It's a blueberry muffin kind of morning

It's 4:45am. I'm up making blueberry muffins. I let Harley out of his kennel but once he got into the living room he rolled over at my feet and starting biting them. I was filling the dishwasher while he was up too but he kept wanting to get in it. It's too early for him to be up so I put him back to bed. He'll probably sleep until 8am now. I'm sure I'll be heading back to bed before long.

I was thinking about the similarities to having a puppy and having a small kid. When there is a kid/puppy in the house it's difficult to get things done because you always have to be watching them and they usually are doing their best to thwart whatever activity you are trying to complete. They are not being mean, just being super curious. Harley wants to be involved in everything I do. If I really need to get something done I have to put him in his kennel. He doesn't know sit-stay or down-stay well enough yet to get him to actually stay where I place him. But that's what we paid Dr. Jamtgaard for, to give us a program to work on with Harley. Now I just need to put the program on a routine so that I'm doing it at least 3 times/day. That would add up to 12 sessions/day at a minimum (3 sit-stay; 6 orienting; 3 door practice). They are all so interrelated. I can definitely see where one leads into another. Since they are quick sessions (5-15 minutes) it won't take up all of my day either.

So what schedule should we get on? First let me say that it's not going to be a strict schedule but more of a guide for the day. We'll start off by getting up between 7:00 and 7:30am. He usually doesn't want to go out right away so we can begin working as soon as we get up and are awake. I want him to be working for his food. I'm cutting down on the treats and using kibble for the training so I can be sure that he's getting proper nutrition and not just snacks all day. He's only been on the Prozac for a couple of days but he seems to not have much of an appetite already. I know that will change as he adjusts to the Prozac.

Back to the schedule. Sit-stay and door exercises will be done at about 8am, 12pm and 4pm. We'll do orienting after each of those sessions in addition to doing orienting at 10am, 2pm and 6pm. I'm going to get in the habit of walking him 3x/day - morning, afternoon and late afternoon. Once I can get him walking okay around the neighborhood I can start thinking about bringing him up to Palmer Park. I'll be working with him on walking respectfully too. I will also try to add in 2 play times/day (fetch, tug, etc.). I'm just going to have to incorporate all of this into my days. Once I start school it will be a bit harder but I know that Harley and I can do this.

Hopefully when we are home, after his sessions, he'll be tired and just conk out so I can get some stuff done around the house (laundry, dishes, reading, homework). I want him to be out of his kennel as much as possible but I need him to have the ability to settle down so I can get things done. I have high hopes for Harley and for me. Sometimes I get nervous and worry about all the money I'm spending on Harley on evals, toys, chews and training and wonder if it will all pay off. I hope it will.

Well, I think it's time to go back to bed. After having a muffin or two that is. :-)