Blitzen's August & September 2022 were not quite as stressful as his July, but no big strides forward either.

We had some ups and downs with his growling and snapping over things like putting on his harness. We had some stretches when I could not put his harness on at all.

We had one success at the end of August. Normally, if he gets growly and snappy about getting his harness on, then it's done. There is no coming back from it once he gets growly. You just do NOT try to put it on if that starts.

But this one day, he got growly and snappy, but I had already had it clipped in on one side. Which is challenging because you can't get the other side clipped and you can't get the side already clipped unclipped. But I had to do something.

I was able to break it down into smaller steps and able to actually get the other side clipped. It took several steps and a few minutes, but I was able to get the harness on for our walk.

Despite his off and on issues with getting the harness on, he's always good once it is on. And he's good on the walks. I rarely ever have trouble getting the harness OFF from him after a walk. Getting it on is the struggle when I have a struggle.

That same day was the day we had our follow up appointment with his pain vet.

She noted that he definitely favors his left rear leg when he starts getting tired. Repeated Sits and Downs, for example, start out good, but the more we do, the more fatigue we see setting in on that left rear side.

We resumed his memantine again along with the pregabalin and rimadyl. Though there were no serious issues in the MRI, we can see he still has some pain issues especially when he's been doing a lot of physical activity.

A couple of days later, Zooka and Blitzen came as close as they ever have to getting into an actual fight. There has always been some tension there. Blitzen can get pretty tense and growly with Zooka. But Zooka has always done a good job of avoiding conflict and not letting things escalate. But this evening they had bully sticks and Zooka was not as keen on letting things go. We did not have an actual fight, but I had to insert an ex-pen between them and keep them on opposite sides for a few hours to calm both of them down.

September was also hit or miss. We had some good days and some bad days.

Early September, we added in a new behavior medication, amitriptyline. We always start at a small dose to see how he handles a new medication before gradually increasing to see if it will help him. At low doses, we did not see any changes.

Around mid-September we had a 3-4 day stretch when Blitzen was very agitated with Zooka. We had to keep them separated for the vast majority of each day, which we normally have never had to do. Around the 4th day, he seemed to calm back down and we were able to get back to fairly normal routines.

There were a couple of doses of medication that got missed during those few days, which most likely did not help the situation. It's so important to keep consistent on maintenance medications, and when doses are missed, it's hard to tell if those missed doses impacted his worsened behavior.

Toward late September we discontinued his pregabalin to see if it would make any difference. Still taking the rimadyl, amitriptyline, and memantine.

The last week of September was our annual trip to Snow Mountain Ranch for our anniversary and our vacation. We drive up with the dogs, stay in a cabin and spend our days hiking and relaxing.

This year was a bit rough. Blitzen had some definite struggles with getting leashed up in the mornings sometimes. Once I get his harness on, I kept it on all day until we took it off later in the evening. Normally, I only have it on for walks, but since he was hit or miss, I kept it on so I only had to put it on once a day.

During our down times in the cabin, he was pretty good and snuggly until later in the evening. He could get pretty crabby as the evening went on. That could be in part due to more exercise due to all of our hiking. But it also could be due to the smaller space in the cabin. At home, we can usually give him plenty of space to walk around him when he's resting. In the cabin, there was not as much space to give him.

Most of our walks at home are off leash. When we hike and have dogs on leash, we normally each take a dog, and Blitzen does well.

However, this week, I had to handle both dogs. With not being on leash much lately, and with me handling both dogs, Blitzen's leash manners were not great. He gets very concerned about getting caught up in Zooka's leash, so he tries to stay well out in front, which means more pulling.

I worked on it, and he did well some hikes and not so great on others. Something we have not worked on much at all, so it was clearly a struggle when things got changed up from their normal that Blitzen is used to. It would be easy to blame him, but it's just as much on me for not practicing in that context with him. I can't lay all the blame on him when I have never asked him to do that to any significant extent prior to this.

So, while I wish I had lots of great progress to report for these two months, the fact is that it was not great. We have our struggles.

Why do I share this? It would be great if I only had great things to share. Believe me, it's humbling to admit how much of a struggle it is with Blitzen some days. But that's why I share it.

Despite the fact that I am a highly experienced, credentialed behavior consultant and trainer, I struggle sometimes too. Some dogs are a LOT tougher to make progress with than others. Doesn't mean you are a bad dog guardian. Doesn't mean you are failing your dog. Sometimes it is just really hard.

And some dogs require a LOT more patience and work and help (in Blitzen's case, that help is pain relief and behavior meds) to be successful. Fortunately for me, and for Blitzen, I am a pretty patient person and pretty persistent. I don't give up easily.

But it's a struggle.

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