Monday Morning/ In the Car

I am so thankful! Elsie sleeps practically all night now! A huge improvement which I have already discussed and last night was no exception! She was an angel! She slept her regular 9 to 10:30 PM then 10:30 PM to 5:00 AM. I usually don't feel like spending two hours to play with Elsie before my siblings and parents are up and stirring, so I send her back to bed after she eats and has a drink. Typically, she sleeps at the foot of my bed on top on the covers after 5 in the morning. I enjoy the fact that she has learned to go back to sleep and sleep till dawn..... ahhh.... BLISS!

We got up and had to take care of a friend's horses. So car ride time! Skia loves to go "Bye-Bye" and Elsie needs to learn to like it. Our male dog, Poimein, is terrified of the inside of cars, and we don't want another who will be the same way. Right now we are in the process of training Elsie to have fun in the car. She gets the typical problems and like Poimein, she whines and has a runny nose. Last time we rode in the car, she and Skia shared the backseat, but this time she had to sit on my lap. Eventually, she fell asleep and was calm till she woke up again.

We teach her a couple of things for car riding:

1. She most ALWAYS sit before getting in and out of the car. One dog trainer explains it as a dog asking "PLEASE".

2. When she wiggles and whines, again never give in. She needs to learn to sit still and not whine.

Skia is getting some of the same training, and is learning to sit before entering the car. I think Elsie is a little easier to train then an eight year old German Shepherd!

~Wester Belle