yoyo doggyo... time to change approach

We'll have to take the good with the bad on this past week. As for the weekend, we had a good day and then we had a bad day for the little guy. Thank GAWD he's cute and we're superficial!

I'm only joking... he's not that cute!

Really, it was indeed a weekend of mental ups and downs for us. One minute Beckett is fine then a 1/2 hour later he is doing his growling thing and staying clear of us. Then there are the messes. He was great all week, then without reason, awful all at once.

It's now Tuesday morning. Last night I had someone booked to come look at my apartment for the sublet over the summer period while we are living in the summer house. Since she was showing up at 6;30 it gave me nearly an hour and a bit to clean. With the spring mud session on the weekend the stairway treads were muddy looking again and an awful first impression. So, we scrubbed the apartment floors, cleaned the bathroom, tidied, and then I scrubbed all of the stairs down to the street level.

As I was doing this Darrin was cleaning too and preparing supper. Once I was done, there was still 15 minutes to spare. After eating, I even went so far as to spritz the apartment with a great air freshener we bought a while ago. It smells like you're baking cookies. So, after eating Darrin grabbed his gym bag and off he went and it was just Beckett and myself. Kimberly showed up around 20 to 7 with her son to look at the apartment.

I let them in and as they came into the main area of the apartment, Beckett spotted them and went into high stress. He was good for a spell but when I was walking them through the apartment he was zipping here and there trying to keep the maximum amount of distance between them and him. Every once in a while he'd dart behind me to avoid being between us.

Then, it happened, I was in the kitchen speaking with Kimberly about the summer and how great it is to be on the waterfront with the events just up the street and the water view, etc. Beckett circled me pooped a protective circle in somewhat of a Stonehenge layout and then peed in the centre before heading back to his bed in the living room. Let's just say, at that point I was at a loss to defend his actions but came back with a smart ass comment about it smelling like someone just pooped out a cookie! Kimberly broke out in a laughter while saying she fully understood the situation and wasn't put off at all.

Phew.. that was close! Literally and figuratively.

After cleaning that up, I knelt down and leaned against the cupboards. Beckett came over and slid up beside me and put his head up under my arm and on my lap as if he wanted me to protect him from the two strangers. It was the first time he had ever done that as well. That wasn't the end of it for the night. Around 11:00 he and I were in the living room and he hopped up on the sofa and laid down next to me. I mean right NEXT to me. Not at the other end of the sofa which was always the nearest we could sit with him. He then laid there while I pet his head for a spell.

At midnight we went out and he did his business, came back in, then 15 minutes later he went off to the kitchen, and peed against the stove! I thought it was the perfect time to instill the training at the scene of the crime and put his short leash on him and walked him immediately to the stove where he had just sped away from. As I cleaned it up, I was firm but not mean about it being a NO item. It was then that I realized that this training had better hold until today because I just went through the last of the paper towel in the house. LOL Nothing instills anxiety in us more than being out of paper towels these days.