We've been working hard on getting Sia more excited about going in her crate. We practice this both at times when she needs to be crated for a little while (like when I need to run to the store) and when she doesn't need to be crated. I start out by hiding treats in her kennel when she's not looking.
Determined to get those treats, she finds a way in the crate.
After she finds her way in and finds her treats, she settles down. This was just a practice session so as soon as she is all settled, I release her from the kennel.
Before Sia spends time in her crate, I try to make sure she's had some good exercise before hand so she doesn't have a bunch of pent up energy while she's confined to a small space.
It seems like I've got a lot of pictures of Sia passing Sinbad on the ramp.
Not to worry, they are not trying to avoid each other. They like to play quite a bit (although, I'll admit, Sia and Rosario are the best of friends). Rosario is a pretty low energy dog and she tries so hard to keep up with Sia.
But Sia never gives up on Healey. She loves her so. I think she knows she will finally get through to her and it won't be long before Healey is playing with her.
And speaking of friends, Sia met all sorts of new people when we went out to dinner at an outside restaurant. Some people she knew from previous visits so she could show them how big she's gotten. Others were strangers who helped us practice calm greetings (and, of course, she soaked up all of them telling her how beautiful she is). It was hard for her to settle here and she seemed a combination of a little excited and a little nervous which is what I've experienced with her in situations like this before.
So when it started to thunder, we decided to end this trip on a good note and head home. She did well with the thunder but she was very alert. I wanted to make sure the combination of the thunder and the new environment wasn't too much for her. It can be easy for dogs to associate one thing with the other (for example, I was meeting all these new interesting people and then a loud noise happened...those people must be scary). I kept things light and kept her engaged with me and she did great! No surprise there...what a girl.
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