Day Four, July 16, 2009

Morning:

No question he's got the overnight crate thing down. He goes in and zonks out. No accidents in it, though this morning Randall said a squeak woke him up and when he came in the den, everyone was awake. It may have been him...hard to say. I do know when I got his crate door open, he stepped out and let me pet him for a minute. Then when he came back in and I was petting the other dogs, he came up and got some attention. Fingers crossed...I think he's figuring this out. He also went back outside about 25 minutes after eating his breakfast. I'm hoping that will handle the morning pooping routine.

Today I'm going to try expanding his horizons a bit. He didn't lift his leg at all yesterday, so later, I'm going to take him into the living room so he can explore. I've got to get a couple places blocked off so he can't get behind them, but I want to give him a chance to take a look around. He still won't be allowed to go in unattended, but since Randall and I have "DVD Date Night" on Friday and Saturday nights and Haley and her pillow join us, he needs to at least be introduced to the place. And that's done. He handled it pretty well, though he really wasn't sure about the big picture window. I think his agoraphobia kicked in a bit, but he never coughed and did check stuff out. The gate is back up and I'll take him in there again later...probably by himself. Randall will also be vacuuming and mopping today, so that will be new, too.

He's also going to get introduced better to the kitchen since Thursday is one of my cooking days. He's already beginning to understand that the fridge holds many wonders and the cooktop is the place of good smells, but I've not really cooked since he came in on Monday other than to reheat stuff. Since he only has one or two jaw teeth, he'll never get the hard goodies (like carrots) that the others get, but he will have the opportunity for other things (in moderation, of course) once he's figured out what people food is. :)

Afternoon:

Man has he bonded to Haley. He watches every move she makes and is, literally, only a step behind her. If she gets out of his sight, he starts looking for her and tenses up if you're holding him. He handled going into the living room well with everyone in, but when I took him in by himself, he was much less comfortable. Skeeter and Haley were on the other side of the gate, and Elvis really wanted back over to be with them. In a way, this is going to make his socialization harder. We'll find a work around. And at least if he had to pick a dog to bond to, he picked one of the stablest I've ever been around. Very little flusters her, so he really could do worse.

No hiking leg or pooping problem yet, so he's making really good progress there. His brushing is going to have to wait until tomorrow since Randall and I had a vacuum cleaner emergency to work through. He'll also have has last bit of canned store brand food tonight, and tomorrow will be straight Pro Plan. I'll be glad to have him on that.

Night:

Quiet night. This is the second day where he's not had to have any cough medicine, and considering today was Randall's day to vacuum, I'm really pleased. He's also definitely getting braver. He comes up and sniffs our shoes and legs, albeit while he thinks we're not noticing. And knock on wood for the rest of my evening, he's not lifted his leg once today and didn't even offer to when we brought him into the living room or when Skeeter's basket reappeared (much to Skeeter's delight that it's returned).

I do plan on calling Liz at the Humane Society tomorrow since I haven't heard from them. Not sure if my email got there, but regardless, I want her to have an update on how well he's doing. I'm also moving him over to straight Pro Plan tomorrow...right now I've counted out close to the same number of pieces that Skeeter has even though he's got a different brand and soaking them in water. Once they're soft, I'll grind them up so I can see what it makes. I've got a bunch already made up, but I've been eyeballing it. I need to be a bit more specific, particularly since he gets weighed tomorrow and I start trying to take a pound or two off of him. Looks like I'll start with 1 tablespoon twice a day. I'll weigh him in the morning, and then we'll weigh him Monday or Tuesday and see where we are. It's tough trying to put a small dog on a diet. I have the same problem with Skeeter. At least with a 20 pound dachshund, I don't feel so abusive when I feed 1/2 cup of food...but 8 pieces? Sheesh!