Thursday night puppy class Tess introduced everyone to her annoying "yippy" bark. This is usually reserved for Shadow when he has a toy that she wants or when she wants us to respond in some fashion. This sound is very different from her "intruder" bark which is reserved for deer and people that are in her yard or near her house. Kris and I came home a bit humbled and ready to improve our behavior and correspondingly Tess' as well.
Miraculously, we had a new puppy on Friday. She was quiet, sweet and textbook responsive by sitting promptly to get her food, go outside, play with toys, etc. She gave us many opportunities to stroke her and was absolutely perfect. This was a great day following a trying week with Tess who was quite sick with diarrhea/vomiting on Monday and Tuesday. She was a bit startled by the thunder today. She barked at the first big, rumbling clap and then curled up next to us on the sofa while we watched some TV.
This morning, I knew immediately that the perfect puppy would be making a limited showing today. She has been very wound up since she was sprung from her crate this morning. Our resident deer has been compounding the problem by refusing to leave the yard for more than 30 minutes or so. We did get in a session of "get it/thank you" this morning, but it probably wasn't effective because she was moving so quickly from one toy to the other. One thing that has improved dramatically since our first puppy class is the leash pulling. She is much better on the leash when she goes outside to relieve herself. I give her a larger area to move in than when we are out for a walk. I also managed to walk both dogs through our little neighborhood without either or them pulling against the leash. She seems quite unsettled, and I think it may be due to the restricted diet the vet has her on because of the diarrhea. I suspect she's hungry. Frustrating for me is that she has peed in the house twice today, despite going outside a few more times than normal (because of the deer agitation.)
Hopefully Sunday we will have some more successes!
This is such a typical sounding puppy training experience! Does it make it easier to know it is all so...normal?!
ReplyDeleteWe all have our good days and bad days with regard to training progress. Having a whole set of strategies including play, training, tethering, confining, walking, etc., repeating until the dog collapses (or you pass out,) at least helps pass the time as we make the sometimes slow-feeling march toward dog maturity. (And then, in a blink, your dog is grown, and you are re-framing the story of her puppy-hood with selective memories as you compare your NEXT new puppy to his or her saintly big sister, Tess!)