Daycare, hiking, PetCo

Who, me?

Today Chimera Monstra is four months old!

Yesterday I sent Chimera to daycare for the entire day and ran around doing errands. In the evening I ended up with an extra hour before I had to pick him up, and I took advantage of the rare opportunity to settle on the bed with a book and a mug of tea. It's often I can do anything without constant interruptions and keeping one eye on the puppy. He ate chicken all day again and the daycare staff reported that his stool was soft but not diarrhea.

Prancing in his sleep.

Today I let myself sleep in and took Cai on my daily dog hike rather than giving him a separate outing and then leaving him home. He was happy to see his chihuahua friend and once again they ran around me in circles. I made sure that he didn't eat any of the other dogs' treats. I did give him a few handfuls of his regular food (RealMeat, beef flavor) and let him nibble at an apple.

Fluffy tail!

What's down there?

He napped after the hike, and then we headed to PetCo in hopes of seeing other on leash dogs and working on his reactivity. Alas, there were other customers, but none brought dogs. So we worked on his obedience tricks instead, and made me quiet proud. He did beautiful stretches of short heeling. We also worked on sitting in front, down-stays, baby pivots at my side, and he picked up his dumbbell from my hand. He also walked at my side on a loose leash all around the store, once he realized that I was giving chicken for it. It helped that he was quite hungry -- he hasn't been getting as many calories as usual for the past few days, and I think I can feel his bones more. If the diarrhea doesn't start up again tonight, he'll get a regular portion of his RealMeat food tomorrow.

Yum!

Weekend with the grandparents

Saturday:
Starting Friday night, and lasting ALL day Saturday, Chimera had frequent diarrhea. It was a bad reaction to the homeopathic cough medicine his vet had prescribed -- she was surprised and said that it was the first time she'd heard of a dog having a reaction like this.

We picked up my sister and drove down south to visit my parents for the weekend and celebrate a belated Thanksgiving. Nature's Miracle passed the test: it got both urine and diarrhea stains out of my parents' nice carpets.

Chimera loves having a yard to sniff and roll around in, but their yard shares a fence line with three other homes with barking dogs. With Cai's newfound reactivity, that meant that he couldn't have any unsupervised yard time, and I was constantly doling out chicken when we would hear dogs bark or tags jangle (which he's even more reactive to than the barking).

In the afternoon, the whole family took a quick trip to a nearby park with a little stream, the only place Dragon ever willingly swam. When we got there and I let Cai off leash, he immediately ran chest-deep into the water, very briefly seemed to be bouyed up by the water and semi-swimming, and decided to exit. He started shivering quite quickly and I couldn't get him to go back into water deeper than a couple of inches with either treats or toys. I'm hoping that the cold was the main issue, and he'll be more willing to play in the water next summer.

Back at home, he napped in his crate while we ate the turkey dinner. Afterwards I took him to a nearby school with a huge grassy area and ran around off leash with him since there was no one else around.

In the evening the family settled down in front of the big screen TV to watch a movie. Cai jumped up onto the couch with me to check things out, saw the pictures on the TV, and froze for about five minutes, watching steadily. I realized that this was his first time seeing a TV! I don't own one, and there was a little one at his breeder's home but it was high up in the corner and I doubt he could see it well as a puppy. After a while he started barking at it, but was easily redirected and then forgot about it. He put himself in his crate at 10 pm.

Sunday:
Even though we were in a new place, Chimera slept in his crate quietly, other than the few times he whined to let me know that he needed to go out. The diarrhea continued but lessened in frequency during the day. I stopped giving him the medication on this day. He ate only boiled chicken and chicken jerky, to give his stomach a rest.

He napped quietly in his crate during both breakfast and dinner. What a good boy!

The family took a trip to Carmel, and famously dog-friendly town with an off leash dog beach. When we reached the water, once again Chimera ran straight into it chest-deep, then ran out and wouldn't get back in. However he enjoyed running around the beach and was very well-behaved (thanks in part to the boiled chicken I was carrying).

As we walked around the town afterwards, I worked on his leash reactivity, and quickly started offering chicken when another dog appeared in sight. I would let him look briefly (trying to put it on the cue "look") and then quickly reward for calmly looking at the other dog. By the end he was much more calm when he looked at the other dogs, however he still tensed when he heard tags jingling and had a full-blown barking fit at a big Doberman crossing the street toward us.

