So I thought I'd share one step of progress in our home. We have a very open floor plan in the house we now live in. It's hard to claim a place for ourselves and one for Lilah. So she's been running free. I've been eyeing those long, extended baby gates with six or more panels, like the SuperYard (see link below), that you can shape into a barrier or make a little enclosed play area with. I had used one babysitting a one year old : ) I finally buckled and bought one from Walmart bc I really felt it would help. It's wonderful! We love it and so does she! We set it up surrounding the entrance to her crate (and rigged it by tying it to the crate). We've seen an almost instant change in her behavior. It may not be huge things to other people, but it is to us. She simply plays all she wants in the area with all her toys. We let her out (invite her) into our area of the house when she is being calm submissive and also reward with treats. As soon as she is too much for us to handle again, she goes back in her area. When we tried tethering her to something in the house, she went wild and tried desperately to dismantle the leash. In her area now, she happily plays right there in our living room but hardly realizes she is being contained. We've showed her she get's ignored when she jumps up on the gate (by turning our backs to her), and rewarded and loved when she sits well inside the boundaries. And she behaves better outside of the gate now! Dogs really are situational, and this situation is totally working for us : ) So that is one great progress in our home. Hopefully they keep coming!
