Zim's Separation Anxiety

So, ever since Zim tore up the carpet in front of the door in our room (where we put him when we're out), we'd been thinking he might have some separation anxiety. Eventually, because we also wanted to get someone in on his incomplete potty-training and the fact that we've never been able to crate-train him, we decided to call in a behaviorist.

Well, she came in for a 3 hr consult a week ago Thursday (about a week and a half ago) and we found out a lot of things. First, it seems that Zim does have some separation anxiety but he also seems to have some barrier anxiety. This is why, despite our best efforts, we've never been able to crate train him. According to our behaviorist, he's just not a dog who's crate-trainable (at least not without drugs). We'd stopped trying to do anything with him and the crate (despite his occasional bouts of separation anxiety-induced destructiveness) but now we've decided to completely let it go. It's just not for Zim and that's okay. Other than the separation anxiety, he's actually really good and I think once we get past this he'll be able to be reliably left at home. Second, we found out what we should be doing in order to help him get over us not being home.

The plan is to counter-condition Little Bit into being okay with us not being there. We were supposed to get him a bunch of puzzle games and then leave him in there for short periods. We're supposed to build up until he's okay with longer and longer periods while making sure that we don't leave him home alone so that he doesn't go into panic-mode, which would only reinforce for him how bad it is when we're not home. We're supposed to do it about twice a day.

Well, we've been at it for about a week and a half now and our progress has been . . . mixed. At first, Zim did great. He lasted for 15 minutes with one toy while the behaviorist was there. He then lasted the exact same amount of time when Ben was home alone with him and tried it with about 3. Then, it sort of went downhill. He lasted 12 minutes. Then 9. Then 4. So we decided to try a Thundershirt in conjunction with the counter-conditioning. It's definitely worked, although not as well as I'd hoped. He lasted 15 minutes the first time, then he went down to about 11. Well, he was also crying at the baby gate to the kitchen, so we thought that trying to do this so often (about twice a day) might be a bit much as the whining seemed to indicate his general level of anxiety had increased (weird, because he's really not an anxious dog overall). So we stopped the exercise for about two days then went back to it today with a lot of baby steps. Mostly new toys, the Thundershirt, only expecting about 6 minutes and we'd just gotten back from the dog park. Well, he did great and then he completely collapsed into about a 6-8 hr nap. We can't always take him to the dog park before we do this, but hopefully if we do it more often, along with the shorter time (which the behaviorist suggested when we e-mailed her about the decreasing time) we'll start to see some slow progress.

Adorable Pictures from Facebook

Neutered

So Zim was neutered yesterday. We dropped him off at 7 AM, expecting to get him back around 4 but then they called and said he should be ready around noon so we went and grabbed him. He was REALLY ready to go home, which probably had a lot to do with the fact that his mouth felt funny and they were keeping him in *gasp* a cage. He really hated that last part---you could hear him protesting in the waiting room.

Anyway, so we took him home and at first he passed out, like this:

Then he woke up and started licking his incision site, so we put him in this:

Unfortunately, it turns out that Zim is too flexible for a Kong Cloud, the little brat. As soon as he got over his horror at having it on and stopped trying to slip it, he just reached right around and started licking the incision site. So then we went out and bought him this:

To which his reaction was this:

As you can see, he did eventually get over it. He still doesn't particularly care for it, but he's accepted it, at least. Unfortunately, though, not being able to lick his incision site also means not being able to clean up after he goes to the bathroom, which upsets him greatly. He keeps stopping to try and clean up and obviously gets very frustrated when it doesn't work. We have to carry him home so we can clean him up. He does, at least, seem to get over it once we do it for him.

Two Escapes in Two Days---What the Hell?

So Zim escaped again yesterday. It was far less harrowing than the last time but, still, what the Hell is this? The first time was just sort of one of those things but this last one should not have happened and when I think about it I'm still kind of mad that it did.

