I agree with Acey, stick it out. If you give up on them, their life will never be as good as it could be with you. In a year, you will forget (almost) how difficult it was and have two wonderful companions.

monica.............puppies take advantage of the people that truly love them. When you go to a breeder or shelter and look at them, you don't see any of this stuff you have described. They wag those little tails, lick you, and look at you with those puppy dogs eyes, as only they can do. You are hooked and they know it. You take them home, and they are all cuddly. Buy them all kind of stuff to play with, special little beds. Then if you keep up with this kind of behavior for more than a few day, one day when you least expect it BOOM! It is kind of like they turn into Linda Blair. The trick is to try not to let them get to that stage, but if it happens anyway turn it around. It sounds like you are on your way to taking control of your house again. Good luck!

As for the food thing. You said they stop eating it after awhile I think I read. Dont buy them a different kind of food! Otherwise, you'll have two very picky eaters. My mom did that with our german shepherd and she really regrets it, now. Abby never would eat her puppy food so my mom kept switching brands, flavors, you name it. Today she will not eat dog food of any kind and my mom has to cook ground beef every day...enough to fill a 100lbs dog! Just pick one brand of good quality dog food (i feed Diamond to my puppies) and stick to it. Put it on the floor three times a day, for about a half an hour at a time. Once that half hour is up, pick up the food. Dont offer it to them again until it's time for their second feeding. Again, only a half an hour. Then do it again a third time. They will start to learn to eat when that food is down or they will have to be hungry. It'll work, just stick to it!! No scraps or treats until they learn to eat their food!!

It sounds like you are experiencing first hand the trials of owning two puppies. All the behavior is perfectly natural. They sound like normal little hellion puppies =) I have a few suggestions for you. First off.. Keep both puppies on a leash at all times inside and outside unless they are crated, and don't let them get away with anything. When they are inside, keep them blocked off from all areas (especially where the cat litter box is) with a child gate. When they learn some manners and some boundaries, then you can open up more of hte house to them.. but this may take months. If not years. Seriously. Put your foot down and start enforcing rules with both dogs. Don't let them chase the cats at all, correct them with the leash each time they try it. Same with the puppy poop thing. Second. Get two crates, and keep both puppies in their crates side by side when they can't be watched by you. Third. A dog doesn't make a distinction between it being wet and on the furniture, and dry and onthe furniture. If you don't want the dogs getting muddy paw prints on the furniture, then don't let them on the furniture at all, be they wet or dry. If you want a fast way .. a super fast way to get them to stop chewing on stuff, forget the bitter apple spray, and sprinkle powdered red cayenne pepper on furniture you don't want them chewing on. Wood or cloth. If the powder isn't sticking to the wood, use tabasco sauce or make a paste out of the red pepper with water and smear it on. They will try it once and never again. For long range disciplining, get a few squirt bottles and fill them with 1/4 to 1/2 vinegar and the rest water. I have never met a dog that will not run like hell at this smell. It's a great deterrent and you can squirt them any time they are getting into anything or chewing on anything they don't like. Keeping these handy will also help deter them from eating poop. When they go for it, say NO! and give them a squirt. Finally.. if you are debating giving the dogs up for adoption, I strongly encourage you to keep one puppy and give the other one up. Because if you give both away with the intent of keeping them together, whoever gets them may run into the exact same problems you have. Having one puppy will give you a lot more control over the poop eating. But kee oh yeah.. pick a good food and stick with it, regardless of their

if puppies weren't so cute i don't think anyone would ever own one.

