November Notes

It's been a few weeks! Hope all is well with everyone! We have had such a busy November that I haven't even thought about the blog!

Franklin has been with us for almost a month now. He started obedience school last Tuesday, where he was the star of the class...he can successfully meet other dogs, sit, and look. However, he provided our trainer, Skip, with quite the challenge when it came time to learn "down." Franklin was the demo dog and he didn't do so well. Skip pulled out all the tricks in the book and despite his best efforts, and ours, Franklin wouldn't lie down. We've been trying at home all week to learn and were unsuccessful until tonight. I figured out that if he had to go under the coffee table to chase his ball (or, for our purposes, a treat), then he laid down to fit. That turned out to be the trick! Once he did that a few times and heard "down," he could do it on command anywhere! This was a great success for all three of us tonight and Franklin cannot wait to show off all his learned this week -- including a couple fun tricks!

Some of you may know that Franklin suffers from separation anxiety. We tried crate training, then blocking him in the kitchen with his crate. This second method worked until, the smart dog that he is, he learned that he could drag his crate across the kitchen and out of the doorway so that he could escape into the rest of the house. We talked to our vet and our trainer, who provided a boatload of literature and ideas to help solve the problem. He hasn't been home alone since Wednesday, but we've been implementing a lot of new strategies. Last night, Franklin settled into his crate for a nap. Brandon locked the doors, then walked to the kitchen and pretended to leave. Franklin didn't even stir, but watched me. So I got up and did the same. Not a peep or movement from the pup. We let him believe we had left for a few minutes before returning and letting him out of the crate. Hopefully this means Franklin is getting comfortable and learning that, no matter what, we're always going to come back to him.

We took Franklin to Howl at Hawthorne, a trick-or-treat event for dogs. He loved meeting new people and dogs, and earning lots of treats and toys just for sitting and dressing up!

Franklin has taken up much of our time and efforts when I am not working and Brandon is not studying and going to class, so there isn't a whole lot else to tell. We are anxiously counting down to December when we will get to see our families for the holidays!