Getting our signals aligned....

LOL.. our boy is smarter than we think!
Last night he caught on to 'scratchie scratchie' which is our way of getting him used to being handled for rub-downs, brushing and of course, scratching his tummy, neck and chest. He loves it and is inching more and more toward us but we still have to go to him the last little bit. He comes, somewhat to us when called.

We even put his new harness on him which still holds him but is much easier to remove for brushing. I am taking Gwen's advice and getting a nylon handle holder that hooks around my wrist and clips on to the hand device for walking him. I'm constantly aware of keeping my grip as well as clicking down on the lock when traffic is on the street. He hasn't darted out in front of a vehicle yet but I'm prepared at all times.

This morning we, meaning Darrin and I, were not reading Beckett's signals correctly. As we're having breakfast, Beckett is pacing and doing his wookie talk to us like normal and then he walks over to the stairs and stops to look at us. We, being stoooopid, look and say "aww, he wants to come with us" then about a minute later he starts to poop next to us as if to say "look, I told you in the only way i know how" .. LOL. We instantly recognized he had done well and calmly moved to get him outside. He was bounding through the snow like a 30 lb bunny after that happy as could be.

He also is improving on the return to the apartment. He still halts outside the door about 8 feet away and locks in place until I coax him in the door. Now, instead of shooting up the stairs past me, he goes up three steps, stands sideways in his submissive stance, and awaits for me to ease near him, scratchie scratchie, and then unclip. Once he is unclipped, I say "okay" and he then turns and hurries up the steps to the apartment, but no longer as if he has been kick started. I"m happy with the progress and now wish he's stop with the wookie noise so much!! LOL Some things will take time. This is a very vocal dog so we'll just have to learn to read it like a baby's cry.