Stella lives to fight another day here in the Dorminy home. But it was a close call.
I fed her and then put her in her crate so we could go to church. Molly came home after Sunday School to check in on her. And when I got home I saw some brown stuff in her crate. And some “muddy” paw prints on her mat in the crate. Immediately I start losing my mind. Assuming the brown stuff was poop, I begin declaring, “THIS IS NOT GOING TO WORK!!! I’m giving her to another family. I cannot deal with poop in her crate.”
I felt defeated in the potty training and frustrated about the work. I immediately bathed the puppy. (I don’t call her by name when a wave of “I’m giving her away” rushes over me.) The puppy hates baths, so I held her down and bathed her anyway. Telling her if she would behave and not poop in her crate then all of this water would be unnecessary.
Fast forward about six hours. I let her eat again. She eats so fast. I went to get some laundry going and came back down to a pile of regurgitated dog food on the kitchen hardwoods. Yuck. The puppy (she still is about to be given away, so no name) starts eating it again. Double yuck.
I clean up the mess and then feel a sense of relief. The earlier incident wasn’t poop after all!!! It was regurgitated dog food that she stepped in most likely and re-ate. Dogs are gross some times.
Stella isn’t a crate-pooper after all. She is just an extremely fast eater. So she lives to fight another day. And Stella got her name back.
Stella also now gets hand-fed. Kibble by kibble. I even toss it across the kitchen floor to give her some excitement and exercise as she forages for her food.
I’m still very uncertain what came over me that morning I texted Helga that we would take the puppy. But for now, Stella can stay.