you know everybody i took my pups for a drive today and molly was chewing on the tag on the blankey and i told her "leave it" what we learned in puppy headstart...she stopped and looked at me then started up again and again... she was just too cute the way she looked up at me....i almost let her get away with it! then i remembered what everybody was saying here! all the voices at once started screaming out at me in my head, LOL, it was totally cool though! so i said very sternly to molly 'LEAVE IT', and i meant it till she finally did stop and tried to lick it instead and i said to 'UH HUH' and she finally did stop and left it alone! so one stride! these dogs are NOT dummies by any means! they learn super fast when i train them and they are ohhh sooooo loveable each morning after they go potty outside and come back in then we have "snuggle time" where i sit and read my book and they cuddle up next to me.. they do have separatate crates as they out grew being able to fit in one together....they have their down time, which is really my down time wherei can catcch my breath and relax without listening to them snarl with each other as they play and run havock around the kitchent tables. so they are now confined again to the living room area where we watch t.v.....they have access to the dining area, the bathroom that has their water dish and their food dish and an office they dont even go into. i cannot close off all these areas but they are fairly good about staying within the confines of the lviingroom here. so i was going to change foods again! but guess i will try the three times a day half an hour thingy as i do not like to cook for two let alone for four next! thanks everybody again! such wonderful and hopeful advice! i do NOT want to give up my babies! i love them to pieces and am going to work with them till they learn and along the way i will be learning as well....and later today i am going to walk them one at a time and give them one on one alone time with mommy...thanks so much every body!

Be sure to let us kno how things are going in a couple weeks.

paulalynn....my daughters name is sarahlynn such pretty names you both have! i took max for a walk and did the "heal" thing and he is already good on the leash so that was fairly easy with him. then i took him home and did some "leave it" and "down and crawl" that i taught him, lol, he is too funny! then i did some "shake" and he knows "wave" and he is so goofy when i tell him to "shake" he gets such a bewildered look on his face and i wish i could record his funny antics when i train him, he is hysterical! then i got the molly out and she is my little trouble maker with a capital T! i took her outside also to work "heal" but i ran out of treats before we even got 1/4 of the way down the block. so we came back and did "leave it" in the house and she did wonderful! she does not want to do "shake" though...when i try to pick up her paw she pulls it away but that is the least of my worries. she use to listen so much better but i guess i've gotten away from making them listen and now when they are outside and i call her she does not come until i almost scream with anger in my voice to her. so today i worked extensively with "molly come here" saying it sternly and then rewarding her with so much love and treats! grrrrr...when i let her outside though shortly after that and i let her and max out to potty and they only chased each other all over the yard, they love the big back yard! so i told them they needed to potty only NOT play. i want them to learn that outside is for going potty, not playing, not yet anyways but they've been playing outside since i've had them now so maybe it is too late to re-teach them. i think to let one out then the other to go potty might be a better idea for now anyways. so molly would not come in and that made max run back outside too, so i finally got her after she retrieved her leaf that she was adamant to get which is why she would not come in by the way. so i am already seeing where i REALLLY need to work with molly on "come here" "leave it" so she'll hopefully leave my cats alone!!! you guys have been so great with all this simple advice yet it totally eluded me! DOH! so yeah i will keep you posted for sure, gladly at that!

If you don't want the dogs on the furniture I have a wonderful suggestion to stop it quickly. I let my dogs on the furniture now but when I was younger and lived at home my mom and dad didn't want the dogs on their furniture so I covered all of the furniture in aluminum foil. They get on the furniture because its comfortable and warm. If you make it uncomfortable and cold they won't want on it. The easiest way to train a dog is to get creative. You have to get inside their head and realize why they're doing things, just like with the furniture. My dog Toby was horrible about getting in the trash so one day before I left I had bought a huge container of crushed red pepper from the wholesale and I took the lid off of the garbage can and I poured that whole thing of pepper on top of the trash, than I filled a HUGE bucket of water and left it sitting out for him. I think it was like a 5 gallon bucket. When I came back home that day he'd gotten in the trash and almost all of the water was gone but he never got in the trash again. Just get creative. As for eating the poo, I've never had a dog that did this but maybe I can come up with something creative for you. If I do I'll let you know.

It's natural for pups to play fight and chase cats. Crate them, and keep them away from their poop. That simple.

