Back to Basics

So in an effort to stay focused on a few small basic steps I started off the day with the anxiety wrap on Chopper. It did not go well. He was lieing on his blanket in Chop-town (our name for when the lights turn off in his eyes). I tried to put him in it as he was laying down but it required a lot more handling then he normally gets. He shook while I was putting it on, and right after I took it off. Ok, so lesson learned, not appropriate at this point in time.

This evening we attempted our focus #2: walks.  The second we pulled out the leashes Chopper transformed. He was happy and playful--that dog I knew in our 3 week video again! He was just so cute running around and doing play bows.  When we took him outside his tail went up and he was trotting along. He even did this little head jerk motion that I've learned means: I just gotta run!  So we did. Ok, so Greg ran with the hound dog and me and the golden mutt did our best to not be left in their dust.

When we got home Chopper was smiling and in a great mood. I took this time to do focus #3, the hand targetting clicker training. He knows this game so it doesn't require the stress of figuring out what I want, and since he was already in a good mood I though maybe it could do some help.  Our neighbors were moving out at the same time and he was distracted from time to time, but overall, he did great.

Finally, to cap the night off, I went back to the anxiety wrap.  The protocol is to put it on him twice a day for 20 minutes at a time. He was standing up this time. In fact he was pacing the house, going from his safe place in the dining room to the landing at the bottom of the stairs up to our bedroom. I put on the anxiety wrap and he settled right down.  First he stopped pacing and started smiling again from his walk. Ignore the eyes, the angle makes them look creepy LOL.

Then he settled down on his blanket.  Look at how relaxed he is. And cute.  Not that I'm biased or anything.

So my focuses are: 1) Anxiety wrap, 2) walks, and 3) easy clicker stuff.  I'd like to add 4) post on this blog regularly, it really helps me stay focused and think about his rehabilitation in a more wholistic way then when I don't post. 

And, just for fun is a picture of us on our walk in a local park on Sunday. It's so pretty this time of year.