Wide awake at 1:30am

I wasn't wide awake at 1:30am. But our dog was. Silly puppy. He woke up at 1:30 and starting barking. When he starts barking, we have to take him out as he will pee in his kennel if not. He can't hold it more than about 5 hours unless he sleeps through having to go. Dogs will NOT pee in their "crate" if you are crate training them unless their bladder is going to burst. But after five hours, he is at burst-potential.

So I take him out. Put him back in. He keeps barking. So John takes him out. He goes to the bathroom again. Then he starts barking again. Thinking he is having some stomach issues (which we would prefer he has outside), I take him out again. (I figured it was my turn). He goes outside and begins running in circles. At 1:30 in the morning! Are you kidding me?! Then he lays down in the grass. Just lays there.

This ticked me off slightly. Silly puppy pulled a fast one on me. He didn't need to go to the bathroom. Just wanted to play. At 1:30! After that we put him in and left him in as he barked himself to sleep.

He has been sleeping through the night quite regularly. Well "through the night" means that he sleeps until about 4 or 5am before his bladder can't possibly hold anymore.

I think I mentioned that we have started "Puppy Kindergarten" classes. I hesitate to tell people this lest they think we are some rich snobs with a precocious puppy. I think that if I would have heard of people taking their dog (prior to owning own) to some sort of class I may have labeled them as such. However, these classes are quite common and recommended in any book and on any website. Most dogs learn most of what they are going to learn by six months of age. So they need to be socialized to other dogs and taught good behavior early on.

This class was great! Scrubs was actually quite advanced. She had us work on "sit" and "down" which he has already mastered. We also worked on "leave" and "come" more which he knows but only does when he thinks he will be handsomely rewarded. She also taught us how to do "roll over." (Important when the vet needs to see his stomach.) The other, major thing we learned is that we should not have to leave him in the laundry room when we leave unless we are going to be gone for more than five hours. (We have been leaving him in there if we are gone for just a few hours, and he has chewed some of the baseboards up quite nicely.) So we are kenneling him all the time now. So far, no accidents.

We are also trying to train him to ring a bell when he needs to be let outside. We are at the very early stages, and it will probably take awhile to master this, but we have heard from a lot of people that it works very well -- especially for Dalmatians who don't bark much. Scrubs doesn't bark much at all. He only barks when in his kennel and wanting to get out or when John is home, and he wants John to play with him. He also barked at an armadillo running across our lawn the other morning. I don't know if I have ever seen a real, live armadillo. I told Matt and Tiffany that we saw an armadillo, and they asked me if I killed it. Apparently these rascals tear up your lawn pretty nicely.

Scrubs will sit by the door when he has to go to the bathroom. But if I am not watching him, he will pee. So that's a bit difficult. Hopefully the bell will help with that.

It's hard to find a bell to buy when it isn't Christmas time. Tiffany and I finally found one, but it took quite a bit of looking.

(A picture just feel off my office wall! Scared the crud out of me.)