As we approach the end of the year, it’s natural to get a bit reflective.
2025 has certainly challenged us.
We’ve had three lockdowns—canine cough, a paw injury, and a sore leg following his IV. Our life is already pretty isolated, so it wasn’t easy.
I’m very grateful for the understanding of my boss and colleagues, which allowed me to work from home for days on end to look after George.
We’re still implementing a lot of management techniques. My priority is to prevent George from reacting as much as possible, to stop him from continuing to practice the behaviour, and to keep his stress levels down.
We haven’t had much bandwidth to progress desensitisation and counter-conditioning as much as I would have liked. We seem to be stuck in management mode, ensuring George gets sufficient rest. I’d like to progress this further in 2026.
George has made huge strides in calmness at home. He still reacts at times, but it is much more like ‘normal’ dog behaviour. He will always be a vocal dog, and I don’t want to change his personality, as long as he can recover quickly and isn’t panicking or stressed.
We introduced George to a new special-needs boarding place, his countryside retreat. He had a successful 2.5-week stay, which allowed me to visit my family in the UK.
We’ve had some lovely visits from friends. George’s circle of trust remains strong.
One of my major worries about bumping into neighbours was eased by an act of kindness: a generous gift of dog toys for George.
George has improved a lot in confidence. He is excited to go for walks and loves exploring. He doesn’t stick closely to me anymore which can sometimes be a challenge, and we need to work on recall in the New Year!
He loves his Forest Adventure walks with his daycare buddies. We've explored some new Sniffspots. George particularly loves splashing around in muddy water. He’s even had a (slightly accidental) swim or two.
George used to really struggle with change. If I moved a plant pot, he would bark. If I changed my clothes, it would freak him out. He seems much more adaptive and resilient nowadays.
I bought a new fan the other day that looks a bit strange, not like anything he’s seen before. He was a little hesitant at first, but two minutes later he wasn’t bothered at all. It’s really nice to see.
I stopped tracking every single reaction during the year, which has been helpful for my own mental health. While tracking was useful in the early days or when changing medication, it had become a little overwhelming.
We changed vets and groomers this year—both fear-free—and it’s been going well. I feel more supported, too.
We entered a Dog of the Year competition, but didn’t win 😆.
We’re continuing to tweak the medication, which is definitely helping George’s overall wellbeing.
We’ve had a few scary off-leash dog incidents, and I’m very grateful for the support of my friend (and her dog) in helping us through these, helping us get space, and making our walks enjoyable.
We’ve had some ups and downs with appetite and taking medication, but generally, things are going OK. I think he’s just not hungry in the mornings (and pretty much ravenous the rest of the time 😆).
Of course, we’ve had some major explosive reactions, and we still can’t get in or out of the house calmly, but I think there are some improvements.
He is still very alert when we’re in the area outside the house, but he doesn’t seem as stressed. He’s not hyperventilating (usually), just very alert. Of course, he becomes stressed very quickly if we see someone.
He rests in the car very well, but becomes alert when I stop.
He’s been doing a lot better with people at a distance. Surprisingly, cyclists are no problem at all.
But people too close (within around 30m) or new dogs (at any distance) are still very challenging.
Overall, it’s been a challenging yet progressive year. His calmness and resting at home are worlds away from where we were. We just need to slowly expand that calm to the rest of the big, wide world.
Bring on 2026!