Where did we go wrong in parenting Duke???

You will most likely be surprised to hear this, or you may not be. After about one week of being good, and no longer peeing in the house after Mack passed, Duke is once again back to his old, new, tricks of peeing on the furniture in the Toronto house. The worst part of all of it is that I had Brianna buy a crate for Duke before we got home. For three days the new crate stood at the front door, in the box, and Duke, who had not peed in the LA house since Mack passed, was also not peeing in this house. So the crate went back. The crate went back, and that very night, not even kidding, Duke peed in the house. I figured it might just be an accident, so I gave him another couple chances, and he peed again, and again. So out I went today and bought the crate again.

I don’t get it. How does a dog go seven years without peeing all over his house, to literally peeing all over the place, in two countries, all over indoor furniture, and outdoor, for good measure? How does that even happen? What makes a dog go from having manners, to having not only NO manners, but now having the worst manners??

First I gave him the benefit of the doubt, believing that he was peeing to keep the rats out of the house. Which he was. But then the rats were gone, and the peeing continued. Then I thought maybe he was covering up for Mack, who was peeing because he was ill. And then I wondered if perhaps he was being opportunistic, and taking advantage of Mack’s illness, and being the lazy dog that he is, figured; “if Mack can pee in the house, instead of doing my business outside, why don’t I just pee inside and they’ll think it’s Mack.”

Am I a crazy dog mom giving him too much credit? He’s just a dog after all. Is it possible that dogs have the ability to think a crime through? Like does Duke have the ability to be so calculated? I don’t speak dog, and I definitely am not a dog psychic, but if you ask Yannick, he thinks everything Duke does is deliberate, calculated, and bad. I used to defend him, and tell Yannick that he’s too hard on him, but to be honest, the little guy isn’t making having his back very easy.

In case you’re thinking of writing to suggest we get his urine tested, we’ve done that. It’s clean. He’s healthy. Nothing physically wrong with this dog, other than a serious case of super bad dog syndrome.

So guess what is happening in his life as of tonight. He has moved into a puppy condo here too, and there he will stay indefinitely. Next step is sending him back to his breeder, who is also an animal behaviorist, to get re-educated about how to live like a well mannered member of this family.

And now I must go, I need to continue watching Big Little Lies…yes I know I’m late to the party…and what a f’n good party it is!!!