Ugodog location change Take 2

[misstray]

When I initially trained Brody to the Ugodog I set it up near the front door of the apartment.

1. Because it was one of the few areas that was on lino

and

2. Because it was centrally located and within my line of sight.


Now that he's totally trained on it (and he has been for ages) I want to move it because:

A. It looks unattractve in the entranceway
B. If anyone walks down the hallway outside, or opens a door, or heaven forbid TALKS or make any noise, he WILL run off the Ugodog (mid whatever he is doing) in order to start barking
C. When he poops it smells up the place. Sure I have a bottle of vinegar-water to spray after, but still....

So a few months ago I tried moving his tray to my bathroom, since he does leave the toilet paper roll alone now. The bathroom is small and it is definitely in the way (I need to move it shower, for example), but it'd be out of general sight there and when he poops I can turn on the fan!

The first try of this did not go well. He refused to use it. After an entire day of him refusing to go to the bathroom I finally moved it back to its original location because I was frankly afraid he was going to explode all over the carpet rather than use his tray in the bathroom. I'm not sure what his problem was, but you'd think I was the beast-monster-from-hell the way he was looking at me!

I figured I could always try to move it again later and maybe he'd be more ok with it then. Maybe he wasn't just ready or whatever. It wasn't a battle I wanted to make a big issue over.

Yesterday, I decided to try moving it again. So far so good, and he's been using it with no problem. A couple of times he's gone to the old spot and then remembered after seeing the tray wasn't there and then trotted off to the bathroom.

Now *I* have to remember to stop shutting the bathroom door when I'm not in it! ha ha

[davetgabby]

good stuff Tracy, a slow gradual move of two foot increments, might have worked better initially but good for you.

[misstray]

Yeah, I'm happy it seems to be working this time. The bathroom is actually less than 10 feet away (this is a small apartment). I would have done it in smaller increments but there really just isn't room (it'd block the hallway to my room if I had tried to do that).

My major thing for wanting to move it was him running off it mid-activity if he heard the slightest noise outside in the general hallway.

So, we'll see how this goes. My bathroom is so small and it's inconvenient in there too, but we'll try and make it work.

[misstray]

I have to laugh because some people are super proud of their dogs for great things (like in the performance ring, etc.). Me, I'm just super proud of him for using a potty tray when I move it to another room! ha ha ha

Also, I was doing laundry yesterday and was in and out of the apartment all day going back and forth to the laundry room (and once got waylaid chatting to a neighbour for about 20 or so minutes) and Brody was super good in the apartment and wasn't barking. So, so far this has been a great weekend!

Maybe I'll get him a ribbon. ha ha OK he got nice treats and that's probably more important to him (unless I let him chew the ribbon and it was paper).

It's the little things! ha ha

[davetgabby]

So true Tracy, good stuff.