This morning’s session went well, with Chester happy to follow me from the living room into the bathroom. Of course, in the bathroom, as always, he quickly becomes anxious. Still, he stays on his bed without the leash — but we’re still only at about 40 seconds.
We had a great walk at Town Lake today. Lots of dog socialization and some human socialization as well. I sat on a bench and had Chester do sit-stays a couple of times. One of those times I had a nice, long talk with a younger woman about her cat and puppies. I gave her some advice, and pointed her towards the About Cat’s forum.
I really didn’t want to go there this morning, I was tired, but once there we had a great time. One of these days I’m going to have to bring the long line & start working with his recall there. One of the things I love about going to a park to walk is that I don’t have to worry about making sure he goes potty before we leave — it’s okay if he goes there! Although usually he’s so distracted by all the great stuff to smell, all the people, and all the dogs that he holds it until the end anyway.
Oh, and he got a socialization chance today that will probably never come his way again — a monkey! Two elderly ladies were wheeling around some sort of monkey in a carrier. I thought it was a cat at first, because all I saw was the tail. I’ve no idea what they were doing there.
We had another quick session when we got home. For a dog that does a pretty good imitation of a dead dog after his walk, he sure is full of pep the moment he knows he’s going to be getting more treats. I decided to work with him off-leash altogether this morning. We also worked with him staying while I went out of sight inside, since Simba was quite interested.
Everything was fine in the living room. He was a bit hesitant about going into the bathroom, but he did it and got up on his bed immediately. He got very anxious when I had him stay, though. He was doing pretty good, and I had him staying (off leash) while I was using the bathroom — but he popped off at the end, and I could even lure him back up.
I finally just put him there, which I know doesn’t help him to feel he’s in control, but I just didn’t feel like going to get the leash (not to mention that would make him even more anxious). Then I gave him a nice treat that would take him a little while, and he ate that (and stayed) while I washed and moisturized my face, and we called it a session. He was so happy to be out of there he zoomed around the house.
Apparently I have I need to take Chester to Town Lake more often. He didn’t go out from the time we got home (around 10 am) until after 3, which is pretty good for him.
We did another session, off leash, when we came back in from pottying. He did pretty good. He went right into the bathroom without having to be lured at all, and I got him to stay (off leash) on his bed with me out of sight for one minute. Of course, he was standing when I went back to treat him, but it’s progress. Slow progress, but progress nonetheless.
No rawhide tonight. I gave him a fish skin instead, but they’re messy (dried, but the scales come off all over the place), so he had to eat it in his crate. He kept wanting to come out, but when I’d open the door, he’d try to take it out. Finally, I opened the door, told him if he wanted to eat it he had to stay in the crate.
He sat there for several minutes holding on to his fish skin for dear life, then settled down to eat it in the crate.
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