Week 3, Day 4: Dogs, Dogs, Dogs

I haven't felt very well today. I've been having a flare up all day of some of my chronic illness issues, including an upset stomach and really bad fatigue. I didn't feel too bad this morning when I started my morning shift at the Fairway in DogTown. But the first thing I did was take a little chihuahua on a walk, and I could hardly make it through the walk. Luckily, a lot of the rest of my morning was spent socializing shy dogs, so that did not require much exertion on my part. It was really rewarding to work with a couple of dogs who would not allow me anywhere near them a couple weeks ago and watch them start to make progress. Two dogs in particular got to the point where they'd take food from my hand and allow me to pet them. I could tell it was hard on them, but I'm so proud of their progress.

One dog I worked with is named Mocha. She is such a sweet dog! I have never been able to get near her. Today I sat outside with her on a leash and I tried to feed her peanut butter, just to associate being outside with me with something good. This was how she was when we first got out there: lying as far away from me as the leash would possibly allow!

She would not eat the peanut butter from me, but if I put some on the ground near her, she'd eat it when I walked away. By the end of our time together, she ate one single lick from the spoon of peanut butter in my hand. Later, I worked with her in her run. This is when we really made progress. She flinched the first time I touched her, and tucked her tail as I pet her, but slowly over time, she started to get more comfortable. After a while, she was giving me kisses!

Success! It was a really satisfying morning. Too bad I felt sick for most of it. After lunch, it was time to pick up Pepsi for training class. He was excited to see me, which was really nice. Last week's class did not go very well because he gets too excited and distracted when he's around other dogs, but this week we worked really hard on not barking and on staying focused. He did a great job! We also all worked on loose-leash walking, which he is very good at. But I found that when he was on the road with cars, and all the other dogs from class, he struggled and wanted to pull. Every time he pulled, we stopped walking. By the end of the walk, he was doing great again.

At the end of class, a lot of what we were doing was just sitting and listening to the trainer. Pepsi has trouble with this because he wants to be doing something, especially if it involves greeting the other dogs. But we sat through the whole thing and he didn't make a peep. Granted, I was feeding him a million treats, but hey, whatever it takes! He was getting so slobbery from the treats and dirty from the dirt flooring the he got himself (and me!) totally caked with slobbery muddy dirt. Look at his paws!

After class, we have the opportunity to take our dogs on outings. Pepsi gets very stressed during class, so I personally think the last thing he needs after class is more stressful stimulation. So instead, we went somewhere quiet and sat together. He was on my lap of course. This was also good for me because I really wasn't feeling well by this time.

I was hoping to go to the Blessing at Angel's Rest tonight, which is a blessing of animals who have crossed the rainbow bridge. I actually donated money in honor of my last dog, Soda, to Best Friends and had her commemorated at their Blessing last year. So it's an emotional thing for sure, but I really wanted to go. Unfortunately, I'm just not up to it. I hate when I have flare-ups of my illness and I don't even know what really caused them. All I know is that I need to rest in bed, eat the right foods, and hope my stomach doesn't start to feel even worse! Hopefully a good night of rest will make me feel better.

Oh, and to end on a positive note: I checked in with Rescue Village this morning and my first two rabbits that I helped bond spent the night unsupervised and it went really well! They were cuddling all day today and continuing to groom each other. What a success!