Bailey's First Day home. Already a mess. :(
Hello All,
We went and got Bailey this afternoon, the car ride home was perfect. When we got home we took her straight to where we wanted her to potty outside, we did this several times today. We even left shortly after getting her home for 25 minutes give or take and as soon as we got home took her outside to her potty spot.. nothing. She just wouldn't go ( I knew she HAD to go... because we had been with her or mostly around her since 11am and by 3pm we still hadn't seen any accidents or witness her go) So we brought her in the house. put her in the crate while we ate, even gave her a little food. took her back outside.. played with her.. back outside. left for a little while, came home, no messes at all in the crate, took her outside and she still didn't go. .. we were letting her explore the area of the house she's allowed in during the day when she's not in her crate, with baby gates up.. when we left the room for a few minutes she finally went Pee'd under our table and messed infront of the door. lol quite a big mess. I cleaned it up, and mopped right away, as we have all hard wood floors and put her right into her crate so that I could clean the mess without her being in the way..
My Question is, exactly what should have I done? I knoe people who'd have told me to rub her nose in it, tell her bad dog and take her outside.. but the thing is. I don't believe in rubbing her nose in it and telling her bad dog, after all, isn't it basically my own fault she went in the house? I didn't take her right outside to her potty spot because she JUST went. So wouldn't that be redundant? I am BRAND new at being a dog owner and the books don't tell you everything. Any suggestions ?