I was a true trainer and managed to work on this with an ice cream cone in one hand and the chicken and leash in the other.

I also decided to start working on his loose leash walking skills more intensely. Previously I'd used the "be a tree" method -- stopping when he would pull forwards, and going again when he turned toward me and put slack in the leash. He was catching on to the process of turning toward me, but -- as some other people have found with this method -- it led to him turning toward me and then immediately accelerating forward and hitting the end of the leash again. I had been also giving treats when he was at my side, but that wasn't very often, as usually he was out in front.

New plan: shorten his leash greatly so that there is only slack if he is within two feet of me. Introduce penalty yards -- if he reaches the end of the leash and pulls, I turn completely around and use the leash to gently turn him around and go back the way we came. When he reaches my side, I praise him and turn us back in the right direction. I also increased the rate of reinforcement for being at my side, which happened more often because the leash was so short. I'm seeing a great improvement in his attentiveness and ability to stay with me, but it's certainly a much more tiring method on my part! Because we do not take walks to potty, only when we're out for training/socialization, any time the leash is on I will be prepared to work and the consistent rules will help him learn more quickly.

Pictures of our weekend to come soon!

Hiking, coughing, reactivity.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, but I was working my usual schedule. As a dog walker, if my clients still want their regular walks on a holiday that falls during the weekday, then I am still obligated to walk them. But I have the weekend off to visit my parents and eat the obligatory turkey.

In the morning I took Chimera to Redwood Regional Park for a slow-paced hike. This is my favorite regional park, and it's very close to my home. I used to go there with Dragon once or twice a week and we would jog the trails. It felt odd to be there with my new puppy, and like most things that remind me of him, it made me feel very sad again. But Cai had a great time. The first time he saw people coming up the trail, he growled, but I quickly got treats in front of his face and started practicing Look At That. (In other words, I put looking at something on cue and turn it into a behavior he can offer to get a treat, making the thing less scary.) He stiffened a bit at the first dog he saw. After that, he greeted both people and dogs without any stiffness or overt reactivity, even when they suddenly came around a bend or over the top of a hill.

Afterwards he went to the Full House with me and hung out with the other dogs with a minimum of barking and growling on their parts. Cai is only fazed for a moment by them. Later he even tried to invite the most nervy one to play. He's also getting used to the kittens who sit and stare at him, and offered to play with them. (He was turned down, alas.)


Today I slept in because I'd stayed up late to participate in the start of Tawzer Dog's Black Friday sale. I decided to take Chimera on my daily dog hike rather than giving him a separate outing. He was happy to see his friend the playful chihuahua, and once again they raced back and forth together. On this trip he showed no reactivity at all, even when at the end I was getting ready to put the dogs into the car, and an off leash dog ran up and two of mine started barking and lunging. I was pleasantly surprised. It looks like he's regained his confidence with people and dogs on trails. This won't generalize everywhere, of course. However I'm also seeing a reduction to his reactivity toward people in other situations. It's popped up here and there, and specifically toward people coming straight at him, or appearing in the shadows. Yummy treats are convincing him that they're not so scary.

He napped in his crate while I met some friends for lunch, then I rushed home to take him to the vet to get his cough checked out. Of course he didn't cough while he was there. He hasn't been coughing frequently, but it's been about three weeks and the cough hasn't gone away. The vet checked him over and found nothing worrisome, and was able to induce a cough from him only by rubbing at his throat for a while. She prescribed a homeopathic cough reliever to help his inflamed tissues calm down, and asked me to try to video tape the cough when he does it on his own. Hopefully the medicine will be enough for it to pass.

He was quite hungry after the appointment, and I was able to get him to willingly take the medication. It's a liquid that gets squirted into his mouth with an oral syringe. I clicked and treated for investigating the tip of the syringe as I held it out. He immediately tried licking at it and chewing on the tip, since he's a mouthy puppy. I switched to pushing it in just a bit, onto his tongue, and then treating. After a few reps I quickly squirted in the medicine and then gave him a jackpot of treats on the ground. The vet had said that it shouldn't taste bad. I'm sure his reaction to the syringe tomorrow morning will tell me what he thought of the taste.

Raincoat

October 22nd, 12 weeks old.

November 10th, 15 weeks.

November 30th, 18 weeks.

Leash reactivity mystery.

