Maggie in the Basket
Thursday, July 23, 2009
My Maggie likes to challenge me in many ways.
Her latest thing that she has been doing is peeing on the rug I put by my backdoor. I wash the rug and the day I put down the clean rug is the day she walks over, squats and pees on it. This is really ticking me off!
At first, I thought she was peeing on the rug because she was waiting by the backdoor to go outside and couldn’t hold it any longer. But, in the last couple of days she had done her dirty deed right in front of me.
One day, I was sitting at the table right by the door and she walked up and peed on it and went on her merry way. Last night, she did the same thing. I am beyond tired of having to wash my rug all the time. I even put a little bleach in the water to kill the pee smell, but this doesn’t stop Maggie.
The thing is, if I don’t have the rug by the backdoor, she doesn’t pee on the wood floor. For some reason, peeing on this rug is like a treat to her. I guess I could just not have a rug by the backdoor, but I put it there to catch the dirt when we come in so we don’t track it in the house.
I have gotten after her in every way I know how for doing this. Finally, last night I had to resort to the one punishment that Maggie hates. We used to use this “method” on her when all else failed when she was a puppy and would get in so much trouble. We call it “Maggie in the Basket.” It goes a little something like this. Maggie does something bad (peeing on the rug) and she goes in the laundry basket for a “time out”.
Comments Widget
The funny thing is about this punishment is that Maggie won’t move a muscle once you put the laundry basket over her. She lays there completely frozen until the basket is removed. Last night we gave her 10 minutes in the basket for peeing on the rug.
We figured that was a sufficient amount of time for her to think about what she did wrong. We wanted her to really ponder how bad it is to pee on the rug by the backdoor. I am sure this was all that was on her mind as she was in her “time out.”
Of course, this worked better when Maggie was a puppy and could actually fit under the laundry basket. She’s a big girl now, so we can’t get her completely under the whole basket - this is a big laundry basket too! She doesn’t seem to notice that she can’t fit all the way though.
Once Maggie’s time was up, we took the laundry basket off of her so we could talk about what she did wrong and how she won’t ever do it again.
In reality, I bet we are just giving her an irrational fear of laundry. Same thing happens to me when I have to do laundry. I get afraid... very afraid. Especially when it comes to washing the Wayneman’s dirty clothes!
In the meantime, while all of this is going on, Cicely keeps a very low profile over on her bed. She wants to make sure she isn’t the next one in the basket.
The shame of it all is almost too much for Maggie. She can’t even look us in the face.
I tell her that I am sorry I had to resort to the basket and all is right in her little world again. She now knows exactly what she did wrong and pledges to never do it again. Yeah right. I will wash my rug (for the 8,746th time) and put it back again today. We will see how long it goes pee-free. Not long I am guessing.
But, if she does it again, I will have the basket nearby. Unless she looks at me like this, then I will just melt and give her lots of hugs and kisses.
Maggie makes it very hard for me to stay mad at her for too long!
