Everyone is home and our dog trainer just left. Little He and Tinker look great, all groomed and cute. Happy to be home.

Our attention today was on Riley. Riley is a pretty stressed out little dog. I worried that he fed off of me, but she reminded me that he came out of the crate Day One barking his head off. So a lot of it is inherent.

This is, however, handleable. Today went well.

Here is what I learned (and don’t think the dogs weren’t paying rapt attention):

1. Reward “nothing”. That is, when Riley is not barking or reacting, he gets a lot of praise. Boy, it’s hard to remember that! I’m used to “correcting”. This is different. Keep a calm environment.

2. When he begins incessant barking take him to a boring corner for a Time Out, in which he can’t be part of what’s going on.

3. Riley stays on leash around the other dogs right now.

4. We’re saving the cat integration for a later date.

Sit! Saturday – reintegration: so far, so good.