Sunday, April 7, 2013

Day 5: SATURDAY

I let Mikeyba sleep in today.  We didn't do our first walk until 9:15 am!!  My concern was that he'd mess in his crate but he's a CHAMP and didn't.  On his brief walk he roberted but did not moses. He is walking so much better with his trimmed claws. 

Breakfast was a handful of moistened kibble and Natural Balance duck and potato wet.  He cleaned his plate!  He submitted gracefully to his eye ointment, like the PRO he is. He's getting a bit faster at "sit".  I still see him rubbing his head on his dog bed, as if his ear or eye itches.  If it's the eye, that'll go away.  If it's the ears, that might be an ear infection the vet missed.  I'll keep an eye on it.  

Since it's Saturday I get to spend the day with Mikey!  He'll get a long long walk today, and some grooming if he'll tolerate it.

(Later) At 1pm we left for a long walk, and I planned to go through Brooklyn Bridge Park, DUMBO, and Vinegar Hill.  My theory was there would be many interesting things to sniff in Vinegar Hill.  

We also took an unplanned side trip to play in Hillside dog park.  

It was unplanned because Mikey's first trip there wasn't a great success.  This was on Day 2 or 3. Nothing bad happened, but he was pretty unimpressed with the place. Saturday I just let him in to switch his leash around, but he seemed more interested than last time, so we stayed. What changed?  Well, it was warmer this time, and there were many more dogs than his first time there. (Probably because it's Saturday.) Also, he had relaxed quite a bit more around me.






After plenty of time at Hillside, we walked down through Dumbo and into Vinegar Hill.  I was also looking for a pet supply store.  I assumed Dumbo would have one but I hadn't checked. I finally found Pet Promise , and thank god he had nearly everything I needed.

Mikeyba and I also found a Japanese antique store called Shibui.  We took a stroll through there so he could sniff things from his native country.  Also, they had a big porcelain bowl full of water, and the cool owners even had dog biscuits for Mikeyba.  



We worked on "sit" in several different stores with many distractions around. He does it, but he's always slow.  Very slow.  Mikeyba looks at the treat for a long minute.  Next, he walks backwards a few steps.  Then, he sloooowly starts to crouch down.  Sometimes he quits at this point and stands up and we start again.  Sometimes he makes it all the way into an unsteady sit.  As soon as his butt hits the ground, I say "gooood siiit!" and give him the treat, and another treat, and another, and another, while repeating "gooood siiiit!" over and over.  

Good sit, buddy.

Mikeyba thinks "sit" means "think for a long time, stare at the treat, walk uncertainly backward a few steps, and THEN slowly put your butt down."  How do I speed up a dog's sit?

So we walked and walked and practiced "sit".  It was sunny and chilly-- great walking weather. A two-hour walk is plenty for both Mikeyba and me.  We relaxed for the rest of the day.  At dinner he cleaned his plate, and endured getting his eye ointment like a champ.

On his last walk of the night, around 9:45, he did robert and moses.  It was funny-- I got him to do one of his typical slow sits.  I rewarded him, and when he stood up, I saw he had moses'ed!  A sit moses!  What a good boy.  Bedtime was relaxed and uneventful.

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