The Prince and the Pea

Progress has come in many forms.

Caleb, though still not social does allow for things that previously would completely freak him out. He doesn't want to be near which causes quiet a problem when the ground is wet because when he comes in he has to get wiped off. He hates that and in anticipation of it tries to hide in the yard. But last night he let me pick him up and bring him in the house. And we have figured out that it is easier to block them all in the kitchen and wipe all the pups off than it is to bring them in one by one. If we bring them in one by one then Caleb KNOWS what is coming so he hides. So we have done the kitchen block off routine twice now and it seems to work a little better.

Caleb also is more willing to at least come out when strangers are over. And his tail wags more.

Lily follows me around a lot more. She's really becoming my little shadow. It especially makes me happy when we are outside and she follows me everywhere. It makes me a little more confident that if she got loose she wouldn't bolt.

I also took her to the vet for a health certificate so we could fly to Ca. She didn't want the vet to touch her so she came to me and hid her head in my arms. The vet said what she did was good because it shows she feels at least safer with me. And that I should take that as positive progress. He also suggested that we keep a diary of everything that goes on in the day so we can keep track of her accidents and if their is causality to them. Such as change in routine, a fight between Hubster and me, loud noises, excessive pestering from one of the other animals, etc......he pointed out that what doesn't seem like much to a human can be a lot more upsetting to an animal because they don't understand what it means. Such as watching a football game and screaming at the t.v. We take that for what it is but to a dog it's far more traumatic and they don't understand why everyone is yelling. And it scares them.

We continue to struggle with Lily and house breaking but we know we will make progress. And we remind ourselves that though it wasn't nearly as bad, Sophie took 6 months to stop having accidents. Bad weather and wet ground are our enemies in progress. And oh, goodie for us, winter is fast approaching. And then spring showers. It's going to be quite the uphill battle. Oh well. She's totally worth it. And there are always puppy diapers :-)

Overall we are having fun with the pups. It's a great joy in my day to play ball with them in the morning. And then again when we come home. It's good exercise for them and they love it.