Update on Pattie-cake

After Pattie and I spent 40 minutes one morning trying to get her back in the house, I had to take desperate measures! The good thing in all this was she never left my yard. So, she is now the proud owner of a shock collar. Luckily, I have only had to use the shock part once. She quickly learned to either come back when she hears the beep or come before the beep had to be used. My aunt Laura sent me a box of their old dog's stuff. It was like Christmas! We now have big bowls that I had my eye on in the stores, more durable toys, lots of leashes, and the most amazing invention for dog walking EVER! Although Pattie has gotten better, she still pulls terribly during walks or runs. I went walking with Anna who uses the gentle leader on her dog, Clemson. I realized there was one in the box. This past week I tried it and all I can say is AMAZING! It was like a hands-free walk for me! I think Caroline could even walk Pattie now and no one would get dragged down! So Tuesday of last week we used the gentle leader and Thursday I put it on and stepped foot into the woods with Ann and her dog Chloe. We were going on a 3ish mile jog in the woods where Chloe is allowed off the leash. After 3 minutes into the run, I decided to try Pattie off the leash. She was the leader of the pack! She would run ahead with Chloe but stop just before getting out of sight or either come back to check on us. She loved the freedom of chasing Chloe but knew her job was to keep me safe! I will certainly be going on more of these evening runs! In addition to all this fun, Pattie has been taking some tests. I have been leaving her out of the crate in the evenings or weekends when I've been gone for a few hours. She has made it up to 4 hours until yesterday. She spent the morning out of the crate lasting 4 hours then was left out for 5 hours was I gone in the evening. Pattie did awesome! I think both times she drank from the toilet, but so far nothing has been chewed up except the toilet paper so I took it off the roll this time. Really the toilet paper just looks like the clawed at it just to prove her point. Either way, I've been so proud of her and hope this good behavior continues!