Day 3

Katie is doing good today, especially since I did not get home for lunch.

I've read through all the intro and history in CU (Control Unleashed), and gotten to the first set of exercises.  It's an interesting approach to training.  "Just be present" with your dog is a lot harder than you would think (essentially, meditate and focus entirely on your dog).  Did some more DS/CC with the leash.  She's getting to be pretty happy with it going on, and I am trying to make taking it off a non-event.  Seems to be working so far.

Day 2 - off to a rocky start

This morning did not start off so well.  Katie was definitely nervous, actually freezing up when asked to go down the hall and out for a potty break.  I hadn't seen her that bad in months!  It was like when I first got her... had to actually pick her up to get her off her bed.  But I gave her Xanax, and at lunch she was much better.  Gave her a second dose then, just in case.  She did well the rest of the day.  Did some leash desensitization:  put leash on, give cheese, take leash off, repeat.  After a bit of that, I went into the computer room, and she actually came in and asked to have the leash put on!  Generally, she runs off to her bed in the back (very happy and excited, not scared) and had me put the leash on there.  It will be a good thing if I can get her to come to me and let me leash her where I am instead!

I also got my copy of Control Unleashed.  It's a book intended to create a "focused and confident dog" (hey, it says so on the cover!), and is intended more towards reactive dogs, but a lot of the shy-k9 group really like it.  And I am always looking for new games to play with Katie, so we will see what we can get out of it.

Day 1 of the new drug

Ok, I'm technically cheating by a day, but I wanted to be sure to give it to Katie on a day when I was home to see any potential side effects.  No huge changes, not that I expect to really see any for several weeks, but she does seem a bit under the weather.  The two main side effects seen are loss of appetite and lethargy, so I will keep an eye out to see if this is just coincidence, something that resolves with time, or if we need to tweak the dosage.  But for now she seems to be fine.  It's going to be interesting waiting to see signs of my happy, confident dog reappear.

Day 10 of the washout

I can safely say that all of the residual drug has left Katie's body.  I am seeing behavior that I have not seen in months, and will be happy to never see again after I get her on the new drug.  She is back to being scared of going outside.  It takes lots of lures, and sometimes just leashing her up, to get her out for potty breaks.  And she is back to doing the "step outside, get scared, go back in, hesitantly go back out" routine.  And this is with the extra Xanax!  Sunday can not get here fast enough!

Day 9 of the washout

Katie continues to display nervous behavior.  She is becoming hesitant about eating, both out of hand and bowl.  Will pause briefly and then continue, and will stop if there is a sudden noise.  I am going to refill her Xanax prescription and up the amount I give her to help her over this patch.  It's hard watching her twitch at every noise from outside!  I hope that the new drug kicks in relatively quickly, even if does take the 4-6 weeks to take full effect.  Five more days to go!

With her being so twitchy, I have cut back on DS/CC.  I am trying to keep her life relatively stress-free right now, and trying to keep her engaged in play learning.  She's reluctant to do some of her tricks that she used to love, which may go along with the nervousness about eating.  I will keep an eye on that, in case it is a physical issue.  It's possible that a tooth is bothering her, but she has been happy to chew on the  Himalaya chew, so I am thinking it's all nerves.  She's also being very hesitant on going outside, and will wait until she absolutely needs a potty break before going out.  And even then, it's sometimes with a false start or two before she will rush out to the yard, go potty, and then rush right back in.

I had forgotten how much of a difference the drugs make!

Day 7 of the washout

Katie has been full of vim and vinegar today, so I think that yesterday was all related to the weather.  I debated taking her on a hike today, but decided against it.  I did decide that it was really time for her to have a bath, which would make it her second or third one since I got her.  She didn't love it.... trembled the entire time, but did eat lots of cheese during it (and yes, juggling squeeze cheese and washing a dog is rather interesting).  But after the bath, she was full of energy, and would go in the bathroom after treats, so I will try and do some CC there to make the next bath more pleasant.  I miss Trink... she just melted in the bath.  That dog loved warm water, and would just go all blissful!  But Katie is Katie, and she was fine the moment the bath was over.  I wonder if it's partly that they get washed at the track before a race, to remove any foreign materials, and the association with racing might be the issue, as opposed to the actual bath?  Hard to tell, and the answer is the same:  counter-condition!

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.