It's been another big week for little George.
We decided to brave the beach at the weekend, hoping it would be quieter before the summer rush. My friend drove and George did very well in the back of her car.
He loves the beach and was very excited to be there - and luckily, it was pretty quiet.
We like that beach because it's supposed to be on-leash and has lots of space, good visibility, and grassy areas to escape to.
Supposed to be on-leash…"supposed" being the operative word. It's generally loosely obeyed, but I find that owners are usually pretty good at leashing their dog when they see us, or their dogs have excellent recall.
George was wearing his bright yellow "I NEED SPACE" vest, and we had the matching yellow lead. I've found this has been working quite well - people at least recognise that something is different.
On this day though, it didn't work quite as well. A large dog came bounding up to him out of nowhere. Unfortunately, I had George on the long line and he was further away from me than he should have been - my mistake - so I couldn't get him behind me.
He gave the dog a couple of warning barks before I was able to return him to me. He barked at the dog more from a distance, but I was relieved to have him back close to me.
He shook it off quickly and went back to paddling in the sea (his favourite activity), ignoring everything else.
Later in the walk, the same dog came running up to him again. My friend was amazing - she stretched her arms out wide, stepped forward, and stopped the dog in its tracks while shouting "CALL YOUR DOG!" at the owner.
The dog kept trying to get to George. Luckily, I had him closer to me this time and was able to get him behind me whilst circling to keep myself between him and the dog.
Amazingly, George wasn't barking, but he was panting heavily and stressed.
My friend kept shouting at the dog's owner, who was making absolutely no attempt to call his dog, while I continued circling with George behind me.
Eventually, the dog went away, and the owner gave us the finger. Charming.
My friend shouted that his dog is going to get bitten if he keeps letting him run up to other dogs.
I was so grateful for the back-up from my friend and for her advocacy for George - she's amazing.
It would have been very difficult if I'd been by myself to both block the dog and keep George behind me. Not to mention that having her support stopped me from panicking. Having her calm dog around also helped.
I think George handled both incidents really well, all things considered - although I obviously wish they hadn't happened.
The next day, we had a lovely walk together at our favourite Sniffspot. As we avoided the neighbours both on the way in and the way out, and George was a happy, confident dog at the Sniffspot. It almost felt like having a "normal" dog on that day!
Hot on the heels of a stressful weekend, George had another physio appointment.
We were trapped in the car outside for a while as reception was very busy. When the physio came out to meet us, we managed to get George to walk past several people (no animals fortunately!) to get to the "tranquillity room". He did very well - no barking or lunging at all.
He'd had his usual extra medication for stressful events, which obviously helped, but he was pleased to be back at the vet's - he loves his vet 😆
They're so good with him. As we were leaving, another dog was arriving so the vet hid us in the kitchen while she checked which direction they were going in. She apologised, but I explained that this is my normal life hiding from triggers 😆
She walked us out to the car and he cried again when she left. It's amazing how much he loves his vet.
That afternoon, I had an important work meeting about a restructure, so poor George had to go to daycare for half the day. Not ideal - I 'd originally planned an annual leave day so he could rest in the afternoon, but it couldn't be avoided. Unfortunately, he can't rest by himself at home.
He was still sleepy when I dropped him off because of the higher meds. When I picked him up, they said he'd been a bit drowsy at first and just chilled out for a while but soon became his normal self again.
Because of the restructure, he had to go to daycare again the following day. I usually try to have a rest day in between.
He was pretty tired that morning, although he did get to go on a Forest Adventure, which he always enjoys.
Finally, the next day was a proper rest day.
I'm so proud of how he coped with everything - from the off-leash dog to the physio to back-to-back daycare. It's a lot, even for non-anxious dogs.
He's a little trooper.