Finding steady

It's been too long since my last post. We are finding a new steady and day in and out isn't the same kind of challenge that it used to be.  Chopper is becoming more and more settled into the home. Sure, not the same as a dog without his past, but pretty darn good by Chopper standards.  Here are things that have changed:

• I no longer have to bribe Chops with canned cheese to get him out of bed in the morning.  I just give him his little morsel of cream cheese with his meds hidden inside and he gets the picture.
• Occasionally he'll even come to wake me up on his own.
• Occasionally he'll come up from the den (his safe place) with just a little cajoling.  Occasionally he needs a bread crumb trail of treats. But rarely do we have to force him up now.
• Strangers in the house don't put him in Chop-town.  Sure they make him uneasy, but he settles in.

I'd like to expand on the last bullet some.  In October I had a friend from out of town stay with me. It was the first time one of my friends had stayed over since we first got Chopper.  Luckily she is a dog person and totally understood my requests on how to handle him.  I instructed her to ignore Chopper, that pretending he isn't there is the least stressful thing for him.  Then we went for a walk together. The friend took Kolohe (ever the attention monger) and I took Chopper.  Later, we all settled in the den together to relax.  At this point I had my friend throw treats to Chopper.  She'd throw some closer to her, and some further away.  The point of this was to reward Chopper for both moving toward and moving away--a tip I got from a trainer I consulted named Debbie Jacobs.  Not long after, Chopper tentatively approached my friend for chin scratches. A victory!

This month Greg had a friend stayed over. Same instruction. No walk.  Chops settled down enough to completely sprawl out and sleep. 

Here's a photo of me with my friend Kathy who was the first "stranger" to tame the anxiety:

She was in town to run the Army 10 Miler with me.  Was a great race, and a great time!  Chops agrees :)

And, of course, what blog post would be complete without a picture of the main star.  Here's Chopper with Kolohe vying for my attention.

How could you not smile with those two faces staring at you?  Well, three faces if you count the stuffed Chopper-like toy in the background :).

a real family unit

The posts about Chopper are getting further and further apart.  I think that is mostly because we have fewer and fewer frustrations to share.  He's settling in nicely, though there are things we would change if we could.  For example, he still won't go into our backyard to relieve himself like Kolohe does.  We now take him for multiple walks a day, which is a change from our old way of just opening the door to let the dogs take care of things.  I don't mind the walks most of the time, but I wonder how tricky things will get with snow and ice in the winter--we live at the bottom of quite a hill!

We've adjusted his medication some, and moved him from Valium to Xanax.  I know, a dog on Xanax--as Greg says we're now officially yuppies. To which I reminded him that ship sailed with our last dog Otto and the fact I cooked more food for him, than for us as part of his cancer treatment.  The things we do for our four legged family! In any case, the xanax seems to last longer and have more of a calming affect on Chopper.  In the evenings when we are all settled into the den he explores the world around him, plays with different toys, asks for pettings, and occasionally chews on things he shouldn't. In a lot of ways he is like a puppy now.  An 80 pound puppy, but still the innocence he goes at life is very puppy like.

I think he has settled into the family unit and found real security in it. In the beginning he clung to the family unit more out of what felt desperation--it was a known entity and he didn't have any other options. Well he still doesn't have options, but I think he enjoys being a part of the family.  He will come over for pettings and lean up against us. When he sees Kolohe getting pettings he doesn't just watch from afar anymore, but comes wagging over like a regular dog saying "oh goodie, it's petting time, I want in on petting time!"

Walks, while a better alternative then the back yard, sometimes pose a problem for Chopper.  He can get freaked out by a strange sound or person.  However, the sight of other dogs instill excitement, play bows and lunges to go play. When we are able to go for what we call a "family walk" he isn't fearful, but wags the whole time.  Something about having both his people and Kolohe with him just makes the world right.

Some pictures from last night's love fest:

 

Chops leans up against Greg for some pettings. Kolohe gets chest scratches and looks up adoringly.

When more attention goes to Chopper then her, Kolohe crawls under Greg and starts her flirty flirt.

 Unusual for this submissive dog to look up at one of us.  We thought he might go for a chin kiss, but he lost his nerve :). Still, it makes for a cute shot!

A Chop-date

Since my last post we had the opportunity to take Chopper in to see a veterinary behaviorist.  There aren't many of those around, and most vets aren't taught behavior in school. Also, behavior is much more time consuming to diagnose and treat that typical physical veterinary services.  It takes a person with a true calling to embrace this specialty, and boy are we grateful one exists close enough for us to visit.

This vet is not in our neighborhood, in fact she is an hour drive away. Now when you live in the metropolitan DC area you get spoiled.  There are restaurants on every corner, banks, malls, grocery stores, etc, basically any service you desire, minutes away.  So while those of you in rural areas might think nothing of it, to us it is like driving to the end of the earth. Not to mention Chopper isn't used to being in a car that long.  Well we set out as we always do, one of us driving, the other in the backseat to watch Chopper in case of potential freak out.  I brought treats to reward when he laid down and off we went.

