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The Cheyenne Story - part 6 - Cheyenne's New Home:
<--Back to part 5
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We pulled up in front of our apartment building, and piled out. We lived on the first floor of an old brick two-flat. There was a big wrought-iron gate around the front and the usual concrete stairs going up to the front door. We somehow got the three of us and all the stuff from the store down the path, up the stairs and into the apartment. Cheyenne went in without hesitation, and once we got in and took the leash off, she started to explore her new home.
It was your typical one-floor apartment, living room, dining room, kitchen, and two bedrooms. We had hardwood floors with just a throw rug in the bedroom, so we were not real concerned about accidents in the house. We kind of figured that since she didn't have any accidents in the car dealership, and considering her age, that maybe she was housebroken. Still, we kept a close watch on her as she surveyed the surroundings. She wandered from room to room as Stephanie put her water bowl down in the kitchen. She drank a little water and went right to the front door. I figured that she needed to go out, so I put the leash on her, took her out front, and nothing. She sniffed the tree and wanted to go back in. Once in, she walked to the middle of the front room and peed on the floor!
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I put the leash back on her and took her out, thinking that she might have to go some more, but no, she was done. We went back inside as Stephanie was cleaning up the puddle. Good thing that the floors were wood! We told her, in not so many words, that this was unacceptable behavior and will not be tolerated. Cheyenne went right back to snooping around.
Several more minutes of checking the place out, she was right back at the front door. I grabbed the leash and we went out, but nothing happened. We came back in, and she walked in and peed again! Again, we told her that this would not do. Still, she would not sit down, but kept on roaming back and forth in the apartment.
After a couple hours of this, and a couple more accidents in the house, Stephanie and I were exasperated. While thankful that Cheyenne was not a boy dog, so that the puddles were confined to the floor and not any vertical surfaces, we didn't know what to do to get her to sit and calm down, and we were beginning to panic. So we did what any new parent would do in a situation like this: we called my mother.
"Mom, we don't know what to do. She won't sit down. She keeps peeing in the house. We're getting a little concerned here."
"Maybe you shouldn't give her the run of the house."
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"Well, we figured that we wanted her to be comfortable, so we didn't want to cage her in."
"That might be what she needs. Look, why don't you put her someplace a little more confined. Make sure she can see you, but leave her alone. Maybe she'll calm down then. Try putting some music on, too."
So we tried what my mom suggested. We figured that since it was getting late in the day, that Stephanie would probably be starting dinner soon, and I had some computer work to do, with the computer being in the room right off the kitchen, so we figured the kitchen was the place. We put a barrier in the doorway to the front of the apartment, and another to keep her out of the office where I would be. Then, we put on one of our classical CDs and went about our business.
Before we knew it, Cheyenne was sleeping, sprawled on the kitchen floor between Stephanie and myself. And she slept for a good half-hour. And after she woke up, we never again had problems with accidents in the house. Cheyenne was home.
On to part 7 -->
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