Slowly but surely wins the race.
Napoleon needs time to adjust and I would compare it to cold water at the beach or some place. If you walk in slowly, your body has time to adjust, but if you plunge right in quickly, your body says OMG this is HORRIBLE and you need to run right back out of that water.
If you let Napoleon walk slowly down the numbers, he will be more likely to stay lower.
It will be hard to be patient, but worth it. Look to Napoleon for all the other bits of progress you see. One nice improvement you will see over time will be the coat, shinier and smoother.