Not long ago our daughter went on deployment, the typical 6ish months overseas. Her husband home working (also military) and taking care of the dogs in Florida. My husband is doing some travel for work so I was looking at a few quiet months in our new home, our first Samhain/Halloween and the big neighborhood party they do with a band and everything. Thanksgiving with my husband home for the week and hoping he would be back for the 2nd half of December into the new year and we could bring it in together in our new home.
Yeh, Nope.
Son-in-law called and he was requested for a deployment as well and leaving very soon. What to do with the dogs? These are two rescues who have a lot of anxiety. The big dog is aggressive and very protective of his people and home to the point when we visit they have to have him on a leash or put in a room, door closed.
We discussed that night about bringing the dogs to our house but they would be out of sorts, new place and new people and we don’t have a fence so they’d be stuck inside except when we could take them out…if the big one even lets us inside his heart at some point.
The only and best answer I could come up with was I would have to go stay at their house in Florida. The dogs would be more comfortable there and I could work on the big dog accepting me. I work remotely so I can work from there. My mother-in-law can help with our house when my husband is away so it’s not sitting vacant. We all agreed this was the best choice, if a hard one.
So, I packed some bags and jumped in the car for the 7 hour drive one week ago. The first night and first full day were difficult with the big dog. We tried to get him used to me but he was insisting on his own time, not ours so we put a muzzle on him and took the leash off to see what he would do. He did come at me barking and pushing the muzzle into me (trying to bite) for a while, we had a power struggle basically. When he tired a bit and I sensed he was calming some I did get some pets in but the clock was ticking on us being ok with each other so we got a clicker that emits a high pitch, dog only can hear tone and started using that when he turned on me. The clicker worked great! He tried a few times to come at me but when I hit the button and said no he backed off.
This all took four days and at the end of the 4th day we took them on a walk with me holding his leash, muzzle off, clicker on the ready. It went really well! He loved being on the walk and we had no issues. I even was able to put his harness on and take it off at the end. We decided to keep the muzzle off that evening since it had rubbed his chin a bit. The next morning they came out of the bedroom to me having coffee and I said good morning enthusiastically, the big dog came right over to me super happy and asking for pets. We both couldn’t believe it! Something switched in him and I was now his friend. There is a learning curve still for me to know what triggers him and what he loves and I’m working on getting past being tentative with him still. Honestly, he’s more comfortable with me than I am with him right now but we are super ok and my son-in-law and daughter are so much more comfortable leaving me with them for the Winter.
I can’t describe the anxiety, emotional and physical stress I went through those 5 days, my nerves were shot and I was feeling so much empathy for him. Whatever he went through before being rescued must have been horrific for him to be so distrustful of new people. I overheard my daughter and her husband talking on the phone and she was so happy, saying now there are now four people the big dog has let in. Only four people have gotten through his barrier and I think she was including themselves – and I am privileged to be one of them.
So, I am here for a bit. Missing our home and my husband but knowing this is where I need to be right now.
Oh, and I can’t explain it but somehow my allergies are not going nuts. I have some itchy eyes morning and evening, eye drops fix that but basically nothing else. I haven’t taken a Claritin since the 2nd day here. Previous visits had me dosing Claritin daily and that not completely working. I can’t figure it out unless my body just is in survival mode or something.
Life Notes 