day 14, 15

Day 14 was a Monday.  Her anxiety seemed riled up a bit, like how she gets - so I'm not sure that it is the Prozac, but it certainly doesn't seem to be keeping her anxiety at bay at this point.

She was adamant about a walk and it was a lovely evening, so off we went.  She stayed on alert.  She would take treats but she was pulling on the leash which she hasn't been doing, and waiting for drama.  Also super interested in people walking around and kept eyeing them as she does (so very happy, with a wagging tail) until people woudl stop to pet her.  "She's a jumper," I say while trying to keep a handle on the leash.  I just can't say to people: please don't pet her.  Because she's not aggressive, she just wants to lick faces clean.  She loves so hard, so instantly.

This morning she has been super well-behaved but not subdued.  Right now as I drink coffee she's far across the room, just chewing on a plush toy.  When I got up she stayed on the couch until after I'd made coffee and was ready to give her her medicine (I didn't call her, she arrived at the perfect time).  Every time i move around, she sits, out of the way, and if I approach her to pet her she leans in and enjoys it.  Just waiting and watching.  I said: do you want to help me do laundry? and she pranced around like a baby foal.  She's happy but she's not in my face about it.  This is kind of perfect.  Last night I started my taxes and she was fighting the laptop for sitting on my lap.

day 10, 11, 12, 13

I'm not entirely satisfied with the vet's recommendations, and when I emailed to ask about the response-substitution and how she understands it too well, the response wasn't very helpful. 

These are the challenges with distance care, eh?  He can't see her and understand her little spirit. 

And she is spirited. 

***
NOthing much to report until Day 13 (Sunday).  She is acting very spooked, everything is making her anxious.  The wind blowing the dog door set her off but I think she woke up worried. Now she sticks to me like glue, in the kitchen as I make coffee, she even hides her face in my nightgown.  Now she's snuggled on me and I reach to pet her and she jumps. Her ears back and flat, her tail tucked - she's so very worried about something and I wish I knew what.  She gets like this rarely - maybe every few months.  I think it might be barometric changes or the wind, but sometimes we have that and she's fine.  I have no idea.  I thought the prozac would help with that but sadly no, not at all. 

day 9 - sleepy

Ziggy had a very mellow day on day 9.  She has so many different personality facets, and whoever she wakes up as is who she will be for the day, and this day she was calm, sweet, sleepy. 

Sometimes I worry that we don't have enough interesting things in our lives for her, but I came home from work totally whupped, and I crashed on one couch and she on another, and that's the boring evening we had.  I did short training, I'd like to teach her to stay between my legs when I tell her to, 

day 8: good dog

Ziggy on walk today was good.  Very short time with Black Dog - they said hello, peed, and she was ready to keep walking away (he looked wistfully at us as we walked away - usually she wants to hang out longer). 

A block from home, a car was coming so I told her to stop and I treated her.  As the car approached, the man rolled down the window to shout: "That's a good dog!" 

Lots of people have shouted from moving cars that she's a beautiful dog, a pretty dog, a happy dog.  But I can't think of any stranger who has ever told us that she's a good dog.  Strangers have tried to tell me how to train her and I just hold up my hand and thank them and walk away.  Anyone who wants to tell me to use "dominance" or some stupid wrong pack leader bullshit - no.  Just, no.  I have no doubt that had I leaned hard on Ziggy, with any kind of physical punishment, that she would have turned aggressive.  No doubt at all.  My vast patience with her shenanigans are what took us from awful to awesome.  So now, I want us even more awesome. 

***
I emailed the vet and trainer to ask about the response-substitution.  Basically, when she barks out the window, I'm supposed to call her to me, have her do something else, and then give her a treat.  So, her barking has gotten way worse since I started because Ziggy understands that if she barks, she gets a treat.  She sees the relationship through the other steps.  Smart dog?  Probably.  Just now she barked into the night and then turned to look at me to see if she was going to get a treat and when I decided to just ignore her, she sighed and gave up. 

What a little delight she is, this pup.  The better we learn to communicate with each other, the better life is. 

I had class tonight and a guy brought his dog to class (a quiet bulldog type of thing who just sat in his lap the whole class) and man I missed my dog.  Of course, she would not sit quietly on my lap - she would be rushing around terrorizing the class.  One of her dearest people is in the class - a person who probably saved Ziggy's life (was willing to dogsit when I was trying to give her up, when I first got her). 

day 7:holiday

Took the Catahoula to a national forest to hike today and things were pretty well with minor hiccups:

1. I took a wrong turn and passed a house where a Boston terrier came ripping out after us, lunging and barking very aggressively.  Ziggy came unglued and wanted to fly out the windows to let that dog have it for being a jerk to us. 

