Little Dog in a Big World

My Dad died at the beginning of May.  Misha had an allergic reaction to a spider bite that sent her to the emergency Vet.  Then her best friend who came to visit her everyday at 3pm moved away.   Those three events plus the turmoil in my household sent Misha’s training back, waaayyyy back.

Misha was really coming around.  But, after all of these stressful situation, she was thrown for a loop.  A sort of separation anxiety set in.  She became unruly, fearful.  She hated to be touched and would growl anytime someone tried to pick her up.  We suddenly had a battle zone in the house.  If she were human, I’d say she was freaking out.

As I was dealing with my own emotion, it took until the beginning of June before I realized that everything I was feeling was bouncing off Misha too.   Even though I was not with the program, I realized that my distracted state of mind was producing anxiety in my pup.

Though I didn’t have the energy or time, I focused completely on Misha’s training.  I couldn’t have a dog that growled at people who wanted to pat her head.  That was unacceptable.

I began by going back to the basic.  I made her sit for everything.  She picked up on that quickly.  I made sure we took both walks every day.  I practiced with her more.

One of the most important things I did was observe her.  I realized that because she is only 8 lbs I treat her differently than I did my 75 lb Lab.  I don’t baby her.  She has rules and structure, but I was always picking her up to get her out of danger or out of the way.  I would have never done that with Sierra.

I learned that Misha does not like being picked up.  She loves to be held, but she doesn’t care for being picked up.  So, I stopped doing it.  I began treating her like a big dog–a regular dog.  I petted her on the ground.  I gave her treats on the ground.  I put her leash on her on the ground.  When we walk by strangers, we do it with her four feet planted on the ground (unless there is some sort of danger like a much larger dog attached to those humans).

I’ve got her a treat ball so that she can burn off a little energy in the house.  I also handle her toys more.  When she wants to chew on her bone, she is on my lap and I hold it for her.

I think my efforts are paying off.  The growling is now down to a minimum.   She is behaving much more civilly.  I have taught people not to startle her by trying to pick her up.  Instead, I am trying to train her to jump up to me or in my lap so that she initializes it.

We still have one more upsetting event to get through–moving.  I know all the boxes in the hallway and stacks of things here and there are unsettling to her.  I hope that once we move in a couple weeks and she is settled in to a regular daily routine again that she will go back to being the lovable, energetic pup she once was.

And then I can get her over her fear of wash cloths.