Last night there were no mistakes.
We ended our last walk just a bit after midnight, and were in bed right around 1.
I planned to get up at 4 to take Cody out to piddle.
That was the plan...
At 1:45 there was the most pitiful whining from the puppy-jail. I turned the light on in my room and the whining stopped. I got up, went out to the kitchen, and there was the puppy at the gate looking pitiful.
So I decided I didn't want to take chances. I put the leash on him and we went outside. I said, "Go potty." He looked at me. And then he piddled. There were kids on the other side of the boardwalk from my house (teenagers, rather than little ones), so he was a little distracted, and I walked him around the grassy area a bit. Then we went inside.
I debated how much attention I wanted to give him when we went inside. I gave him lots of kudos for piddling, which rather amused the teenagers, but I didn't want him to think that whining in the middle of the night was a good way to get attention from me. But I also didn't want him to associate piddling outside with being left alone. I ended up splitting the difference. After I took the leash off, I went over to his bed and sat down and when he came over I petted him and gave him his chewy. Once he was flopped over and chewing, I went to the other side of puppy-jail and waited. He was fine. So I got up and went to bed.
It was no more than 10 minutes before the whining started, again. I waited. The whining got louder. I waited. It got louder still, and interspersed with barks, and the sound of a puppy attempting to climb the puppy gate. I called to him. He was silent for about half a second, and then it was all whining all the time. It started to get a bit more frantic, and I didn't want that, so I turned on the light and went out to the kitchen. As soon as he saw me, he was calm. When he'd been calm for a couple seconds, I praised him and then went inside to him. I went to his bed and he came over and I stayed until he started to drift off. Then I slowly extricated myself.
I reset my alarm for 6, instead of 4, and went back to sleep.
Just before 4:30 there was puppy whining again. This time, I didn't hesitate. I got up, went to him, put the leash on, and out we went. He piddled and pooed. And in we went again. This time I stayed until he was falling asleep, and all was fine.
I reset my alarm for 7.
At just about 6:30, we repeated the process. Only there was very little pee and no poo, and when we went inside, he wasn't falling asleep. I tried going to bed, but there was whining. Lots of whining.
So I dragged the blanket to the living room, just on the other side of the gate. I called him over and petted him through the bars and then lay down.
I managed to sleep until just after nine.
He has eaten breakfast, and when I am done posting, we will have a brief outing, come in so that I can eat my own breakfast, and then we will have a LOOOOONG WALK. And hopefully some play/work time at the school. Then we will come back here and he will be tuckered enough that I can do something.
We ended our last walk just a bit after midnight, and were in bed right around 1.
I planned to get up at 4 to take Cody out to piddle.
That was the plan...
At 1:45 there was the most pitiful whining from the puppy-jail. I turned the light on in my room and the whining stopped. I got up, went out to the kitchen, and there was the puppy at the gate looking pitiful.
So I decided I didn't want to take chances. I put the leash on him and we went outside. I said, "Go potty." He looked at me. And then he piddled. There were kids on the other side of the boardwalk from my house (teenagers, rather than little ones), so he was a little distracted, and I walked him around the grassy area a bit. Then we went inside.
I debated how much attention I wanted to give him when we went inside. I gave him lots of kudos for piddling, which rather amused the teenagers, but I didn't want him to think that whining in the middle of the night was a good way to get attention from me. But I also didn't want him to associate piddling outside with being left alone. I ended up splitting the difference. After I took the leash off, I went over to his bed and sat down and when he came over I petted him and gave him his chewy. Once he was flopped over and chewing, I went to the other side of puppy-jail and waited. He was fine. So I got up and went to bed.
It was no more than 10 minutes before the whining started, again. I waited. The whining got louder. I waited. It got louder still, and interspersed with barks, and the sound of a puppy attempting to climb the puppy gate. I called to him. He was silent for about half a second, and then it was all whining all the time. It started to get a bit more frantic, and I didn't want that, so I turned on the light and went out to the kitchen. As soon as he saw me, he was calm. When he'd been calm for a couple seconds, I praised him and then went inside to him. I went to his bed and he came over and I stayed until he started to drift off. Then I slowly extricated myself.
I reset my alarm for 6, instead of 4, and went back to sleep.
Just before 4:30 there was puppy whining again. This time, I didn't hesitate. I got up, went to him, put the leash on, and out we went. He piddled and pooed. And in we went again. This time I stayed until he was falling asleep, and all was fine.
I reset my alarm for 7.
At just about 6:30, we repeated the process. Only there was very little pee and no poo, and when we went inside, he wasn't falling asleep. I tried going to bed, but there was whining. Lots of whining.
So I dragged the blanket to the living room, just on the other side of the gate. I called him over and petted him through the bars and then lay down.
I managed to sleep until just after nine.
He has eaten breakfast, and when I am done posting, we will have a brief outing, come in so that I can eat my own breakfast, and then we will have a LOOOOONG WALK. And hopefully some play/work time at the school. Then we will come back here and he will be tuckered enough that I can do something.