Guard the House

Emme and Rudy often spend time in their crates in the family room when both Ken and I leave house. They get the command "Go nighty-nite in your crate" and they dash into their crates and wait for a biscuit which they always get as a reward for going into their crate. Many times they anticipate our leaving by watching if we lock the back door, put on boots or get our coats from the closet. Then they run to their crates before they are told to do so.

Recently we have been leaving them up when we are only going to be gone for about an hour. Both dogs are well behaved and we have never had any damage or problems when they have been left alone unsupervised in the house. (Is this where I say "Knock on wood"?) The drawback to this is they don't get a biscuit. We just say "Guard the house" and leave. We mean "Keep the house safe from intruders." I think the dogs hear "Ha, ha, you don't get a biscuit this time." Maybe we should re-evaluate our leaving procedures and add a puppy biscuit when they are guarding  the house.  It seems only fair.