It’s been a lot recently.
With the daycare incident, challenging walks, vet behaviourist, groom, and physio visits, everything had been piling up.
Poor George has been dealing with so much.
For me, it’s been the relentless life admin, my car being in for repairs, financial stress, and a huge restructure at work — on top of being the sole caregiver for an anxious dog.
We had a public holiday recently, which meant a three-day weekend. No work and no daycare.
I decided we needed a break — from being alert the moment we step outside and running the neighbour gauntlet; from constantly scanning for triggers; from the leash; from barking and lunging; from everything that’s scary and challenging about the outside world.
It also gave me the opportunity to trial George’s new meds and allow him to benefit from some real rest.
For the first two days, he slept. A lot. I think it was probably a combination of the meds and finally being able to properly rest. As an anxious dog, George doesn’t get anywhere near enough rest, despite needing more than a non-anxious dog.
I’ve long since come to terms with George not being a “normal” dog who needs a walk every day. That’s simply too stressful for him.
I had planned to do more games, enrichment, and play, but he just wanted to rest. I’m grateful I listened, he clearly needed it.
Like I always do on rest days, I second-guessed myself: does George really need a rest day, or can I just not face it?
I realised it doesn’t really matter. Of course, I still need to make sure George’s needs are met in other ways — enrichment, scent work, and so on — but sometimes being home, safe, fed, and warm (for both of us) is enough.
I do think this mini-break from the outside world did him good. Of course, the world being what it is, we still had to deal with the back neighbours doing construction, which made them visible from the garden. But we did the best we could in the circumstances we’re in.
We don’t often get the opportunity to hide away from the world. Life is too busy and demanding. So this felt like an opportunity too good to miss.