Dog version
Last night, I asked Casey if she wanted to go for a walk (as is normal), and she got excited and ran to the door (again, normal) where she laid down flat on the ground and refused to move. I asked her to sit, she ignored me. I asked her to place, she ignored me. This went on for too long I’m sure, so I told her to get in her crate. She reacted to that, by running across the room, laying down, and rolling to her back (as is normal). When I got her to her feet, we waddled across the room (yes, it’s probably as funny looking as you imagine), because I had to half carry her. After 10 minutes and some limited whining, I let out the most obedient dog I’d seen all weekend! I asked if she wanted to try to go for a walk again, she went and laid by the door. I told her to sit, she did, and was still while I put her prong collar on (more about why that’s necessary will come later). We then had a very pleasant walk where she didn’t drag me the whole way (aka short version of why the prong collar is necessary). After we got back, I went to get her a treat because she was so good on her walk, and she pouted like she was going to be put back in her crate. When she realized she just got the treat she was excited again. We both had dinner, she got a new rib, and we had a pleasant evening catching up on Pan Am (the only new show I’m watching this season, and it’s fantastic!) and then we transitioned to I can’t remember what (bonus points if you can tell me what is on the TV).
All in all, we ended up with a great evening, especially for an evening when daddy left his little girl and went on an adventure (read – in the car) without her. She was only a little pouty, after she got to look for daddy in every room in the house (usually there’s just the 1 closed door she wants in, yesterday it was 4 of the 5).
AND – the best part – at 7:30 (which was 8:30 to her, because she missed the memo about daylight savings time), she went in her crate and looked at me, for me to come give her a treat and put her to bed. I told her to lay down, and I’d put her to bed at 7:50, but no more than 10 minutes early. She wandered around like the exhausted toddler she is for about 20 minutes, alternating chewing on her bone, laying next to me, and looking longingly at her crate. As promised, at 7:50, I got up and put a treat in her crate. She went in, got it, and promptly went to lay on her blanket to eat it (note – her blanket was across the room from her crate). (Her norm is to go in and turn around and wait patiently for her good night kisses and her door to be shut.) About 2 minutes later, she was back in her crate, waiting for the door to be shut, and she got her wish.
Can I hope for this to be the new norm? Nah… it was a fluke caused by day light savings time!