Doggy update!

So Brandon and I were about to go get his new shoes and I decided to stay. We had already locked dexter in his crate so I decided to use this as a training opportunity. I stayed outside for 5 minutes and listend to him bark :(. It was SOOOO hard! But I did it!
I went in and he was sitting there uncomfortably so I walked around and took off my purse checked my email and then came back and he was laying in the crate so I let him out and of course he ran around for about 2 minutes and so I did dishes (still ignoring him). Then I realized he wasnt following me so I checked the living room and he was laying on the floor so I praised him and told him what a good boy he was for calming down.

We have been working really hard on the doggy independence. He has not been following us around nearly as much! Ignoring his attention seaking behavior has made him relax alone a bit more than he used to. I was tripping over my feet on him sometimes!

We continue to recognize any and all good behavior to reinforce what a good boy he is. We also have been practicing stay in other rooms with him. I'm going to practice tomorrow with him again.

I'm trying to decide when its best to practice again since it stresses him out I dont want to let him out go through all the motions and put him right back in again. I'm going to have to ask denise about this.

I'm going to take dexter to the doggy barking lot on saturday to let him play with other dogs and just be a dog! Make sure you get your pup socializing so they remember they are a dog. Sometimes spending so much time around me and brandon I think dexter starts to think he's human too haha.

dexter calm after I let him out of his crate and ignored him for a few minutes