One of our colleagues commented that our puppy Jett is probably the most well-cared for dog. He definitely is not attention-deprived, with three mommies to take care of him. Kari, Kate, and I have a schedule that outlines who has dog duties and when (see schedule below). It's a good thing Kari is a very early-morning person, and I'm more of a late night person. She takes the crack-of-dawn-relief duties and exercise, and then feeds him. Around 7:30/45am, I walk him on a quick potty walk right before school. We take turns walking him during our planning/lunch periods. And then late afternoon and evening supervision varies, depending on the day and schedule. Auntie Mama Kate has a nice place with a bed and supper bowl for Jett to sleep over on Thursdays, so he is out of the way of the Ayi (cleaning lady) on Fridays. We are getting very good at communicating our schedules and who has the pup when!
In the last few weeks, we have probably talked about him more than our friends Matt and Julie talk about their twin sons. On that note, let me brag share/brag about my Jett puppy... He did the most hilarious romp and frolic around the house
after we came back in from his 10-minute potty walk this morning. When we came back inside, we played with his chew toy and he ran circles
and figure eights around the whole apartment... tearing around the rooms,
jumping on and off the furniture, his slightly-moist paw pads squeaking and
rubbing, and little toenails clicking against the "wooden" floor--it's not real wood. (Usually he just slides and glides across the floor, but his
paws were still a bit damp from the walk). It was SO entertaining. I'll have to catch it on video sometime. I love it
when that puppy-spurt of energy bursts out.
He knew what was coming though.
After playing retrieve a couple times, tugging on the chew toys with me some
more, and practicing a bit of sit/stay/down/bang-play-dead... I gave him a
treat and carried him to his kennel. Immediate whining and crying. I hate
leaving our baby! Hopefully we can puppy-proof the apartment and trust him at
home all by himself. At this point though, the teething and chewing have us
worried that he'll tear up our blankets and gnaw off buttons of clothes hanging
on our drying racks! He really likes buttons and "digging" to "burrow" into the futon couch/bed. When we are more confident with his house-brokenness too,
will will trust that his won't leave piddle puddles in the study (the
"danger zone" as Kari likes to call his fave relief locale).
I will leave you with a cute video of him "sitting"... which is hard to do on wooden floors.
It's really a good thing to crate the puppy. He'll eventually (maybe he has already) learn that routine, and will routinely "go to bed" at regular times. He'll even find comfort "in bed" and may eventually go there on his own. But BE CONSISTENT! I imagine after a week, he's already gotten into the habit, and doesn't whine anymore?
ReplyDeleteWell, we've Skyped now, so I've already replied to all of your questions and such. For the last week, we've puppy-proofed our apartment, and stopped crating him up. Seems to be working, as we're getting into the rhythm and into the scheduled routine of potty walks and reading signals of when he needs to be taken out. Pretty much accident free! And we have duly noted what items need to be stored away from his "reach"!
DeleteBut yes, consistency IS key! It's hard to go through the growing pains of puppy training sometimes, but this is the "worst" of it now, and once he's fully trained, it'll seem so much easier!