It was a long, tiring, and very loud night. Because of size limits, we ended up placing the crate in the spare room. We placed Ellie into the crate and all was well. We went to bed, and Ellie went to sleep.
Later however, Jan got up with toothache. This seemed to wake Ellie up and that was it. You would never imagine a puppy could bark so much and so loudly. We left her, for as long as was possible. However, as her barking increased, we became increasingly concerned about the neighbours. Yes, it really was that loud!
I got up to let her out, around 03:30. She toileted and then I took her to bed with me, as Jan was suffering, and I suspected that Ellie would not be able to settle with Jan getting up and down. So, us 0 - Ellie 1.
We've discussed the bed issue now and we're now thinking that we don't gain anything by not having her sleep on the bed. What benefit is there? As long as she knows to get off when told, and to get on only when invited, then it's a win-win situation really.
The downside is that she may not get used to the crate so quickly. Hey, there's no race on here. Time is something that we have plenty of.
Once on the bed, she slept through until 07:30. I let her out, and she toileted. I then decided to walk her before feeding her. She did quite well, and better than I expected. There was one point where she just laid down and refused to budge. I had to pick her up. The walk only lasted about ten minutes.
Feeding wise, her appetite seems to vary from starving to not really bothered. We've placed the crate into the dining room now, and we place her food and water bowls into the crate. The crate door then remains open all the time. This is intended to get her to associate the crate with good things.
She's managed to pee on the carpet twice today. One, I spotted her doing, interrupted her, and took her outside to complete. The other one -- we've no idea when she did it. But, overall, her toileting is pretty darned good. We carry treats in out pockets all the time now, so that she gets one each time she toilets outside. It seems to be working.
We've done some sit, down, and come training, as well as name recognition. We just call her name, place a treat to our eyes so that she looks at them, and then reward her. Again, it seems to be having the desired result.
We've now officially booked her into the local puppy training classes, and she starts on September 05. We'll keep training her at home until then, of course.
Tomorrow, we're going to take her into the car for ten minutes, to get her used to travelling. I'll sit in the back seat with her for the first week or so. We need to look at the various car harnesses that are available.
Like many puppies, her day has been a collage of high bursts of energy, and then sleep. She seems to prefer sleeping on the floor to her bed. I just end up picking her up and placing her into the bed for now. We've put her toys into her bed, and this does seem to be having an effect of at least getting her into it every now and again. We don't really mind her sleeping on the floor of course, if that is what she prefers. We also need to factor that it's bloody warm at the moment, and so she may prefer the floor because it's cooler.
She's introduced herself to the two small dogs to one side of us. She seems to be happy to ignore them. The two large dogs on the other side of us, she's not quite so passive. If they bark, she barks back. This is fine, except she's not so keen to then stop barking. Never let it be said that she doesn't have courage. All we can do at the moment is distract her from the barking, so as not to make an issue of it, and turn it into a problem behaviour.
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