Im In The Dog House

For the first time in a very long time, Molly was in BIG trouble last night. Its been such a long time since she did anything that made me as mad as I was last night so I think it shocked her to be in so much trouble, but boy was she ever!

Having taken her to play with her boyfriend Rufus on Saturday night, she was in desperate need of a bath. Because I had so much going on over the long weekend, it had to wait until last night.

Molly is always great about her baths and cooperates with me right up until the end. Its a little known fact, though, that when she is dried off and out of the tub she runs laps until she looks like her legs might snap off her little furry body. Last night was no exception to this rule so I didnt think much of it.

After she was done running around, she went and laid down under my bed (my guess is that she was still a little cold) and I went about my business. When it came time to leave the apt and do some running around she would NOT come out from under the bed. She would be on one side just within reach and would see me coming and move right to the middle of the bed- just to where I couldnt reach her. I tolerated this game of cat and mouse for a while and then I just flat ran out of patience. She was doing this for so long that she was actually making me late!!!

I tried treats, ice, pretending Id left, you name it- I tried it. After much frustration and time spent trying to coax her out, I had to grab her by the leg. It was pretty sad and I know it scared her but she needed to get out. I gave her a spanking hoping she would know what shed done wrong and maybe "learn" that it wasnt okay with me but all it did was make her scared of me for the rest of the night. She didnt even want to come in from outside to go to bed, she would run when I got within five feet of her.

Am I a bad mom or does anyone else have this problem when disciplining their dog(s)?