Not related to shyness

Except as how not being as shy may be influencing things.  

Katie seems to have dropped a noticeable amount of weight recently.  She is also seeming to be hungrier than normal (tonight she counter-surfed a soy sauce packet from last night's Chinese, something she generally never does.)  She had been getting 2 cups of Taste of the Wild a day, and keeping a fairly steady 54-58 pounds (sometimes up a bit sometimes down a bit, but mostly in the middle there).   She has been getting more exercise, going from staying at home pretty much all the time to actually going on walks several times a week (Pixie is a good influence!), which is the most likely cause of the weight loss.  The second most likely cause I can think of is hookworms (well, worms in general, but hookworm is the one that she has come down with before), but I am not seeing any of the other symptoms that I have in the past.  I am going to up the amount to 3 cups a day and see what happens in a week.  

Pictures for reference:

[IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh51/philospher77/IMG_0630.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh51/philospher77/IMG_0631.jpg[/IMG]

We'll see how things go.

Pixie Notes

Took Pixie for a walk.  Things were going pretty good.  There were sprinklers going off by the school, out in the ball field and along the non-school side of the sidewalk.  Pixie did good walking by them, and taking treats, but did the "treats are poison!" thing when we were past them.  Would take treats dropped on the ground.  Tried different hand positions, across body/same side, left/right, no real differences seen.  Dropping treats on ground near hand with treats in it (done on accident) got her back to taking treats from hand.  Then walked past some people getting in car, and a few houses later Pixie started barking facing back where we had been.  At people in car?  Or possibly at a dog's yard?  It was dark, so not sure exactly what set her off.  Once again, treats are poison.  And then we walked past a car in driveway, and she was startled by a dog that was with some people sitting on the driveway on the other side of the car.  I don't know which started barking first, but she did come along and grumbled, but no real resistance.  Took a few treats on the ground, but then took from hand.

So, maybe it's an issue of stress stacking?

Side note:  when we were back home inside, she was bouncing off the walls!  Let her outside, thinking she needed to go potty, and she tore off doing zooms (granted, not greyhound zoomies, but the best she could do_.  And ten she spent quite some time hunting insects of some sort, I think beetles.  So whatever stress she was under was apparently not that severe.

Decided to go back to updating

Tried the car thing again this evening.  It seemed to go ok.  She was relaxed, the neighbors were either talking or watching something on TV, so I had something to DS/CC to.  And I had liver paste!  So did some of that for a bit, went back into the garage, and tonight she was willing to come out of the car with no fuss.  So I think it went well.

I also need to check on how long it took for Katie to get over the side-effects of the Prozac when we started.  She's been a bit "off"... more lethargic than normal, doesn't want to go outside, etc.  But I seem to recall she acted like this when I started this drug, so this may go away as she gets acclimated.

Quick update on the drug situation

Realized that I sort of left the issue hanging in the last post were I talked about adjusting the dose.  After meeting with the vet,  I decided to try the DAP collar.  Didn't see any changes with that, so we have now increased the Prozac to 30 mg from 20 mg.  (Side note:  20 mg caplets of Prozac run around $13.  Ask for the same amount, in tablets, so that you can give half-tablets to make 30 mgs, and the price goes up to $151!  Thankfully, the pharmacist agreed to give me 10 mg capsules, so that I could give 2 or 3, which was back to the 13 dollar price.)  I'm on week two of 30 mgs.  Not seeing a whole lot of changes yet, but not seeing the side effects that I did when I first started her on the drug either.  I've also eased up on counter-conditioning, since I am starting to think about getting a second dog to fulfill some of my dog needs (a friendly, out-going dog who LIKES walks and classes and going out in crowds of people) instead of trying to force Katie to meet those needs.

Tried something different today

I had to put Katie on leash to get her out for her final potty break, so I was thinking about taking her out for a short walk.  Of course, I thought that after I took the leash off, so in order to get her to position where I could leash her, I asked her if she wanted to go for a ride.  That got her into the garage, where I got the leash on.  But then she didn't want to move away from the car.  So fine, I decided to use take her out in the car.  Given that it was almost midnight by this point, I decided to just pull out onto the driveway and see what she did.  Opened up the tailgate, and tried to get her to take some treats, which she wouldn't.  Note to self:  bring higher value treats next time!  After her just lying there for a little bit, she got up and walked to the tailgate and stood there.  I'm not sure if she was being hyper-vigilant, or just interested in all the new sights and sounds, because she was definitely sniffing and scanning the area.  Tail was pretty neutral, ears were alert, but there wasn't a whole lot of tension in her body language.  After a bit, I went ahead and closed the tailgate, at which point she went and laid back down, and ate the treats I fed her, bit by bit.  Then I drove back inside the garage.  She was reluctant to get out of the car.  Had to go get the cheese to convince her to do that!  So I would say the entire situation was somewhat stressful, but not overwhelming.  If I had had the cheese while in the driveway, I think she would have been happier about the whole situation.  I think I may try this again.

