We're Keeping Him

Great news!  I m glad you are able ot mae it work for his sake... very good of you!!  I bet you will be very very glad you did once everything gets settled.

I'm really glad to hear this.  I suspect that a year from now, you will wonder how you ever lived without this dog)

That is good news.  I am so glad that you are giving him a chance.  Remember we are all here if you want to vent.  We all vent about our "kids" human and furry it is a mom's job.
 
Julie

I had been following the previous thread and truly feel for you...  I am so glad though that you have decided to make it work - I know things will improve and improve and I am very very happy for this little guy that after a rough start, he has someone who cares enough to go to bat for him!! 

Congrats on your decision and good luck!  Take it one day at a time (or one minute when you have too!) and he'll get there.  The pup and the DH []

Sometimes getting massively po'd can be good motivation. 
 
If you have that long stairway down that deck -- you might want to consider adding on a small pulley driven elevator.  JUST for the dogs (and as small as they are that shouldn't be a problem).  But particularly for when the weather isn't wonderful -- and YOU need **two** hands going down the stairs -- they can be trained to such a thing or even using a small closed crate attached to pulleys to get them up and down and in ONE place until you can get there would be a good idea -- particularly since the one has patellar problems!
 
Then if you don't need it, no big deal, but if you DO, it's there! 
 
But the best news to me was that your husband is really being helpful -- sometimes the best solutions are borne out of some thing making everyone re-evaluate things and working on a solution. 
 
And don't hesitate -- we're all here for venting purposes -- such is LIFE and we all need it occasionally!!  Like your signature -- checking on our state of heart daily is a GOOD thing!!

Hi Callie,

I love your elevator idea, I can just picture how cute it could be.  Since the new guy can get himself up and down stairs, I carefully hold the railing and carry the little one down.  Before winter hit last year, I bought a bunch of rolls of sod and laid them on the deck and it became the potty yard, saving the worry of the stairs in the winter.  It worked really well, although everyone made fun of me for it. 

Thanks for your support and ideas, I need all I can get.  On a positive note, I left both dogs home with my daughter yesterday for 2 hours and everyone was perfectly calm and happy.  It was a nice day out so I left the door to the back yard open so the new guy could help himself to the outdoors.  That's how I housetrained the little one and it's working well with this guy.  I spent the first five weeks taking him out to the yard every two hours and holding a party when he did something out there.  Now, I let him use it more independently, going out the door and down the stairs on his own, and he's "getting it"!!!  After a couple of weeks of this, I will shut the door, and he will have to scratch at it to get out as he's become accustomed to. 

If everyone laughs at you they oughta check out the dog magazines.  People are making a fortune manufacturing boxes to fill with sod and then delivering sod to people periodically!!  You're only crazy like a FOX!!! *grin*

We use the sod filled in door potties at our daycares, and they work great.  It gets delivered every few days and when it's used they come pick it up.  So easy!
 
You would probably only have to change your sod once every 1-2 weeks.