I’m not entirely sure if Harley and Teddy were house/toilet trained before we adopted them, but if they were they certainly were naughty when they joined our family. Maya is  a bichon frise, so I knew before we brought her home that she’d be difficult to house train. The breed is notoriously difficult to toilet train. Maya was brilliant at going on her puppy pads, but when we took those away, she would go on the floor. The boys were even worse. My freshly Annie Sloan painted farmhouse table needs to be cleaned, re sanded and repainted. All four of my farmhouse chairs have been chewed to pieces, so i’m relived I never got around to painting those. Chewing and going to the toilet in the house, we tried the sprays to deter them, always open the door for them to go outside, Teddy often weeing up the back door. As if he was about to go outside, turned round and looked at us before lifting his leg. The little monkey!

I tried to crate train Maya when we first brought her home aged just over 8 weeks old. She hated it. I persevered, but I couldn’t bare hearing her cry. We also knew bichon’s commonly suffer with separation anxiety. We really tried to make her crate her safe little den. We put treats in there, bought her a little pink kong, filled it with peanut butter, covered her crate with a blanket, allowed her to go in there on her own without being forced. I made one mistake, when buying a crate (we had a collapsable canvas one) I got one a few sizes too large because I wanted it to be roomy. Big mistake!  I think the space wasn’t cosy enough for her. At the time I was living between two houses, and when at my boyfriend’s (he lives in a roomy renovated bungalow) we eventually got Maya to sleep outside our bedroom door with the door open and her play pen gate separating us. As long as she could see us, she would stop crying. Her crying was heartbreaking. Hysterical even, so we soon learnt to not close the door. Maybe other bichon parents could bare it and ignore it, I simply couldn’t. Neither could Craig. Whilst at my parent’s a few nights a week Maya was in my bedroom with me at first in her play pen. She had more of my bedroom than I did. It was huge. Her crate was in there sideways with the door complete open and she’d curl up in there, but in the night she’d get up, have a drink and end up laying by the gate as close to me as possible. Eventually she slept downstairs with Roxy and Summer, but at Craig’s she still couldn’t handle the door being closed.

As I knew i’d be moving our fully one day, I decided she could do with some company. I began enquiring once again about rescue dogs, making calls, trying to arrange home checks. Once again, it was pretty difficult. I still couldn’t handle emotionally visiting a shelter, and I also wanted a small breed as I have a severely disabled mother and it would be unfair to her to adopt a larger dog who may have behavioural and trust issues.

One day I saw Teddy and Harley on the ‘many tears’ website. I knew two more fur babies was a lot to take on. I had three already (albeit the two westie girls are also my parent’s dogs, and live with them full time). I said how I wish I could have them, but I lived in Northamptonshire and they were in Scotland. We were not financially in a position to be able to go to Scotland, and get them. I was so happy to learn that the previous owner refused to let the boys be separated (as one person asked her if she’d consider it, something i’d never even dream of asking as it makes me so upset that dogs are separated). She was really accommodating and said she’d really like us to be their new family and less than a week later Craig was on his way to Scotland. We insured them before even meeting them. Checked they didn’t have any major health issues currently as we were worried at that time that we would not be able to afford any expensive medication and did not want to adopt them if we were not able to support them and provide them with a happy and safe forever home. The boys joining our family has been the best thing for Maya. She is the happiest little dog now and so independent. She never used to be ok in a room on her own, now she walks to her bedroom all by herself and puts herself to bed whilst the other fur babies are still in the living room. The boys are so happy, and they’ve really brought so much happiness into our lives. They make us laugh every day.

Over the winter, Teddy  (maltese) outright refused to step outside. I’ve read on some forums to get a litterbox for him, but I was determined that my dogs will all be encouraged to ‘go’ outside.

Finally, after a year (a year next month for the boys, and almost 18 months for Maya) they have improved so much. They rarely mess in the house. Even when we’ve been out for a couple of hours.

How did I finally get them to ‘go’ outside?

Well I read that you need to reward them within 7 seconds of them going to the toilet otherwise they will forget what they’re being rewarded for. So we had the 7 second rule in our house. It usually meant me observing them from the kitchen window, putting down my morning coffee and running  (and leaping) outside with the treat jar to make sure I was there with a treat in hand within 7 seconds. I think the neighbours thought I was insane. I read that you have to make such a big fuss, as if they’re just won an Oscar. The praise made me adopt a rather annoying high pitched, i’d go as far as to say shrill, voice. But hey, it worked!

I became a pro by the springtime. I’d sit outside (on dry mornings) with the treats in my pocket, sipping on my green tea. They soon learnt, and we just had to keep it up so that it stuck.

It was highly amusing that Teddy figured if he just keeps lifting his leg and running back to me he’d get more treats. Also, if I had my back turned, they’d run up to me and let me know they’d ‘been’ and I’d give them a treat (as I could see the evidence when they ran back to it).

Did I look like a muppet running across our not so small garden, sometimes in my pyjamas? More than likely. Was it worth it? Most definitely! I’m glad our garden is pretty private surrounded by trees and hedges.

I’m so proud of them. Literally for going to the toilet outside. I thought it would never happen! I thought I was going to have to disinfect and steam clean my floors (We were buying pet safe Vax in bulk) daily for the rest of my life. But no, there’s the very rare occasion that in the night if they’ve eaten later than usual they’ll go, or sometimes if you tell Teddy off or he has a ‘time out’ for starting fights with Harley, he will go and wee up the bin, or my table legs… oh and my exercise bike! Harley scratches our bedroom door at 6.30 – 7am every morning to let us know he needs to go outside.

As for the chewing and destructive behaviour? That’s a part of separation anxiety. Or so i’ve read many times. They’ve made a lot of progress too. Now we’ve realised they have a need to chew, so they have non toxic toy bones (super strong as they chew through anything) and also Chicken Sticks by ‘Goodboy’. (Nope my dogs are not vegetarian, and they’re not vegan).  I think that getting to chew on things stops them destroying my skirting boards and furniture.

I’m not sure if it’s just my three little ones, or it’s common in smaller breeds, but they can’t have any soft toys. They destroy them within minutes. We spent a small fortune buying them ‘almost indestructible’ toys from Pets At Home, made out of firehose material… yes, FIREHOUSE MATERIAL, and Craig joked they’d last 10 minutes.

Nope! 9 minutes. 9 minutes it took Maya and Teddy to rip it open. Now they have the hardest toy bones (From Homesense or TKmaxx, but that can get expensive as they don’t last more than a few weeks). The Goodboy Chicken sticks (100% natural) are a favourite of theirs, Summer and Roxy too. All five of them love them. We buy them from Waitrose, Sainsburys and when we get chance, they’re even cheaper at The Range. I spent so long trying to find healthy natural treats they could chew.

Also, grooming and teeth brushing. The little ones have accepted it’s a routine they need to be used to and they’re so good having their teeth brushed and being combed every night.

Car journeys?

Maya has always been confident in the car, as she was in the car every day since we brought her home. Going between two houses, she loves the car. Teddy however shakes like a leaf, and if Harley is alone (when he goes to the groomers or vets) he cries. I think that’s more to do with missing Teddy though. Although they were absolutely brilliant on the long drive from Scotland.

So, it’s  a positive update from the fur squad! I’m one very proud dog mummy. That sentence may be embarrassing for my soul, but hey, whatevs. I’m beyond stoked!