She seems overwhelmed and she should be. A husband, three cats, kids and two boston terriers. They may be too much for you. If you dont't want to try a behaviorist...ask around and see if you can find ahome for them. That sounds like a lot of responsibility and it doesn't seem like hubby is helping much. Is anyone helping you in the household or are you doing it all alone? How are you sleeping at night? I live alone and I cannot imagine. I admire your courage. You must have a will of steel. Basically you have two more kids and I have always heard getting two puppies is not good because they have behaviour issues and DO NOT LISTEN. I think you know your limits Monica. If you cannot deal with it.. perhaps keep one and give one to a close relative where they can still be playmates ..if nothing else call your local Boston Terrier rescue.. From what I know of that breed the people that love them.. absolutely LOVE THEM and because they are expensive it has not been a breed that has been overbred only recently gaining popularity. There are many people who worship this breed and would kill for a puppy. I am sure you won't find it difficult finding a home for at least one of them. Anything lab, sheperd, black, pit, even collies lately here in Florida... forget it. Bottom line: Do what makes you feel comfortable and gives you peace of mind. No judgment here. What happens is people get overwhelmed the dogs end up abused, neglected, staying outside or in the crate because we don't want to give up but.. we just don't have the patience. It simply is unfair you have to presumably deal with their care and upkeep alone. You sound frustrated and you should be. I know they were cute and it was fun at first but two more babies. I would not suggest you get any more pups. You have a full house! Take care. Do you have any close relatives? That would be ideal and a wonderful solution.

mls2004....thanks soooo much! i guess somewhere the info got lost like the game "telephone" when you whisper something in ones ear and it goes around the room and at the end of the line it is not even the same message! my kids are grown and out of the house....i have two cats and three kids but only my husband and me live here with the two cats and two pups. sometimes i am overwhelmed with two "kids" and other times things seem okay.. when i wrote this post, i was feeling overwhelmed cause lately i have had migraines due to a disloated first rib and a bad stiff neck from it as well. my hubby is interested only minimally and the pups love him and each evening they jump inhis lap whilst he tries to read the paper and he lets them walk all over him and he likes it then. in the a.m. he is such a grouch and gets up cranky and complains about their toys or the yard work we've had to put in since we just bought this new house, a new built, no grass at all and in colorado the dirt is like a nasty sticky clay that when wet one literally sinks down inches!!! so we've had to do a lot of yard work cause of the pups, put up temporary fences till fi nally tomorrow the new fence will be up! weather has delayed it several times! so there are several factors that had caused me to make this post. in the evenings when he is calmed and all is well things are smooth and all is happy....come tomorrow a.m. again though who knows? i do not want to give up my pups...ilove themdearly and maybe i could send the hubby to obedience school instead, hehehe.

Monica: Your dogs do all that! In my dogs' life they may never be so good. PATIENCE. You are a good doggy mommy. Your plate is full... Take it easy. And, contain them. I look forward to your progress...

Monica, I totally understand what you are going through...I think the word 'terrier' should be 'terror"! Cause when they're that age, thats what they are, holy terrors. I recently found something that works really well, when you are trying to distract them from what they are doing, for example...if they are playing too rough, or barking, or messing up something....try a laser pointer. My husband is a gadget freak! Palm pilots, ipods, you name it, hes got it...he also has a laser pointer in his collection, and this comes in real handy. Just last night, our West Highland Terrier ---theres that word again!--- Baxter, he was tearing up the living room and we were sitting trying to watch Law and Order, and he was being a little turd...so I went and got the laser pointer and distracted him a bit and you would have thought that I had given him a Vicodin....he was calm, searching for the little light, no barking!.....and get this...the more he chased the little light....the more tired he got..he slept all through the night last night...didn't even get up to potty with him...slept like a rock! Try this, it may work wonders for you when you are trying to distract them from something....Just a thought! These can be bought almost anywhere, my husband got his from radio shack, at the register counter, they were on display...he paid about 9.99 for his....i think it also has a screwdriver, and a level in it also....but I digress!!! Men and their gadgets! I hope this helps you....good luck and keep us posted!

i use the laser too with my border collie mix, out in the yard, and it's a great way to wear her out. monica, where in colorado are you? i'm in lakewood.