Crate Time, Playtime, and a Little Cleaning

So sleepy that anything becomes a pillow

Belly rubs are the greatest!

Doppler spent a lot of time in his crate yesterday, but not because he was misbehaving. He had extra crate time as part of his house training.

I sort of figured out Doppler’s “get busy” schedule. (SSD wants pottying to be on cue, and the cue is “get busy.”) He comes out of his crate? Take him out to get busy. He eats? Take him out to get busy. He stops playing and starts sniffing around? Scoop that puppy up and take him outside.

Yesterday, however, when I took him outside for his post-dinner get busy break, he wouldn’t do anything. I think he was too excited about having a new playmate (more about that in a little bit), and he just didn’t want to waste time taking care of his business. Little did he know that if he didn’t get busy, he’d have to spend some time in his crate. I didn’t want to give him the opportunity to pee on my carpet, so into the crate he went. It’s not punishment. It’s management. 

Twenty minutes later, we tried again, with the same results. Back into the crate he went. After a third round, I decided that I’d just watch him like a hawk rather than crate him. It was getting later in the evening, and I really wanted him to sleep through the night. If you know me, you know I value my sleep and I hate being woken up in the middle of the night. So Doppler got to play and wrestle with his new playmate, Hamlet, while I kept a close watch. No accidents! He did great!

And even better, he got so tired playing with Hamlet that he slept from 10 p.m. until 5:45 a.m., and I have a feeling he would have slept longer if I hadn’t decided I was done sleeping.

Now, on to Doppler’s new playmate. Before I started raising Doppler, I watched SSD Hamlet on weekends. Hamlet is in advanced training, which means he’s on the last leg of his journey to becoming a service dog. If all continues to go well, he’ll be placed in June and become a working service dog.

The dogs in advanced training live at the kennel Monday through Friday while they’re being trained by SSD’s trainers. On weekends, they go home with their puppy raisers. Hamlet’s puppy raiser, however, lives near State College, and since the kennel is in Harrisburg, it just wasn’t possible for him to go home with his puppy raiser every weekend. I became Hamlet’s regular weekend sitter.

Hamlet and Doppler hit it off right away and immediately started playing together. I’m absolutely fascinated by the interactions between the three dogs in my apartment right now. Fire tends to hang out by himself and chew on his toy of choice while the other two chase each other around. Unless, of course, Fire decides that he’s going to play, and then he’s all in, bouncing around like a giant, mutant bunny. Last night, Fire jumped in when Doppler and Hamlet were playing tug with the squeaky snake. Little Doppler tried to keep up for about two seconds, but then he scrabbled out from the eight big dog legs and sat off to the side, just watching the two big dogs tug and chase each other around the kitchen table.

What’s really fascinating to me, though, is the way the big dogs interact with Doppler. Fire will play with the little guy and let him crawl over him, but as soon as Doppler uses his little needle teeth, Fire growls. If Doppler persists, Fire pulls out the big dog bark. The puppy is usually very good about listening to Fire’s cues to back off.

Hamlet, on the other hand, lets Doppler get away with everything. If Doppler tries to take the toy Hamlet’s chewing on, Hammie gets up and runs away, which of course, only encourages Doppler to chase him. Hamlet lets Doppler nip at him and they roll around on the floor together. Poor Hamlet hasn’t had a moment’s peace because he won’t put the puppy in his place. Right now, everyone is sleeping, but that’s just because I’m giving Doppler some crate time.

In terms of training, Doppler is learning quickly. He knows he has to sit at doors and wait for me to say “okay” before he can go through. He knows his name, as well as some variations. (I’ve been calling him “Dop-Dop.” It seems to fit him, and I think it sounds much better than “Doppy.”) And, most importantly, he comes when I call him. In fact, Doppler even comes to me when I’m vacuuming.

My parents are coming to visit today to meet Doppler, which means I vacuumed my entire apartment. Doppler needs to learn that vacuums (a.k.a loud noises and moving objects) aren’t scary things. I thought about just crating him with some awesome treats, but then changed my mind. I’m so glad I did.

I let Doppler roam free. When I opened the closet to get the vacuum, Doppler came trotting right over. After all, something new was happening. I gave him some treats as I wheeled the vacuum out and continued to treat him for investigating it and then sitting beside it, all without any prompting from me. Without turning the vacuum on, I slowly moved it, giving Doppler some treats for staying calm. Since he seemed to be okay with that, I stopped moving it, bent down to give Doppler a treat, and switched on the vacuum.

Poor Doppler jumped out of his skin. He didn’t run away, though, and I kept giving him treats. In a few seconds, he was sitting next to the strange roaring monster and staring at me, waiting for his next treat. I started slowly moving the vacuum across the carpet, still giving Doppler treats the whole time. He was a champ. After a while, he wandered off. Periodically, I called him to me while I was still vacuuming, and he came running. No problem.

Doppler’s first experience with a vacuum: complete success!

I wish I could say the same for housetraining. I think he’s peed inside as often as he did outside. Totally my fault, though. I wasn’t watching how much water he was drinking. This puppy drinks more than Fire!

Here's a fun video of Doppler playing in the snow, back when we had nice fluffy snow. A few minutes before I took this video, he had sprint-flopped through the green tunnel at least six times. I had hoped to capture it on camera, but as you can see, he was done going through the tunnel.