Theres a great pet store on the north east side of town called Pets on Broadway. When I went in to pick up dog food for the boys (they eat Fromm Gold and no one on our side of town carries it) I decided it was finally time to get Timber a belly band. For those of you not in the know when it comes to belly bands, well... be happy about that. It is a simple device that literally wraps around the belly of a male dog (similar products are available for females, but we wont go there today) to prevent him from peeing inside the house. Its essentially a diaper for males who are problematic markers (which I think is really any male that marks inside instead of out!) or incontinent dogs. Ive also known of people using a belly band during house training, but please, if it comes to that, call a professional (like me)!
Its awkward enough buying a diaper for your male dog, but standing in the aisle reading the packaging to figure out what size you need and exactly how much liquid the thing will be capable of holding, you feel pretty strange. Fortunately Pets on Broadway has great staff, and one of them (sorry I didnt get your name!) patiently helped me through the whole process. The icing on the cake was one brief line on the instructions. To quote the Simple Solution Washable Male Wrap, "Position the wrap so the microfiber pad covers your dogs masculinity." Oh my goodness, is that what we call it?
Next it was time to try convincing Timber that this belly band was a good idea. I mean, hey, he doesnt care if we are wearing out the mop. I affixed a pad to the proper place on the wrap, then proceeded to cover poor Timbers "masculinity." Timber was indulging to a point, but would not be convinced that it was safe to lie down with such a dangerous piece of fabric attached to him. So I did what any good dog trainer would do. I got out the chicken and gave Timber the "down" command, thinking that if I directed him to lie down a few times hed understand that it was okay.
Now, Timbers not a huge fan of obedience training, but fortunately for me, he is a huge fan of chicken.
"Down," I said. Thunk went Timber.
I did it! He smiled up to me. Chicken now! Timber was pleased with himself, but something was missing from the equation. His back end. Timber had happily performed the portion of the "down" exercise he was comfortable with, and maybe he thought I wouldnt notice the rest. He was in a very nice play bow, front end down on the ground and butt (and belly band) up in the sky.
At least he got a laugh out of me, because that much effort didnt earn him the piece of chicken he had been hoping for. We tried again. And again. We were finally successful, and Timber got lots of chicken for his tolerance and obedience. Tonight weve had one near accident (fully caught by the belly band, hooray!); tomorrow will be our trip to the vet, and hopefully a solution that Timber is more accepting of.
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| Timber doing "down" |
