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life with puppy
Apr. 14th, 2008 02:48 pm1. I had to be out of town for a couple of days this week. Tom boarded at the place that he already goes for daycare once a week. Boarders get to play with the other dogs that are there during the day. This means that he got two extra days this week of running and playing with other doggies all day long. I think he may have been a little disappointed when I picked him up on Friday.
2. The barking is getting a little better. I've cheated a little and gotten a sonic collar. I'm not sure if it's helped seal the deal or not, but the past week or two, when I crate him and leave, I haven't heard him barking when I get home. Often he doesn't even bark, or does so very minimally when I walk in the door. This is a huge relief. (Of course, for all I know, he's barking for 3 hours and 45 minutes and being quiet for the last 15 minutes that I'm gone. But I prefer to live in the land of optimism. And I haven't crossed paths lately with my neighbor to ask for a report.) When I'm home, collar or no collar, he still barks steadily when I crate him while I do something where I can't keep an eye on him.
3. 80% of the time, he walks really, really well on leash. The other 20% can be an adventure, but I mostly feel pretty good about it. He now knows that the treats are in my left pocket. There are are a lot of stretches where he walks beside me looking up saying "I'm being really good aren't I? Treat? Now? Now? Treat? Now?"
4. He's doing quite well with the "drop it" command. He's responding to it fairly reliably when we're out on walks and he picks up pine cones or paper or whatever that I don't want him to have. Then he gives me the "treat, now?" look. (He's a very food motivated dog.)
5. We did have a little bit of a rodeo yesterday evening. I opened the door to take some trash out to the dumpsters and he slipped past me. I hadn't realized he was so close. For a brief moment, I thought he was just going to stay on the steps and then come when called. Then he realized he had freedom, glorious freedom and the chase was on. With me trying not to too obviously chase him and turn it into a game. Fortunately he didn't go into the direction of any streets and he came up against something of a natural barrier so eventually I got him cornered. But that was a kind of scary few minutes. Little brat! Have now made not to self to be overly cautious when opening the front door if Tom is not in his crate.
2. The barking is getting a little better. I've cheated a little and gotten a sonic collar. I'm not sure if it's helped seal the deal or not, but the past week or two, when I crate him and leave, I haven't heard him barking when I get home. Often he doesn't even bark, or does so very minimally when I walk in the door. This is a huge relief. (Of course, for all I know, he's barking for 3 hours and 45 minutes and being quiet for the last 15 minutes that I'm gone. But I prefer to live in the land of optimism. And I haven't crossed paths lately with my neighbor to ask for a report.) When I'm home, collar or no collar, he still barks steadily when I crate him while I do something where I can't keep an eye on him.
3. 80% of the time, he walks really, really well on leash. The other 20% can be an adventure, but I mostly feel pretty good about it. He now knows that the treats are in my left pocket. There are are a lot of stretches where he walks beside me looking up saying "I'm being really good aren't I? Treat? Now? Now? Treat? Now?"
4. He's doing quite well with the "drop it" command. He's responding to it fairly reliably when we're out on walks and he picks up pine cones or paper or whatever that I don't want him to have. Then he gives me the "treat, now?" look. (He's a very food motivated dog.)
5. We did have a little bit of a rodeo yesterday evening. I opened the door to take some trash out to the dumpsters and he slipped past me. I hadn't realized he was so close. For a brief moment, I thought he was just going to stay on the steps and then come when called. Then he realized he had freedom, glorious freedom and the chase was on. With me trying not to too obviously chase him and turn it into a game. Fortunately he didn't go into the direction of any streets and he came up against something of a natural barrier so eventually I got him cornered. But that was a kind of scary few minutes. Little brat! Have now made not to self to be overly cautious when opening the front door if Tom is not in his crate.