Katie's startle reflexes are up

I'm going to be setting a follow-up appointment with the behaviorist.  I think we need to tweak the dosage a bit.  She doesn't seem to have the spark that she did on the Elavil, and she is showing stress signs that are unusual.  For example, when I did the first agility class the first time, Katie was perfectly happy to go out in the room and do the Touches and Targets and Get Readys.  That was the day before I started weaning her off the Elavil.  By the second class, a week later, she wouldn't leave her place.  Totally shut down, which is why I pulled her from the class.  Sunday, which would have been the start of the 7t week on the Prozac, when we were in class, she was somewhere between the two.  Wouldn't leave her place, but would do Touch at it, lying down.  Did some very nice Say Hellos (sitting and shaking).  And was willing to relax at her place, with her back against the wall.  Not stressed... her muscles were loose, no tension in the face, no panting, alert interest in some of the other dogs, especially the Irish wolfhound, and she was perfectly willing to eat her peanut butter bone.  Some potential differences between the two situations is that the first class was smaller (7 dogs total, instead of 10), and I had spent some time doing DS/CC at the class building prior to the class session (taking Katie there off-hours, and just hanging out with her and treats and doing the tricks that she knows, so that the place was more familiar to her and less stress).  The last experience she had before this session was when she was totally shut down.  I am going to see if I can try the off-hour thing again to see if that makes a difference.  And I had peanut butter balls the first class, and liver for this session, and it turns out that Katie much prefers peanut butter over liver.  Go figure!

At home, she doesn't come out to meet me like she used to.  She is generally in her safe place, sometimes in the other bed, and about 20% of the time she will come out to the hallway.  She is perfectly happy to see me when I go to her, and sniffs me all up and down the arms (which is a somewhat new behavior for her... she would sniff before, but not as intensely, and this generally winds up with her sniffing up the arm, back down, and then licking my palms).  Lets me pet her, and sometimes chatters, but not as much as when she was on the Xanax.  That had been happening at least once a day on the Xanax, now it's maybe 4 times a week.  She does quiver her jaw, which she would do before chattering, but doesn't seem to quite get to the chatter stage.

And she is startling pretty badly to sudden sounds, but recovers almost immediately.  But the startle seems out of proportion to the sound.  When I had her out on a walk, and someone dropped a water bottle right in front of her, she jumped but then kept on walking without any overt signs of stress.  I figured that was a pretty reasonable response.  I jumped at the noise, figure it's ok if she does.  But tonight, I offered her a handful of food, and she was more interested in sniffing the arm and hand, so I threw the food on her bed a foot away.  The sound of the food hitting the bed caused the same kind of jump, after which she went over and ate the food.  And this was only about 8 pieces of kibble hitting a dog bed, so just a little pattering sound.

At the same time, she is being responsive to doing tricks for dinner.  And she seems to be pretty comfortable out in the yard.  If I don't hover over her, and just putter around out there doing "outside stuff", she is a relaxed dog sniffing around and looking/listening to things.  On leash for DS/CC, she is being responsive, especially if there are no human noises.  Then she will go up to the gate to do it.  With the weather being nicer, the kids are staying out playing later, so it is making it more stressful for her.  On those days, we tend to be only maybe a foot or two off the front porch stoop.  She will do Touch, with the occasional stop and listen if she hears the kids out in the street, but will then turn to me and go back to the game after a second or two.  Possibly shorter time, since I am bad at guestimating.  I'd say that she seems alert, but not necessarily stressed.  I try to keep those episodes short... 3-5 touches, so that she gets good treats and learns to associate that with the kids and being outside, and then we go back inside.

I am not sure if we need to up the dose (the startling to food being thrown on a bed and unwillingness to leave her safe place makes me think her anxiety level may still be higher than we would like), or if we need to decrease it, since one of the side effects is lethargy, which may be why she is staying on her bed, being relaxed but unwilling to work in class, and just generally seeming to not have quite the same zest as before.  I am also down to the quarter-pill stage of weaning her off the Xanax, which may also be contributing to some of this.

First day of agility class

I re-enrolled Katie in agility class, and today was the first session.  She may not be ready for it yet.  She didn't want to stand up in class and do Touch, but would do it from a reclining position.  And she did Say Hello, so there was some progress there.  I am thinking about renting the place on Easter Sunday so that we can practice and get comfortable with being there without other people and dogs around.  And I will need to bring peanut butter balls.  Turns out that Katie prefers peanut butter to liver!

