We had a relatively successful beach walk this week against the odds.
We were meeting a friend and her dog and had planned a later walk, hoping that it would be both cooler and quieter. When we had to park in the overflow car park, I realised we had got that wrong!
George was very excited and was barking as I parked the car. Unfortunately we were immediately approached by a large, black, off-leash dog. George was way over-threshold. I had to block the dog with my body whilst the owner called it away.
After this shaky start, I managed to find a quieter spot for George to have a sniff around. He tends to settle into walks as time goes on if he has a chance to sniff.
I couldn't find my friend at first. It was busy and I was very much regretting my life choices that day. But George was doing pretty well considering all of the people, children and dogs. I was doing my best to try and keep distance. We were zig-zagging all over the place. I was impressed that he seemed to be shaking off the challenging start.
My friend had noticed that further down the beach was quieter so we headed that way. It was a lot better away from the crowds. George settled well and looked like he was enjoying himself.
He was able to walk past people at a distance without any issues and, as he settled more, he would look at dogs (at a distance) and then carry on his merry way.
There was one particular moment I was really proud of.
There were a couple of small, off-leash dogs who had come to say hi to my friend's dog. I had already started to create some distance but George (on the long line), chose to create distance himself. He walked further away from the dogs to calmly have a sniff and mind his own business.
This was a huge moment. It was so different from his normal reaction of barking and lunging and running towards triggers.
It was the first time I have seen George realise that he has a choice in how to deal with a trigger other than the fight response. By creating distance instead of his normal reaction, he made a fabulous choice.
Other observations this week: he seems a bit disinterested in our normal enrichment activities so we've tried a couple of variations. He is loving sniffing out his kibble in a crumpled up blanket. Lots of sniffing and snorting involved!
He's not been taking his medication as easily this week. Normally, he's a breeze to give medication to because he wolfs down food without swallowing. I think he must have chewed a couple of tablets though as he's now hesitant. Cheese is working if all else fails. I've ordered some pill pockets so will give those a try.
I've been chatting to our VB and trainer this week about adjusting George's medication. At the muzzle fitting recently, the staff asked me whether anyone had mentioned pain in his back legs. She said that she has seen reactivity just fade away when pain issues have been resolved.
The VB and trainer had also mentioned potential pain in his leg previously and we did a pain trial trying a couple of pain medications.
As it was mentioned again, I figured it might have got worse, or at least, it has not got better. I worried that I might have given up too quickly on the pain trial. George was so anxious and reactive at that stage, it would have been difficult for me to notice small improvements. I hate to think of him being in pain.
We are going to have a further consultation with the VB and trainer (hopefully soon) to discuss potential medication changes and pain assessment. Watch this space.