Ni Hao!

The last two nights Porter has only needed to go out to potty once. And I don't even know if that was needed but he woke up, so I took him out. Both mornings he was awake at 5:30am, and although I'd love to sleep in more, I counted that a success and got him breakfast. I was especially happy last night since he had a long nap and only a very short and mild play session before bed, yet he still settled nicely in his crate and slept. So nights are becoming easier and for naps during the day he can often be convinced to take them in his crate. As for random crating, he's not there yet. This morning we'll do more crate games but he's taking his morning nap aat the moment.

Yesterday Madeline and her family came over to visit Porter (and Indigo). As usually, Porter was totally asleep when they arrived and took a bit to stop being so groggy.

That afternoon while QM was in Chinese school, Porter and I sat in the shade and relaxed.

He alternated between relaxing and wanting to walk around and chew on the bird of paradise plants. He was most settled after making a mess with his water bottle and then laying in the puddle. It was really nice in the shade, not too hot and believe me I'd be complaining if it was, but Porter still seemed a little warm or maybe he was stressed. So a cool bed is going to be necessary. It's such a change from Indigo who worships the sun yet would never spread out on a hard surface like you see Porter doing above.

He started getting even antsier and I assumed it was because he was bored and I was not letting him chew in the planters but it seems he just needed to go potty and once that was taken care of he settled down and completely passed out. As I carried him to the car he almost feel asleep in my arms and he stayed lying down the entire ride home.

His house training is really coming along. He doesn't need to go out as frequently and does a great job of standing by the baby gate to be let into the kitchen to the back door. Or he will go look out the floor length windows in the dining room. I think he thinks he can get out that way, too.

I still don't trust him when he goes under the dining room table. The area rug under it is just too tempting of a place to pee and if he gets the urge with all the chair legs there it's hard to get to him and scoop him outside quickly.

Somehow he came with a default sit. If I have a treat or he wants attention he will approach and then sit and stare longingly into your eyes. He has never been lured into a sit; in fact, we haven't worked on any obedience yet. Although I do pause when I open the crate door and wait for a sit, but that's part of crate games. I'm not verbally cueing him but the hand on the door is a cue which I helped associate with the sit by capturing the behavior.