Bending Wills

I am trying to re paper train my dog. A big part of the problem this month has been that I should not have been running up and down the steps three or four times a day to take him out.

Well, actually if I had been able to run, things might have been different. I was barely able to hobble and consequently ended up injuring my knee, my hip and my shoulder while trying to keep pressure off my foot. My sister finally rescued me and took my dog home with her until I picked him up Friday night.

He prefers going out, but if we are going to live together, it is imperative that he learn to use his papers and be happy with that. I put the paper on a little tray by the front door, but he never used it. He finally left a little pile in the middle of the living room, but I have no idea where he peed. Surely he must have done that since Friday, right?

Yesterday I confined him to the bedroom with me. My computer is in here and so he is not alone. Still he has not used the puppy pad!

I realize I am going against everything he believes in with this process, but the alternative is unthinkable. That would be getting rid of him. I don't know how I would do that. Besides he was paper trained for three years before he started going outside, so it is not something he is unfamiliar with. It is just something he doesn't like.

Bending wills - not an easy thing to do, even for someone as bull headed as I am.