Mall Rat

After Christmas sidewalk sales are one of the two times of year that I shop. The other being summer sidewalk sales. During each of these weeks our OccuPaws puppy becomes a mall rat, spending hours each day strolling the mall and practicing HEEL, SIT, DOWN, STAY, LEAVE IT.

For some reason, Monte is drawn to the escalators. Not sure if it is the sound or motion. His initial encounter as a young puppy must have left left a big impression. Now, he enjoys standing by the glass wall on the second floor watching the customers ascend and descend.

Saturday was an extremely busy day that resulted in Monte sleeping in his crate all evening - his choice. In addition to "working" the mall and dining out twice, we spent three hours at Animart "working" at the OccuPaws table. Animart is the perfect location for puppy training. It provides an opportunity to interact (or not interact) with people of all ages, a cornucopia of dogs, and a menagerie of furry/feathered critters. If they can be well-behaved there they can be well-behaved anywhere.

This was Monte's second visit and he calmed down after twenty minutes and a few SETTLE techniques. During the third hour, one person even commented that she preferred the livelier dog (Angus) to the mellow dog (Monte), who was stretched out resting.

After struggling with Monte's gastrointestinal (GI) issue for two weeks, we threw caution to the wind and tried something not often recommended. GI issues surfaced two weeks ago after opening a new bag of food, same kind, just fresh. He has been taking Tylan for a week with very little if any improvement. Food rationing and skipped meals also proved ineffective. At wit's end, I decided to try a different food, cold turkey. A change in diet can cause GI distress, however in this case the GI issue was immediately resolved.