I went back through the blog and my calendar and thought about when Chimera's sudden leash reactivity to other dogs started. Last Monday, 11/12, he was at the vet's and saw other dogs while on leash, and was curious but calm. On Wednesday 11/14, we went to the Berkeley Marina and he met a couple of dogs off leash and was well-behaved. At the end of our trip we passed by a terrier who was reactive and surprised Cai by charging and barking. I remember that Cai got a little scared. On Thursday the 15th, I first saw reactivity. I picked him up so that we could pass by a big dog without Cai rudely jumping on him, and when the dog leaned in and up to try to get a sniff, Cai gave a short growl and a couple of defensive barks. On our way back to the car, back on leash, a couple of large dogs were coming toward us from behind. Cai noticed them when they were roughly 50 feet behind us, and started growling and barking. Since then he's had off leash time with other dogs (mostly fellow small dogs) and acted normally, but has been growling and barking at even the sound of dog tags jingling. It really was a change overnight. I assume that the terrier scaring him and the confinement of being held/on leash was what triggered a general change. He had always been worried when he heard dogs being reactive or alarm barking -- he would lower his tail and his eyes would get wide, and he would stop and stare. But until this started, I had been able to talk him through it and get him moving again with treats.


This morning the rain was still coming down, so I drove to Home Depot and we took a "walk" through the store. We stopped frequently for mini training sessions -- circle work and heeling, sit in front, down, agility sends to a treat (putting my on-side leg and arm forward and tossing a treat ahead of us), putting his front paws onto a few objects. His focus was impressive among all the distractions, but of course the sessions were super short, 5 reps or less.

He went into his crate for his afternoon nap. When I got home, instead of taking a shower and then letting him out to potty, which leads to him barking for ten minutes or so, I went straight to my room before he was even fully awake and took him outside. I let him play with Jasper for five minutes, and then I put him back into the crate with an ice cube of chicken broth. Alas, it didn't last quite long enough, and he started barking again as I was finishing my shower. Again I tried something different: instead of waiting him out to reward being quiet, I interrupted his barking and told him to sit. He did, and from there I was able to give a number of treats for being quiet, and he didn't get as worked up as he usually does.

My roommate's eight year old daughter was visiting and Chimera played with her quite a bit. We practiced many different tricks. He was slowing down by 7 pm, and was super tired by 8, and I couldn't keep him awake any longer. After a 45 minute nap, I was able to get him up and playing and then chewing on a new bone, to keep him from sleeping too much too early.

Quiet day.

Today was a much calmer day. We paid a morning visit to the Full House and Chimera enjoyed the hamburger being passed out to all the dogs. (Later he had lots of diarrhea, ugh.) Afterwards I took him home to nap while I did my daily hike. He barked a lot when I got home, and I spent five minutes or so giving him treats for brief moments of quiet. In the evening I did laundry, and crated Cai every time stepped out to go to the laundry room, or was cleaning or cooking in the kitchen. No barking during these short sessions.

I thought that I was making good progress with potty training, and was taking him out at least once an hour, but then Cai jumped onto The Chair and let loose a full bladder. nooooooo

Visit from Kira.

Saturday was Puppy Social and then my last day of work at the daycare. Chimera will still go to daycare sometimes if I'll be out all day or if I need a day off.

Today his friend Kira the Yorkie visited. I'm going to take care of her for a weekend in December, and this was the first test run to make sure she'd do well. She was excited to meet Jasper but was polite, and he wasn't bothered by her presence. Cai of course wanted to play and play and play. Which they did, quite a bit:

Playing on my lap.

Eventually they settled down and chewed on bully sticks. Chimera kept wanting to take the bully stick that Kira had, because it was obviously the better one. He also guarded his sticks and treats from her. Here's a rare moment of them chewing without bugging each other:

Good dogs.

Eventually Cai got tired enough from playing that he crashed and I put him in his crate for two hours.

Cai has suddenly become leash reactive toward other dogs during this past week. Rather than just watching the other dog go by or pulling toward it, he now growls and alarm barks. Left unchecked, this would blossom into a huge problem, but of course I am going to start redirecting and rewarding calm looking right away. I had already been rewarding him for looking at me instead and walking by my side instead of pulling toward the dog, so this caught me completely off guard.

Run run off leash!

