All of the Christmas decorations were hauled upstairs.  That alone had me wanting to sit, but I found my second wind.  The tree itself is up, but not decorated.  I'm giving Church a bit of time to check it out before we commit to the ornaments.  The mantle is decorated and a bit is up in the downstairs bathroom.  There is still a pretty big mish-mash on the kitchen table. With all of this I was so distracted that I didn't put the meat into the slow cooker earlier today -- and I'm not seeing something for carne picada in the instant pot, so that might be tomorrow's grub.

I did get a little time in working with Zero on the crate before church, but not as much as I would have liked.  Back to it after I get home and figure out dinner.  He hates it, but at least he's laying down and not freaking out ATM.  Still so many more increments on the to do list.

We are a day shy of 6 weeks and here is where we're at.  It is also day 4 of the dog being off leash and intermingled with the cat.  I have needed to yell a few times due to him being a little too much and/or chasing the cat (play, but still at his goober level intensity), but I'm very pleased with where we are at present and this is a huge relief.  He and Saffy are playing nicely too, with less nipping at her heels, but their relationship wasn't as tenuous from the get go.

The big remaining issue is the crate/separation issue.  The trainer was here on Monday and laid out a game plan for me.  It is tedious, but we'll see how it goes.  I did opt to hold off until today (Friday) to start working this as it gives me 3 days in a row to work the plan before I have to leave for a while, nevermind the longer Thanksgiving absence.  My reward for going to Tgiving yesterday was poo and a mess to clean, including a gross wall behind the crate.  Best part was his need to pee at 5am.  Too bad I didn't hear him whining; instead I heard the pee hitting the inflatable mattress.  So I got to clean that up at 5am.

Today the crate came downstairs and I am part way through our first session as I type this.  Wish me luck!  It is basically a process that seems 'logical' to me, but way more refined than something I would have figured out on my own.  It was good to hear someone echoing some of the things I was doing right and building on them.

Check in time!  4 week mark.

Not much has changed, it remains separation or leash -- and too much periodic lunges on that leash right now for my liking.  He destroyed the door on the old crate.  The door is bent in, which isn't too hard to do with the old plastic crates.  He then ate my ghostie bath and body works plugin *tears*.  I'll tell you -- it's impossible to find a heavy duty crate locally.

To my surprise I spotted a new in box of the make I was looking at on marketplace.  Yep, that went how you'd expect.  *sigh*  It was new, it does appear that it wasn't taken out of the box given the way it was in there, but all of the parts were missing (to screw the top on, to latch the door, and the caster/wheels).  The guy answered once to reiterate he didn't have it out of the box, but that was it - he didn't reply when I asked about him inquiring to obtain the parts.  Fortunately, my sister was here all week and she's way more resourceful than I.  She found the right sized screws to put the top on and created makeshift door locks.

Today while I returned her to the airport, stopped at Target, and went to church that is where he was.  He didn't get out -- but he sure made a mess.  He still drooled like crazy, but since this has openings on the bottom and trays the trays were soaked instead of him.  He also pooped, so that was fun.

He nips at Saffy's legs when playing and she's none too thrilled.  I've been trying to deter his mouthing in general.  I'm tired right now, that's for sure, despite having a bit of help w/ my sister in.

More on that -- we had our other sister and her daughter here early in the week to visit as well.  I am not a fan of the fact that I felt like I shouldn't go anywhere (other than for a walk with him).  It wouldn't be as big of a deal if I saw a light at the end of that tunnel.  We still had a very nice visit.

Progress update:

Zero is still 100% separated and/or on leash around the Church.  I have not dropped the leash yet either.  It's coming up on the 3 week mark, it took Saffy 2 weeks -- so I don't think I should lose hope yet.  Zero does relax a lot more and look away from the cat, so that's significant but I still, obviously, do not trust him to go further.

As a result of this process I have gotten to see Church hopping across the living room in the retro 'scaredy cat' pose.  I also got to take a video of him sitting on the couch swatting at Zero's tail while he wagged it back and forth.

Zero also has some serious separation anxiety.  I was told he did better in a more open crate, so I may order one, but I have not yet (need to get more confidence in my long term income first if you catch my drift).  The big issue is if he would continue drooling at the current level in a more open crate that the carpet would be drenched.  When I say he is soaked in 20 minutes you are not taking me as literally as you should be.

I did reach out to a trainer to see what they might have to say.  The reply indicated 'bad news' that the likelihood of what I am describing being resolved is fairly low.  He is getting better about not getting into things and even had one day where I felt comfortable leaving him out while I ran for Avery without destroying anything.  He is also not immediately scratching at the door or carpet if I put him in my room to eat dinner while I ready Avery for bed, so that's progress too.  The ultimate goal is to not need to crate him, but that might be a long way off.  It is hard to get out for a walk mid-day to tire him out a bit.  If I have a meeting to call into that doesn't require me to be at my computer I am trying to walk during that window of time.