From a clicker-training point of view, I should probably be feeling guilty because we haven’t done any work on actual “behaviours” for three days. OTOH, this time together is invaluable. In fact, I actually try to get a puppy alone in a motel room or trailer for a couple of days at this age. It’s too easy at home to let her play until she’s exhausted and then get her in the crate. Here, with no phones to answer and no chores to do, I want to cuddle her to sleep. And in this situation, it’s easier for me to hear what she’s saying about her housetraining.
The leashwork is going brilliantly. She’s completely at ease “going” on lead, and she’s really concentrating on keeping it loose (the lead, not the “going”). We have two leash issues – the first is that when she has to go, she has to go, so I whip the collar on her, at the same time trying to throw on a jacket and find my shoes and open the door. She’s started bucking about me putting the collar on. And, she doesn’t want to come up the stairs into the trailer, so she can put on a pretty good rodeo about that, and I wish she wouldn’t because my joints are sore and it’s cold out and I do NOT want to walk back down those steps and have to pick her up. I expect this problem is more about her having not much fun in the trailer verses the adventure of a city sidewalk.
Now that we’ve gone 24 hours without an accident, I’m working on the collar problem by asking her to sit (like pretend she’s TRAINED, eh? Duh!) before I put it on or take it off, and so far that’s calmed the situation right down.