ANOTHER GRADUATION DAY

My little four month old boy is now outgrown his medium size crate (19 x 24). He is now a big boy and requires a large crate (28 x 42). I own three sizes (S-M-L), so today I went to the garage and got out the large size. He is crate trained for night-time sleeping. Sometime between six months and one year of age he will graduate out of that also.

When I bought the large crate second-hand, I guess I didn't realize it did not have the pan that goes in the bottom (or it's lost in the garage). So I improvised and put a blue velour blanket on the bottom and put his two mats on top of that for comfort. The white one is from the medium crate and the striped one is the one he was trained to lie on in the dining room when he first got here. So he will have familiar smells to his new bed.

Today he has a new crate and a bowl for his toys. I used to have 11 toys scattered all over the dining area floor, and after he learns to empty the bowl, we can work on training to pick them up and put them away.

He now knows how to lie "down" on command. He also knows "sit" and "paw" (for shake). We worked on that training the past week or so. He is so smart and picks up on things fast. I have yet to work on "stay" and "heel" but they are on my to-do list. I think he is doing remarkably well for four months old. It only took (within) 30 days for housebreaking and he has the cutest whine when he wants to go outside. He hasn't yet learned to bark like a big dog.

He keeps me busy, happy, and engaged in new learning. I am so glad he's here and fits in so well in the family. I look forward to many more days of successful training and bonding.