Dog, days 5, 6 and 7
Jan. 17th, 2009 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serenissimaMungo's pretty comfortable with us and our house now. On Wednesday evening, I applied flea & tick treatment along his back. It's made of various oils: clove, thyme, lemon grass, cinnamon, and peppermint. It smells very intensely, to the point that it bothered us humans, and I felt guilty thinking how it must seem to the dog. It also made the hair stick up in a little fur mohawk for a day, making him look a bit like Red XIII. I'm not sure if I want to use that product again next month. If I do, I think I'll put it on him outdoors, right before a walk, so he can't roll on the ground immediately.
We had our second house training incident Thursday afternoon, while I was out for about 20 minutes. That night we reviewed the training video that the Humane Society gave us. I now think I have been sending the wrong message by letting him roam around the yard without watching him constantly, even though I was trying to put him at ease by letting him stay outside. Because he was already in the yard, he didn't learn to associate the act with the place. It irks me to think that I spent five precious days of school break confusing the dog instead of training him.
We are trying to correct that, starting yesterday; but we were inattentive enough that he peed in the other room while we were at home. My nerves are getting frayed from being in the house with him all the time.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aristeros has a four day weekend for MLK, Jr. Day, and it's kind of wasted if we can't go anywhere, but I think this is the best way.
At least he's learning not to fear his crate. He retrieves treats from it, so today we've moved on to feeding him his kibble in there. We've also learned that he's a champion chewer. He consumed an entire Nylabone Edible, which is supposed to be a chew toy, not a dog biscuit, within half an hour, and he was making significant progress on the great big rawhide stick thataristeros put in his crate. And then he had diarrhea this morning. So, no more rawhide for a while. I don't know what toys he'll play with. He totally ignored the rope toys and the rubber Kong ball, and the rubber Nylabones only interested him for a short time.
We had our second house training incident Thursday afternoon, while I was out for about 20 minutes. That night we reviewed the training video that the Humane Society gave us. I now think I have been sending the wrong message by letting him roam around the yard without watching him constantly, even though I was trying to put him at ease by letting him stay outside. Because he was already in the yard, he didn't learn to associate the act with the place. It irks me to think that I spent five precious days of school break confusing the dog instead of training him.
We are trying to correct that, starting yesterday; but we were inattentive enough that he peed in the other room while we were at home. My nerves are getting frayed from being in the house with him all the time.
aristeros has a four day weekend for MLK, Jr. Day, and it's kind of wasted if we can't go anywhere, but I think this is the best way. At least he's learning not to fear his crate. He retrieves treats from it, so today we've moved on to feeding him his kibble in there. We've also learned that he's a champion chewer. He consumed an entire Nylabone Edible, which is supposed to be a chew toy, not a dog biscuit, within half an hour, and he was making significant progress on the great big rawhide stick that
aristeros put in his crate. And then he had diarrhea this morning. So, no more rawhide for a while. I don't know what toys he'll play with. He totally ignored the rope toys and the rubber Kong ball, and the rubber Nylabones only interested him for a short time.