April 2020
As always, this list does not include everything. For starters, I’m human and I don’t always remember to record the links of all the sites I visit, all the one paragraphs or sinlge pages I read, nor do I remember everything I learn. Sad, but true.
This month has been slow in the writing arena. Not because of the virus, but because I have a puppy. She’s been with us a month now and she’s sleeping through the night so long as I do the right things. However, I’m still trying to get her in the crate for a few hours during the day so I can teach her that those are my working hours or errand hours. So far, I’ve managed a shower while she was in her crate once. Soooo, yeah. I’m having difficulties.
What I Learned
We’re going to start here since the number one thing I’ve learned is that training myself to train a dog is difficult. I get the whole consistency thing, but I don’t always have treats on me. Actually, I rarely have treats on me. So I keep rewarding with a “Yes!” and Pandora looks at me ready for a treat, and I’m all, “Good girl” (pet, pet, pet).
The crate, this is going to be the death of me. I keep reading not to shove the dog into the crate. Toss the treats in and give treats while in crate. And please know, I train this during my high tolerance times. Meaning the best time I’m not impatient or tense. I still believe dogs can sense that.
Anyway, she keeps one foot out of the crate. She won’t go in but for a second and then she comes right back out. She goes in for bed and the past few nights she hasn’t wanted to go in the crate, so I sit and block her until she finally goes into the crate for bed. She’ll whine for a minute and then sleep. But this is a new thing not wanting to go in the crate at bedtime.
I’ve watched more crate-training videos…
…on YouTube than I care to admit and I’m stuck. I have to get her trained before she gets any older, but I don’t want to resort to shoving her in the crate. So I’ve learned that no video addresses when to cave and resort to forcing her into the crate. All the videos I’ve watched address the nice happy crate training or the letting the dog whine it out. However, the dog whining walks into the crate willingly.
I’ve learned I always fall in cracks that are overlooked.
The Constitution
I learned about American history and the Constitution when I was a teenager, but it’s been a long while. So I found a course online that is twelve segments. I’ve currently completed four sections and tests – 80% passing. There are lectures that run from 25 minutes to 40 minutes, coupled with supplemental reading material, and quizzes.
It’s a free course and, if you’re interested, here’s the link to the Constitution 101.
What I Read
Following on the heels on what I’ve learned I have read the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution (the articles and all 27 Amendments – the first ten amendments are the Bill of Rights).
In the course, to understand where our Founders acquired the ideas for the constitution and it’s amendments, we are reading excerpts from The Federalist Papers.
I’ve also read many blogs in regards to puppy training. Specifically, McCann Dogs’ blog and Zac George’s 30 Days to a Perfect Pup (clearly, we’re not on track since we’re still stuck on the crate training).
What I Wrote
This blog post, LOL. And the other posts for April.
I’ve also written many thoughts. Not journaling type thoughts, pieces that I don’t know whether I want to put out in the world or not. That’s good, that I’m capturing these ideas, but I’m stuck in the not-really sure I want to share boat again.
There’s been more, but these are the few that really sucked up most of my time.