Ooops

So I'm 40 hours in and already 1 major goof.  We are now 5 and 1 on housetraining.  This morning I took her straight out from her crate and she dutifully peed--wonderful, but showed no inclination to poop, and wanted to go back inside.  But did I put her back in her crate since she hadn't pooped?  I'll let you guess.  Of course not.  I let her wander around the bedroom while I got dressed.  And what happens just as I'm in an impossible to rush outside state of undress?  Exactly, she's starts circling and produces.  Which means I should restart the 2 week clock on relaxing supervision,  right?  But . . . I don't want to keep her with me all the time since this will increase the sep anx risk.  So the answer is more crate time obviously.  Hmm, I'm already starting to compromise on this though, as at this moment, she is lying on a bed in the bedroom,  not quite within my sight from the dining room.  I can rationalize this by telling myself I can hear if she gets up, so apparently, I'm willing to sacrifice some housetraining efficiency, and can't bear to up the crate time dramatically.

Speaking of crate time, she merrily emptied the kindergarten Kong (of all but the last of the boring kibble) I gave her in the crate yesterday while Henry and I were in another room, but began to howl when she ran out of good stuff.  Had to wait her out for 5 minutes before she stopped  crying long enough for me to let her out.  When I did my 20 minute errand, she emptied 2 kongs and I didn't hear any vocalizing when I returned.  Will do 2 more errands today with slightly harder (baby food buttered) kongs that will hopefully last a bit longer.

Added roast beef bits to each of her food bowl meals.  No CER to approach yet but no tension either.  She investigates my fingers, and then removes the treasures from the bowl to eat off the floor.  Also did 3 exchanges (at different times during the day) for a low value toy where I presented and removed the toy, gave her a bit of chicken then gave back the toy.  No CER but no guarding.  Will do this today with toys already lying near her. 

She's afraid to get in the car, actually tried to bolt on first car ride (since coming home ) yesterday.  I have to lift her in, but she doesn't resist this and is settling faster than she did on the way home, at least once she gets the car rugs bunched up to her satisfaction.  I'm not going to do anything about this for a couple of weeks unless it gets worse, as the fact that car rides will always take her to fun walkies places may take care of it.  She reeeaaally likes memory foam so may put a piece of this on the floor to see if it helps her settle.

She had a mad great time shredding some paper she took of the desk yesterday, so I may push the leave it and drop it training up higher on the agenda.

And not a formal training session yet.

New priorities, AKA how easily one forgets

Day one and a half

The stairs (9 from the front yard to the front porch) were not too tough.  I was able to Hansel and Gretel her step by step with bits of roast beef (front feet only), then lift each back foot to follow.  After 6 trips, she's doing this on her own for roast beef at the top except for a back foot lift on the first step. 

Things I hadn't thought about in a while:

• how tedious constant housetraining supervision is, especially when one is besotted with an adorable new dog and doesn't want to keep her crated much.  So, when I go into another room, she does too.  We are now 3 and 0 for successful outside potties versus accidents.  I can already feel the temptation to consider this done.  Let's see if I can hold on for 2 or 3 weeks before relaxing this.
• what it takes to puppy proof a house.  Regardless of how enticing I make the various soft and hard chew toys, she has in about 18 hours collected or tried to collect--3 magazines, 2 books, 2 plastic packages, 1 cork coaster, 1 leather change purse, 1 orchid plant and the really big favorite, the TV remote.  I saw a freeze when I started to retrieve a magazine, which leads to --

New priority--resource guarding prevention:

• I will start exchanges and approaches today, just have to figure out a non-valued object to start with . . . hmmm . .  something metal perhaps?
• Am doing roast beef additions to food bowl

Separation anxiety plan for today:  I have a couple of brief errands to do today.  I will test her on a loosely filled kong first, then leave one with kibble and chicken bits with her in her crate when I go out.

Part of my goal here is to integrate training as much as possible into the daily routine, rather than doing formal training sessions, in other words, to live like a normal person (as opposed to a dog trainer) and still get the job done.  So far so good, I think.  More tomorrow.

Getting ready for the new arrival

I pick up Annie tomorrow afternoon.  She is an 18 month old recently spayed female Greyhound from Florida.  My most immediate hope is that her tummy has withstood the 4D (dead dying diseased, and down) beef they feed at the track, and that she can figure out how to get up and down the stairs.  After that, my training priorities are:

• House training--racing Greyhounds are already crate trained, so I have a leg up here
• Separation Anxiety prevention--rampant among these guys
• Recall reliable enough to let her run safely at the local off leash park, far from traffic
• Go lie down (on a dog bed) for human meal times and when I'd rather she leave visitors alone
• Getting off furniture on cue--beds and couches are not always big enough for people and Greyhounds
• Sit on cue--because people think you can't teach Greyhounds to do this
• Leave it and drop it -- to deal with all the fabulous new stuff she will be encountering, including her soon to be brother, Henry, who is sometimes cranky with overly bouncy dogs, even of the female persuasion.