So we were going to go out and grab dinner, so we went to put Zim in our bedroom. He didn't feel like it, though, so he slipped out the door as we were closing it. As I chase him down the stairs I notice to my horror that for some stupid reason our friends have left our door open. So what does Zim do? He makes a beeline straight for his people and someone picked him up and handed him back to me so I could put him away. Now, this was about what I would expect because this particular behavior of his is why doorbolting isn't usually a problem for him. It's not about going outside, it's about getting to the people. Sure, he'll rush a door when someone comes in, but that's because he wants to greet the person coming in (not to say that we're not careful about him doing that, we are because you never know), so it was perfectly predictable that he would go straight for his people (I'm pretty sure he thinks of most of our friends as being his in the same way he thinks of us like that) when he went out the open door. Still, though, I was pretty mad and more so, as well, when my reaction of "What the fuck, guys?!" was met by one person going, "What?" They should know what. Don't leave the door open for my dog to get out! It's not like all of these people didn't hear about Saturday's experience and the trouble we had then.

On a more positive note, I was looking through the album of pictures from puppy class and I found some of Zim playing with some of the other pups, including his favorite buddy from that class, Dublin the Saint Bernard. I'm reposting them here.

Zim's First Escape

So, we've had yet another Shiba owner right of passage: we've had to get our escaped dog to come back.

So, Zim is not normally a doorbolter. He's more interested in the person coming in a door than in getting out. Well, today we were at the home of my sister-in-law and her husband for her husband's graduation party. Zim was alternating between inside and outside, but when he was outside we had him on a 50 ft leash. When he was inside, he was playing with Molly, my sister-in-law's beagle mix. Well, at one point everyone was outside except me, Molly and Zim. Molly wanted to be outside where everyone else was because unlike Zim, she still really loves people when other dogs are around (Zim normally loves people but is merely fine with them when there are other dogs for him to interact with). Well, she was trying to doorbolt the whole time and then finally one of the many people at the house ended up letting her out and Zim ran right after her. Now happily outside, Molly's attention turned back to Zim and they started playing chase. Well, we tried to call Zim back but Shiba selective hearing was the order of the day---his entire focus was on Molly. Luckily the streets were basically empty the whole time we were there (I saw a total of maybe 3 cars in the hours we spent there), because at one point Zim went into the street. It was at that point that it occurred to me that with his focus on Molly, we should be calling her instead, I only hoped she came back. Like I said before, she's people focused but I've heard stories about her occasional selective hearing. Still, I was pretty sure her recall was better than Zim's and I knew he would follow her if she ran back to us so I tried it. She came right back and Zim followed. We didn't catch him right away but at least he was nearby instead of running away. He slipped out of my grasp once or twice after this, still staying nearby because Molly was, before he suddenly decided he needed to poop. I grabbed his harness as he went and we then put him on the 50ft line so he and Molly could play outside instead.

So now we're getting Zim a Tagg Pet Tracker. We'd thought about it before, but it seemed like an awful lot of money for a dog who didn't doorbolt and who was always on a harness and leash when outside (and wasn't a harness escape artist). Now, though, we've decided. He obviously becomes a doorbolter when's he's with another dog who's a doorbolter and I do know he's capable of slipping certain kinds of harnesses (he just doesn't try). This will give us a little insurance for if he does do the unlikely and slip a harness or run through an open door.

On a way, way different note, I just found a picture online of Zim's uncle, the full brother of his father, Kisaragi no Kouten go Amamisou (Kouten). I don't really think Zim looks much like him now that Kouten has gotten older but I found this picture of Kouten from when he was younger that I really think looks a lot like Zim:

Makes me wonder if Zim will grow up to look like his uncle, or at least his uncle at the age pictured ( I would guess between 6 months and a year old).


Also, here's a picture that Fathead snapped on his cell phone of me and Zim earlier tonight, both curled up on the floor. Like owner, like dog I suppose.

Zim's Second Fear Period

So, I think that Zim is going through his second fear period. He's suddenly starting to whine and whatnot in the car and he was scared at the vet on Monday. We're going to be trying to use food to condition him to fear those things less (we've already made some progress with the scale at the vet, which he's never liked) and trying to ignore his upset to not encourage his fear. Hopefully it all goes well.

Picture Time!

These first ones aren't actually mostly of Zim, but rather of the Gir collar I made for him out of a lanyard. Pretty spiffy, huh?

Yes, that is my character sheet sitting right next to a dog who loves to shred paper. And, yes, I did notice this before he did.

Zim sometimes decides my backpack is a dog bed.

Zim has taken up the adorable habit of sleeping under the couch sometimes. It's super cute.