A small step, big results!

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RockTheBoxer

Super Boxer
A little history: We adopted Rocky, now 15 months, when he was 7 months old. He was a backyard dog, along with his dad. His previous owners decided that they no longer wanted him, or could no longer keep him. We were told when we brought him home that he was crate trained. After extensive research, we decided that given Rocky would be in a new environment with strangers, we would go through the whole crate training process from the start. And go through it we did! As it turns out, Rocky was never crate trained prior to us adopting him and he hated, and I mean HATED, being in his crate. So much so that one day, after weeks of training (we took a few weeks off of work to train and acclimate him to his new home), I came home at lunch to let him out for a potty and play break to find Rocky had broken free from his crate and destroyed $500 worth of blinds running from window to window. We assume he was either looking for us, or looking to get outside as he did go potty in the house.

After that, we gave up on the crate. To us, it wasn't fair to keep in what he considered a cage. We were afraid he would injure himself trying to escape again, not mention the distress he went through. Thus, Rocky now spends time outside while we are at work. He does really well outside and has become quite a good gardener too! Of course, given he was raised outside, he feels comfortable out there.

We never adopted Rocky with the notion that he would just be an outside dog though. He's inside with us when we are home, he goes with us wherever dogs are allowed, he sleeps in our room and loves lying by our feet when we are on the couch. Our goal is to make it to the point that we could trust him the house while we are gone. After a rocky start (no pun intended!) we knew we had some work to do to get there. Also, given that we adopted him when he was a little older, we didn't have the chance to train him from just a few weeks old.

Last night, I had an errand to run in the evening. I decided this was going to be the first test of leaving him unattended inside the house! We have to start somewhere. I went around the house and closed off doors to the extra rooms (no need to invite trouble), pulled up the blinds so he could see out of every window in the rooms he would have access to, and took him out to potty. Back inside he went and off I went. I came home to a happy boy without a single mishap! Boy am I proud of him! He was given a ton of praise and extra treats! It was a small but important step for us to build up to leaving him inside for longer periods throughout the days.

I am a happy and proud doggie mama!
 

Jinnytee

Super Boxer
Yay .... very well done Rocky !!!

It may be a small step ..... but it has BIG implications ... hopefully Rocky will continue to be on his best behaviour and earn his " inside dog" stripes :)
 

luvmyboy

Boxer Insane
Good boy, Rocky!!! Having adopted Tucker at 1-1/2 yrs of age & having to crate train, etc.... I know just how big a deal this "small step" really is!
 
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