Saint Jackson shows off!

Are we great dog owners or what!

Saint Jackson

To say we lucked out with the dog we adopted is an understatement. To say we were blessed - well that might be a slight overstatement - but it's much closer to the truth.

My wife has been trying to train Jackson to go "into his house" (his crate). Anytime when "his people" are all out of the house or bedtime, he stays in "his house". He goes in fairly reluctantly, but he doesn't put up too much of a fuss.

Lately, we've noticed that during the day, when he needs a nap, he'll walk into his house voluntarily and nap, then come out when he's rested.

Now you may think this is no big deal. Most dogs have their own bed where they go to rest and sleep. But our experience with our last dog was not like that. Every time we'd give Ollie a bed or some kind of stuffed pillow to lie on , he'd rip it to sheds instead.

So, what happened last night seemed remarkable. It was time for bed. Jackson was semi-sleeping on the couch. I figured I'd carry him and put him in his crate. But as I got up, his head popped up. Instead, I called him to come with me into the kitchen. He followed me. I said "time to go to your house." He freely walked ahead of me and walked right into the crate. I think he would have latched himself in if the latch was on the inside of the door (and he had thumbs).

To us, this was amazing.

Training

I downloaded an app from "Canine Academy" that helps you train a dog.

It's a free app and has some very good basic training techniques. We very quickly got him to "sit" (if he thinks you have a treat, he sits before being asked), "down" - he's even learned "stay".... a little.  He seems to walk with  us like he was already trained to "heel".  But it doesn't seem to show how to potty train a dog.

Sit, Jackson. Smile ! That's a good boy!

Jackson has been a great pet in every way .... but one;  "doing his business". He's been very inconsistent in that area.

We'd walk him for 20 minutes every hour or so. He'd say little "hellos" to ground cover, bushes, mailbox posts and trees along the way, but he can go for days without pooping.

At some random point, after being out all that time, he'd find a spot in the house when no one is looking and relieve himself. It's like he wants his privacy.

This part is baffling and makes it very difficult to develop a morning routine. We get up early enough and would like to feed him, take him out to do his business and go to work.  But half the time, he's not yet on this program.

Now we don't know what Jackson's prior life was like. After all, he was rescued.  Maybe he was mistreated when he had an accident or maybe people who were home-bound and couldn't get out much had him. He is crate trained for sure...he never messes up his crate.

So thinking like a human, I figured if he needs his privacy, we would have to find a way to let him be. We don't have a fenced yard, so I got a 40' nylon cable that I suspended about 6 feet off the ground (tall people, beware). His leash attaches to a wheel that rides this cable and he can go all over the backyard without us fearing he'd run away. Now we can feed him in the morning, hook his leash to this cable and give him some privacy while we get ready to go to work. It produces results.... about every other day.

I'm afraid someday, he might explode and that would not be pretty.

We bought a bottle of this stuff that is supposed to make him go where you spray it. Jackson completely ignored it.

My daughter was home last weekend and took him for a 2 mile walk before he finally "did his thing". I don't know if he understands the relationship between going out on his leash and the bathroom thing. I know it would be very healthy for us to go on 2 mile walks every morning, but we can't get up so early to do that and still get to work on time. My train is at 7AM.

I recently celebrated yet another birthday (they seem to happen more that once a year now - don't know how it could be) and my kids got me and Jack a double series of dog training lessons at the Petco nearby.  I was told that their trainer has a great record of success.

As luck would have it, the ARF rescue van was in the Petco lot. I took Jackson over to visit and the people who remembered him were happy to see him. Jackson and I proceeded into Petco where our kids were signing us up. Of course, this is a very dog friendly environment.  Dogs are all over the place. As we were exploring aisle 5, Jackson decides to leave Lake Erie behind. How embarrassing. Guess it just proves we signed up just in time.

So as we go through the lessons, I'll report on how it goes.

Final thoughts....don't touch anything on the lowest shelves of a pet store that welcomes dogs.

"Clean up on aisle 5"!

New recliner and first bark

Jackson was with us for a whole week without making a sound. He was a near perfect pet ... almost like "Robodog" he was totally crate trained. He seemed to already understand "sit", "down" and sort of "stay". He must have been trained to heel because he was always at our feet - perhaps sometimes under our feet. Up to know, we hadn't heard him bark. He did the cute little whimpering, so we figured he could make sounds - he just choose not to. I like that!

A week before we got Jackson, we purchased a new recliner. Delivery was on March 16. To make sure Jackson didn't run out the door (not that he would), we put him in his crate as the delivery man knocked at the door. Nice, he was early. We let him in and inexplicably,  Jackson started to bark.

What was it about this guy that unsettle Jackson? He didn't look particularly menacing.  He wasn't a big kid. But he barked.

The only distinguishing feature was that he wore a baseball cap - a Yankee cap. It was clear that Jackson was not a Yankee fan. Why else would he bark.

As soon as he left, Jackson stopped barking. Hmmm.