Ours for a Year: crate training

In regards to crate training, a tired puppy is a quiet puppy. Kira, who we've been fostering for the past two weeks, has come a LONG way in her crate training. She no longer has accidents in her crate (she stopped doing this around Day 3), doesn't bark incessantly in her crate anymore (but she still whines a bit), and at night, she sleeps quietly in the crate as long as Cabana stays in the same room. Kira now wakes up around 5:30am, which I appreciate much more than 4:30am. I'm working on lengthening that to a decent 6:00am, which is when I usually wake up anyway.

In order to help Kira sleep longer, I've found that an evening walk is crucial. Tonight, we went to the REAL dog park, because our usual mixed-use park was too full of soccer and softball teams. I think this is my favorite picture of Cabana and Kira together--it came out so crisp.

I think you can see from the photos that Kira has caught up to Cabana in height, although not girth (I still think Cabana is a just a tiny bit chubby).

Kira has gained a lot of confidence. She no longer has to be 2" away from Cabana all the time. But she looks around often to see where Cabana is and what she's doing.

We don't go to this dog park very often because the grass is so dry and people are not good about picking up after their dogs. But tonight, with the sun setting, it was beautiful.

In fact, we were the last ones to leave the park. Can you just make out the dogs, in front of the bush? I hope Kira is ready for a good night's sleep. I sure am!

A semblance of sanity has returned to our household. Today, the dogs' play has changed quite a bit. Instead of constant frenzied hysteria, it's sort of like watching TV--a little action, then a station break, then a bit of drama, then another break.

Montego even slept in his crate last night! Woo hoo! I put him in at 10pm, and he didn't utter a single bark or whine. At 3am, I heard him whimper, so I got up and took him outside to relieve. Afterwards, he was rather "displeased" about going back inside the crate. I knew my sleeping family members were probably displeased at his displeasure--so I didn't push it. He slept the rest of the night on tie down.

Montego is so funny. He's rather large for his age (I think), but his movements are still so puppy-ish. He'll be walking around, and then suddenly, Plunk! He just flops down wherever he is, like, "Agh, I couldn't possibly take another step."