21 Days

They say it takes 21 days to form a habit. Whether it is a good one, like exercising regularly, or giving up cigarettes, or a bad one like not making the bed every day. Regardless of the effort or lack thereof, as you repeat the same actions over and over, a path gets trampled in the neurons of your brain, until it is so well-traveled that you head down that path without effort.

Training a puppy is all about habits. Ruby has been here a little more than those 21 days, 25 to be exact. I guess it's because of this that I'm starting to see some definite progress in the area of habits being formed. With 87%-96% accuracy, she will now:

• Sit on command. Without expecting a treat.
• Go straight outside during her nighttime potty break.
• Never jump up on people. Cute at 20 pounds. Not so much at 150.
• Chase the cat on command.
• Eat out of her food bowl only.
• Shake hands or high-five anyone.
• Go back to her kennel after the nighttime potty break, walk around the door instead of running into it, and go right back to sleep. The nighttime yipping and whining days are over.
• Stop WHATEVER she's doing if anyone yells 'NO-NO.' Doesn't mean she doesn't try whatever she was doing again, 30 seconds later, but it's a start.
• Respond to her name.
• Sit quietly at her kennel door to get out while I'm opening it. The whole dramatic scractching at the door and yelping hysterically thing is over. Thankfully.

There are plenty of things we're still working on that seem to have recently become bad habits. Among those:

• Laying on the kitchen rug if I'm cooking. I mean I'm glad she loves me, but I'm tired of tripping over her.
• Taking shoes off the rug by the back door. It is winter, we have to take wet dirty shoes off at the door. To Ruby, they are just new chew toys every day. I wish we had another place to put them.
• Telling all of us when she needs to go out. She's getting better. If I ask, and she has to go, she will usually head toward the door. But that path isn't trampled down yet in her little brain. I think it's just that SHE doesn't recognize the urge to go potty yet. But accidents in the house were almost non existent this week (one that I can think of) and she goes every time we take her out. I give her an A for the potty report.
• On the subject of potty time, she does not go in her kennel anymore. At all. Yeah!
• Fetching could use some work. Like all puppies, she's great at the chasing. Not so much at the bringing back.
• Ruby's success at catching things in her mouth is hovering right around 0%. I don't know how you train a dog to do that if it isn't instinctive. Everything from treats to toys bounces right off her head.
• She's a little timid around people outside of this house. She warms up quickly, but every new person causes her to back up and assess. Even Dr. Burk, her vet. We need to work on this. Superbowl party today will help.
• Chewing on firewood. She can't resist it for some strange reason.

In other puppy news...she went to the vet Friday and got some shots, and a heartworm pill. She was officially 19.7 pounds and pronounced very healthy. Dr Burk is happy with her growth rate and the amount of food she's currently eating. He gave me some math to do so I know how much food to give her as she gets bigger. So that'll be fun.

All for now. Ruby is going back to bed, and so am I.