Yesterday morning I took Chimera to the Berkeley Marina again. He zoomed around like a rabbit the moment the leash was off:

Can't wait to do agility with him!!

In the evening we visited my sister. He was well-behaved -- no potty accidents, spent a lot of time chewing on his bully stick, and played with his toys.

Today I got a call from the vet -- his titer results came in and confirmed that he is fully vaccinated against distemper and parvo. No need for the third puppy shot.

This morning I had to drive the East Bay Regional Parks District office in Chabot Park to get my dog walking permit. (I've actually already been doing dog walking for a few weeks, but I stuck to UC Berkeley fire trails rather than EPRPD land.) When the appointment was done, Cai got another opportunity to run around. The moment he saw the open space in front of him, he started pulling and even whining when he was trapped by the leash. We made it through about 20 feet of leash walking practice, and then I was bored and let him run. He did the same thing as yesterday -- racing forward a good 50-70 feet, then turning around and racing back.



Since it was his second day in a row staying home while I was out hiking dogs, and I hadn't been sure how much running around time or playtime he'd have, I had a dog walking friend drop in while I was out doing my own dog walking. He got a 30 minute walk with a big, tattooed, pierced, bearded man. Great socialization!

In the evening we went to Point Isabel, another large, off leash open space. It was already dark so there were very few other dogs or people around. We hung out for an hour with a fellow trainer, Janette, and her dog Brooky.

At bedtime I found that he had his very first mat, because he'd somehow gotten poop into the fur under his ear. Blech! He was not happy about me pulling it apart and brushing it out. Fortunately with my friends Scrambled Egg and Bacon we made it through the ordeal.

We practiced crating for short periods while I was doing laundry and such. He barked quite a bit. He's better if I frequently go back into the room to give him treats for being quiet.

Oddly mature behavior

Today was my final day working an evening shift at the daycare and being able to sleep in, so I took full advantage of it. (I'm working Saturday as well, but no sleeping in that day!) Chimera made it through most of the night, but I had to potty him three times within two hours in the morning. After the third time he truly settled back in and I got a final hour of sleep uninterrupted.

We had a lazy morning at home and he spent most of it playing with toys on his own and chewing on a bully stick.

When we returned home he was more tired than usual (must have played very hard!). He settled down to nap in the kitchen as I ate supper. When we moved to my room and I sat down at the computer, he went to his crate and pawed at the closed door, then stood staring at it. I went over and opened the door for him, and he went right in and settled down again.

What happened to my monster??

Pictures from my parents' home.

These are from a couple of weeks ago, when I visited my parents and aunt/uncle. Click on any picture to see it full-size.

Running around together.

Puppy kisses!

Puppy was not cooperating for this picture.

Playing with my awesome dad.

Get the stick!

Run after it!

Ears were not fully up yet.

Obnoxious puppy greeting: jumping onto dogs' heads.

Fortunately she was tolerant.

Playing with Tori.

Spazzy puppy.

Even spazzier puppy.

He liked biting her wagging tail.

He managed to pick this ball up and carry it around.

Sacked out.

With my mom.

Stats, blood draw, San Pablo, training update

Today Chimera Monstra is:
15 weeks and 3 days old
5.25 pounds
9.5 inches tall

This morning we went to the vet. He was due for his third set of distemper/parvo shots, but instead of automatically administering them, I decided to do a titer first. I had my vet draw the blood and I'm mailing it to Hemopet for analysis, since it's cheaper than having my vet run the titer test.

He was sleepy after his blood draw and we didn't do much else in the morning. He was somewhat barky when I got back from my daily dog hike. I played with him to get some energy out, and then he rode to the grocery store and slept in his crate while I shopped. Then we walked along San Pablo Ave for a few blocks one way and back, stopping in a salvage yard along the way.

Training update:
Trying to put sit on a hand signal, as he offers it a lot but doesn't understand any cue for it. I had a problem with him jumping up excessively when I tried in earlier sessions. Today I tried doing a constrast between the hand signals for down (which he gets, because I lured that one) and sit. Saw more understanding.

I started working on fronts since he was sitting in front anyway. Due to me stepping away from him if he was jumping, and his then offering a sit, stepping back while facing him has become a cue for sitting in front. Not bad at all! The jumping is slowly fading away.

He's consistently putting his front two feet on the ceramic tile, so I started luring him to pivot on it with his back feet. I'm not free-shaping this one because he would very quickly get frustrated and stop putting his front feet on it.

