Well we made it through canine cough lockdown. It was a bit of a slog.
Once he was over the actual illness, he struggled to settle during the day, particularly when I was working in the office.
I may have inadvertently created an enrichment monster - I was so focused on ensuring his needs were being met through puzzles, licki-mats, snuffle mats, training, play etc, I made the office such a fun and stimulating place to be.
He started developing some "bad" habits. Constantly pawing at me when he wants my attention when I'm in a meeting, and once, to my shock, jumping up on to my knee whilst I was on a video call.
So I've been trying to encourage calm and rest again. I've also been working from downstairs in an attempt to avoid him continuing to practice the behaviours in the office. I want the office to be a calm space.
At times during the lockdown, I was reminded of the puppy blues. Here I was again dealing with a hyperactive dog who I couldn’t leave alone. I wasn't sure what was going to push me over the edge first - the barking, the squeaky toy, or the constant staring and inability to settle.
My friend came over for a visit and I took the opportunity to nip out and get some much-needed petrol so we would be able to leave the house. I was gone for maybe 6 minutes. He loves my friend but he was distraught - crying, pacing, hyperventilating - I could hear him from the car park when I left and when I returned. My friend commented that if that is what he is like on medication, imagine what it would be like without!
It's not surprising really because we have spent nearly every second together for nearly 3 weeks. I probably should have been more conscious of this and created alone time during the day. But when he was unwell, he just wanted to be around me.
He is still managing to be by himself while I shower although he has been waiting right outside the bathroom door. Even putting the bins out has been difficult recently.
So I expect we will need to restart the separation anxiety training from the beginning. Although I have heard that they may make progress more quickly if they have prior learning.
We've been doing lots of training at home and beginner's agility. I set up a little jump and cones he has to run around which he loves. His 'middle' is coming along very nicely.
Last weekend we were allowed to leave the house. I'd expected he might be a bit nervous and/or overwhelmed although he was very keen and excited to leave. I'd booked a couple of Sniffspots so we wouldn't have to deal with too many triggers.
At the first Sniffspot, he had a bit of a run around but then stayed pretty close to me. The weather wasn’t the best which probably didn’t help. But we got 40 minutes outdoors.
At the second Sniffspot, there was a dog barking nearby which didn't get us off to the best start. Again, he had a bit of a cautious explore but was very alert to all sounds. We did see a couple of people in the distance - he fixated a little but didn’t react further.
After a short time, he was keen to leave. He went and waited by the car. By the time I'd got over there, he was crying to get back in which was a new behaviour.
When we got back home, the neighbours were washing their car in the shared car park. George hadn't noticed them so I immediately reversed out. I decided to go to a local park which is usually pretty quiet to give them another half an hour and hope they had finished!
He did OK at the park. We saw some people (still at a decent distance) and then a couple of scooters. I wasn't sure what to do as although he was doing well and wasn't reacting, every trigger was adding to his stress bucket.
I decided to head home and hope for the best. Unfortunately, the neighbours were still there.
Amazingly, after a big reaction in the car, the peanut butter wooden spoon got him around the two adults (pretty close!) OK.
But as we rounded the corner, the two children were playing in the narrow pathway. They were very good - they gave us as much space as possible - but George reacted strongly.
On the plus side, I think he recovered slightly better than in the past once we were inside the house.
Unluckily for us, later there was a builder at the back house which immediately faces our garden. So it looked like the man was practically in the garden.
I tried blocking the view but George knew he was there of course and was desperate to see what was going on.
I created as much distance as possible (which is not much, I have a small garden!) and rewarded him constantly while he looked at the man.
I'm beginning to realise that for George, whilst management is great, if he knows a trigger is there, he needs to look at the trigger to process it. He finds looking back at me (and away from the trigger) very difficult.
So I kept a steady flow of treats and he managed OK as long as the man didn't move around too much. He is still alert checking for him whenever he goes outside though.
In the last couple of days, we've had some really successful walks. Reactive dog owners love rainy days! I've been fortunate to time it around meetings so we can go outside of the before, lunchtime, and after work rushes.
He's seen people, dogs, and even a high-vis man (his nemesis!) without reacting. The high-vis man did get a hard stare though 😆
The distance is still quite a way but I'm really pleased. He seems to be regaining the confidence he was showing before the lockdown.
So post-lockdown I’d say he's doing better on walks but not as well in the house. He has been reacting to every single noise again and is finding it harder to settle. When I looked at the stats, I was shocked. I knew it had been bad but wasn't expecting it to be that bad.
I was expecting an increase as he isn't spending any time in daycare (when I'm not logging reactions) but it was a 102% increase in reactions overall, and an average increase of 70% per day. Intensity and duration stayed about the same.
Rest was very slightly up (3%) but I would have expected that to have been higher given I don't log any rest time during daycare hours.
I'll continue to work on the training and reassess once we are back in our normal routine.