I know all of the books, and Cesar the 'Dog Whisperer', say it all of the time but it's not until you have a puppy of your own you realise how true it is. Its not the dog that needs training its the owners.
We watched a dvd last night which meant Rowan snuggled up with us and pretty much slept from 9.30 - 11pm, we then took him out and tried to tire him out with play before bed. Of course he didn't want to sleep so bed time meant howling for ages. He finally settled and made it through to 5.30am at which point we had 20 minutes of barking, crying and howling. He was quiet again until just gone six so once he was silent I got up and took him out.
He hadn't done any thing in his bed which was great as he had been weeing, so we are a step forward in that he held everything all night.
Tonight though we will make sure we keep him awake for at least the hour before bed so he is really ready to settle and keep our fingers crossed for his first proper nights sleep!
We took him out yesterday afternoon to the high street and the pub to see how he reacted to different situations and laid back isn't the word. Even an ambulance siren didn't cause a flinch.
A little girl put her hand straight on his mouth and he just licked her.
At the pub, we sat outside and a springer spaniel came flying out to see him and he just had a look but wasn't afraid at all. You could hear a chorus of aahhhs as we carried him down the street. Especially when we took him to the pet shop to buy his first toothbrush and paste!
He also settled much better in the car crate although as with his bed he keeps moving all of the covers out of the way and lying on the plastic.
We're off to Tesco's this afternoon so lets see how he does with streams of people and shopping trolleys!
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