Blitzen's eighth and ninth months with us, August and September 2021, saw some successes and some struggles.

We had a vet appointment for Blitzen in early August. Because of his handling issues, we have to give him meds before being handled at the vet.

The first attempted vet appointment, we gave him the meds at home before going. Once there, we were supposed to give him additional meds in the van before going in. We could not give him the additional meds. He got very growly and snappy, and we had to cancel the appointment.

Getting through the appointment is only part of the goal. The other is making sure it is as low stress as possible. And the better the experience he has, the easier it will be the next time. At this stage, our main goal is ensuring vet visits get EASIER. And that he is less stressed and better able to handle them.

The added difficulty with Blitzen is that once he gets upset about something, he holds a grudge. And it can last for quite a while. Since I had put his harness on him to go to the vet, for the next two days, I could not get his harness on him. Any attempts to harness him resulted in growling and snapping and would have led to a bite if I pursued it further.

Since the last time I had harnessed him, we went to the vet (remember, we never actually made it IN to the vet's office), he was certain that he was not going to let that happen again. And in his mind, putting on the harness was the first step of that. Even though normally I harness him up for our morning walks which he loves.

By the third day, I could finally get his harness on again.

Because he gets so upset and maintains that for quite some time, we are careful not to push things farther when he does get upset. The goal is to never escalate. If he gets upset, we focus on de-escalating the situation.

Our goal is to build trust and help him overcome his fears of these things, so forcing it will not be productive in the long run.

A couple of weeks later, we attempted it again. This time, we gave oral meds two to three hours before we were to head to our appointment. We also had the meds that would be inserted into his gums so that we could give those before we departed as well (instead of in the van at the vet's office like we tried the last time.)

I had practiced with the syringe for the prior two weeks. He adapted and did very well getting chicken broth through the syringe. When it was time for the actual meds, I was to give one syringe into each side of his gums. First one went well. He would not allow me to do the 2nd one once he realized I was no longer using chicken broth.

He then would also not allow us to put on a collar or harness and leash him up. So once again we had to cancel our appointment.

We have a follow up appointment with the Behavior vets to develop a better plan for him. But we could not get an appointment until late November, so vet visits are on hold for Blitzen for now.

Aside from the vet visit challenges, the rest of August and September had some good things!

We were able to get out for some more hikes, which Blitzen normally does very well at. He sometimes gets overexcited and will bark at people or dogs we pass by. But for the most part, we hike on trails that are fairly quiet and he loves exploring.

We also had a couple of day trips without the dogs and he did quite well with someone else stopping in and taking care of the dogs for the day.

His training has been going well. I have not been putting in as much time with training sessions as I want to, since work has been so busy. But when we do, he does well. We have added in some new things.

One thing we have worked on is going “Around” that Zooka does well. Previously, he has worked on “around momma” which is starting in heel position, going around me and back to heel position. We are now going Around other objects. Like a tree or the table on the deck. He is doing very well!

Blitzen continues to do very well with the visiting dogs who board with us. He is always super pumped up at first and struggles with controlling his enthusiasm. But once he settles in, he loves playing with everyone. And he's good at giving space to the other dogs when they do not want to play.

One day, I was teaching my Sunday classes at our place and was up in our fenced outdoor training space. I look up and see Blitzen trotting up to the outdoor space all by his lonesome and with nothing on. Apparently, the door from the house did not get latched tight and Ed lost a dog. Thank goodness that Blitzen came trotting right up to me. I leashed him up and walked him back to the house.

This was a door we normally do not go out, so he has not practiced waiting at that door like he does the others. Fortunately, he came right to me and we got him back in the house quickly.

In late September, we made our annual trip to Snow Mountain Ranch for our getaway. This was Blitzen's first trip with us. We rent a cabin and stay for a few nights. We hike during the day, hang out and relax at the cabin and just take a bit of time away from home to take a break.

Blitzen loved the hiking and hanging out all day. He loves to snuggle with his momma and he loves exploring on the trails.

But Blitzen also does best with routine and structure, so how he would handle being in a different place, we were not sure. Nighttime, especially was different. There was not enough room to set up his pen in the bedroom so he had to sleep in the living room area in his pen. He struggled a bit the first night but then settled in and did well.

So other than the attempted vet visits, Blitzen did pretty well for these two months. Definitely still lots of work to do, but he has certainly made a lot of progress in many areas since he first came to us.