Having to say no

According to a lot of the puppy training stuff I've been reading, having to say "no" a lot to your puppy means that you haven't properly prepared his surroundings well enough. Before your puppy comes home, you puppy-proof the house by putting up things that he shouldn't get into, block off areas where he shouldn't go, etc. If they have an accident on the carpet, it's your fault not the puppy's fault.

To which I say, not always! L. and I have prepared our house for Oli. We have baby gates setup to keep him within the confines of our family room, kitchen, dining room, and hallway. In the family room, we have setup an exercise pen where he can go to hang out in his doggy bed, eat, drink, play, and go potty on his papers. He rarely goes in there to do anything other than eat or drink, but it's there nonetheless. We also have papers laying on the floor outside of the pen in case he is wandering around and suddenly needs to go.

For the most part, Oli always uses his papers or goes to the door to let us know that he needs out. This gets more complicated when the weather sucks (like it does right now), because I don't think either one of us enjoy the prospect of standing out in the pouring rain and wind, but it's not the end of the world. Usually if he figures he doesn't want to go out, he'll run to the papers and go.

Here's where that information from the beginning of this post becomes moot. Sometimes dogs get mad. Sometimes they pee in a no-no spot to let you know that they're mad. Sometimes Oli gets mad when L. and I have to go to work for the day, and we leave him in his exercise pen where he can wander around and play with all of his beloved toys, eat a good snack, and eliminate when he needs to. Sometimes he even gets mad when I work from home, because I know that his tummy is sick and needs to be let out more often throughout the day rather than using the same paper for 5-6 hours.

And sometimes he'll pee while I'm putting his leash on to take him out to eliminate...like today. I'm sure that he's mad because I'm not paying full attention to him. I'm trying to work in the midst of his running around, chewing, and attempts to get my attention to play with him. So, when I got up and carried him to the door, and grabbed his leash, he promptly peed on the carpet. Message received little bugger. We went outside anyway, and we stood there until he peed again.

And there is no way to puppy-proof every single thing. He loves to chew on our clothes, blankets, table, shoes, feet, hands, and hair. I'm going to be in a constant pony-tail until he gets out of this stage. So unless L. and I suddenly become minimalist nudists, shave our heads, and cut off our feet and hands, we're going to have to say no. A lot. Oh, of course we do what the books say - replace whatever he's chewing with a toy, but that only works so much of the time. Other times, he's determined to keep chewing on whatever object he's focused on, no matter how many times you try to give him something else or move him. So, just like most things in life, nothing goes smoothly 100% of the time, especially when it comes to puppies.