Blitzen's fifth month, May 2021, with us was a difficult one!

May marked Blitzen's first birthday. It also marked a difficult month for him in regard to his growling over things. Guarding objects, guarding space, getting upset over. . . not always sure what.

While we had been making good progress on some areas the past couple of months, this month was some progress and some regression. We had one particular week when he was very growly about a lot of things. I cannot say for sure, but I think he was feeling more painful even though we had been working on his physical therapy. He also does a lot of running and playing and chasing and rowdy stuff with his brother Zooka, so it's easy for him to get sore, I think.

May is also the month when I ended up with a pretty good bite to my thumb, thanks to Mr. Blitzen. The bad news was that it hurt and was bleeding pretty good. The good news is that this bite was NOT the result of him guarding anything or getting upset or worried about being handled. This one was purely accidental.

Zooka and Blitzen love to play with the water coming out of the hose, so when we go to fill up the water bucket to drink from, they like to chase after the water. Blitzen was actually going after the hose and got my thumb instead. Ouch! Fortunately, it has healed up just fine and I did not need any stitches. But I am much more careful with the hose now!

May was also the month when Blitzen overcame his fear of going up the stairs into my office in our loft! The bad news is that he had not yet overcome his fear of going DOWN the stairs, and from the loft, there is no other option. Treat lures, and anything else we could think of was not working. He was too afraid to go beyond front feet on the first step.

We ended up getting him down painfully and with lots of growling and snarling at us with the use of his muzzle, harness, leash and a blanket over his head. Once we got down, he was quite happy to be done with it and he would not go near the stairs to the loft again the rest of the month.

From that point on, Blitzen would not let Ed put his harness on him to go for walks. For a few days, I could not either. He got very growly and snappy at us. After a few days, I was able to start putting it on him carefully with the help of lots of treats. I have gotten very good at putting on his harness and buckling it up with only one hand (so the other hand can feed treats.)

One day I had Zooka and our boarding dogs outside and Blitzen was inside on his own. The other dogs were helping me with a private session with a client. Blitzen was frustrated at not being able to join us. (He was barking and too excited, and the client dog I was working with was not ready for that.) The one and (so far) only time he has chewed something up other than a toy or a tissue. He got hold of one of the remote controls and chewed it up beyond repair.

We continued getting him out on some hikes, and he mostly did well with those. He still did some barking at people or dogs, but has been much better than when we first started out.

He continues with his training and going to group classes. He actually does quite well with his training.

We continue with his physical therapy exercises, and he does well with those and keeps getting more flexible.

Because he was having such a difficult time over this month, we decided it was time to talk to the Behavior Vets. We scheduled an appointment and got one scheduled for early June.

Over all, though, he has been getting more snuggly and for the most part being happier and having more fun. He loves his big brother (most of the time) and they continue to play a lot each day.

Our goal is to positively impact the lives of as many dogs and their families as we can, in part through our extensive library of video, infographics and text articles. If you like our work, please consider supporting us through a donation!