The First 24 Hours

My dog is so full of the win it is unbelievable.  And my cat's no slouch, either.

Jacques arrived at about 6pm last night and Jax was not impressed.  Jacques was greeted with hisses and growls--not exactly a warm welcome.  But there was no violence; in fact Jax was very friendly with the breeder, letting her pet him even.  So long as she wasn't holding the dog.  Jax was having none of that--he gave the dog a wide berth and I can't really say I blame him.  He didn't run an hide, though--he hung around the whole time which I count under the "victory" column.

After the breeder left, I took Jacques over to what will be his domain for the next several weeks--the bathroom. I want to make sure he's fully house-broken before I let him have unfettered access to the rest of he apartment (except for the bedroom, of course.)  I put down a pee pad and immediately he went pee and poo on the pad!  I was thrilled!  I let him acclimate to his crate and toys--he took to one particular chew toy right away so I put it in his crate and he gradually followed it in.  We experimented with closing the door a few times, but he didn't seem to mind that one bit.

While all this was going on, Jax was watching us and occasionally hissing but he made no attempt to jump over the gate and enter the bathroom even though I knew full well he could if he wanted to.  I left Jacques alone in the bathroom with his stuff for a while and spent some time with Jax but he was too keyed up to snuggle for long.  At around 9:30 Jacques was clearly worn out and went into his crate with no fuss, did a little "decorating" with his blanket and promptly fell asleep.  I brought him into the bedroom with me so I could hear him whine in the night (if he had to pee, which I knew he would) and off we went to sleep.

Now, this is where I made a mistake--I didn't set my alarm to wake up in 4 hours (how long I figured Jacques would be good for until he had to pee again) and just assumed I'd hear him whine and that would be enough to wake me up.  Sadly, it wasn't, mostly because he didn't whine he just sorta snuffled and that was too quiet for me to hear until it was too late.  I did wake up, but he had already peed (I think I just missed it) but I whisked him off to the bathroom anyway and that was a good thing because he promptly pooped on his pad. Once he was done his business we went back to bed and he settled down and went back to sleep almost immediately.  He slept right through to 7 when I woke him up, no more accidents!  And he went pee and poo right away on his pad immediately after I let him out of the crate.  So, It would seem we might have a handle on this house-breaking thing after all!

Jax has been much more relaxed around Jacques today, which has filled me with hope that this will be less painful than I had feared.  Jacques is fine to be left to his own devices in his "area" which encompasses the bathroom and the hallway, although he pretty much sticks to the bathroom.  A couple of times he's whined and sorta barked for attention, but that was short-lived once he realized I wasn't coming.  This makes me feel much better about leaving him alone for a few hours while I'm at work and leads me to believe he won't bark too much and be a nuisance to other tenants.  He also hasn't had a single accident, going to the bathroom on his pad every single time.  I'm not prepared to give him free-reign in the apartment yet (it has only been one day) but I'm very encouraged.

We went out to Pet Valu to get him fitted for a halter and a warm coat and he was very well behaved and didn't pee at all in the store.  He's not a fan of his leash so we'll have to work on making a positive association for him.  I might try taking him outside tomorrow with it on and bring some treats.  I'll take a picture of him in his little coat tomorrow so you can see how freakin' adorable he looks in it.

As for Jax, he's spent most of the day either on the window sill or on the dining room chairs.  I've really tried hard to give him lots of attention, petting him a lot and trying to encourage him to snuggle when Jacques is in his "area", but he hasn't been very receptive to snuggling.  He's still eating well and he seems very calm so I'm hoping this is just his way of punishing me.  I'm sitting here eating my dinner right now and he's making no effort to come over and check it out which is very unlike him.  But all things considered I think he's doing very well with all this and it gives me hope he'll eventually come around.  The first 24 hours have gone way better than I could have hoped--keep your fingers crossed the next 24 go just as well.

***Update****

I spoke too soon--Jacques just pooped on the floor in the hall.  It's a good thing I'm keeping him where I can easily find his little "presents."