Today began with a thundershower, but is ending nicely with some sunshine. Much of which is filled with sun-bathing animals in my house.

Potty training is an every-growing theme in my daily routine. Alice eats, Alice goes outside. Alice drinks, Alice goes outside. Alice wakes up, Alice goes outside. Alice goes into the crate, but first, Alice goes outside. Alice comes out of the crate, Alice goes outside. Alice plays with toys, Alice goes outside. All of the repetition to embed the idea that carpet pooping is a no-no is a lot of work!! She’s getting the idea and sits by the door when she wants to poop. But has yet tried to tell me that she needs to pee.

We’ve had somewhat of a lazy day today. We worked on Sit and Down for a while… I tried to start with Shake, but she gets frustrated easily. I think this is mainly to do with her hunger issues. We turned the work into Leave It, so I rewarded her every time she looked away from the treat in my hand.

Her food issues kind of span into a few different things that need some work. Due to her living situation as a younger puppy, she really interacts with dogs differently that a normal (un-starved) puppy would. She doesn’t take correction from other dogs well, and I think this is mainly because she’s used to being aggressive for food. When Cow corrected her for being extremely obnoxious and in her face, Alice snapped back at her with a lot of vocalization and snapping. Due to the fact that Cow is an extremely well-behaved dog, she didn’t let it escalate and walked away from Alice. I intervened when the “talking back” began with a squirt from the squirt bottle and a loud (booming really) NO. She took it very personally and slinked into the dog bed and pouted.

She takes correction from humans really well. Especially with a squirt bottle as a weapon. This is one tried and true method of instant correction in our house! I highly recommend that whoever adopts her has a couple in their house.

I definitely thing Alice will make a wonderful addition to anyone’s home. She needs some guidance with her aggression, but the way she acts is extremely correctable and will most likely subside as she learns that not everyone’s out to get her food.

Today puppy met:

• Vacuum cleaner
• Litter box
• Adult spayed female Sheltie
• Two un-friendly kitties

Today puppy worked on:

• Taking correction
• Potty training
• Sit
• Down
• Out
• Off