Krypto Chronicles: Don't Get Cocky, Kid.

So, it's been exactly two weeks since Krypto first came to his new home, and I intended this edition of the Krypto Chronicles to be a sort of bragging about how great he's become in just so short a time - he sits politely to meet people and dogs, doesn't jump up, has a great Sit, is working on a good Down, walks very well on leash, plays tug-o-war, isn't afraid of anything, and is even almost totally housebroken.

And then he went and peed THREE TIMES in a single afternoon.  Worse, I only caught him on one of those.  Aargh!  Bad Hudson!  What can I say?  He lulled me into a false sense of security.  So, that's your lesson that you can hopefully learn from my mistake - it takes time to housetrain a puppy.  Even if you think you've magically done in record time, you still don't get to stop paying attention.  Even if a puppy has gone a few days without an accident, that's no guarantee that he's housebroken, just that he's on his way.  But a few missteps can set you back.  Sigh.

Still, all the rest is true.  Krypto really has been great.  The socialization is very much paying off.  We're getting to the point to where almost nothing phases him at all.  Loud noises?  Nope.  Rattling carts?  No.  Babies, elderly people, homeless, giant tough looking guys?  Nope, nope, nope and nope.

Gorillas flashing gang signs?

Nope!

Skateboards?

Forget about it!

By the way, that video was taken about five minutes after Krypto encountered his second-ever skateboard.  I took him to the skatepark again when it was much busier.  The noise and the motion had him just a little nervous, so I would let him walk away from it and then a few seconds later we'd approach again, getting a little closer.  It took a few minutes to get him up to the edge of the concrete.  I knew as soon as we got close enough, one of the skaters would want to come say hi, and after that Krypto would be be fine. 

What I didn't know was that when I tossed some treats onto the skateboard just to get Krypto to get close to it, that he would place his paws on it from behind, causing it to roll and that, rather than getting surprised and jumping off, he just kept his paws on it and started running after it to keep grabbing the treats, which I kept tossing on.

The other skaters started cheering him on, and like I said earlier, in just five minutes, we'd progressed all the way to him hopping onto the moving skateboard.  I think I just found Krypto's signature trick!

Now if I can just get him housetrained...