March 22, 2014

A.J. had his first stay at a boarding facility. He went to Doodle Dogs for the first time while Greg and I went to visit family. A.J. was there for a week. It sounded like he did well and had a nice time, but I don’t think he slept much. He was really tired when he came home.

He’s sleeping in his crate now. The week before we left we went three nights in a row where A.J. was up barking, banging on the blinds, and generally being very noisy all night. About 5:00 am on Wednesday I decided that was it, I was not doing this anymore. The next night I moved his crate into the bedroom. I also got out a ski pole so I could bang on the crate if he started crying. That night I put him in the crate and closed the door. He settled right down while Greg and I were up reading. About five minutes after the lights went out he let out a little cry. I ignored him and he cried a couple more times, then that was it. That was the best night’s sleep I’d had in days.

He had to sleep in a crate at Doodle Dogs, but when we brought him home I let him sleep on his bed. The first night he was quiet and slept through the night. The next night he actually went into his crate on his own and slept in there. The next night he was back on his bed and woke us up barking again. I’ve put him in his crate every night since. Last night he figured out he can bark from his crate.

A.J.’s walks haven’t improved. I’ve tried everything. Phyllis at Doodle Dogs put a prong collar on him while she had him and said he did great. She also recommended a trainer. I think I’m going to have to try the new trainer, our walks need to be much better. Working with Mary has been great and A.J. and I have really bonded, but I got a dog so he could walk and hike with us and go to outdoor restaurants. A.J. is no closer to being able to do those things than he was six months ago. I bought a prong collar the other day. I walked up and down the street yesterday with no distractions and he did great. We went a little farther today and had a little bit of distraction. He started to pull, so I’m not sure what’s going to happen when we get a big distraction. I need to get Greg out with the bike and see what we can do.