Vinnie Settles In

Last night we put the baby gate up over the bathroom door so that Vinnie couldn't pee all over the house when we were sleeping. We thought he might protest about it but he was pretty good considering he's spent the last month and a bit in a cage almost full time. At first he whined a little bit and we very firmly told him "no, bed" and he curled up quietly in his bed so we gave him a dried pig's ear to chew on. He was quiet until about 3am when he decided that some company would be nice so he knocked the baby gate down. So we put it back up and put a clothes airer over it as well, but he knocked it straight down so we closed the door on him. He whined twice and then settled down on his bed again for the rest of the night.

This morning when Stylish let him out the cat attacked him. He ate his breakfast with his usual lack of table manners (forgetting to chew) then went outside and did doggy things for the morning. After lunch we decided to take him for a walk and see how he went on a lead. It was slow going at first with us having to use lots of little dried fishies and drag him along gently. By the time we came home he was walking a bit better on the lead, still having moments of stopping and having to be encouraged though. While we were out we stopped at the cafe in the village and had a coffee, Vinnie curled up contentedly under the table and had a micro sleep.

We're using the RSPCA recommended method of toilet training, combined with the method Cesar Millan suggests on his website. Basically when he wees in the house we take him outside and just let him have a sniff, but we dont' shout at him or any of that nasty punishing crap. We also take him outside every half hour (we're all sharing the task) and when he wees we give him a dried fishy and make a big deal of him.