Jimmy Gets out of His Cage on a Leash

Yes, that is correct.  We weren't sure what to expect, and so I wasn't planning on having my camera in the kennel with Bert and him out of the cage.  But Jimmy did so well, the first time,  that I decided to shoot the video below.  And it didn't go as smoothly as the first, as Bert started barking and growling at him,  but he did well.  I was quite proud of him.  We might try outside in a day or two. 

But first, let's back up to the end of last week-

You've seen Jimmy eating out of people's hands, and eating out of his bowl, if it was placed in the back of his cage. So last Wednesday, no one was here but me, so I decided to try and coax him into eating out of the bowl, when it was up near the front of the cage, with me sitting close by.  He was reluctant to do that and that was one thing we've been working on for the past few days.

Last Thursday, he had a visitor, and he was less scared than Ginger.  Jimmy came up to the front of the cage, sniffed her hand through the door.  He seemed to be more concerned with what else was going on in the kennel, than the new person being there.   I was quite surprised. Shocked actually.  Because a few days before, when he had another visitor, he did his "I see dead people" thing from the corner.

We also moved Bert next door as Jimmy seemed interested in the other dogs.  This was also on Thursday, I think.   We were also able to slip a collar on him.  You can see it in this video -



So when I got back home from a family Christmas function yesterday afternoon, I hooked a chain leash on Jimmy's collar, and he didn't freak out about it. He let me pull him around the cage and ate with it hanging from his collar. So today I decided to try him out of his cage, with Bert on a leash as well. Thinking that would make Jimmy less anxious. We moved Rosie as we knew she would be barking. But things didn't go as planned. Jimmy was slightly interested in Bert, but Bert wasn't very supportive. He wanted to growl at Jimmy, and act liked he wanted to start a fight, so Bert had to go back in the cage, and Jimmy got out by himself. And that seemed to be a better arrangement from Jimmy. Jimmy did really well with just me in the kennel and him walking in front of the other dog's cages. Initially I wasn't gonna film this, as I didn't want my camera in the kennel area with Jimmy and Bert out. But he did so well, that I asked Carrie to videotape Jimmy with my camera. Things didn't go as smooth the second time, but he still did good. My camera was cold from being in the truck all night, so the lens kept fogging up. You see Carrie wiping it off a few times. Bert was fine in his cage the first time, but when the camera was rolling, he started growling and barking and wouldn't stop.  I could tell it was bothering Jimmy. In the beginning, you can see him hanging his head out of the cage with the door open. This is really what he was most comfortable with. So I made him get out of his cage. You'll notice that he tries to go behind or under the cages. But he sat in front of Bert's cage for a few seconds, and then I got him to walk down in front of the cages of Daisy, Ginger, and Tasha, a patient who is boarding. Then we went back,and he was happy to get back in his cage. Didn't have to ask him twice. He did try to chew on the leash one little time, but I thought he did quite well. The leash doesn't seem to bother him as much as being outside of his cage. I thought it might be the other way around.



Next time, we'll try this without Bert or Rosie in the back. And in a day or so, if he seems up for it, we might go to the outside door, and see if he wants to try and go out.