The First Night

Joey’s first night with us didn’t exactly go the way we were expecting. We tried to keep him awake thru the evening, but it had been a very big day for him and by 8:00 he had transformed into a limp black rag doll. He was unconscious for the evening. At around 10:30 I had to carry him outside to “busy”, but he just laid there in the grass. I put him to bed in his kennel. Then the crying started. At first it was just a couple small whimpers lasting about a minute and a half. Then, the silence. Cindy and just looked at each other in disbelief. But reality sunk in as we realized he would wake up in the night and let all the neighbors know who he was. We waited for the inevitable serenade but it never came. Then, at 6:00 AM, he started SCREAMING. I think he had a paw stuck in the bars of the kennel, but had gotten it out by the time I turned on the light.

But, we were up for the day. About an hour after breakfast, Joey walked over to the sliding door were we always go out to “busy”, and sat down. He pawed the glass a little, but stayed sitting there. We took him outside again and he gave us a big present. Cindy and looked at each other in disbelief again. Could housebreaking him really be this easy? Did the puppy staff start the training? There were no accidents or even any close calls all day. We had our first exposure outing today. We went to the vacuum parts store where they had all kinds of strange smells of carpet cleaner. Then, we were off to Lowes, to get tie-down materials. But then, I decided to go to Ace Hardware instead. I almost always find what I want there, if Lowes or Home Depot doesn’t have it. It’s a smaller store with more personal service. Perfect for a new guide dog puppy. At both stores, Joey was perfect. He sat or laid right at my feet, stayed quiet, didn’t nose around at anything. No accidents. Also, Joey pays absolutely no attention to the vacuum cleaner. Who trained this dog before we got it????? This is too easy!