Texas Heat

 After dealing with Rye in the middle of the night, I managed to sleep a couple more hours. Rye let me give her another bath as soon as we got up again, though she did grumble/growl a bit when I rubbed her back end. Again, I was very gentle and that helped her temperament. She was very dirty and stinky from her crate accident, so we had to take our time getting extra clean. Her kennel got cleaned out again as well.

We had an easy day. Mostly training inside the house or in the front and back yard. In the morning, I cycled her in the front yard. We worked on waiting at the threshold and after exiting. Soon after we left the door, a neighbor walked by (he walks every morning). Rye was excited but we were able to work through it. Then some neighbors across the street left their house and Rye was excited again. I moved her back inside in case they were bringing out their dog, but they were just getting into their car. Rye was able to move back to the porch with me and return focus after a bit. It helped that I was treating her with her breakfast.

We did try to play again in the backyard but it's like 106-110 degrees out today and neither one of us lasted very long. She did love on her frisbees and ball but quickly decided to go back inside. I've already taken 2 showers today and will take another this evening. At one point I noticed a cut on Rye's nose while we were outside. It must have happened when she rolled around on the grass. Rye does not like it when her nose is being wiped, but luckily it wasn't bad.

I did leave the house for less than an hour in the afternoon. Rye stayed in her crate while I was gone and the baby gate was up around the door just in case. I let Rye stay in the crate more after I came home so she's not expecting to be immediately let out whenever I arrive. Rye did bark at the Amazon delivery person at the door, but he was gone quickly and Rye recovered fine.

My family and I went out to dinner. Rye stayed in her crate while we were out. No accidents. She is still having diarrhea, but we did that outside. I have only been feeding her 1 cup of kibble each meal. I'll order more Fortiflora. That reminds me I need to give her the monthly flea/tick/etc. medicine.

The hooks came in and I was able to install a better back tie on the wall instead of a leash on my workbench. The "place" is in a more central location in the house and not near my expensive machinery.

Take aways:

  • Rye tries to anticipate my commands, but I'm trying to be firm on releasing her and making her reset if she gets an early start.
  • I'm still getting the hang of doing a collar check. It's very dependent on my having the leash at a good length first.
  • Like before here extended stay, she's pretty good a focusing on me when we're alone at home and Mama has food.


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