Dumbell: puts his mouth on it about 50% of the time while it's on the ground, 80% while it's held in my hand.

I've also started building focus forward. I put a little bowl with some treats down on the floor, place him down a couple of feet away, and restrain him at the shoulders. When he looks forward at the food, I say "get it!" and let him go. This is mainly agility foundation (it will teach him to focus on obstacles ahead, run forward away from me, and eventually to take obstacles in his path on the way to the food), but it will also help with any other distance behaviors in obedience or freestyle.

Of course we continue to regularly work on tolerating handling.

Good puppy! Training update.

Instead of our usual drive to a new location, this morning's outing was around the neighborhood. We took an hour long leash walk around the reservoir nearby. Lots of practice in leash walking, not picking stuff up off the ground, and peeing outside.

Rather than doing the usual afternoon dog walking, it was one of my last few days of work at the daycare. Chimera was already falling asleep before it was time to go, since it was an hour later than I would have left him at home. I knelt down on the floor next to him, and he sleepily got up and wobbled over to me. He let me scoop him up into my lap, and for the first time, fell asleep there! He's usually too squirmy and doesn't find it comfortable.

During dinner, I challenged him by having his food on a little plate next to me, blocking it with my hand if he tried to eat it, and waiting until he backed off to give him a piece. We'd done this a few times before, but not in a couple of weeks, and after some confusion/frustration he suddenly remembered and offered lying down (and staring at the food) instead of trying to rush for it. I brushed him with one hand and used the other to guard the food and give him a piece after each brush stroke. With some more practice, I should be able to handle him with both hands at once (for example, hold onto an ear while I brush it).

He's been offering sits for a couple of weeks now, but he's having trouble getting the hand signal. He always jumps for my hand when it's above his nose, whether it's just above or a couple of feet up. He's started chaining jumping up and then immediately sitting. I like the enthusiasm, and I don't mind if he jumps and then sits (super cute recall), as long as he doesn't bounce off me with his front feet as he's jumping. So right now, I'm just trying to shape him to jump into the air rather than onto me, and I jackpot sits without the jump.

With the dumbbell, I did a few sessions in a row in which I held it in my hands, because he had started to paw at it playfully and that's self-reinforcing. With his options limited, he started to catch on that mouthing it, especially in the center, was the right answer. Today I had it on the floor again, and he caught on that he should still put his mouth on it instead of batting it around.

I love clicker training, partially because I enjoy looking for and celebrating these little successes. (Also I think that it's often the best training method for tricks, and nearly all training is teaching tricks!)

Baby!

This morning we went to Lake Merritt again, although this time I drove and we had time to walk along the lake. Got lots of leash walking practice in. Chimera kept getting the zoomies and we ran together a couple of times. We were passed by lots of joggers, and he saw lots of ducks and geese.

Back home, we played with a bunny fur toy on a long string, so he can chase it as well as tugging on it. That took care of the rest of his morning energy. Overall he was mellower since he spent all day yesterday at daycare.

In the crate while I hiked dogs, and he was energetic but not too barky or frantic when I returned. I ate dinner and then we visited my friend Miki, who has a baby girl who was born just a day after Cai was. He was quite calm about the baby. He sniffed her, and licked her ear, and tried to climb over her. He didn't react at all when she laughed or cried. We were all hanging out on the couch together for a long time.

Miki and her (very, very tall) husband both did some handling exercises with Cai for me. I'm happy with the progress he's making in tolerating handling. He's never shown fear; it's more of an attitude of "that's annoying, I'll leave" or "I have better things to do than get petting!" Treats are convincing him that it's something worth putting up with.

He was obnoxious about trying to get her Cavalier to play -- he'd demand bark, and I'd body block him away, or he'd mount him and get corrected by the Cav. And then he'd go back for more. He didn't have the ability to just leave the Cav alone unless I was holding him in my arms. Typical socially retarded puppy.

Here's a video of Chimera playing with his toys!


General training update:
He's making progress with learning various paw targets. One type is placing all four feet into a basket or bowl-shaped object. Another is stepping onto a low platform with all four paws. While sitting (which he frequently offers on his own), he'll paw at a coaster I hold in my hand, and I'm working on teaching him to alternate paws based on which hand I'm using. Finally, most recently I placed a ceramic tile on the floor and he figured out within a few tries to put both front feet on it. Woohoo!

