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.