We arrive at the vet's and are shown to a room to settle in.  Chopper is nervous, he paces around and then comes back to Greg and I, repeatedly.  At one point we take him out of the room for the veterinarian to enter and get settled in.  When we come back, she is seated in a chair. There are treats all around the room, and when he dares to wander by her, she averts her eyes and drops treats for him. The next hour or so is spent observing how long it takes for him to adjust to her, and talk with us on his history.  Chopper eventually does settle in, he sits, or lays down, and even goes around for the treats.  She tries a little training with him using Easy-Cheese.  I should be horrified, given I started out with an all organic real-food only plan for Chopper.  But I'm willing to try anything now.  As it turns out He. Loves. Canned. Cheese.  I mean loves it more then life itself, would probably tolerate a circus running by as long as he had canned cheese.

After another hour or so she gives us a diagnosis: generalized anxiety (yep!), and neophobia (neo--wha? fear of new things as it turns out).  We adjust his medication so that he starts to taper onto a new SSRI, and add in a sedative.  I have to say, I was skeptical, he already lies around much of the time, why would we want to drug him.  She explained that what it really does is calm the nervous system, which may make him more likely to engage in his environment.  He is a 9 on a scale of 1-10 in terms of anxiety, according to our new vet.  Holy smokes! I had no idea he was that bad, I'm willing to relieve his pain, let's do it.

Before we left the office, Chopper started noticing a stuff toy in a display case. It looked a little like him, and was right at eye level.  The vet got curious and took it out, and oh did Chops get excited:

I wonder what he thought when he smelled this pup's nether-regions LOL. He was so entranced we bought one online for home. It's been known to get his attention enough to snap him out of an anxious state.  It's also caused a few heart attacks on the part of Greg or I when we come around a corner and see a strange animal in our house.

So in the weeks that have passed since Chopper's visit, quite a few things have changed.  The sedative has made a HUGE difference.  It really does allow him to enjoy his environment, he plays more, eats more (which means can train some), and asks for pettings a LOT.  We still can't get him into the backyard most days so we are walking him, which he loves.  Especially when we take him for a sprint or two.  Also he's still fearful, spending a lot of the walk scanning the area for possible dangers.  But, things have improved, and I'm eternally grateful for the help of Dr. Katherine Meyer of the Veterinary Behavior Clinic. I have hope that things are coming around for him!

This is the smartest dog alive

So this weekend (I forget which day) we had trouble getting Chopper out of the bedroom. He likes it up there, it's one of his safe places, and if the timing isn't right then he won't budge.  He curls up into a tight ball on the dog bed, keeps his head low, and I swear grows roots. So this was another one of those times when he wouldn't budge and the morning was rapidly coming to a close.  I needed to give him his medication not to mention he hadn't been outside to relieve himself in far too long.  I went for a secret weapon--real meat.  Greg had roasted pork loin on the grill so I cut up a few pieces and tried first lure him out of the room, and then to hide his pills in something tasty.  It didn't fly.  He ate the meat and spit out the pills.

Back downstairs I went, this time getting every yummy thing I could find: more pork, canned dog food, cod liver oil, smelly goat cheese.  I combined it all around his cut up pills and made an Ultra Dog Treat.  This one he gladly ate, after which he got up and came over to the bed poised for pettings.  We pet and pet him, rubbing his ears and chin, at which point Greg leans over and says: we have the smartest dog ever, he convinced us to let him sleep in, feed him pork in bed and tied it all together with a two person massage.

Touche Chopper, touche.

Safe places and walks

So the last time I wrote I posted about how great it was that Chopper felt safe in the basement.  Well I have good news and bad news.  Good news: he still feels safe in the basement.  Bad news: he never wants to leave it.  This can pose problems when we need to say, get him to where he's gated during the day so we can go to work, or get him outside to relieve himself, or feed him.  In an effort to not man handle him I've learned he can be coaxed with high value food.  Roast beef is a favorite, as is smelly goat cheese.  The first time I had to use roast beef to get him upstairs he insisted on it in the future.  Kept peaking around the corner up the stairs licking his lips and trying to play coy.  I was onto that smart boy though, his eyes were clear and he was in a good psychic space.  So I turned off the lights and walked away and a few minutes later he gave him.  However, there are many more times when the prospect of leaving a safe place sets him into Chop-town.  He'll curl into a ball and shake and the lights go off in his eyes. 

He does this more and more in our bedroom now, too.  I have a very short window when I wake up to get him off his dog bed or I lose him. My mornings start off like this, alarm goes off, I look at Chopper. If he is still sleeping I am safe, if he starts to move I have to hold my own bladder and get him downstairs immediately or he gives up right away and goes to Chop-town.  If he is still sleeping I can get up, use the bathroom, brush my teeth and wash my face.  Then when I come back he usually turns his sleepy head towards me.  At this point it is intervention time.  He is considering whether or not to psychically go or stay.  I say "good morning Chopper, good morning good boy" in a sweet voice. I go over to him, scratch his ears, and rub his chin. Then I say, let's go downstairs and 99% of the time he gets up with me. 


