Today was a good day...until the end then ?

This morning when Rob was feeding Rusty his breakfast he fed him several of his bits of food by hand saying good before it was given to him.  He did very well with that!

We are trying to train Rusty to go potty in just one section of our backyard.  So for now we take him out on a leash whenever he needs a potty break.  The one time Rob was bringing him in I did lay out towels and with Rob holding the leash he actually allowed me to wipe off his back paws!  That was a first.  Later when I was on my own I tried hold the leash and wiping off his back paws and he was not a happy about it that time.

This afternoon then Rob took the kids (and Rusty) for a walk to the park right by our house.  Rusty did very well, but Rob said he did seem a bit nervous with kids running.  He didn't bark at them or anything though which was very good.  We thought making more trips like that with Rusty in tow may be a good idea...desensitize him a bit?

He went in his crate fairly well for me except for the last time I had to put him in there.  I grabbed his Kong, which I think he now realizes means he's going in his crate, jumped up on the couch and planted himself.  I did pull him just a bit and then ran with him up to the crate.  After we got home and I took him out of his crate he brought his Kong out with him and proceeded to try to bury it in our house - in the carpeting and then in the box with the Lego's.

This evening when I fed him dinner fed him several of his pieces of food by hand saying "good" when I gave it to him.  Again, he did "good" with it.  :-)

Then when it was time to bring Megan up to bed Rusty got a burst of energy.  He started running through the house and then jumped up on the bed and then jumped down and ran and got on the bed again.  He then started barking...but I don't think it was in an aggressive way - in more of a playful way.  Either way he was very wired and unfortunately the ground is way too muddy in our backyard for me to let him out to burn off energy.  So when he jumped off the bed and ran out of the bedroom I closed the door...with him on the other side of it.  :-)  A couple minutes later when I opened the door he was just laying there but had calmed down.  Not sure if I handled that correctly and if his "playful" barking should be allowed.

He is now resting comfortable for the evening...