2. We walked along a forest road and all was fine until suddenly we heard dogs and Ziggy took off.  There was a house with very large garages right there - a peculiar place (no other residential areas at all in the area). I tried calling her to go back but she wasn't listening; when I approached she was at a chain link fence with her tail up; a mini pinscher or something such was maybe 20 feet away inside the chain link, standing and staring back.  I could not tell what was being communicated and I'm not sure that they were.  Ziggy wasn't whining or barking, just standing - very unusual for her (probably very tired by then), and they were both waiting for the other one to make the first move?  So I got Ziggy on leash and a boy came out and got the other dog, and what was really puzzling to me was that Ziggy was not near threshold at all.  She ate chicken without snapping, her hackles weren't raised, she wasn't lunging at all - I was able to just gently guide her away.  She kept looking back and I kept her on leash for quite awhile, but there was no meltdown at all. 

I think that this shows that Ziggy is a mirror - whatever energy she gets, she reflects back. To me, this indicates that she is still really able to learn - she may not have been socialized properly during the cirtical phase, and she was also likely removed far too early from her mother, but it's not too late.  If I work really hard the next six months with her, maybe we can see the kind of progress I'm hoping for. 

I do wish that I could discourage her from drinking from mud puddles - the drive back was very aromatic. 

day 6: Sunday

Another good walk.  Ziggy woke up a little groggy but spunkier than the past few days, and she was ready to go but not obnoxious.  I treat her like crazy, taking small training treats and small pieces of chicken and some kibble (which she hasn't been eating at all because of all the treats).

Only lunging was at some crows.  Crows often taunt her - there is one who likes to sit on our electrical lines and caw incessantly at her through the window - it might be the same one who sometimes stalks us on our walks.  But she redirected pretty well, and even more impressive was her reaction to squirrels.  She spotted them before I did but she just registered them and I redirected her and then she chose to want to walk on the sidewalk furthest away from them.  I love that this dog has figured out my tricks and uses them on herself.  We saw others and for one she half-heartedly lunged but didn't even bark, and I kept her attention until the squirrel ran up the tree.  We didn't encounter them today but sometimes the squirrels like to taunt her rather than just run and hide.  I know she's fun to taunt because she's explosively belligerent.

Now she watches out the window at the world, alert but not excessively so.  Hopefully she'll nap soon - and if not, hopefully that's a sign that she's feeling better.

She lets me touch the lump on her back but she makes it hard to examine closely (moving away, sitting, etc.).  Sometimes she just doesn't like directed attention so it's hard for me to tell if there is an issue with pain or just that funny thing. 

day 5

I slept in until 7:30 or so but Ziggy didn't come to wake me.  Are those days of her coming in the mornings to snuggle gone?

She woke up very obedient and calm.

She has a big hard lump on her back.  It's probably from the heartworm shots a month ago, but it seems to be getting more prominent.  Will be keeping an eye on it.

I made the mistake of telling her that we would go see her friend Roux hours before I'm ready for us to do that.  Now she's watching me like a hawk.  (For the third heartworm treatment shot, she was really dragging and clearly not feeling well, but as soon as I said: "Do you want to go see your friend Matthew [the vet tech]?" she leaped up and was super excited.  Ziggy LOVES her friends.  She and Roux aren't soul friends, they are more friends by situation - because Roux's parents are wonderful and let Ziggy stay with them when I travel.  But Ziggy and Roux do get along pretty well - Ziggy is too worked up for him but when they settle down they often nap near each other and seem to have a good relationship.

***
We went to visit our friends and it was lovely.  Ziggy and Roux are soul buddies now - they are very comfortable with each other.  Ziggy isn't feeling herself and Roux was willing to let her set the tone (though he was SO EXCITED to see us and kept running and leaping about with such glee).  Shortly after we got there, they were lying near each other in the grass, just comfortable with each other.  And Ziggy really loves Roux's people - they are calm and kind and she appreciates them greatly even if she is sassy sometimes. Roux is not very affectionate with them so they kind of like Ziggy hugs and kisses. 

Ziggy did do some barking at him which is annoying; I was able to redirect sometimes with treats.  She seemed to be over threshold at one point and I said that's it, we're going, and she settled down.  We left not long after that, but because I have other things to do.  She passed out on the drive back.  She is really not herself - she was still doing heartworm cough and her stamina is very low.  She would sprint but then need to rest.  And now she's sleeping on the couch, just really worn out by the day.  Poor baby.