"And No One Dared Disturb... the Sound....of Silence..."

Simon and Garfunkel -Sounds of Silence

Barking

Last night I made sure that Grace pooped AND peed before bed before I prepared myself for a night of earplugs, closed windows, and praying that barking would stop. I expected to have a sleepless night, but was pleasantly shocked by a night of SILENCE!!!!!

In addition to making sure she fully went to the bathroom before bed, I also got a few ideas from this blog post.

I put on the fan in my room for some background noise and had some Vivaldi playing in my room at a low volume. I am not sure if these helped or not, but I was sure thankful to get a good night's sleep!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let this continue!!!!   :)

Walking

Let the desensitization / counter conditioning begin! Man, this sure takes a lot of patience and time, but I hope that in the long run it will be so worth it for us. 

I start with the collar first - I show it to her, make the jingly noise, give her treats and praise. 

Then I slip it over her head - treat and praise. 

Then I let her sit with the collar on...treat and praise. 

It is a big deal when she even TAKES treats, because when she is really stressed she refuses to take the treats, so THIS is progress. 

Next comes the leash. 

This part is really where she gets stressed. So I do the same thing - show it to her - praise and treat. 

Jingle the leash so it makes noise - praise and treat.

Put the leash on her bed - praise and treat.

As long as she takes treats, I feel like I am making progress and I continue forward. As soon as I see her getting so stressed that she doesn't take treats, I back off a bit. 

Next is clipping the leash on....as soon as it clicks on, praise and a treat.

Then more praise and a treat for her just sitting on her bed with the collar and leash on. 

I did have to lift her off her bed to get her ready to go for her walk, but once I got her standing I gave more praise and a treat and then sat a few steps away from her holding the leash with a treat. This part took forever, but I eventually got her to take a step forward for a treat. Then another...and another until we were near the front door.

Normally I go out the back for walks, but I am trying something different for this.

As soon as we got to the door, I threw a treat outside. This is where she got stubborn. After a few minutes of trying, I got behind her and gently nudged her with my knee. She walked towards the treat and was outside! Woo! I closed the door and she stood on the front porch. I allowed her to observe sights and sounds there for awhile, then gave her a little tug and a "Let's Go!" for her walk. 

She came with me and had a nice 1.5 mile walk with me - loose leash the whole way!

I am nervous that once school starts next week that I will not have as much time to do this for every walk. I will do my best to do is as much as I can, though!

Also, since getting Grace, I have been feeding her before going for the morning walk.

For my school schedule, it works a little better for me to walk her first then feed her, so I am hoping that she starts to make a positive connection to her walk  - If I go for a walk, I get breakfast!

We shall see....

My mom is going to love this one!

And...just to be fair!

Random

I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but the Presence app for iphone / ipad is free and GREAT for checking in on your pets while you are at work. I am VERY thankful that my mom peeks at it for me while I go to work and reports back to me:

She is sleeping.

She got up for water.

She picked her head up when she heard a noise.

But thankfully, most of the time it is:

She is sleeping. 

I feel VERY VERY THANKFUL that I have not seen any signs of separation anxiety. From day 2 I made sure I left the house to get her used to me not always being there. I am so glad I did that!

Two things that were really important to me before adopting were that my dog be cat safe and I hoped for no separation anxiety. 

Whenever I am feeling frustrated by Grace, I remember to bring my mind back to these two very important positives that she has been so good about.  :)