A Follow Up to Sobe's To-Do List

Just want to follow up on our To-Do list for Sobe that was written back in February.  I had listed a few things we needed to work on with Sobe and I'm extremely happy to say that we've completed a couple of these goals!

The following were the 4 things on his To-Do list.  My comments on his latest progress are written in purple beneath each item.

1. Commands & Vocabulary - Sit, Outside, Lie Down, No bite, Off (when he jumps on us), Nite Nite, Slow (when he tries to run off on the leash when walking. He's pretty good at responding to this now!), Come here (he's SO stubborn with this one!), Get Over There (when he hovers and smothers you while you're trying to do something like clean his pee!)
Done: Sit, Lie Down, Off, Nite Nite, Come here.  Since he's teething, "No bite" is an ongoing battle although when he does grab my hand now, he doesn't chomp down on it like he used to.  "Slow" is also an ongoing battle because he gets so happy when he sees other dogs and wants to run up to them and play.  I have to stop walking, step into his space and block his view to be able to get some kind of control over the situation.  I hope consistency pays off on this one!  We haven't really been using "Get Over There" just mainly "Off" to get him to stop hovering by our feet when we're trying to walk.  By the way, I just stepped on him this morning because of his hovering.  Hope he learned a lesson! 

New Commands: Stay, Paw - both of which he is proficient at.
2. Walking into the elevator at the lobby - he did it this morning for the first time!
He's been soooo good about this now!  There are times where he will hesitate but if you take a step back to walk right next to him, he'll start moving forward again.  I think he's still a bit spooked by the big mirror in the lobby.  He even goes straight into the elevator without hesitating anymore.  The only thing I need to be cautious of is when we go out from our apartment.  There have been times when Rick and I had to clean pee up from the floor while waiting for the elevator.  Sobe obviously thinks that as long as he's out of the apartment, it's all fair game.  So for now, until his bladder gets stronger ,we have him walk out the door but then carry him outside.

3. Signal for going out - Training him to sit by the door before going out.
Nope, hasn't happened, not happening, don't know when it'll eventually happen!  Since we keep him out of his crate for 2 hours or more now, he's had a couple of accidents on our floor.  And I'm talking about full bladder accidents without giving us a single clue.

4. Wee wee pad - We usually let Sobe play after his walk. After about an hour, and if he's not crated we'll find him sniffing which means he probably has to pee. We need to bring him near the wee wee pad so he can learn to go on it. He's already starting to use the pad but still has accidents. I was skeptical about this one at first but a neighbor said that teaching him to use the wee wee pad as an emergency method will alleviate stress for us and for Sobe. Sobe won't have the burden of holding it for hours and we won't have the burden of hurrying home if we can't make it. Sounds good to me! I hope to slowly eliminate it as his bladder get stronger.
Rick and I eliminated the use of the wee wee pad pretty much a day after writing this initial entry back in February.  We've been really good about taking him outside on schedule.  Sobe is now able to hold his pee outside the crate for 2 hours and sometimes longer depending on how distracted he is!  So he's enjoying more time outside the crate these days.

Oh!  Sobe also lets me wipe him down without struggling as much anymore!  The Devil Dog came out once again last week but I've been consistently giving him a treat everytime he gives me his paw to clean without the nipping.

New Items for Sobe's To-Do List:

1.  I would love to work on him not being distracted so easily on his walks.  And when he does get distracted, I'd like to get him to respond to me when I say "Stay" or "Sit" instead of not hearing me at all.

2.  Still going to work on getting him to go to the door if he has to go outside!