Snow Day Frustrations

A snow storm struck New York today blanketing our cars and streets with the white stuff. We woke up this morning at 7am and saw about an inch on the ground already. Our wonderful neighbors who own a 1 year old daschund, Joy, left a gift of 2 jackets for Sobe. They fit him perfectly! Sobe started the day off well. I took him out for his morning walk and he did his business and played in the snow. He was extremely cute to watch! Rick and I walked him one last time an hour later before we left for work and then dropped him off in his crate.

Sobe did so well in his crate. Rick got home at around 1pm and found Sobe waiting for him. No whimpering at all. Because it was a snow day, Rick didn't have to go back to work. Instead, Sobe got taken to my parents for some snow shoveling action. Guess we'll see how he handles his afternoon crating tomorrow when we will both be at work a full day.

The frustrations started in the evening. I took him for his 6pm walk and he did his business like a good boy. He met a couple of dogs along the way and one growled and barked at him. Sobe stood his ground and remained calm. On our way back home, I noticed he was leading and pulling on the leash more. I couldn't get him to calm down. Maybe because of the snow?

An hour later, Sobe had an accident at home. I took him back out again and this time with more snow, he didn't quite stay focused on getting business taken care of. I continued walking and we ran into another dog. The two sniffed each other and Sobe began to growl and bark at him. I've never seen Sobe act this way before and it was disturbing. Is he learning this behavior from other dogs? This isn't the type of behavior I would want to condone. Again, he tugged and pulled on his leash as I brought him back into the apartment.

20 minutes later after playing with his toys at home, he had another accident! These accidents are small amounts, not a full bladder of pee. I didn't catch him in time so I just cleaned it up. Another 20 minutes later, our neighbor (the daschund, Joy, and his dad) rang our bell to ask about the jackets from this morning. Sobe went out to meet Joy and the two were roughing and tumbling. Joy kept knocking Sobe over and Sobe eventually bared his teeth and growled and barked at him. Again, very disturbing to me. I grabbed Sobe and told him "No!" He calmed down until Joy bounded over again and jumped on him, causing it to start all over.

It was pretty rough this evening with him growling, pulling on the leash and having accidents in the house. I also felt my training efforts were constantly being interrupted with our neighbors' dogs outside. I guess that's a part of being a puppy parent. I'm pooped!