I’ve been hanging to blog from my new iPad Pro and I sit here now writing to you from it! It is superb! I picked up a fire truck red Logitech case with keyboard from overseas saving me some $$ (In Australia the darn thing is up to $200) and am having my afternoon coffee with the dogs outside. There’s a fresh, cool wind that makes the tree tops whistle and I am thoroughly enjoying the last few days of winter Qld will get.
I didn’t get to post yesterday so I will make up for it with a separate post. Today we experimented with leaving the dogs inside. One of our “lovely” neighbors reported our dogs for nuisance barking. We of course were not aware this was happening, so we canvassed our immediate neighbors and nobody reported anything of concern. One neighbor did, but said he didn’t report us and that it was the neighbor from his other side which is half a kilometer from us. I still think it was him, but he didn’t want friction so he blamed it on someone else. Regardless, we went away on a day trip to the country looking for a bigger parcel of land on the weekend and downloaded an app to record the dogs. Lo and behold, both Milo and Mischa barked, and howled like they were being killed. It broke my heart. We came home and of course replayed the 400+ recordings. They both sounded so morose and somber, but it did make sense to a few behavioral things Milo has been doing of late and of how clingy he’s been.
I can also understand why the neighbor reported us because it was all day. All, damn, day. My dogs have separation anxiety.
So our closest neighbors, also a young childless couple who love animals like we do told us about what they did for their furry friends. Mind you they also have a 30 dog kennel on their property so in a way it is a bit easier for them to manage placing their dogs during the day. Also, we live in a fucking rural area – dogs bark, I mean, its instinctive, its natural and its normal (not howling like what Milo was doing, but I’m saying that dogs bark, its their thing, so fucking what?). Anyway they mentioned the feeding schedule they do and how they place their dogs in the kennels and let them out in the afternoon. So we tried it. Both our dogs have a rumpus area which is like a thoroughfare between two large living rooms (it’s the way they joined the house when they added onto it) where their beds are placed and there is two massive sliding doors on either side. It gives them perfect view, comfort and a fresh breeze during the day. We locked them up and left the recording device on…
I came home to no issues! Safe to report that their were no doggy do-do’s in the house, no clothes or blankets or pillows torn and no mess. Milo grabbed hubby’s old slippers that he loves and put them on his bed. The device records everything that makes a sound and is really bloody good, but out of 94 recordings, all of them were house noises, the pump going on and off or birds. Bloody noisy minors and kookaburras, but no howling dogs.
And whilst this is good, I think its only a temporary fix. I will have to work on separation with both dogs so that they get this out of their system. Yes its a good fix now, but what about if it happens again? I don’t know what their triggers are, so I need to do some more research on separation anxiety in dogs and what to do about behavioral responses. I don’t want to medicate my dogs, even if that is an option. It won’t fix the issue at all, and I don’t believe my dogs need to have bnarcotics pumped into them for any reason. They’re healthy from dogs, who get clean Whole Foods, play and run around all the time and have a safe and happy home to live in. I’d rather put in the effort to help them have the best and happiest life ever, than to medicate them as a temporary solution.
You know it broke my heart when I heard the recording of him howling and I cried. I just couldn’t get over that he was so distressed thinking we weren’t coming home, or whatever it was that he was feeling that he was literally crying all day, non-stop. I’m really happy that today’s experiment went well, and that my dogs felt settled and at ease. Nothing is more sad then when your best friend is sad, and at least now I know I can keep them inside where they will be safe and he will be stress free, and the neighbors won’t call the council on me for having a nuisance pet.
Just a quick update today. I have been listening to some new podcasts and they had some excellent topics that, as I was driving home I was like, this shit totally fits my blog theme and I need to do some more research on it. I also want to try and do a few book reviews (because I was home sick for about 10 days and read….a lot!), a new low carb recipe I concocted using Osso bucco which turned out phenomenal and an update on the new farm we are planning on buying.
Oh, and back at work. Finally, after being sick like I’ve never been sick before. It didn’t take long for me to sigh and daydream about something different, but there is hope on the horizon as some new opportunities are popping up. I’m still glad I am not in the place I used to work at, but this new job is not exciting, and really I’m just a bit bored. The agency itself though is fantastic, with awesome work benefits, so if nothing, that is always a plus until I can get back to what I do best.
P.s. the cover image is my big boy Milo. Hard to look at his face and think he gets separation anxiety, but he does. Regardless, he’s still mama’s boy and I love him to pieces.
How has your week started? Have you had tried something new or different, or planned to try something new or different?
8am: I couldn’t wait any longer. I am so damn hungry. I had to wake mama and daddy up again. The new food gives me doggy gas but I must admit, it’s a super cool party trick. Mischa finally woke up and is already at the chicken fence. She thinks one of them will slip through the gate crack, but I know they won’t. They’re sneaky buggers to catch. Today mama is not going to work, so today we will relax. Today will be a good day.
That Fitology Life 