Coming into his own

Nelson is beginning to understand his powers. When I say powers I mean he is understanding that a bark gets attention, that a bite gets attention and that a scream gets attention. With all of that understanding creates a new set of problems and a new set of issues for me to deal with. All of which I am more than happy to do to create a dog that has a happy life and that understands his boundaries.

His biting has become quite an issue, and anyone that has seen my arms or God forbid the awful massacre on my legs, knows what I mean. Nelson is not doing this to be mean or "vicious", he is doing this to try to bully me into playing. This has become quite an issue, but I feel much more confident in how to stop this before it happens and if that can't be done, what to do when it does happen. When we were at Debra's for our internship Nelson realized that once he started nipping on us or bothering us it was time to be crated because we had work to do. He got very used to this and began to never even whimper when he was in there. At home is a different story because he simply isn't used to being crated when I am there. 

Today starts the day where little things that used to slide are no longer acceptable. Bites of any kind on humans are not OK, and when they happen he must play alone. I am also crating him as I write this in the kitchen and I am at the kitchen table so he understands that at some times I need to work and until he can entertain himself, he must be crated. He cried for 7 minutes (Yes I timed it because it felt like 7 hours) LOUD, but now he is sleeping. No more Mrs. Nice Mommy. I feel confident in myself now to say "not acceptable" to Nelson. 

I am looking forward to attending Obedience school at "Gentle Dog Training", thanks for the recommendation Stacy!, Sept 4th, and after looking through their website feel like we are going to see some real progress.

I love watching Nelson grow every single day, and laugh all the time at how awkward his little (big) body is; his legs are really long, his head is really small, he really looks like a gangly teenage boy minus the acne. 

Wish us luck on getting him accustomed to his new life now that I am back in school, and everyone have a safe and fun weekend.

With Love, Nelson & Ellen woof woof