Saturday, November 17, 2012

Dog is still alive

We had a rough night last night with the crate training.  He barked and whined for almost 2 hours before he finally went to sleep at 12:30.  (Jamie - I think I had e-mailed you 75 minutes....but then he started up again.)  We didn't let him out - hung in there.  And kept to our bathroom routine of taking him outside, but only when he is quiet.  There were no inside accidents.  He likes the crate for resting in during the day - even though we have to coax or put him into it.  Hardly any barking.  We are going to try the radio tonight - thanks to Joe for suggesting it, and yes...it probably will be NPR. :)
Even though some things are going well, and some are requiring lots of work it's much easier because John and I are on the same page about the training.  While others may have opinions all over the place - it seems that we agree on about 100% of what we need to do, and how we need to do it.

I went with Hans to the pet store today for "puppy play time".  But the website was wrong - it's tomorrow.  I'd like to learn more about introducing dogs to each other and get some socialization started right away.  As of right now, Hans is pretty cautious of other dogs and hasn't approached any on his own. 

Even though there was no puppy play time - it's fun to take him to the pet store because people tell you over and over again how sweet and beautiful he looks.  We tell new moms to take their baby to the grocery store when they are having a bad day.  Everyone will stop and tell you how beautiful your baby is and it's a great mood lifter.  Same thing with puppies.

I took Hans for a long walk today and we ended up running about a block and a half home.  This guy was yelling at me to not run the dog - don't run the dog, over and over he shouted at me.  Then I swear he shouted something about an attack dog.  (Like dogs don't know how to run on their own?)  Anyway - after doing some research and talking to a few people it seems that it may be for the health benefit of the dog not to run - I don't know, I guess I just made my 19th dog-raising mistake of the day.  Won't be the first, won't be the last.  All I do know, is that afterwards, I was able to take a whine-free shower.



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