First off leash hike.

Chimera did well at home on Monday, but to be able to handle another three hours alone on Tuesday, I wanted him to be quite tired. In the morning I took him for his first off leash hike at the park at the Berkeley Marina.

Ears UP!

He stuck close by, his recall was great (only didn't call off when he was within a few feet of a small group of people and then a dog), and he kept up a quick pace for nearly an hour. I didn't mean to walk for so long, but the park was bigger than I'd expected.

Chapparal landscape.

Yes, he was ready to sleep when we got home! However, after I got back from my dog walks, he was full of energy again. He barked a lot while I showered. He spent the afternoon racing around the apartment, and harassing Jasper more than usual. In the evening we took a trip to my sister's in San Francisco, and he couldn't settle down at all, even to chew on his bully stick.

I realize now that he got too much rest on Monday afternoon/evening, and he can't handle having two "quiet" days in a row. If I had worn him out the previous day, he might have been okay on Tuesday.

Today I sent him off to daycare in the morning. I let him spend the entire day there so that I could run errands without worrying about him. Tomorrow he'll be home alone again.

Children at the park, and Urban Ore.

Friday and Saturday were extra long days at work, so Chimera spent all day at the daycare with me. Saturday morning included the puppy social, and one of his best friends was there -- Kira the tiny yorkie. Cai still needs to learn manners. When he wants to play, he runs straight up to the other dog (or my cat) and jumps on them with his front feet. So rude! I gently push him off when he jumps on them (with the cue "off"), which helps, and beyond that I'm counting on other dogs to correct him and teach him manners. If he happens to jump on them from behind, it sometimes triggers humping behavior, which I definitely want to stop because most dogs take offense to it.

On Sunday morning we went to a park which is popular with families with little children. We walked around and I gave treats to Cai for looking at children doing "strange" things. We saw kids roller blading, wading into a pond, running, swinging, hitting a large rubber ball against a wall, and pushing or pulling wagons and such. We heard hids yelling, laughing, and crying. The only thing that spooked him was a girl who was wearing roller blades and a helmet and was swinging on a swing, facing toward us. We moved farther away and then played Look at That. He's getting the hang of it -- sometimes he looks at people and then pointedly looks toward me and steps toward me.

This morning's socialization trip was to Urban Ore, a scrap yard/second hand store for all kinds of home construction and decoration items, such as toilets, sinks, doors, windows, scrap wood, chairs, etc. We passed by a tiny rocking chair and I asked Chimera to put his front feet on it for a treat. He did, and then decided on his own to jump all the way onto it and sit down! I started feeding him handfuls of treats to reinforce the behavior and get him to stay long enough to take a picture:

Good boy!

So cute!

I brought home a couple of flower pots in just the size I was missing, and one ceramic tile that I will use as a foot target for Cai.

Back at home, he went into his crate for three hours while I did dog walking. He didn't cry when I got home, even while I showered, until I was done and went into my room and he saw me. Progress!

Pictures from Berkeley Marina on 10/31.

Click on any picture to see it pop up in a larger size (without leaving the page).

Ears are almost up!

Airplane ears.

Trotting.

Recall!

Resting at my feet.

Tired puppy.

Hear a noise?

What's up?

Hospital visit.

Today was my first day doing dog-walking in the early afternoon and leaving Chimera home alone in his crate. To tire him out in the morning, we drove to the local hospital and walked around outside for just over an hour. I saw exactly what I was hoping to see -- people using crutches, canes, walkers, and wheelchairs to get around, and even a couple of blind people using walking sticks and mothers pushing strollers or wearing their babies in pouches. I'm not sure how much of that Chimera saw; his nose spent much of the time on the ground, and he also watched me a lot. Still, every time he clearly saw someone who looked "unusual", he was calm and quickly lost interest. Great!

We of course took mini breaks for training sits, downs, and circle work, and I also started teaching him to put his front feet onto objects (something that I used with Dragon to help him be more confident about things around him). I need more tricks to practice, but I don't yet want to teach him anything that might cause confusion with his foundation behaviors.

At home, everyone ate breakfast, and he went into the crate about 12:30 pm. I got home at 3:30 pm. He was quiet then but started barking and howling while I was showering. The howling sounded quite sad.

The rest of the day was spent playing at home.