Wednesday, May 14, 2008

More space claiming



One of the issues that we are having with redecorating the living room is that our dog crate is getting a little squished and creating a tight space in our entryway (pictured above). So we have been thinking that it would be great if Payton could sleep outside the crate when we are away and we could move the crate to another part of the house where it wasn't so in the way. I have mentioned our challenges with housebreaking Payton in a a previous blog and I will let you know that we have had accidents since that blog. Kind of makes it hard to give her free run. Mark proposed that if Payton could go 30 days without an accident that we could start giving her some time out of the crate when we are gone. I am happy to report that Payton has gone four days without an "incident". GO PAYTON!

Peace,
Jamie

Claiming Our Space



We have a pretty good sized house for just two humans, but sharing the space with three dogs makes things a little tight. Mark was worried when he agreed to look for a lab to rescue, and add a third dog to our household, that I wouldn't know when to quit. I remember telling him right after Payton joined us that "three dogs is max for this house".
We really haven't used our living room much since we moved into our house. There are a couple of other rooms that are better options for hanging out and watching TV or visiting with friends. One of the rooms was our office. We had a TV and a couch in the office and there was only a couch in the living room. With no TV we just really never went out into the living room. Lame, huh? We can only hang out in a room that has artificial stimulus? So the living room became the dogs "flop house". They have had free run of the living room while we are at work. They (meaning Taryn and Kylie, Payton is still in the crate when we are away) are really good girls and don't destroy anything, but they have been sleeping on the couches. I keep the couches covered in sheets so that they don't get damaged. This has worked until now.
We recently had to add another desk to our office because I am having to work at home alot more. Adding another desk meant taking the couch out of the office and we had to move our place to hang out into our living room. TV and all the comforts moved into the living room. Unfortunately the dogs have not gotten the message that we have moved into their space.
We were getting frustrated with the dog hair every where that we wanted to sit in our newly claimed territory so we have resorted to drastic measures. These pads are supposed to keep the dogs off of the furniture. We just implemented them today. So far they are 1 for 2. Mark came home and one prickly pad was on the floor and there was hair all over the couch. I came home later and everything was as I had left it. Funny thing is that we are only trying to claim the love seat. We are letting the two dogs sleep on the sheet covered couch at their leisure. I'll let you know how it goes.

Peace,
Jamie