Hey back, mountain girl!
Yup, Pup's still here. Greatly sobered by his boot camp, has clearly learned some things that can help as long as I learned them too, and turns out crate-training him was a miracle.
I wake (for a while) fairly early and wait until I get the urgent bark-alarm, throw on shoes and coat and take him outside where he pees like a camel for a minute, and NOT ON MY LIVING ROOM FLOOR. That all by itself is a massive help. Then he's relatively mellow for couple hours, partly on my bed, partly back in crate where he snoozes again. So mornings are way better already.
Poor guy was just exhausted when he first came home, which I confused with obedience. Ha. More seriously, he did learn, and sort of sober up, and while it's clear he's still processing his adventure/jail term, there's hope on the horizon. I either will or won't be able to be: consistent, quick, and focused enough to help him retain his lessons. So any Big Decision is put off for another while TBD.
Took him out today while sainted cleaner was doing her loving job at the house, and it was great. He's such good company out on the town. A woman at the bank saw him and said, "That is the cutest dog I've ever seen in my entire life." !!!!!!! Fun!
"Off" is my favorite command. It means, "stop doing whatever you're doing because whatever it is it's not acceptable." How handy! He can heel, too. Who knew? I'm still in love, so we'll see.
Xmas is the usual. Made a date with a solo writer pal to go out and eat Indian. Poifect. Maybe a movie if we're feeling like it.
Hope yours goes well too, hon, and thanks for the shout. Much appreciated.
hugs
Hops
