Training Has Begun!

Little Jack has been with us for less than 48 hours and he is learning so fast! He caught on to "sit" fairly quickly, and he knows "come here!", but his response time to that isn't always the best. Puppies apparently have ADD and sometimes sniffing that flower is WAY cooler than any attention I can possibly give him if he comes. It's a learning process, though, I'm sure he'll get better. Matt has also taught him the always-present-but-completely-useless-trick-at-the-present "shake." He has done "down" a few times as well, but it's not completely grilled into his brain yet, but in another day or two we should be golden. He also knows that I always ask him to sit before I feed him, but this morning he was so excited/hungry that he jumped up from his sit and banged his head on the bowl, thus resulting in the food going everywhere on the floor. He didn't seem to care. We'll have to work on him sitting a little bit farther away. Meal time is apparently a great motivator and it shouldn't take him long to pick up "sit, waaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiit."

We also need to work on "leave it" and "drop it." Jack currently thinks the rug under my coffee table is a wonderful chew thing, so that will need to stop. He also enjoys my flowers, and naturally has enjoyed eating the purple one the best. Grrrrrrr. That WILL stop, dog! These commands are definitely harder, not necessarily for him, but for me, since it takes a lot more patience to teach these. And it's so enticing to continue chewing/play with whatever he is doing at that moment.

Definitely the hardest currently is crate training and housetraining. I did not realize that puppies have such SMALL bladders. He has to go pee AT LEAST every hour, sometimes every half hour. Jack's pretty good if we keep up with it, but puppies are SO GOOD at sneaking around the corner and going the one minute you're not watching them. I caught him this morning just as he was about to go, so I think we'll be getting there shortly. Fortunately it's easy to tell if he needs to go poo (and easier to schedule, since Jack only eats three meals a day, unlike water, which is always down for him), so we haven't had any of those messes to clean up yet. I used to hate the hardwood floors in this house (I much prefer carpet), but now I'm kind of liking the hardwoods.

Crate training hasn't really started yet, we are currently only crating him at night since one of us is always home. The noise/cry that comes out of this puppy at night is HORRIBLE! It's the saddest, most heart-wrenching sound (not to mention sounds a wee bit like nails on a chalkboard) I have EVER heard. I feel SO bad for him since he's so sad in there, but we DO NOT give in. We will try and talk softly to him from the bed to calm him down, but we don't let him out or go over and play with him through the bars, we mostly just ignore him. It feels like I'm being a bad mommy, but I know he will eventually get over it and settle down. The first night and last night lasted about the same length of time, I'm hoping tonight is a little bit shorter. I so hope my neighbor isn't too upset by it, but it should calm down soon.

While I'm away in Tupelo today with Cari, I'm going to have Matt feed him his lunch in his crate and keep throwing treats in there. He never sleeps in there except at night so I'm hoping we can get him to associate good things- like lunch!- with his crate. I'm also definitely going to pull his water at 7 tonight to alleviate the slight chance that the horrible cry emitting from Jack at night is because he has to pee. He woke me up at 4:45 this morning, but I don't really blame him. He did need to eliminate himself - pee AND poo - and I was stirring, so that probably excited him, too. He also might still be slightly on Atlanta time, which is an hour ahead, so I will only give him that excuse for a few more days. Until he's completely crate trained I don't want him to associate his crate with bad things, which is his current state of mind (crate = I'm locked in here without mommy and daddy! And no siblings!)

Judging on what little I currently know of his personality, I have a feeling he would sleep all night with us on the bed. That is NOT going to happen. At least right now. Besides, Matt and I only have a full bed, so there isn't even much room for the two of us, much less a puppy. And I really don't want him peeing on the bed. So far he hasn't peed in his crate, which is the large size, but I don't think that would happen on the bed. Bed privileges must be earned and not granted. He's also a little too small to jump off the bed quite yet, so in the crate he stays! Pray that he eventually catches on, I am 3 days sleepless and this isn't cool.

Puppies are easily twice - if not more!- the work of cats, but with less than 48 hours under my belt, I wouldn't give Jack up for anything. I will definitely miss the small cuteness/fuzziness/playfullness as he grows older, but I won't miss the long nights/early mornings, or the hyperness, or the constant need to pee. ;)

All hail puppies!