Another Breakthrough: Summertime Fears
While we’re on a roll, let me add that we seem to have overcome Lilly’s fears of coming inside the house, only at night and only in the summer. It has been one of the most puzzling of her fears over the years.
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The Scary Kitchen Window: An Update
Past experiences tell us that the window over the kitchen sink terrifies Lilly. Over time, we isolated it as a sound issue. I tried, tried, tried to counter-condition it via the Relaxation Protocol and by only opening it a little bit while Lilly ate meals in the kitchen. Then, to be honest, I sort of gave up.
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Baby Bunnies
Friday morning, Lilly flew from her crate to the dog pen to potty when she awoke. A scent, however, derailed her morning routine. I could NOT for the life of me get her to stop sniffing one corner of the pen. She was intrigued. So, when she made a B-line for that same spot outside the pen after breakfast, I thought for sure we’d found a snake den or something worse. Imagine how happy I was, then, to see baby bunnies, not snakes.
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What Dog Fears Look Like
We like to use all kinds of euphemisms to describe our fearful dogs. Shy, reactive, aggressive are common words we use, but what exactly does fear look like when it isn’t necessarily obvious that it’s fear?
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5 Mistakes People Make With Fearful Dogs
Let’s continue our discussion about fearful dogs from a broader perspective. It’ll be VERY clear next week why I’m revisiting some of these key points. I promise, but for now, let’s talk mistakes.
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Wouldn’t You Like to Be a “Woobie” Too?
Sing it with me, kids. I’m a woobie. He’s a woobie. She’s a woobie. Wouldn’t you like to be a woobie too? (Look at me dating myself again, with an obscure 1970s Dr. Pepper reference.)
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Dog Seatbelt Search
Suddenly, Tom likes to take Lilly on little outings in his truck. It has no back seat or king cab or anything, and he isn’t keen on stuffing her crate in there with him, so I began my quest for a dog seatbelt harness thing.
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“You’re her woobie”
Lilly and I sat side-by-side on the new bench. The veterinary hospital just underwent a major facelift, and the new built-in benches are bigger and nicer than the old ones. I kept her to my left to protect her swollen right cheek from this most recent rattlesnake bite. While we chatted with the veterinarian who was kind enough to squeeze us in first thing (and allowed us to avoid a MUCH more expensive trip to the doggie ER), Lilly leaned over and did that thing she does when she is either really happy or really nervous. She nibbled on my head.
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Snakebite Watch 2010
Here, at last, the story of Lilly’s recent snakebite. While unraveling what must have transpired before that Thursday morning when Lilly woke up with a swollen cheek, our best guess is that a snake got her sometime Tuesday or Wednesday of that week. The fact that she suffered a bite a couple years ago may explain the delayed, less-severe response this time — almost like the first bite “vaccinated” her to the venom (at least a little).
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More Hospital News
We had ANOTHER big medical scare here at Chez Champion of My Heart today. TOM — Lilly’s dad, my darling husband of 18 years (love o’ my life since 1987) — is very, very ill and in the hospital. It’s pretty bad. I’ll have my hands full with that and Lilly’s recovery for a while.