The First Month: Cute Dog or Cunning Escape Artist?

The short answer: both.

                                                                            Izzy
Housebreaking continues to improve. Izzy so wants to please us and is a creature of habit. Both good things. But she's also a little, ahem, In and Out burger, and I must watch her every second after she eats to encourage her to go outside or on the wee pad. If I remember to immediately take her outside we have success. But she still doesn't love walking on a leash. Anytime she has an accident inside we firmly tell her "no." Anytime she goes on the wee pad or outside she gets a small treat. Each day gets better. Meanwhile, we've been gating her in an alcove that connects to a small bathroom with a tile floor when we leave her alone.

However...Izzy has never met a gate she couldn't beat. The first time she showed total disregard for barriers was when I gated the stairs to keep her on the ground floor. It was an eighteen-inch high gate I use to contain my younger daughter's pekingese, Ken, whenever I petsit him. Ken respects the gate. Izzy pushed it over and scaled it like it was a fun hurdle in an agility course.

                                                                          Ken
I dragged out the twenty-four inch gate that has contained two children, five dogs, and two cats. Okay, the cats always went wherever they damn well pleased, but the wood and plastic mesh gate worked just fine with the kids and dogs. This gate was battered and the plastic was separated from the frame a little. Ken respects this gate. Not Izzy. After I gated both doorways of the bathroom and put Izzy inside before going out one day I turned around and she was in the hallway. Didn't I just put her in the bathroom? I wasn't positive, but pretty sure. I put her inside once again and was telling my husband my uncertainty when we look down and see Izzy pushing her head through the gate. It was like the pink slime scene from Poltergeist. The hole was small but she wanted out, and out she came.

So until I order new gates with wire mesh, Izzy will be shut in the bathroom with the regular doors whenever I leave. No views for you, Izzy.