Help please!
I have traveled extensively with my Brittanys, sometimes just one Brittany, sometimes more.
Ok, here’s my problem. It never fails that my dear wife wants to bring along a young puppy and God knows that I love puppies but … when staying in a motel someone has to get up at 3:00 a.m. for a ‘walk around the parking lot’. I always suggest a potty trained dog that can sleep through the night and to let the pup grow up a bit.
My family is awesome and there is always someone willing to house sit and take care of my Brittanys if we should need to be away plus I have a kennel hand that is extremely reliable to oversee the dogs.
God also knows I love my sleep and so does my wife. What to do about who does the 3:00 a.m. walk? Is this a ’shared’ responsiblity? I mean, look, I didn’t ask for the puppy to accompany us. I would have settled for Sarah my long time house companion and hunting dog. Sarah will politely wait until day break before asking, talk about dogs caring for their masters!
My wife tells me that she will bear the burden of unplanned potty times but then when it comes down to it, shouldn’t I be sharing that burden? I admit that I do have just a twinge of guilt when I roll over as she trudges out of the room or when I wake up and find out she was out twice in the night but then didn’t I say we should bring the potty trained dog?
It’s not like we are staying in a motel with a curbside door. It is always a motel where it’s the 2nd or 3rd floor, an inside room which requires full dress code to parade past the lobby with you know what hanging out, directly to what we in the military would call the ‘parade grounds’. Sure, I don’t want my wife parading around with her you know what hanging out but didn’t I suggest we bring the potty trained dog???? Yeah, I know, I sound like a stuck record player.
So what should I do???? I think it a priority that before the young pup be taken on overnight road trips that it at least be able to hold it’s bladder through the night, sleeping quietly next to me and my wife.
I just don’t know. I hate the ‘L’ word (lazy) but I’ve been through this so many more times in my life than my bride of 7 years; though she would have a good argument in reporting her tribulations in bearing and raising 2 children…hmm, she has a point but hey, they had diapers that could be changed in the room, right??? No hangin’ out parts paraded about?
Help please, your thoughts?!
Dave
5 comments
And you call yourself a trainer?
There may be too much time between trips, allowing the memory of consequences of having a puppy along to fade, compared to the joy of having a puppy along.
Think “Retraining Session”. For three, or four days before the trip, place the puppy in a crate next to the bed (her side). Lay her “full dress uniform”, including combat boots, in front of the crate. Don’t force her to dress during the first few training sessions, just the knowledge that she may have to, should be enough. For more realism, having strangers watching TV in your living room might help. She should soon learn what it takes to turn off the slight discomfort of a whining puppy. After a few days of this, if you have a smart one, she should associate the cause of the discomfort, with having the puppy in the same room. Reinforce this by taking the puppy out of the room the next to last night at home, before the trip. You can blend in the e-collar, but if you have a smart one, it may not be necessary.
You could try Motel6 and/or reservations made farther in advance.
You are at least 95% in the right. Being in the right with a woman, however, can be like being in the right with a Grizzly. Proceed with caution. You may want to figure her mood, and the results of same, the next day into the equation. And remember, free advice can be worth exactly what you pay for it.
Oh, almost forgot, what’s a “record player”?
LOL, yeah, the shame of it is the enjoyment of the pup. I guess I have been down this road so many times I enjoy the fruits of adult dogs that already know the rules!
I have a terrific wife and actually, she does not complain and I do enjoy the pups company…when I’m awake!
WOW….what a whiner!!!
PS: I’m the wife……and I don’t need any army boots.
Oh My Gawwwwd! I hate it when people mis-read a post, then make a dumb comment because they had their head up their “Newark, N.J.”.
I’m careful to read, and re-read before responding,….usually.
I am laughing so hard my eyes are watering.
I don’t remember my state of exhaustion, or blood alcohol content (if any) at the time. However, I read “full dress code to parade past the lobby with you know what hanging out, directly to what we in the military would call the ‘parade grounds’” as….
“Full dress uniform…military….’parade grounds’”
Therefore: spit shined combat boots are an absolute must.
If we ever happen to hit the same motel, I’ll come over at three and walk the puppy, I owe you one!
Jack
Hi
the “whiner” comment was left for Dave.
Don’t remember when I took out a puppy with anything hangin out!
ljack…. I will definitely take you up on a puppy middle of the morning potty break.
And……I don’t remember any single incident when I went out in the middle of the night with anything “hanging” out.
Dave just doesn’t even know how I look when taking puppies out in the middle of the night…..because he is definitely is “out of it”.
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