Major breakthrough in dog world. Tonight, instead of running for the hills, Saul, our 70 pound german shepherd actually went to his crate when told, it's bedtime. I was so proud of him. I praised him and gave him a treat. Of course, 5 minutes later, he is whining and moaning and trying to convince me to let him out. I guess we will take it one step at a time. I am pleased with the progress he is making. We adopted him from the SPCA on December 17th, then on December 23, just 5 days later, I had to take him to the vet. He had developed "Kennel Cough". All night IVs, chest x-rays and $365.00 later, my anniversary gift to my husband was healthy enough to come home. He stopped coughing about two weeks later and finally started putting on weight again, although he is still missing some hair on his right front leg where they shaved it to put in the IV. As he began to feel better, I began to realize why he was at the SPCA. If we don't crate him at night, he will eat anything, including walls and baseboards. He has a real fondness for paper and in the morning it was looking like it had snowed in the living room. I have also managed to teach him to walk beside me on the leash, instead of dragging me down the road. He has learned, "no", "sit", "shake", "down" and the most wonderful word of all,"newspaper". No matter what he is doing, if I say,"newspaper", he will stop immediately and lay down, giving me that, 'don't beat me' look. Before anyone gets the wrong idea, I don't hit dogs. They don't understand why they are being hit. But, a rolled up newspaper is an amazing item. It makes a very loud noise and if you pop it anywhere near them, it gets their attention and they can suddenly hear what you are saying to them. It's kinda like saying "time-out" to a three year old. Dogs are just better behaved, I wish it had been that easy to train my kids.
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