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Jun. 27th, 2023 12:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenstormThe last 24 hours have been expectedly rough. I've been keeping Solly on the front porch and Avallu in the basement, and rotating which one has access to the yard (Thea always has access to the yard). The front porch is screened by trees etc, and so Avallu didn't realize Solly was up there til yesterday afternoon.
He had a bit of a meltdown, which isn't unexpected. It's funny, I recognise that level of what I want to call trigger, where he's not able to think and will not even accept food (he's very food motivated). It's not a state where he'll attack me or anything, but he doesn't listen to commands and he can't really sort his way through things.
We've been working together on how to disengage when he gets to that level, where I can tell him to go into the basement and I'll close the door and deal with it. Generally this involves me waving my hand in front of his eyes to get his attention (his hearing is very poor), and then gesturing towards the carport, sometimes, walking with him and gesturing every couple feet as he starts to get distracted and want to go back, then looks at me for direction. This work has been ongoing for a couple years now, though intermittent.
His meltdown yesterday I spent a lot of time trying to regulate him while we could still see Solly on the deck, but it wasn't subsiding so I put him in. I did have to touch his collar and put a little pressure on it for him to listen, which hasn't happened in a bit. He was really upset, and rightfully so from his point of view.
Well, as afternoon and evening went on he would run around to the front deck to see if she was still there as soon as it was his turn in the yard. He would bark some and whine and be quite upset generally.
This morning he had chosen to sleep inside instead of by the deck to guard it (he had the yard for the night).
Midmorning he was able to eat a whole pack of salami while watching Solly and still being somewhat upset.
And just now, at lunch time, he came around and saw me on the deck with her, barked maybe three times, whined a little, double-checked that he couldn't get up onto the deck, and took himself to the basement to sleep in the cool (it's pretty warm, 27-30ish celsius here, and the dogs get much less energetic and enjoy sleeping on shaded concrete).
I am very proud of that dog. He's getting much better at regulating.
I also recognise that his brain and mine work very, very similarly. There's a trip over into the state where nothing else except the bad thing exists, and so I have a lot of empathy for how hard it is for him to handle life when he's in that place. That's why most of my management of him involves giving him safe places to go when people come over, rather than having him try to work through that just because I want guests or a plumber. If someone will be over frequently that's a different calculus, of course.
Meanwhile when it's Solly's turn in the yard she continues to be a giant puppy. We're still working on sitting for attention rather than barking and pawing (!) but she's catching on pretty fast, given that this is a brand new home. I'll need to keep an eye on her because her "hello" energy is very big and I could easily see it turning into a game of chase that ended badly. Luckily she's very respectful of the geese so far. She also seems very interested in Hazard, and he is ok with her.
Now if only I had the energy to stay sitting or standing up for more than an hour at a time. I'm going to have to find it because I need groceries. It's too hot for baking.
He had a bit of a meltdown, which isn't unexpected. It's funny, I recognise that level of what I want to call trigger, where he's not able to think and will not even accept food (he's very food motivated). It's not a state where he'll attack me or anything, but he doesn't listen to commands and he can't really sort his way through things.
We've been working together on how to disengage when he gets to that level, where I can tell him to go into the basement and I'll close the door and deal with it. Generally this involves me waving my hand in front of his eyes to get his attention (his hearing is very poor), and then gesturing towards the carport, sometimes, walking with him and gesturing every couple feet as he starts to get distracted and want to go back, then looks at me for direction. This work has been ongoing for a couple years now, though intermittent.
His meltdown yesterday I spent a lot of time trying to regulate him while we could still see Solly on the deck, but it wasn't subsiding so I put him in. I did have to touch his collar and put a little pressure on it for him to listen, which hasn't happened in a bit. He was really upset, and rightfully so from his point of view.
Well, as afternoon and evening went on he would run around to the front deck to see if she was still there as soon as it was his turn in the yard. He would bark some and whine and be quite upset generally.
This morning he had chosen to sleep inside instead of by the deck to guard it (he had the yard for the night).
Midmorning he was able to eat a whole pack of salami while watching Solly and still being somewhat upset.
And just now, at lunch time, he came around and saw me on the deck with her, barked maybe three times, whined a little, double-checked that he couldn't get up onto the deck, and took himself to the basement to sleep in the cool (it's pretty warm, 27-30ish celsius here, and the dogs get much less energetic and enjoy sleeping on shaded concrete).
I am very proud of that dog. He's getting much better at regulating.
I also recognise that his brain and mine work very, very similarly. There's a trip over into the state where nothing else except the bad thing exists, and so I have a lot of empathy for how hard it is for him to handle life when he's in that place. That's why most of my management of him involves giving him safe places to go when people come over, rather than having him try to work through that just because I want guests or a plumber. If someone will be over frequently that's a different calculus, of course.
Meanwhile when it's Solly's turn in the yard she continues to be a giant puppy. We're still working on sitting for attention rather than barking and pawing (!) but she's catching on pretty fast, given that this is a brand new home. I'll need to keep an eye on her because her "hello" energy is very big and I could easily see it turning into a game of chase that ended badly. Luckily she's very respectful of the geese so far. She also seems very interested in Hazard, and he is ok with her.
Now if only I had the energy to stay sitting or standing up for more than an hour at a time. I'm going to have to find it because I need groceries. It's too hot for baking.
