A padawan dog’s first visit inside the house is often short. They get to come in and tour the food eating room and living room (which are essentially one large space), everything else is closed off. When they’ve got the lay of the land, so to speak, they go into their crate, get a nice chewie to amuse themselves with and we see if they can be calm.

Jasper is known for his high excitement acrobatics.

While he has calmed down A LOT since he first arrived here, we were expecting that he would not enjoy being crated and his first visit would be short.

He toured the house and was curious about all of it, but did not misbehave. He discovered his crate, sniffed at it a couple of times, went in and came out once. Then he discovered a hoofie bit and needed a place to chew where he felt safe from Blondie and me …

To our great surprise, he did not grow bored and get rowdy.

Progressing Quickly Through Stages

So he got to stay for dinner. He did well with that, so he got to stay for the Sci-Fi movie. He did well with that too.

HairyFace uses a leash to walk Jasper from crate to door (and door to crate). He removes the leash once they’re outside and takes it with him. Last night, after two trips outside (non-productive trips, but they served to acquaint him with the process), Jasper nosed around the yard for a few moments then (as usual) raced back to the back door. This time Hairy did not follow, he stayed in the yard (because Hairy is in charge, not Jasper). Jasper eventually came back around the corner to see if the People was coming. He was not. So Jasper came out and started nosing at the coiled leash in Hairy’s hand, “Come on, clip it on so we can go inside again.” He learns REALLY fast!

The real test was going to be when all of us retired to the bed room, leaving Jasper in his crate in the food room. He can see down the hall into the bedroom, and can see the dog beds where Blondie and I sleep, but not the Peoples. Would he accept that or get all barky and get banished to his pen?

He barked a little bit when the Peoples left, but once the lights were all turned off, he quieted down and went to sleep. Amazing.

He slept through the night.

HairyFace got up just after 4:00 Saturday morning and took Jasper outside, where he pee’d and wanted right back inside. With Jasper back in his crate, Hairy went to the den to study. Jasper can’t see him there: will he get fussy and wake the whole household?

Nope! Jasper went back to sleep and was quiet until NiceLady awoke and everyone started moving around. He got a little noisy then, but he calmed down as soon as he was included in the good morning lovies.

Hairy fixed a fancy breakfast with bacon and eggs and fried potatoes, Jasper was good through all that, and ate his kibbles (which included a bit of the Peoples breakfast) in his crate when everyone else was served their food. He kicked the dish around for a while after he emptied it “This is empty, I want more.” But that’s okay.

He did get whinny and Hairy figured (correctly, as it turns out) that it was because he is used to moving his bowels right after eating. He can do that in his pen. They went outside, he took care of that quickly, they came back in and HairyFace finished breakfast with NiceLady. Good boy!

So far the only issue we’re having (other than Jasper wanting to be in the house ALL the time) is that when I walk by his crate he tries to intimidate me. He does not succeed, but Hairy does step in to calm him down and remind him that he’s in MY house and if he can’t get along with both Blondie and me, he won’t graduate to free-range status, but be crated any time he’s inside – unless I’m outside. If I’m gone Jasper gets a little time to stretch his legs and make himself at home. He did that this morning after breakfast when Blondie and I both went out on patrol.

I do believe he’s going to make it to House Dog status. And to think that not long ago he was one of those “too wild for anyone to handle” dogs. Amazing!