Halfway through Nova Sitting
One of the things that I have not blogged about lately (and there have been sooo many) is that Baby Bro & SIL took the Mater to Ireland for 2 weeks. God bless them all. SIL & Mater don't get on that well. SIL is very impatient and not very compassionate with the Mater. SIL let's Mater's hearing issues, and general boldness push her buttons. I feel sorry for Baby Bro because he has to be the buffer. On the bright side, after the Mater comes home, Bro & SIL are staying for 2 more weeks on their own, so they will still have time to have their own fun.
But while all are gone, we are dog-sitting Nova. This is making Lycan happy beyond belief. She never wanted to be an only dog, so she is thrilled to the moon and back to have her best friend move in. It has been an adjustment for everyone. Nova is used to having people around 24-7. She is rarely crated (and hates it) and is very needy. She is very vocal, with a high-pitched insistent bark, which is her #2 form of communication, after the use of staring laser-eyes.
The issues on our end are multiple. #1 No on likes Ms. Barky-pants. It gives me a headache, and possibly Lycan too. It only took 2 days for Lycan to start correcting this situation herself. When Nova gets barky, Lycan growls at her, and then literally looms over her with a shoulder. If that isn't enough to silence Nova, then lycan throws a whole leg over her so she is standing over Nova. This usually does the trick and distracts Nova from whatever was causing the barking. After a week, the barking was reduced about 90%, and now Nova uses gentler sounds (like whines of various types) to get our attention and convey her wants/needs. We are all a lot happier.
Issue #2 is that we all work. So for about 10 hours a day no one is home. Until I moved to my new building (where it takes me 20 minutes to walk to my desk from my car) I came home at lunchtime every day to let Lycan out. I live only 3 minutes from work, so I could easily do the whole thing in 30 minutes, including giving Lycan some quality petting time.) Since the relocation in June that has only happened a handful of times. Nova has a bladder the size of a walnut. It is now easily a 45-60 minute endeavor to come home to let the dogs out. I don't often have 60 minutes free in the middle of the day. Aside from needing to pee, Nova is just very, very lonely for people by the time we get home from work. She goes into a complete frenzy when the first person gets home. Our upstairs door is scratched, a lamp has been broken, all during Nova's bezerker attacks because she is so happy someone is home again. Oh, and there is LOTS of barking.
Saying the works WALK or SHOES also elicits the uncontrolled barking. *Sigh*
Anyway, we are 1/2 way through the Nova experience on Monday. Yea!
And we finally get to the bog news of the day. as you may or may not recall, last February, before Lycan was medicated, she started having problems about anxiety and getting into the car, until we simply couldn't get her in anymore. Her last car ride was our last day of puppy class, in February. It took us 3 months before we could even get her to jump into the car for a few seconds. On the advice of Behave Jen, we were very careful not to force anything. She finally became very comfortable with jumping into the back of the car, but she wouldn't stay for more than a minute or 2, and forget about trying to close the lift-gate. And it's not just our car, we've tried 3 other cars with even less success. Fast forward. Today we drugged her with the supplemental anxiety med, Clonidine, and 5 hours later we tried one more time. No go. She jumped in and right back out again. I was so frustrated, I said I just wanted to pick her up and toss her in the car. M said, "Do it." So we did. I lifted the front, B lifted the back, and M crawled into the back and held the leash so Lycan couldn't jump back out once we had her in. We loaded Nova, too, and went to the dog park. They The first time at the dog park since mid-February. They both had a TERRIFIC time. When it was time to leave, We had to pick Lycan up again,but it worked. The Clonidine prevented her from struggling against us much, and she only growled a little. No snapping or thrashing.
I intend to repeat this for the next two weeks, hopefully, daily. It would be great if I could get Lycan into the car undrugged, and by myself, so we could go pick up M and go straight to the dog-park. We aren't there yet. But this was a HUGE step forward. At the dog park, I was so happy for Lycan, I cried. Such a BIG step.
And of course, we all had the side benefit of very sleepy dogs tonight. =)
All-white Nova in center & Lycan on the right.
But while all are gone, we are dog-sitting Nova. This is making Lycan happy beyond belief. She never wanted to be an only dog, so she is thrilled to the moon and back to have her best friend move in. It has been an adjustment for everyone. Nova is used to having people around 24-7. She is rarely crated (and hates it) and is very needy. She is very vocal, with a high-pitched insistent bark, which is her #2 form of communication, after the use of staring laser-eyes.
The issues on our end are multiple. #1 No on likes Ms. Barky-pants. It gives me a headache, and possibly Lycan too. It only took 2 days for Lycan to start correcting this situation herself. When Nova gets barky, Lycan growls at her, and then literally looms over her with a shoulder. If that isn't enough to silence Nova, then lycan throws a whole leg over her so she is standing over Nova. This usually does the trick and distracts Nova from whatever was causing the barking. After a week, the barking was reduced about 90%, and now Nova uses gentler sounds (like whines of various types) to get our attention and convey her wants/needs. We are all a lot happier.
Issue #2 is that we all work. So for about 10 hours a day no one is home. Until I moved to my new building (where it takes me 20 minutes to walk to my desk from my car) I came home at lunchtime every day to let Lycan out. I live only 3 minutes from work, so I could easily do the whole thing in 30 minutes, including giving Lycan some quality petting time.) Since the relocation in June that has only happened a handful of times. Nova has a bladder the size of a walnut. It is now easily a 45-60 minute endeavor to come home to let the dogs out. I don't often have 60 minutes free in the middle of the day. Aside from needing to pee, Nova is just very, very lonely for people by the time we get home from work. She goes into a complete frenzy when the first person gets home. Our upstairs door is scratched, a lamp has been broken, all during Nova's bezerker attacks because she is so happy someone is home again. Oh, and there is LOTS of barking.
Saying the works WALK or SHOES also elicits the uncontrolled barking. *Sigh*
Anyway, we are 1/2 way through the Nova experience on Monday. Yea!
And we finally get to the bog news of the day. as you may or may not recall, last February, before Lycan was medicated, she started having problems about anxiety and getting into the car, until we simply couldn't get her in anymore. Her last car ride was our last day of puppy class, in February. It took us 3 months before we could even get her to jump into the car for a few seconds. On the advice of Behave Jen, we were very careful not to force anything. She finally became very comfortable with jumping into the back of the car, but she wouldn't stay for more than a minute or 2, and forget about trying to close the lift-gate. And it's not just our car, we've tried 3 other cars with even less success. Fast forward. Today we drugged her with the supplemental anxiety med, Clonidine, and 5 hours later we tried one more time. No go. She jumped in and right back out again. I was so frustrated, I said I just wanted to pick her up and toss her in the car. M said, "Do it." So we did. I lifted the front, B lifted the back, and M crawled into the back and held the leash so Lycan couldn't jump back out once we had her in. We loaded Nova, too, and went to the dog park. They The first time at the dog park since mid-February. They both had a TERRIFIC time. When it was time to leave, We had to pick Lycan up again,but it worked. The Clonidine prevented her from struggling against us much, and she only growled a little. No snapping or thrashing.
I intend to repeat this for the next two weeks, hopefully, daily. It would be great if I could get Lycan into the car undrugged, and by myself, so we could go pick up M and go straight to the dog-park. We aren't there yet. But this was a HUGE step forward. At the dog park, I was so happy for Lycan, I cried. Such a BIG step.
And of course, we all had the side benefit of very sleepy dogs tonight. =)
All-white Nova in center & Lycan on the right.