Separation Anxiety

So...I've diagnosed Cooper with separation anxiety as portrayed here. I'm sure it's a little more common in puppies, but this little guy just can't stand to be apart from us! Thankfully a few tricks are finally starting to help. Today I started working on "sit -stay" with him. He's really got the hang of the sitting, and he will stay as long as I don't walk too far away or if he can still see me. But if I get too far or turn a corner, he comes running to find me. I've also been leaving the radio on when I leave and I'm trying to leave for shorter amounts of time to prepare him for next week when I go back to work. Today I ran to Home Depot for paint and was only gone about 45 minutes, but he seemed calm and relaxed when I returned. I can tell when he cries a lot because the fur around his mouth is wet from saliva. Today - no wet mouth! Also the Humane Society recommended to just leave and say "I'll be right back" and not make a big deal of it. And when you come home you're supposed to not greet him for 5-10 minutes. That really seemed to help! Then he wasn't too excited/anxious about my leaving or returning.

And right now? I'm sitting at the dining room table and he's in the kitchen inside the baby gate. He fussed for a minute or two but now he's laying there sleeping!!! That's a really big step because before he would cry and cry and cry even if I was two feet away. I'm trying to hang out in there with him and play more often, so he doesn't think of the kitchen as a bad place or punishment.

Potty training unfortunately has regressed a little bit. I'm not being as watchful or thoughtful about it, so I sometimes forget to take him out every hour or so. I've been catching him just starting to go in the house, so I clap to startle him (stop the accident) and rush him outside to finish, where I give him a treat and lots of love for "going potty" outside. Someone suggested having a bell he can ring when he needs to go, which we really want to do, it's just hard to find bells outside of the Christmas season. I'm going to have to visit a craft store soon. Also this rain kind of stinks for potty training - I can't find my umbrella and Cooper just pretty much wants to play in the rain so it takes forever to get him to "go potty."

Also sleeping through the night didn't go well last night. I'm not sure if it was the thunder or the fact that he slept a lot in the late afternoon, but it was not fun having a wide awake crying puppy at 4am. We took him out to the bathroom and were hoping he'd settle back down, but nope! He pretty much cried on and off until 6am when we got up for the day. Can you believe it's my week off and I've been getting up at 6am?!?! Amazingly, Brad can sleep through the crying!

We're also signing Cooper up for puppy school! We're hoping to start in two weeks, after he's had a week to get used to being home alone most of the day (Brad's going home at lunch to let him out/feed him for awhile). I'm excited to see him interact and play with other dogs. That's the main reason we want to sign him up.

In other news, a GREAT trick to get pups to stop biting your hand is to put a little butter on your hand - then he'll learn to lick people instead of biting (a somewhat better alternative). We tried it today and Cooper is doing SO WELL with it!

Oh! And yesterday he had his first vet check-up. He is a healthy boy who happens to have a slight underbite, but they said it's pretty common and usually fixes itself with his adult teeth. However, they do have a doggy dentist if needed (REALLY!?!?! Crazy!). He HATED getting shots! Poor boy!

Here is a picture of him at the vet for the first time!
(He looks so tiny on this table)


And how he looked all evening after the vet: Sleeping on his spongebob blanket:


So far, having a puppy is cute and fun, but I'm learning I'm nowhere NEAR ready for a real baby! I can hardly handle this guy!!! (Sorry mom and Nate!)