The other thing we are dealing with now is his new fear of going outside to the backyard.  I should actually say resurrected fear because he started off that way, but it went away after a few weeks.  Sure we'd have some slips where he'd go outside but want to come back in right away.  Or there would be neighbor's kids playing out back and he'd go into Chop-town and sleep off his fear (seriously, he sleeps off his fear, I call it "rebooting").  But mostly he was ok. Well now there is no way to get him to go out back.  Why is that a problem? Well, we have for the past 11 years that we've lived in this house with dogs arranged our lives around the fact our dogs relieve themselves in the backyard.  Of course we'd take them for walks or to the dog parks for fun and exercise, but the act of emptying one's bladder and bowels takes place at a great convenience.  Until now. 

Now the only way to get Chopper to do so is to take him for walks.  Trying to rearrange our lives to fit in walks is a whole new occurrence.  I've been working on trying to fit in meditation in the morning, but now it's dog walking.  Catching up on email at home, nope, dog walking.  Putting out my clothes and packing lunch for the next day, better get that walk in first.  He loves the walks for the most part; he gives me the "let's run" head twirl and I dare any of you to defy a sweet faced hound dog who does that.  When I can get Greg to come with me Kolohe comes too, and that's when Chops is happiest. His tail goes up and his smile shows up. I don't mind the walks themselves, but it is one more thing to try to fit into my day that I wasn't prepared for.

Chops digs the basement, and hugs!

Chopper continues to progress, slowly. It's funny how humans can be taught. With our first dog, Otto, we were spoiled. He was very eager to please us, above all else.  That big oaf could be taught with very little effort.  He learned verbal commands and hand signals with a few liver treats and lots of head pats.  When we got Kolohe we didn't have to train her at all. She learned by observing Otto, though motivated mostly by food and not at all by head pats. With Chopper we've had to learn a whole new language and way of doing things. His progress is slower then I could've imagined, but when he moves even an inch forward the cause for celebration takes over.  Otto learned to ring bells to tell us when he had to go outside in a day.  A day! Kolohe learned right away, too, although she unlearned the first time they came flying off the wall and crashed.  Then she learned to go get Otto to ring the bells for her.  It was actually pretty easy.  We are still trying to figure out how to get Chopper outside.

Chopper's favorite time to go outside is 2-3AM.  I'm not kidding. At that hour he'll wake us up, eyes sparkling and tail wagging.  One morning he even put his paws up on my bed and stood over me willing me up.  Granted his legs were shaking the whole time, but even my confident dogs never did that!  The world is quiet at 3AM, no scary noises or sights, I can see why he feels so comfortable then.  Of course our lives would be easier if we could get him into a non-fearful state during normal hours.  

Other things have come easier (though not easy). One of the places we hang out in our house is in the basement. It's where our tv is, our recliners, our fishtank.  It would be Greg's mancave if it weren't for our wedding pictures and my hula dancing elephants decorating it.  In any case, we used to spend a lot of time down there, but since we got Chopper it's been less and less due to his lack of stair skills.  When we would go downstairs Chops would stand at the top and look down longingly.  Well one night Greg decided enough was enough, and coaxed and led him downstairs.  Within a minute Chopper had settled down on a blanket and curled comfortably up.  The next night he came down with just a suggestion. And that's how it's been ever since! Even with the television on.  In fact, the basement has rapidly become one of his two favorite places in the house.  To us, this is a huge cause for celebration.  Here he is settled in with Kolohe in our basement.

We've learned how important chin rubs are  to Chopper.  They can pull him out of an anxious state and give him confidence.  It doesn't work when he's gone total disassociation (aka Chop-town), but anything less then that can really be affected by the gesture.  Before bed he now comes to my side of the bed and asks for them.  We call it "night-time-petting-time," and it's a regular ritual.  He even likes hugs from time to time!  Yes, hugs!  I can't explain how I get the signal, I just do.  I always watch his reaction in case I'm misreading, but so far so good. Here's photographic proof of said hug, along with one jealous Kolohe.

A Pupdate

I totally stole "pupdate" from someone else--it's adorable isn't it?

Anyways, it was an interesting day yesterday. When I got home from work I let the dogs outside first thing.  A neighbor was in his backyard on the phone, which made Kolohe bark. Normally if Kolohe barks and/or if someone is talking near by Chopper runs back inside.  This time he got scared, moved low to the ground, but still went outside to pee!  It was an interesting and positive change.  When he came back inside he was still thrown off.  He didn't want to be in the back of the house, and when he was, he was staring out the kitchen window towards the direction of the sound. Never mind the fact he never actually saw anyone, he was looking for them!  But he didn't go into completely Chop-down.  Usually he gets on his blanket, goes internal and won't interact.  He just got scared this time, though he did lie on his Spongebob blanket :).  I had to feed him from there, but by the end of the night he had stopped looking out the window.

Here he is on the blanket with his eyes clear and body relaxed:

This morning he was in a great mood--a spring in his step with everything he did.  Eating, going outside, even when he came to tell me he had to go back outside (which he isn't too confident at yet typically).  When I went to put the dogs back in the bedroom to go back to sleep with Greg, his tail was doing a small but quick excited wag at the door.