Dog Days: Day 2 (Veteran's Day)

Day 2 brings Tanner a bit more calmness. He stays mostly in his crate but comes out and follows us around as we walk the house. Last night we tried to secure the crate but he whined and pawed at the crate door. I was already asleep by then. DH woke me up to ask what to do and I told him to just let him out. He stayed in his crate.

Both of us are off from work today, Veteran's Day. It was the perfect weather outside so we took our coffee out and sat at our patio table. To make sure the dog wasn't afraid of the pool after his dunking last night, I made sure he saw me walking the perimeter.

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After a while, as we chatted I saw him walking around the pool. Score! No fear, at least not to walk around it. He even bent down to drink out of the pool.

We decided to skip the free meal or appetizer offered by many restaurants in honor of Veteran's Day. It is always so crowded, stressful. I was hoping to go out for lunch to beat some of the rush but we slept in and had a leisurely morning.

When Tanner walked between us as we sat I tried to pet his head up to a level position and softly pull his tail up. I saw it on The Dog Whisperer. He had tied the tail to the lead so both the head and tail were up, offering the dog forced confidence. Think a support to walk with a straight back, like a dancer. You feel taller, in charge, powerful. Works for dogs, too. DH noticed I was doing it, and then we happened to watch that exact show later that day. Funny how the universe works out.

An appointment was made for grooming at a local Petsmart. This way we could get him washed and see how he acts towards dogs. We had debated whether we wanted to put him into the car so the windows go down, or the truck which only has pop-out windows in the back cab.

We went out to lunch at a local Thai place and left the dog out of the crate as a trial. He was just fine.

We decided on the truck in case of an accident, its easier to clean. This time we decided not to use the crate and threw caution to the wind. Around the block and back if he couldn't take it. But he was just fine. We put a blanket down but he pulled it down and pawed at it when he turn in a circle, like nesting, to lay down. Every once in a while he would sit up and look out the window. No whining, no fuss.

We should have taken him for another walk just before the trip because he was even more nervous walking through the parking lot than he was in the house.

We encountered some dogs and he was great with them. Stopped shaking, smelled, circled, it was a huge positive. It got his mind off the grooming room until the dog left and then he started shaking again. DH was nervous leaving him. (awww)

I told the attendants that we had no idea how he would behave and if there was a problem to just stop and we will come get him. But they said he did just fine, nervous, but very well behaved. Excellent. What we did not know was that it was a 3 hour process. During the wait, we bought a lead (short leash) a few water bowls for outside and a new bed to fit in the cage. We grabbed some treats and a toy-on sale, too.

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After that we walked over to Ross to check out the bathmats to go under Tanner's food and water bowl. We decided to just use one of the old towels we have at home. From there we went to Walmart to buy a car cell phone charger and scored a light-up leash we saw someone in our neighborhood use.

I had posted on a facebook page to see if I could borrow a few baby gates to try to let the dog walk around the kitchen near his food and water but not to access the carpet or furniture. So many mom's offered gates, it was wonderful. We headed west to the neighborhoods over there to pick them up. As it turned out, they all live in neighboring developments.

As we were headed that way we go the call to pick up the dog, of course. DH was instantly worried the place would close on him and we wouldn't get him back home, that he would be locked in. Ridiculous, he was just attached to the dog, it's so cute. I knew the last appointment was at 6 pm so if three hours were needed we had until 9 pm.

Tanner was shaking but just fine. Another good interaction with a dog and then we went home. Again the trip was fine. We went for a walk before turning in.