Annoyed & Proud

Dakota returned from doggie daycare last night, exhausted as usual. Unfortunately, Cheyenne doesn't understand this and wanted nothing more than to play around with Dakota. With Cheyenne at her feet, Dakota kept growling and barking (no snarling) which was a sign for Cheyenne to leave her alone. We weren't upset about this for two reasons: 1) this is something Cheyenne needs to learn and part of their communications and 2) Dakota's tail was still wagging. When a dog's tail is not wagging, then problems can occur. The lack of a tail wagging signifies aggression and Dakota was not being aggressive at all - just telling the pest to leave her alone because she was tired.

My husband and I decided to kennel the girls up (in different crates) as they both needed naps and we needed to head to the gym. One hour later, we come home, let them out, and Dakota is fine with Cheyenne - playing around with her as though nothing happened earlier that night. This is why it is important to not interfere unless there is trouble. If we had, it would have seemed to Dakota that were coddling Cheyenne and bad feelings would have happened.

On the upside - Cheyenne is doing much better with her housebreaking. There were only a couple of accidents yesterday but otherwise she is great. At one point, having both done potty and poopy (as we call it in my house), I was leading Cheyenne back to the house and she stopped on the edge of the grass, looked up at me, tugged a little to get back on the grass fully and then pooped again! Wow! She knew that this was the place to go and that if she had to go, she couldn't go back inside and make a mess there. Needless to say, we are both very proud. Oh! She also held going potty for 4 hours last night. See, with only a little patience and a schedule, housebreaking is that bad.