Crazy Eyed Puppy

Well, it seems our puppy has a lazy right eye, there is just something not quite right about it. I'm not sure if it impairs his vision at all though, and he might not even know that he's retarded. It does make it hard to keep a straight face when you are trying to scold him though, because you aren't sure which eye is the good one, and whether or not he's just staring off into space ignoring the crap out of us.

He's also an effin magician. No matter how smart we think we are about trying to keep him in his pen, he's been escaping, every. single. time. He has figured out how to climb over baby gates with ease, and also that he can push his way out of the other side. The plus side to his escaping, is that he doesn't destroy the house when he gets out. When we get home, it usually looks as if he's been sleeping, with everything all in good order, and he hasn't peed or pooped all over.

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Update: the above was typed 2 days ago, here's what's gone on since then. We figured out how to keep him in the kitchen now, but it came at a hefty price. We bought another baby gate to stack on top of the original. That side was easy. The other side is barricaded with a non-working computer (I'll get to it, I swear...) and a tool box. In addition, we have the leash clipped to the fence itself, with the trail end going INSIDE the pantry, wrapped around a heavy can. Then his puppy food (sealed) blocks the pantry, so he can't get in there. That has managed to keep him inside. However, he now decides that the kitchen is his litter box when we are gone for any more than an hour (we've been gone 4 at the most, and I won't hold it against him for that one).

Now before you start wagging your fingers saying "oh but he's just a puppy, he can't hold it..." That's bullhockey. He can hold it for 6 hours at night, why not 90 minutes during the day? He knows that going outside means praise + rewards, going inside means he's getting ignored for a bit. [note- not punished.] I think he'll grow out of it as he realizes that we always come back, and he can just relax in there all day. We are also waiting for him to get his 3rd set of shots so we can start taking him outside for long walks and exhausting the crap out of him, something I look forward to.

For the Cesar Milan haterade drinkers.... Where's the love? He's just a guy trying to help people out, and doesn't seem to be hurting anything at all. It seems on his show, the dogs are usually in a last resort kinda place as it is, so maybe his methods work really well on those. He even says that they don't work for all dogs, and you should get some advice from various sources. The lady with the clicker training is annoying to watch, but I am interested in the method itself. We'll see as he gets older just -how- we're going to train him, but I am pretty sure that we'll have a well behaved pup.