Ollie, Rochester, & Novelle

General housebreaking update: Housebreaking seems to be going well.  We have good days and bad days, but lately there seem to be more good days.  Nights are still the biggest problem, but they've stopped having accidents in the bedroom and instead have moved to the entryway (which is linoleum, so much easier for me to clean up) which is right next to the door to the backyard.  We have almost completely eliminated pee accidents (none at night all week!).  All three have been hovering near the back door when they need to go out, too.

General crate training update: Crate training is also going well.  I'm feeding them by putting a bowl of food in each of their crates, so that gets them used to going in without me shutting the door behind them.  Novelle was fine with her crate almost the minute I brought her home, so no major updates there.  Rocky was a little more difficult, but he's at the point now where I can call him over to the crate and just give him a gentle nudge to go in on his own.  Ollie was the most difficult, and I still have to carry him to the crate, but once we get there he goes in on his own.  Ollie is the only one who barks once he's in, but he's down to only barking for about a minute before he calms down.

Ollie is such a doll.  My dad, stepmom, and sister came to visit me on Monday, and they just loved him.  I think they would have tried to take him home if they didn't already have a dog of their own back at home.  Ollie tried to go with them.  He followed them out of the house and over to their car.  I had to scoop him up before he tried to jump in.  But he played with my stepmom and sister for a couple hours, and my sister even ended up taking him for a walk, which he did very well at.  He was so worn out, he was asleep within 15 minutes of them leaving.

 

Ollie taking a nap.

Novelle is my sweet little girl.  She's so calm and friendly, any family will be lucky to have her.  She loves to play with Ollie, but in the evenings she just finds herself a comfortable place to relax and she just lays there.  She usually lays down on the back of the couch, until Rocky and Ollie jump up and bother her, then she'll find a comfy spot on the floor.  She's very good at night: doesn't make any noise and doesn't try to jump up on my bed.  One gripe I have with her is that she likes to steal my crafting supplies.  I've been crafting in the living room, and I keep all my supplies on the end table where I thought they were safe.  Yesterday I found my spool of thread covered in slobber on the floor (I didn't actually catch Novelle in the act, but Rocky and Ollie were with me in the bedroom when it happened).  Today I caught her with a bag of sequins.  Maybe she just likes crafting as much as I do.  :-)  Novelle is also getting better around people.  When my family came up on Monday, it didn't take her long at all to warm up to them.  My stepmom was playing with Ollie, so maybe a little too high energy for Novelle, but she went right up to my dad and let him pet her.  She also sat next to my sister on the couch for a bit.

 

Novelle getting ready to play.

Rocky is my little troublemaker, but he's so cute I can't get mad at him.  He likes to be close to me at all times.  And if I don't want him close and tell him "no," he gives me his little smile and I just have to laugh.  He was still afraid of my family, and just hid behind me the whole time.  He would growl a bit when anyone would enter the room, but once I told him it was ok he would calm down.  He did eventually sit on the couch with my sister, so I would say there is some improvement there.

 

Rocky taking a nap.

And here's a video of all 4 of my pups standing on the back of the couch, letting me know the school bus was there to pick up the boy across the street.