Today's Adventure

So I mentioned in the last post that Maura has a strong prey drive and can't be trusted around small dogs or cats. Well this morning I opened the front door to go get something out of the car, and she somehow manages to leap down the bottom of the stairs and bolt past me out the door. I panic....there is a big rottie that lives across the street that is out in the front yard with an invisible fence a lot of the time, and the house next door has a black lab and rat terrier in their backyards. The yard is fenced, but just a little 4 foot fence that Maura could clear in a heartbeat if she wanted to. Now to the subject of my attire, I am wearing nothing but a knee-length terrycloth robe and my rainbow flip flops. Not exactly the best gear for chasiing after a speeding bullet runaway dog! She hits the door running and heads across the street, luckily the rottie was nowhere to be seen, but the lab and rat terrier start raising hell so she runs over to their fence. Just as I start to get close to her, she runs out of my reach. Finally she stops right beside their fence, just staring at the terrier who is still barking like crazy and I'm thinking "Oh my God, please do not jump the fence and go after that dog." So I take advantage of her standing still and literally dive on top of her and tackle her. She tries to wiggle away but I manage to hang onto a back leg. I have to give her credit, if she was going to ever bite me that would have been prime time but she didn't show any aggression at all to me. Once I had her by the leg, I was able to reach up and grab her collar and lead her home. I am just hoping nobody was looking out their windows at that spectacle, because I know that I flashed parts of me you don't show in public in my dive tackle! I got home and had dead leaves and grass all down my robe and in my hair, and my legs were muddy and scratched. Maura thought it was all great fun and just wagged and wagged her tail at me. I learned my lesson about being more careful at the door, and wearing more clothes!
Another thing about Maura is that she is not housebroken, and she seems to not want to go to the bathroom when we can see her. She holds and holds it until we put her in the crate to leave, then she goes in her crate. Ugh! I've been taking her out on a leash in the yard about once an hour, and she has seen the other dogs use the bathroom outside but she won't go. My theory is that her previous owners hit or severely scolded her as a method of "housebreaking" and now she is afraid to use the bathroom where anyone can see her because she thinks she'll get in trouble so she holds it until we leave. We'll work on it, and she'll get so much praise and treats the first time she goes outside so she'll learn that's where she's supposed to go! She's already had one bath today to clean her up, so hopefully we'll get this under control soon. It's just very odd because most dogs hate to go in the crate because then they have to sit in there with it, but nope not Maura......she's special:)