The Dogs of Jackman Ave

We did it! I love this puppy! I was bound & determined to get Lola to get Down tonight. I've tried lots of things short of shoving her on the floor (which I obviously would never do). Luring didn't work, surprisingly...the old fashioned way (puppy in a sit, draw a line to the floor & out), under the knee, on the stairs, under a chair...nada. I tried caputuring a down (ummm...she's 15 weeks, she doesn't lay down much!), but nothing. Admittedly, I really didn't put a lot of time into this behavior, so I'm committing myself to getting a nice Down on cue from her by Saturday.

Took about 3 minutes and a hunk of cheese. Geez. And I thought this was gonna be hard. Looking back, I realized I tried to get this from her in class or while S&P were nearby....too much distraction. I got about 20 Downs & 25 puppy pushups. By the end I was able to fade the lure and use my finger as a target. We practiced Attention and then called it a night.

After a couple of weeks of quiet nights, the last few days have brought on a fun new late night event. Shrill, ear splitting barking at 2:00 in the morning. Started on Friday...Scott was sound asleep (thanks to the Penn Brewery) & slept through the whole thing. She barked for about 15 minutes. I waited it out & she eventually barked herself to sleep. Saturday night, she started at around 1:30. I was willing to ignore her again, but Scotty was not so patient. After about 90 seconds, he screamed "SHUT THE (insert 4 letter word) UP!!!!". Surprisingly, that didn't work (grin) so he went downstairs to sleep on the couch. I pulled her crate next to the bed and went back to week 1 of putting my hand at the front of the door. About 30 seconds of whining & I got the "I give up" sigh and heard her plop onto the dog bed. The snoring started about 60 seonds later. Sunday night I heard her whining & didn't wait for the barking to start. I pulled the crate next to the bed & she was silent the rest of the night. I think I'm getting smarter.