Dealing with our fears

Just wanted to start with a little cuteness:-)

Gidget is doing really well after her surgery. She's being fantastic about not licking her stitches and if she does, she stops when I ask her to. Her teeth are so pearly white. I am amazed at how clean they got them. I'm still feeding her soft food but she seems to be ok. I'm guessing her teeth may have been bothering her as they were loose and chewing on loose teeth has got to be uncomfortable. I'm so glad we got them cleaned and all set. Poor baby doesn't have many left but she doesn't seem to mind at all. 

The vet said he couldn't find anything wrong with her leg so I guess it's just old age. I have that myself and find myself limping or hunched over when I get up many times.  

She's not so tolerant of Prim since her surgery. That's about the only concession I see her making to her discomfort. I am just keeping them separate. Not too difficult. Gidget has learned "wait" since che came. I didn't teach it. She's just picked it up from me telling my dog. She is such a smart girlie. 

We've been working on Prim's fears of the front yard. I talked to my trainer about it this afternoon and she thinks perhaps she's going through a fear stage. I am hopeful. I have been taking her out in the front yard with toys and treats and just letting her wander. She doesn't go far. For several days, she just hid unter the bench on the front porch. She had gotten to the point that she would investigate the cars in the drive and the patch of grass by the neighbor's fence. I had taken Gidget out with her once thinking that her mom's comfort with the area might help her. No such luck. My trainer suggested that I try Brinkley. Well, what a difference. She was only slightly hesitant to follow him at first but really quickly tagged right along. We all sat on the lawn for 10 minutes and she was fabulous. She finally got tired of it and wandered back to the area near the house where she was more familiar but I am much more encouraged by the day's response. 

I am having a challenge with potty training Prim. She has absolutely no physiological schedule. I know to feed her at discrete times so that I can anticipate when she will need to poop. Well, yesterday she went 5 times and today, so far, only once (talk about anal, I am keeping a chart of times and locations of all potty breaks). How can I anticipate? We are doing great with pee but I am struggling with the other. She'll almost always pee when I tell her to go potty. I take her out so many times, I am wearing out the door knob. I know that the treats I'm using for training count towards her intake but I really don't remember having this much trouble figuring out when a puppy was going to need to go.