Lexi’s (Lucy) Story: Day 8

I am noticing something interesting with Lucy. When we have done anything with her during the day, she may seem to resist it, but after a good night’s sleep, it’s like it all clicks. There was one two days ago, we had trouble with her barking and whining when she was in the crate – demanding to come out. We refused to let her out until she was calm for a period of time. Yesterday morning and this morning, when I come out of the room and begin my day, she is laying in her crate relaxing. There is no whining, now expectation of leaving, and no demands to leave.

We took some things away from her yesterday. She tried getting on the couch without permission several times. We did not allow it. I put her in down, and she tried getting up several times; I did not allow it. Her favorite thing to do is to get in your face and demand that you pet her. When this happened with anybody in the family, they told her no, and she walked away. In the long run, this is going to help with her bossy, bratty side.

Today we had our first thunderstorm since Lucy arrived. Her owner had told me that she was afraid of them, and that normally she was allowed to sleep at the foot of the bed at those times. She did pretty good during this one. She was in the kennel where she was forced to just lie down and remain calm. The thunder definitely made her take notice, and there was a little panting, but her anxiety passed really pretty quickly. She chose to sleep through the majority of the storm.