Dress Rehearsal

Fire and Doppler watching me cook dinner.

Today was a dress rehearsal for tomorrow. I have to go to a training workshop for work, and since Doppler can’t stay crated all day and I can’t run home at lunch to take him out, Doppler 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. without causing a ruckus.

Practice makes perfect, so today we pretended we were at the workshop, and Doppler spent the workday under my desk. At first, he needed to play and chew on toys. I shortened the leash and stepped on it so he couldn’t wander around, and pretty soon, he was stretched out and snoozing away.  We took a break in the morning, one at lunch, and another in the afternoon, which is usually the number of breaks we get during these workshops. 

Sleeping under my desk at work. Look at those long legs!

Really getting comfortable

Overall, I think Doppler is going to do a great job tomorrow. I intend to give him lots of playtime tonight and tomorrow morning so he’s already sleepy when we get there, which should help make him successful. Here’s hoping it goes well!

Doppler spent this past weekend with Becky. When I saw him again, I swear he was bigger, even though we had only been apart for three days. I think his legs got longer. He had definitely learned things. Although I don’t know for sure, I think he may have learned the cue “go on through,” which is the cue for him to go through a doorway, turn around, and look at me. I accidentally gave him the cue today, and he walked through the doorway, turned around, sat down, and looked at me like he had been doing it all his life.

While he was with Becky, he went to the National Pet Expo. I don’t have any of the details, but I know it was a challenging outing, if only because it’s at the Farm Show Complex, a place where the animal smells are so strong they’re practically visible. (Don’t get me wrong, I find barn smell to be strangely pleasant. But that doesn’t mean the smells aren’t crazy potent.) I’m hoping that since he’s already been to the Farm Show Complex, he’ll do well if his puppy sitter this coming weekend takes him to PawsAbilities. 

Winking at the National Pet Expo

Doppler has started to develop a weird habit that I’m going to have to nip in the bud before it becomes solidified. Every time we go down the stairs, he has to give his little tough guy bark a few times before he flop-walks down them. It’s almost as if he’s telling the stairs he’s not afraid of them. He’s been doing it at the stairs in my apartment complex, and he does it in the center stairwell at work. He even barks at the two little stairs he has to go down when we come in from the parking lot at work. For these two stairs, at least, we have the option of taking the ramp instead, so I’ve been doing that. I think my plan is to try shoving treats in his mouth as soon as we get to the stairs and just keep shoving treats in his mouth as we go down the stairs. We’ll see if that works. I mean, he can’t bark if there’s food in his mouth, right? And maybe then he’ll associate stairs with yummy treats, so he’ll learn there’s nothing scary about stairs.

He's so wrinkly!

 

Fire and Hamlet snuggle together on the couch. I know this has nothing to do with Doppler, but I love this photo.