"Progress"

Go Tiger! Congrats on winning the Memorial! Its about time he got his first win since his knee surgery. I was lucky enough to see the final round and playoff round of the 2008 U.S Open in person and watch him drain the putt to push it to a playoff. What an exciting moment.The start of a new work week. After a very productive weekend when it came to outside work and housebreaking, I still had the issue of crate training hanging over my head. Do I stick with the easy route and introduce him to the crate slowly? Or do I go the hard way and put him in, shut the door, and walk away. After working with Hank on Sat and Sun in the crate with me visible and letting him know its ok, I left the room a few times and he would remain quiet for a couple of minutes and then start to whine, which leads to barking. So I contacted Lona and asked for her advice, yes, again! I dont remember it being this difficult with Duke(gsp). But that was over ten years ago. Maybe I had more patience as a youth. Anyway, Lona suggested I leave him in there and let him bark it out. John Luttrell had also recommended this but I thought I could try the other route. So this morning, I woke up, correction, Hank woke me up, and I decided I would take him to my office, put him in the crate, and go home for a bit. Thank goodnes the tennant next door has a lab and went through the crate training process so she understood the barking. I went home and got ready for the day, returned after about a half an hour and was happy to find that Hank had quieted down within ten minutes after I left. I was sure to let him out immediately, praise him and give him a small treat. Then on the way to the door, psssssssss, oops, well not everything can go perfect. Everything else is going very well! Hank is loving retrieving more and more, I am learning to control my frustrations, and he is responding very well for a pup to "come" and "fetch". One thing besides the general house and crate training I plan on introducing to him within the next couple of days is "track" and the method I had been suggested is to leave a trail of treats, whether it be small pieces of hot dog, or taking a can of beef stew, heating it up and putting it in a sock and then dragging it around in the yard for a few feet and then repeating "track,track". I am excited to see how he reacts and also would like to know what kind of things I should be doing besides pointing to the ground and repeating "track". I know that eventually he will associate my pointing with there being something there. Time for work!