Tank’s Tale!

Well, I spoke too soon the other day. It has been surprisingly successful. The first night, as I stated earlier, was a disaster, and even since, he is an early riser. Waking at around 4 to 5 AM. That is hard, but now, after only 3 full days, he is right at home in the crate. He will sleep in it without whining while everyone is right there in the house. I am so glad I went ahead and bought it even though I didn’t really have the money this week. He still does whine just a bit when we put him in it, unless he’s real tired, but I can’t believe how quickly he’s been adjusting.

I think the only thing I really see an issue with is the neighbor’s dog. First of all, he came from the neighbors right next door. They are keeping a puppy from the litter in their house, but the mom, and the other two from the litter are in a pen outside. So, every time Tank goes outside to do his business, he immediately runs towards the neighbors house. It is a little annoying, but he is still not quite comfortable on the leash. We are still just chasing him down, otherwise he’d hang himself on the collar with every change in direction or speed.

Well, I have to go do a little work. Just wanted to say how proud I am of the little guy. He’s a quick study. Makes me confident about training when I take that on in full force to see him respond so well with this.

Last night was the first painful night of training our puppy Tank in using a crate. He hates it. Yeah, I know, first night. But it still sucked. He apparently had enough sleep in the afternoon yesterday, than when I came home in the evening, he was able to stay up a good portion (90%) of the night yipping and whining. I think I could handle it, but I do believe my wife will be weak. I thought she was committed to the idea of crating last week before we got the puppy. Now I’m not so sure. I have a sinking feeling she will not use it at all when I’m not there. Which will only prolong the amount of time it takes him to get used to it. It will be interesting to see how it all works out. I hope it does work. I think the idea of crating makes a whole lot of sense. Giving the dog his/her own space, protection from my 2 year old, etc. I’m not sure my wife is emotionally able to handle it though. I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed, and wait and see.