[nagdu] Important lesson learned. Dogs cannot be trusted.

[Daryl Marie]

I could not agree more.

In general, I don't leave food up on the counter/stove, but my husband has and does, and more than once we've left a loaf of bread out, and never once had a problem with counter-surfing.  We have the cat food far back on a small table, more for the cat's security than because Jenny will eat the food (in fact, a cat knocked over a food bowl once, food went everywhere, and Jenny just stayed back and let us clean it up).

the only "dog-proofing" we have done to our house is to put a screen over the entrance to the basement.  The cat box is down here, and more than once, Jenny has done her business down there AND gotten into the cat box.  This also enables the cats to have their own "safe" space, which is less important now than it used to be... but we have a "boss cat" that's a bit of a grouch, so in particular giving her a space sans dog works best for the equilibrium in our house.

Daryl

----- Original Message ----- From: Julie J. via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> To: Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net>, NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org> Sent: Mon, 02 Mar 2015 10:56:20 -0700 (MST) Subject: Re: [nagdu] Important lesson learned. Dogs cannot be trusted.  I agree Tracy. I don't necessarily expect a brand new dog to my home to know all the rules, but I do expect that he will learn them. The goal for me is always to have a dog who is trustworthy without me hovering over his shoulder. I want to be able to go to the bathroom, go down to the laundry room, take out the trash and eventually leave the house for a few hours without worry about what it will be like when I get home. Monty and Belle are completely trustworthy in the house, all day if I needed them to be alone for that long. Jetta is getting there. she still sleeps in her crate at night. during the day she's fine with freedom in the house as long as someone is in the house. She wouldn't be okay loose in the house, say if I took Monty with me to a meeting or something. She goes in her crate at those times. I can deal with some barking. I'm okay with dogs on the furniture. I'm okay with running and wrestling in the house. I am not okay with stealing food, chewing up my stuff, jumping up on people and peeing/pooping in the house.  It's my personal line in the sand. Of course, everyone of my dogs has crossed that line at one point or another.  I make every effort to address the issue through training and all of my dogs have turned out to be trustworthy in the house alone. I make a lot of adjustments to my life to have dogs. They can make some adjustments so they can live in the house.  I see that as fair. Julie  _______________________________________________ nagdu mailing list nagdu at nfbnet.org http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu: http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/crazymusician%40shaw.ca