Difficult start..but got better

Yesterday morning was quite hard, not helped ny having been woken up at 3.50 (see previous posting!!). I decided to start the 'leaving alone process' when I went upstairs to get myself showered and ready for the day. Inko was shut into her crate (her one in the lounge, not the one she goes in at night, as she'd already wandered in there). I headed upstairs and she howled! She kept howling and barking and just wouldn't stop. I didn't want to give in because it is so important that she learns to enjoy time on her own if Adam and I are both going to be out at work. She kept going for an hour!! After she had been quiet for a bit I started making my way down. She then started again so I stopped where I was on the stairs until there was a temporary pause in barking and when there was I quickly came down and let her out. I felt awful because she had got herself so keyed up that she had sicked up the scrambled eggs she'd had for breakfast and had split the water from her bowl all over the crate. I let her outside and felt quite stressed because I just didn't know how to get her to not howl when on her own. She also wouldn't stop whining at me - she just seemed to want constant attention or would whine, and that is definitely not something I wanted to encourage!! She was most definitely being Little Miss Sod yesterday morning!! LOL! I text Jennifer, Jo and Adam and got lovely supportive texts off each of them, and some good tips from Jennifer - thank you :)


After a bit of playing with Inko I remembered that I had bought a DAP collar for her before we got her but had never put it on. I thought it can't hurt, and may actually help with this so I popped it on. After a little bit she went into her enclosed area (of her own accord) and whilst she didn't actually go into her crate she curled up next to it on the edge of the sheet that covers it. I decided to try shutting the gate on the enclosed area - something she had normally squawked at, and there wasn't a peep from her. I managed to sit upstairs for quite a while being quiet in the hope she wouldn't know I was there, and there still wasn't a peep from her! Yay!!


I realised that I wouldn't be able to do much actual getting out of the house today because my dad was coming over to fix our broken radiator and to drain the whole system and bleed all the radiators - my dad is fab! He's really good at helping me and my sisters out whenever we need it! So I decided that it would have to be isolation in the enclosed area/crate while I was in the house but well out of the way. We did this in blocks (up to about 30 mins at a time, possibly up to an hour at one point) and she seemed not to fuss at all. I admit that I was only shutting her in the main enclosure area rather than right in her crate, but as this is where we will be shutting her when we are out at work I figured this would be ok. Each time she settled straight down and went to sleep or played quietly with the toys I'd put in there that were safe for her to be left with - such a relief!! I don't know whether it was the DAP collar or just that I had won the battle with the crate earlier and she had learnt that whining doesn't get you out. I don't know...but I hope it continues!

"What? I'm just helping my HuGrandad with fixing the radiator!"

Once my dad had finished the radiators I decided to do a full 'leave alone' and go out of the house as I needed to do some shopping. I popped her into her enclosed area and she settled straight down on the sheet to sleep. I then headed out the door and was probably out for about 30 minutes. When I came back I peeped through the window, which would pretty much be out of her eye line as it is across the other side of the room and she wasn't pacing around or trying to get out or anything, and more importantly I couldn't hear any woofing or howling! When I came through the door I could see that she was still asleep in the same position as before!! Bless her!

Sleeping like a little angel...finally!!

Another thing we spent much of yesterday doing was some clicker training. I had managed to get her to do 'sit' on command a few days ago (with or without a treat now) and had also been working on 'down'. Today I added 'sit' (from the down position) and 'stand' - she seems to be doing really well with all of these. She has been doing them in the house and in the garden and when she's at full attention levels she does all of them excellently!! Very pleased with that. I can see when she starts getting tired with it though because it becomes a little messier with what she does so then I give it a break. We'll be doing some more work on this today. Will try and get a video when Adam is back from work later.

Last night we popped her to bed at 10pm (after much playing and some clicker training to tire her out) and she went straight to sleep (locked in her crate, not just in her enclosed area) and she didn't wake up till 6.10!! Woo hoo!!