It's hard to read this girl sometimes.  She will be all bouncy and playful, but the minute I try and interact with her, she just lies down.  Like tonight, after not really doing much at class, she is full of high spirits at home, digging toys out of the toy box, pawing at me, throwing me play bows.  She definitely wants _something_!

First outside DS/CC session!

Well, you can tell Katie is doing much better, since I am writing less.  Somehow, "everything was good today" just gets a bit boring to keep putting down.  :)

But tonight, we actually did our first DS/CC outside on the front stoop.  This is a huge step for Katie, and she is feeling much more comfortable out there, as demonstrated by her absolutely refusing to come in when I thought she had had a good session!  I wound up going as far as the front feet on the walk, but didn't want to push it too far.

And she is learning how to work a new style of Kong.  Generally I give her frozen Kongs, so that she can spend a long time licking them.  I've been giving her single dog treats rattling around loose in them, so that she has to figure out a way to get them out.  It's more difficult, but she is getting the hang of it.

Bright and clever Katie

It's so good to see my "old" Katie coming back!  She's willing to be outside in the yard without me, doing her tricks for dinner, playing with toys, Kongs, me and the cats.  I'm looking forward to seeing how she does on the greyhound walk on Saturday (weather permitting), and have rolled the dice and signed us up for Intro to Agility, that I had to drop when I realized that she couldn't handle it without the drugs.  We will see how this goes!

Oh, and we did some DS/CC OUTSIDE today!  Not too long, because the entire idea is to make it a positive experience, and not by going out the front door, but it's a start.

Week 4

Katie's really making progress!  After my post-Solvang concerns, she has settled back into being more like her old self.  She's walking to the door after meals for potty breaks, back to eating eagerly (and playing with her treat toys, AND even showing some inclination to train... we worked on crossing paws today!)  She's being more social, coming in where I am and doing play bows, keeping me company while I am on the computer or watching tv.  And she is trying to play with the cat.  *sigh*  But she is getting to a point where I can start the DS/CC in earnest again.  Hopefully I will be able to take it outside!

Continued progress

I'm leaning towards what I am seeing in Katie being side-effects of the medicine.  The two most common are lack of appetite and lethargy/depression, and that seems to be exactly what I am seeing.  She perked up a bit at breakfast this morning, pretty much my normal girl.  Of course, I also was feeding her in her safe spot, so that may have contributed to it.  And she seemed pretty happy at dinner time today, which would be after today's dose took effect, so I could be wrong, and this could just be "one of those things".  We'll see what the vet says, just to rule out any physical causes, and discuss possibly tweaking the dosage with the behaviorist if there are no physical causes, and then I may just relax a bit, remind myself that this is a journey, and take it day by day.  Today we even felt like playing some hide and seek in the yard, yesterday we did mad zoomies.  Katie is such a joy to watch when she is playing!

And even more fun:  we played with our favorite treat toy, our new bunny stuffie, and ran zoomies out in the yard.  She is being way more energetic, so I think whatever it was may have resolved.

Notes for vet

Katie is "off" in her eating.  I have video, but wanted to jot this note down for the appointment on Saturday.  Didn't give her the Prozac this morning, and she did seem a bit more interested in the food.  Still stopped eating abruptly, which was followed by 2-3 swallows where she thrust her head out so that the neck was straight, with a bit of toss of the nose upwards, and the adams apple (or dog equivalent of) was very apparent, which was accompanied with a bit of a gulping sound.  After that she ate a few kibbles that she had dropped.

But other than that, she is doing well.  We actually went out in the yard and played chase (I run a few steps, and she goes crazy around the yard).  She is stealing clothes (you'd think that by now I would figure out "keep them out of the dog's reach", but no).  In general, she is seeming much happier.

Week 3, and as expected...

I am seeing Katie's confidence grow by leaps and bounds.  She is going out for potty breaks with less and less fuss.  I still need to walk out there, but I no longer need to leash her, and she is walking to the door on her own.  Saturday night she merrily stalked a possum out in the yard.  Today she is trying to play with the cat, and has voluntarily grabbed her squeaky snake to play with.  She is seeking me out and joining me in other rooms, instead of hanging out in her safe place.  We still have something weird going on with the food, but I am hopeful that that will resolve in the next few days.

Today she was even willing to work at the door on some DS/CC.  So life is looking up!

