I revised my plan again and put the kennel in the girls room and the dog and the girls are thrilled to be with eachother! Next challenge: good sit-stay.....harder than I thought! LOL

Jodi