The Training Begins

ive been at my new home for two whole days and it has been very exciting! yesterday i got to go to a big building where there were lots of people buying stuff but i had to stay in my crate because mom was very busy. but i got to go outside a lot but i had to be carried because the floor was made of linoleeum i didn't like it. I cried and wined a few times because i didn't want to be in the cage but the rest of the time mom said i was a very good boy. today i had a lot of energy and got to play outside for a long time. it was nice and sunny and i ran and ran and ran and ran until i was very tired. big sister kizzy and me played a lot. im not afraid of her anymore. i saw a little animal that hissed at me mom said it was a cat. i ate a dandylion but it was icky.

Well, so much for sleeping through the night…  Cowboy woke me up three times last night.  Once at 11:00 pm.  I usually take him our around 9:30 or 10:00 though, but I was very tired last night and went to bed at around 8:30 so I can’t say much about needing to out at 11:00

He had to go out again at around 2:00 am and then again at around 5:00 am – which is usually when I wake up anyway so again, no problem with that one.  Once he came back in he went right back to sleep so that was good.  I haven’t been putting water in his crate at night – so hopefully that’s been helping with the trips outside.

After being cooped up in the crate for most of the day yesterday, Cowboy was ready to rip and roar today!  As soon as it was light out I let him and Kizzy outside and he tore around the yard like a maniac!  Probably felt so good to him to be able to run around.  He and Kizzy seem to be more comfortable with each other and they played for quite some time.  He would hit her with his nose and then zoom away, run around the Spirea bush three or four times and then run back at her and blast around her, off in another direction.  Kizzy would chase him for a very short distance, but she’s a lot slower than she used to be! 

Last night – and again this morning – he figured out how to get up the back steps!   On one of his “zoomies” around the yard he just ran up the steps, and then stopped and looked around as if to say ‘how in the world did I do that?’  But there is no stopping him now.  No, now I just have to make sure he doesn’t try to run back down the steps, and hurt himself.  Man, I need to get that ramp built!  For now I block the step from below with a couple of baby gates.  Just need to protect him from himself!

The loves the dandelions!  He tries to eat them but then spits out the seeds; the can’t feel very good on his tongue.  Not worried about them, they’re not toxic. 

Right now he’s sleeping in the x-pen and having a dream – I can hear him squeaking.  Wonder if he’s dreaming about playing with Kizzy?  

Cowboy has been very aggressive with his food.  Not being aggressive to me, but pretty much inhaling it, and then grabbing at the bowl when I pick it up.  So tonight he got his dinner one piece of kibble at a time.  AND, he had to sit for each one and take in very gently – not grabbing it and my fingers at the same time in those razor sharp little teeth.  It was very hard for him at first, but he got the idea quickly that he had to sit and be polite of the food was taken away.  We’ll have to work on this many times, I’m sure. 

He learned the paw touch today for service dog training. The first time took about 15 minutes, but the second time was pretty quick.  The third time he was distracted by some people but then did use his paw.  We’ll work on this for the week to start.