Training a dog....

And no, I am not referring to my husband or men in general. Although, I know that popped into your head.

Anways, we got a new member of the family. As if we do not have enough going on, we add a new dog. We miss Mona terribly and having a big dog around is nice. So, being the good person that I am, I opt to post on freecycle for anyone with any unwanted puppies. Got several responses, one just broke my heart. It was for a dog with 3 legs! I wanted it but I know we could not afford the vet bills and the fact that my kids would probably injure one of its good legs. Okay, off on a tangent there, back to topic. We adopted a little puppy we named Manny, after Ansley's favorite redsox player. He is half weimaraner and we think half lab. He is a hellion.

Yesterday was almost my breaking point with him. He has been doing pretty good with the house training. Till yesterday. He shit in the house 4 times. 4 times! Oh my god I was pissed and ready to get rid of him. I forgot how hard puppies can be. Mike had to remind me of how hard it was to train Mona, I mean we kept her and she did totally annihilate 3 couches. Big difference though, one was eating my shit, the other, shitting all over my house. I can tolerate things that are not disgusting. Today so far is much better. I am trying a new loving approach, after each nap that I catch him waking up from, I hug him and throw his ass out the doggy door. It is working better.

I may be teaching the kids a bad thing though. Each time I catch Manny chewing on something he shouldn't, and believe me, it is often, I pop him on the butt with it and tell him no. Then give him one of his toys. The kids are now doing this too. They of course are a lot more gentle about it than I am, which is a good thing and there is no sarcasm there.

If there are any tricks to weimaraners or labs that anyone can inform me of, I would be grateful.

Here is the little monster that we absolutely love...