We had quite the uneventful week. YAY!!! We met up with some friends who have a 5 year old corgi mix for our first afternoon at a local dog park and we both had tons of fun! So much so, that I took Poppy back a few days later on my way to my parents house, but it was a bit of a bust as the small dog side was empty. So we went and played with the big dogs and it was fine. Poppy gets alone with dogs of all sizes as long as they aren't aggressive.

I got some calming dog treats from Amazon before the holiday and while I have been giving her the small ones (with little results) I got some for bigger dogs and tried it out while I was still in the apartment, just in case something went wrong. She was perfect! I sat on the couch and put her in the pen for about 2 hours and I didn't hear a peep!

I was a bit worried about leaving her yesterday when I went back to work, but everything seemed okay. It's been very warm in Los Angeles this week and it was quite hot when we went for our midday walk and she was panting and totally pooped when we got back.

I finally got around to taping Poppy in her pen when I am not there and I am currently watching it. This is after our midday walk, so when I left her in the afternoon and also after I gave her one of the big dog treats. She did the following:

Barked her head off for about 10 minutes.

Then 20 minutes of silence

Then 5 minutes of barking

Then 5 minutes of silence

Then about a minute of barking

And then nearly an hour of silence before the tape ended (1hr 30min long in total).

So in my opinion, not too bad. I worry the most about how long she barks after I leave and 10 minutes isn't too bad. I am going to tape her again tomorrow, in the morning after I give her two small calming treats and see how she does then. I would webcam her, but I do not have internet at my apartment, but my digicam last about 90 minutes, which is fine for me.

While not perfection at the moment (but then, when will it be?) I think we are slowly improving. The Thundershirt at night, putting her in the crate while I get ready for bed seems to be working well, we haven't had an issue in over a week! YAY!

Gonna end on that high note!