End of week 2

I am starting to see glimmers of my happy girl again!  It's not huge, but little things like being alert and engaged when I walk into the bed room, instead of just hunkered down on her safe spot.   She's even dashed out the door for a potty break once, which she hadn't done in ages.  The bad side is that the weather is getting nice, which means that the kids are starting to be out playing, and that is causing her some stress.  But still, it's nice to see the old Katie peeking through.

More of the same

She's slowly coming around, I think.  It's a bit of a guessing game on the amount of Xanax to give her.  I dropped the dose down today, and she was less willing to work for kibble, but still willing to work for cheese.  It is only week two of the new drug, so it's still early to see much change.  But she is getting more comfortable going outside.  Less hesitation in the door, doesn't need to be coaxed out of the bedroom, etc.  Morning is still a bit tricky, but I think that may be because she wants to sleep in!

Finally seeming to get back to baseline

Her appetite has picked up to the point that she was eagerly eating dinner out of my hand, until I asked her to so a spin, which shut her down entirely.  Note to self:  do not raise the criteria until she is successfully doing what I am currently asking her to do!  And she was playful, even down to the point where she charged out the door for her potty break instead of having to be lured out with cookies.  A few more days and I can probably be back to where I was before Solvang.

Yay! The routine is coming back!

Finally think that the worst of the Solvang fall-out is passing.  She has been off her food, which I think is at least partly from getting lots and lots of liver Kong-stuffing at Solvang to help keep her happy about the situation.  Now I think she is holding out a bit hoping for more good stuff and not just kibble.  But this morning she eventually decided to go eat breakfast, and then walked right over to the door out and went out to potty with no problems.  Did some happy prancing while out there too, not the anxious pacing she;d been displaying.  So either the drugs are kicking in, or the stress hormones are dissipating, or some combo of the two.  I'm just happy that we seem to be coming out of the rough patch.

She's continued to do well today.  Going in and out without fuss, actually playing with her new toy (and my shoes, and a shirt I left out...)  Still turning her nose up at kibble, but eager to work for good stuff (cheese, dried yams, etc).  She's also spending more time with me rather than in her safe spot.  Yay!

Recovering from Solvang still

Katie spent most of today hunkered down on her bed in her safe spot.  I'd been planning on taking her to the meet-and-greet today, but keeping in mind that stress hormones can stay in the body for many days, I decided to keep her at home and just let her decompress.  She was reluctant to eat breakfast and dinner (and I added warm water to both to make them more appetizing), she was reluctant to go out to potty, she would come into the computer room for treats and take them back to the bed.  I figured that more stress, however minor, was probably not a good idea.  It seems to have worked.  She finally joined me in the computer room, and went out pretty easily for her last potty break of the day.  Even did some zoomies out in the yard, so she's feeling better.  We'll see how the next few days go.

Back from Solvang

I decided to take Katie to Solvang for the annual greyhound gathering.  I debated this for a long time.  She is just starting the loading dose of the new drug, and hasn't been outside the house in the last month, so it would be a pretty intense shift for her.  On the other hand, she would be surrounded by greyhounds, and she does get a lot of confidence from other greys.  So at the end of the day, I decided to give it a try and monitor her behavior and manage as required.  She did "ok".  I debated getting her a red bandana (used to designate dogs that need space), but decided against that, since she does have a habit of throwing herself into the middle of a group of dogs, and I figured owners would freak if they say a red-bandana dog come charging up to theirs.  She did generally acclimate to the lectures and shopping hall, but I also gave her a lot of down time in our room while I did stuff on my own.  Surprisingly, she did not like being out in the Secret Garden with the other dogs that much.  I was hoping that she would actually play, but they did need to be muzzled, which I generally don't do with her, and it was outside, so maybe I shouldn't be as surprised.  Of course, in perfect Katie-fashion, she decided that she needed to go potty at 1:15 AM, and then to go explore the Garden.  Yep, she's perfectly willing to go sniff around and poke her head in bushes and stuff if it's the middle of the night!  And she didn't want to go back upstairs to the room, either.  Had to take her up the "other" set of stairs.  I think that she would have been perfectly happy to go for a walk, but I found it a bit cold and dark for that!  She's spent most of the afternoon sleeping, and of course the wind is blowing tonight, but she did go out in it for her last potty break.  (Trust me, the wind out here is enough to make a reasonable dog or person a little jumpy!)

I can't say that I am seeing huge changes in her behavior with the drug, but it does seem to be taking the edge off.  She's more relaxed, but not so much that you can really put a finger on it.

We did pick up some pretty new collars.  I'll post if I can get some good pictures.

Oh, and she handled the stairs like a trooper! Up and down them with no problems at all (except for the time that she really wanted to go explore instead!)