Day 3: Potty Bell continued

Basil rang the bell all on his own today! It was jingling away which means he was probably licking the bell. Keith took a peak at him. Basil gave Keith an "arf" (that's a first!) and with lots of praise, he let him outside. We were so proud! He went potty and then gave him a treat.

Later in the evening, he went up to the bell and sniffed it, nudging it back and forth a bit. We waited to see if it was with intention rather than jumping up and asking him to ring it. He stepped back and looked at us which usually means he wants to go. We asked him "outside?". Got him close to the bell to nudge it again to reinforce the idea as we cheered and praised him. Then immediately let him outside while saying "Outside, good boy, ringing the bell". This time he did #2 and got a special treat.

We're trying to reinforce the idea now and to get him to associate that bell = potty. To do that, we mention "bell" while he goes potty. Also, no dawdling. If he doesn't go within 10 minutes, he comes back inside. We think this bell is too heavy so we're going to get a new one. Also, we wait for him to send us a signal as oppose to asking him if he wants to go out.

Basil Meets Lily

Basil made a new friend today. Lily, the chihuahua. Lily is Bo's cousin (not by blood) and the daughter of Spartan who lives across the street. Basil and Spartan haven't met yet. She was the perfect companion. She was very active and got Basil running around, but as a chihuahua she had a big enough ego to take his chasing. She kept egging him on and he kept chasing her.



The beautiful coi pond. Here is Basil, Lily and Bo.


Bo finally began warming up to Basil. By the end of the play date, she began sniffing him and that's the closest she's ever gotten up to another new dog before.


Basil had a long day. This morning he ran around with Carmel.

Basil rang the bell!!!!

He just rang the bell!

We just went for a long car ride where he took a nap and I knew he would have to go when we came home. I asked, Do you want to go outside? He gestured towards the door. We walked up to the door. I said, Ring the bell. And he went up to it and nudged it with his nose! It was really light, but it was definitely with intention!

I am so proud. That was definitely worth the patience and time spent. We just need to keep at it now. As we keep going, he'll begin to associate it with potty.

NEW! Basil's Flickr Slideshow

Check out the sidebar to your left. Now, you can see all up to date photos of Basil.

I created a new account on Flickr using a Yahoo email address and linked it to Blogger.
To do this:

1. Using a yahoo email address or start a new account directly on Flickr.
2. Go into your Blogger Dashboard and add the Slide show widget.
3. Select Flickr.
4. Select User.
   
5. Under Username, enter your flickr "identification" which can be found in the browser address bar.
   
6. For example, http://www.flickr.com/photos/SNORTS@No18. "SNORTS@No18" is the user name. You should immediately be able to see a preview of your photos sliding by.
   

Outside of this, I don't really know a lot about how to manage the photos. Flickr is powerful and I lack the patience. If you have photos you want to be kept private, the slideshow doesn't reflect the change immediately, which is why I started a separate account for Basil's photos. However, on Flickr, there are 3rd party services which allow you to touch up photos and order all kinds of neat things.

Enjoy!

Tid Bits: City Lights

We took Basil out into Center City Philadelphia and he was very excited and interested. There's lots to see. He just seemed like he was trying to soak it all in and was very curious. He seemed especially attracted to the bright lights of the skyscrapers at night.

We've been fortunate to have a few days of warmer weather (65-72 degrees F...warm for us northerners) and we're trying to take advantage of that as much as we can. I'd like to take Basil to the dog park in Philadelphia and snap some photos of him near the Art Museum.

Like Father Like Son

Basil loves the car. He's so well behaved. He stays in the back and never jumps up front. Most of the time he just falls asleep immediately.


The back seats are a little awkward for him, so we got him a "car seat" to lay down in. He loves it. He got right into it and went to sleep. Here he is in my car. Tan interior, tan bed.


Typically, we take this red flannel blanket with us which he seems to have grown to love. Look at how sweet he is. Since we usually use this car, we're going to look into the car seats made for dogs which you latch a harness to.


He still won't go into the car himself. I have to pick him up and put him in. I tried enticing him with a biscuit. He seemed interested...


I tried to tell him to go into the floor first and then onto the seat, but that wasn't getting through to him. I sat on the other side to encourage him.


Looks like my treat wasn't enticing enough. Look at that face! Next time, we're going to use a more enticing treat and sit on the other side to get him in.

Potty Bell continued...

Today, Basil nudged the bell with his nose!!! We've been consistently taking his paw and tapping the bell when he goes out. He was sniffing around and nudged it today! He still doesn't grasp the idea of course since it's only been a day.


He seems to be startled by the sound too, so I smeared some cream cheese onto the bell. He began licking and ringing, licking and ringing and I gave him lots of praise for it. I think he's finally not afraid of it now.

After that, throughout the day when he wanted to go out, I would get a treat and get him close to the bell until he nudged it.