I picked UConn to win. I am awesome.

Today's BEDA theme is 'best advice you've ever received." It took me awhile to think of anything...until I thought of advice pertaining to el puppy-o. Tia is mouthy and noisy. She tries to 'cute' us into doing stuff (mostly works on me), and usually the things she wants are:

1. Food
2. Outside
3. Food
4. Play
5. Food
6. My spot on the couch

And then there are times when she doesn't seem to want anything (other than food, and somebody's chubby enough already), and she just wants to be noisy. For a long time, Tjett and I had absolutely no idea what to do with her in these moments.

And then we took doggy class. I found doggy class to be very good for us, but it wasn't a 'miracle' cure or anything...I think it just got her used to doing things for us. Our instructor, Lisa, liked to think that Tia was basically the same as her Siber-Con, June. I'm sure they were similar, but they are certainly not the same dog. Lisa gave us a few tips for dealing with ridiculousness, including having her wear the head collar most of the time (did NOT work), and tethering her in the rooms (didn't really have any space or desire to tether her while we're in the same room).

But then she suggested Time-Outs. Time-Outs for Tia are not punishment; they're more a way to calm her down. Tia happens to LOVE her kennel...I'm totally serious. How we lucked out and got a dog who adores her kennel is beyond me, but she loves it in there. Sometimes she'll just go hang out in there, even if we're home. It's her room. And every time we leave, she gets a yummy Kong. It's to the point that she cannot wait for us to leave...she runs into her kennel, sits, and waits not-too-patiently for her Kong.

So anyway, if she's getting nuts for no apparent reason, we point and tell her 'kennel!' (or sometimes, even if we discuss 'does someone need a Time-Out?') and she runs in her kennel, we close the door, and we sit for awhile. Usually after about 15 minutes she is calm, and we let her out. More often than not, she's good for the night. When we started, she needed 3 or so a night...then it went to 3 or so a week...and now, we haven't needed to give one more than a few times in the last several months.

Hooray for Time-Outs!