Hi Alicia,
Yes, Lucy has transitioned well to returning home!! The best part is she pretty much went right into her metal crate at home the first night and as long as I take her up to it on her leash she will walk right in and turn around to get her treat, I lock the door, and she goes night night…. It is quite wonderful and she even one night when she got scared at a noise went in to it for a few minutes just like you said she might use it for at times. She is scheduled to be spayed on 12/13th and they will put her in a crate. Now I have no worries that this will be an issue any longer. I have been very consistent and she crates up at bedtime every night..yay!! Steve did a great job disguising the crate by setting up crate with blankets on three sides of it and leaves door clear of any items(see attached picture) so doesn’t rattle as much and I think she doesn’t realize its the same crate that she hated so much. We like it so much that we are returning the soft crate and will keep the metal crate.
We walk her every day and sometimes 2 times a day and she is doing so much better. Please thank Jesse for doingIng such a good job with her.. I make her wait at every door as she goes to the outside as Jesse showed me and then she follows me after I say okay…. much better way to do it. Also I had to use the rolled up newspaper one time when she was in the house and started to jump up on me and I swatted her and after I did that she ran up stairs came back on her own and have not needed to swat her again… the big difference is that when I would reprimand her before with Out or knock it off her tail was wagging the whole time. Jesse said when you are walking around your house say in kitchen and she is lying right in the middle of where you want to go you can nudge her to move and she should get up and get our of the way. All these ideas have been SO helpful to us!! If you ever have any other ideas pass them on to me.
I am still working with her on her exposure therapy. I found a good place for us to go by the park that I walk her each day and its in a neighborhood that has fairly wide streets, well maintained, and fairly flat but they do have mailboxes that are by the sidewalks, trash cans that go out on street on trash day each week, and some other dogs, people but not constantly but enough that we can do our exposure therapy exercises. Hope by doing this frequently that she will soon be desensitized to all these things and realize that they are not going to ham her and she can trust in following my lead… sound good?
Also, when Lucy came home her coat looked GREAT and smelled great too… what was the name of the shampoo that you used when you bathed her before we met her to pick her up? Can I buy some and any secrets you do to make their coats look so beautiful? We have been using Barkbus till now but they never have her come out looking like you do so we will be maybe doing our own baths with her at Pet Express.
Hope you all have a great holiday!
warm wishes,
Jo Anne
