Alice, 5 Month Update!

I can't believe that Alice has been in our home for 5 months! It feels like just yesterday we were adopting her.

We've had quite a few adventures since I last updated the blog about her. Our biggest one was a 10 hour (each way) road trip to visit my inlaws. I only took Alice and Phoenix as Zoe was recovering from a minor dental surgery. We had a blast. We went on several day hikes and the girls really enjoyed my inlaw's fully fenced acre. Alice absolutely loved my inlaws, including the grandparents. I think my father-in-law was her favorite, though. She would play with him endlessly. It was so cute.

We've also taken Alice on some "big girl" hikes. Longer hikes or hikes that are busier with more people and dogs. She's done really well!

Alice's right ear has gone all the way up and doesn't flop over anymore, she's also gotten taller and gained about pound. She's about 10 or 11 months old now. A teenager. Send help.

Zoe and Alice are getting along super well these days. Zoe is still a cranky adult dog (senior, actually... She's a senior dog. I hate even typing that out!! EEK!) and she will let Alice know if she goes too far but we haven't had any more incidents of snapping/biting. Zoe will occasionally stare at her and growl if she doesn't feel like putting up with her. Mostly they spend their days napping together and playing. I frequently post videos on my instagram, if you want to follow it's @zoepheedogs

If you read one of my last posts, I talked about how Alice accidentally got away from me and ran up to our neighbor's reactive dog. I felt so bad about it and took them cookies the next day. I don't have a picture but I'm very excited to tell you that Alice has made friends with that dog. They get along really well and they get to play with each other whenever we run into them. I'm so happy that incident has turned out so well for everyone involved.

This past month we have had a few minor things come up. Alice had been doing well with other dogs and not reactive for the past three months, up until we had a coyote go after us. It was a really bad day! We knew there was a coyote in the area that had been injured and was trying to snatch dogs right off the leash from their owners. Poor coyote is desperate for food. Well, he ran up to us twice in one day. Both times he ended up covered in citronella (I highly recommend the product Spray Shield it's a great deterrent for loose dogs and wild animals!). I had all three dogs, Zoe has been in a fight with a coyote before when we lived in the mountains and HATES them. So she flipped out. Everyone was scared. It was awful.

In addition to dealing with the coyote and all the dogs being upset, I got back inside and got a call that my husband, the dog dad, had been in a major accident at work and was being transported to the nearest emergency room. So I had about 30 minutes to get everyone settled down and get myself down to the hospital. Apparently there had been an explosion, a gas fire, my husband had been lit on fire. Luckily he reacted very quickly and was able to get the gas off of him and put himself out. His arms are covered in 2nd degree burns, his pants were melted but his legs didn't get burned. His work building didn't do so well and is still under repairs. My husband has been out of work since that incident on worker's comp. :(

Alice took a socializing trip to her dad's work.

So with all the things going on, I think all of us have had an over abundance of lingering stress hormones. Alice has been really stressed out going outside, so stressed that at times she would not take food. In the same week, we also had the unfortunate experience of going around a blind corner and having a dog aggress at us, barking, snarling and lunging. At which point Alice barked and lunged back and I had to pick her up. I feel like she had lingering stress from the coyotes and she felt threatened by this other dog. I'm still trying to decide if it counts as an over reaction or not. I'm sure she felt like she had to defend herself. It's been a week since that happened, everyone has had a chance to recover and I haven't seen any more barking or lunging at dogs, we've seen quite a few and we've been barked at. I'm going to continue working on counter conditioning her and we are still playing reactive dog games outside on walks.

We are still struggling with Alice going potty immediately when taken outside and I've given up completely on getting her to poop in our direct yard. It was just too much for me to deal with and I was starting to resent her (puppy blues aka depression) for not going to the bathroom in a timely manner. All the neighbors would come out and distract her or the other neighbor would bring his dog out to play, or that dog would spend the entire time we were out barking her head off at us, which also drove me crazy. I spent months walking her in circles in our yard and when she wouldn't go she would be sitting in her crate until the next time. I didn't get another dog for her to be isolated in a crate somewhere, I got another dog because I wanted another companion. I was getting really upset and frustrated, attempting to teach her to potty in our yard, with zero progress. I am happy to report she has not had an accident in the house since April. So she can hold it and doesn't just pee wherever in here anymore. We do have a new "this is where you pee" spot out in the front yard and if she doesn't pee within 5-10 minutes we come back inside. When she does go potty, she gets high value treats and a party. So far none of the neighbors bother me anymore and it's way less distracting as there are no patios for people to come out on and we are far enough away from the reactive dog that it doesn't trigger her barking at us. For pooping, it's been a little tricky but I've come up with a walk down the block. If she does not poop within the time it takes to go down and back, then it's back inside until the next time. With the new routine, I am spending a lot less time outside and I'm a lot less frustrated then I was. I'm hoping one day we can revisit going in our yard but she may never be that kind of dog.

Zoe displays the same potty behaviors and has always struggled with pottying in one spot/yard. Alice is actually worse than Zoe was. I really think it must have to do with them being prior street dogs. They were able to potty wherever they wanted and probably did it on the move. Zoe has improved a lot over the years so I'm hoping Alice will, too.

With the coyote incidents and in my desperation to teach her to potty, Alice has had a regression in her loose leash walking skills. She's been so freaked out about going outside, she was barely aware I existed, was dragging me around and wouldn't take food. I have nerve damage in my wrist so pulling hurts me, even though she's small. We've gone back to basic leash skills 101. I've been doing multiple sessions in my house and driveway, where she is under threshold. I also examined my criteria and realized that I was allowing her to pull if I thought she was about to potty. So I've tightened my criteria and making sure that I'm meeting it. She's doing a lot better now that I more clear on what my expectations are. She's also started to take food on walks again which is great and she's making progress. 

We've discovered that Alice is afraid of thunderstorms, so I'm assuming the 4th of July will be a big problem, too. I won't be messing around with her with any sort of herbal or home remedies, she will be getting the same medication from our vet that the older dogs get for noise phobias. I'm really hoping it doesn't go too horrible for her but we'll see what happens. We have plans to go to Cannon Beach that day, it's a nature reserve and fireworks are not allowed. Hopefully with tons of exercise and chemical intervention we can get through the night. I'll keep everyone updated on how it goes.

I made these!

In the midst of all the things that have happened in the past couple of months, my mother-in-law sent me a sewing machine. I've been wanting to learn how to sew and Alice needed some warm sweaters for winter. I went from barely able to sew a straight line (which is still hard, by the way) to sewing circles! I've made about 6 pairs of fleece pajamas. The pattern we had wasn't very good so I had to alter it a bunch of times. It's been fun learning a new skill and I'm excited to figure out how to make other things.

Little dog, Big world!

Overall, I really feel like Alice is doing well. I enjoy having a smaller dog. She's super fun to train, very smart. She picks up on tricks really quickly. She's SO cuddly and has been sleeping with me on the bed at night. The older dogs love her. The changes in Phoenix have been neat. She's gone from sleeping the day away to being a puppy again. Alice, even with the minor challenges we've dealt with has been a great addition to the household. I'm excited to see what the future brings.