Hello! Thank you all so very much for helping me stock up my goodie boxes outside my kennel. I have lots of lovely things to choose from and i’ve heard rumours about an updated ‘enrichment plan’ coming my way now i’m starting to make some progress and come out of my shell a bit.
This is the first lot of fabulous things and Aunty Lisa brings something extra from my wishlist every time she visits:

So the big news is actually all about my poo! I have never seen anyone as excited as Aunty Lisa when I produced this ????????, she took a photo and everything!

Why all the fuss? Well, anyone who has ever had to fill out a poo diary for a vet or a behaviourist will know that it is a pretty good quality poo as these things go, but the excitement was actually because I went in my outside area, not inside my sleeping quarters and apparently this is a sign I am starting to relax and build my confidence.
When I arrived, I would only do my toileting on one of my two beds in my sleeping area. Yes, that’s right. ON the bed. And worse, I would then have to bury it and I did this so intensely that I actually made my nose sore from trying to push the covers over it. Luckily Aunty Lisa realised that taking this away would just make me even more anxious and would probably mean I would toilet in the one I had chosen to sleep in instead, and so I got to keep my ‘toilet bed’ and in fact it was actually enhanced to encourage me to go there consistently but not feel I had to bury it afterwards! After a day or so, success! Poos made (on the bed), no attempt to cover with my nose.
I then started to discover a special little scented astroturf mat in my outside run. Now, the first time I found this, I chewed it – no way was I going to toilet on it, that’s what my bed was for. But it kept coming back and eventually I gave it a go – cue much joy from the kennel team. But I still got to keep my other toilet bed too, just in case. Then this started to disappear in the day and another astroturf mat appeared in its place.
And now, I honestly don’t know what I was worried about, astroturf poos are great!
Aunty Lisa looked really relieved – I think that’s because I had heard plans of needing to build me my own outdoor, enclosed toilet cubicle to move my toilet bed into so I could still feel enclosed and safe, but at least go in the right area!!! I reckon I should have held out just to see that actually, but fortunately for Aunty Lisa, i’m a smarty-poo-pants and got it much quicker than that!
And this is me with my first go at a rabbit ear as my reward! I’m given these in my indoor super safe space for now and no-one comes in with me so I don’t have to worry about anything at all!
And, the moral of today’s story is that a poo can mean much more than you might think and it’s not just about what it looks like, the location and behaviours that go with it are really important too. It really is all about the poo!
Happier poos = happier Jiminy Cricket = happy Aunty Lisa too.
ps – it means my nutrition plan seems to be working too – no nasties here, so thank you for helping with my dinner costs …… and my poo….. woohoo!
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