After 30 minutes of no potty activity, I brought him back in and decided to give him his breakfast food and water, after all I am in dire need to figure out "his body function clock" as soon as I can feed him and walk him on schedule.
TIME TO FEED - Well for anybody who has ever seen the movie Marley and Me, Jack is exactly like the yellow lab in the movie where he gets food for the first time. This dog eats so fast and wants so much food, he'll crawl the kitchen floor on his stomach looking for food. And trust me, it's not because he didn't get enough food the day before. He ate plenty. But if he had his choice, he'd prefer to eat right out of the 40lb bag of dog food... and eat it all. It took him about 2 minutes to down his food and drink a full large dog bowl of water.
Immediately after finishing I decided to put him in his crate for 60 minutes for his body to digest what he just ate and drank. So sure enough, and hour later I took him for a walk... and EUREKA! his first pee OUTDOORS. Damn I was excited. I hugged him and kissed him and gave him some treats to let him know how proud I was. But as far as he probably knew, he got the treats because just for being being outside in general. Now the aside from peeing, I took him to special grassy area for dogs to tend to their needs. But all he did was sniff around for while until he found some sticks and then just laid on the grass, not even contemplating anything else. So another 30 minutes and I have to come back in and put him in the crate again until he was ready. Well after 45 minutes.... HE did it.. the number 2. Once again it was proud moment for both us. ( I know these are only baby steps, and accidents will still happen for while until he fully house-trained, but it was an accomplishment nonetheless).
Aside from many more during the day, including his light dinner and bowel of water, I decided to keep Jack in crate for 2 hours, which seemed the perfect amount to time for him to digested everybody and do his double business... Aside from on small pee incident mid day, I considered it a success.
Indoor Play - Being that I work from home, I tend to be Cracker Jack 24/7 which is a blessing and curse. Because even with his occasional daily naps, he mostly wants to play. When roaming free he will constantly try to get my attention. He'll snuggle up next to me at desk, a few times he tried climb in lap and a few other times he jumped on my desk (with only his front paws) and basically cleared my desk of every, a mouse, coffee cup, papers, books and everything else not bolted down. So me, being the submissive one in the family for now, goes to him each time and play with him for about 10 minutes. Now playing with him is no easy (or quite task) he loves to get down on front paws and then eventually launch at you or the to you're trying to play with. In fact he pounces a lot.. he thinks he so sly. But of course if I am to get any work done, after I play with him for a few, I have to put in his crate with his toys so I can get some work done in between his daily walk every 2 hours.
BARKING - Cracker Jack is proving to be quiet, if not rambunctious pup. When I take him out for his walks, he never barks at all when he see other people or dogs. Even when other dogs are barking at him, he takes the high road and never barks back....So I'm thinking WOW... a non-barking dog.
He goes on the balcony where he can see people and dogs walking around and talking, but Jack just stares out of curiosity. But he won't bark at them either, just as he won't bark at miscellaneous notices he hears.
Well I thought that a little too soon. As I soon discovered Jack will bark... but only when he's in his crate and he wants to play. So if I happen to look his way and he catches me looking at him, he'll bark. It's not a growling bark, it's a lighter, PLAY WITH ME YOU IDIOT bark. He will ignore my commands to stop barking until I let him out and play with him for a while or take him for a walk. Then he's good for another few hours.
YES, Puppies do Chew - Knowing this, I bought Cracker Jack lots of chew toys. But apparently he seems to prefer his own chewing devices. Fortunately I am used to this by lots of animals and don't get upset when it happens. But he was too sly and quite for me catch him. But his chewing list for today included:
- One full Roll of Paper Towels
- The cardboard tube holder left when no paper towels are left
- 2 plastic bags from Walmart.
- He discovered the down feathers inside my bed cover (lots of em) - at first I thought it had snowed
- A Chinese food menu somebody pushed through the crack in my front door.
- Two fresh Bananas
- His leash also made for nice play toy for a little while
- And Finally, he surprised me by bringing one end of the toilet paper dragging from the bathroom to my desk.
I didn't get too upset, because every time he got into something he was completely bored and full of energy and I at the times, I wasn't showing him love or attention, which might have provided that. But none the less I've since hid most everything I could in the house and closed the bathroom doors so he can't get access to TP anymore.
After I finished work and studying about 8pm, I spent the rest of the night with playing and cuddling up with Jack. Then one last walk before bedtime around 11:30 and our day was done.
Winding Up another day - I survived the collateral damage and still couldn't be happier by the end of the Jack. He has those puppy eyes that have a way of making you forgot the indoor mishaps and all the chewing.
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