Day 6 of the washout

Katie is definitely being spookier than normal today.  Very hesitant about eating, and mainly hunkering down in her safe spot.  I am going to hazard a guess that it's the weather that's causing this.  It's acting like it wants to rain, dark, cloudy, windy, and I think that outside sounds are carrying farther and clearer than normal.  They do slot-car racing not too far from where I live, and I can definitely hear the cars and the announcer, and the train and traffic noise from that direction.  Plus, if there are any barometric changes going on, it's quite possible that Katie is picking that up too.  I've given her a second Xanax, to hopefully help take the edge off, and did nothing more complex than the name game for dinner.  (At which, as I said, she was hesitant to eat, and that's so unlike Katie!)  I did try a teeny bit of DS/CC at the door, but stopped because she was so obviously stressed (nothing too bad, but did not want to be in the vicinity of the door, and I am willing to respect that on a day like today).  I'll keep an eye out tomorrow, in case this may be a medical issue, but I have a feeling it will blow over when the weather goes back to normal.

And for those who don't think weather can have that much of an impact... I know it can, from my own experience.  I moved out to California from Missouri.  My first year here, I would find myself just about crawling out of my skin when the Santa Anas would blow.  The spot I was living, they winds would start in the evening, and go all night until finally dying down around dawn.  I had a townhouse, with a patio between the building and garage, and I would go stand in the patio and see the trees blowing around me, and hear the wind, and yet not a breath of wind would touch me.  It was very eerie.  And I finally figured out that what was stressing me out so much about the situation was that in Missouri, winds like that come with a storm front.  They start blowing, and in an hour or four, there is a serious storm, thunder, lightening, sometimes hail.  So here, I would hear the winds start, and subconsciously I was waiting for the storm to hit.  But it never does.... the winds just blow all night.  Once I realized that, and got used to it, I don't have the issue to the same extent.  It does still get to me a little, but mostly I can distract myself and put it out of my mind.  But if it does that to me, the person with the opposable thumbs, I can easily see changes in weather affecting a dog like Katie!

It appears that the second Xanax has helped.  She's not puppy-playful, but the edge is off.  She's not twitching her ears at the windows every 5 minutes like she was before, and is actually relaxed and snoozing in the computer room.