Afterthoughts -- March 16, 2013

My meeting with Dr Karen Overall was so intense and provided me with so much information to think about and process that I feel that I need to add two thoughts in a new blog.

I’ve often pondered why Bing is so good with me, mostly good with Pete, and pretty much intolerant of everyone else. He has learned to accept certain amounts of touch from my other instructors and a few others, but it is within very particular parameters.

I believe that in Bing’s state of Generalized Anxiety Disorder, he has learned that I am Home Base. I am the most trustworthy thing he knows, so when he is anxious or uncertain about something, he needs me in order to help him feel like the world isn’t collapsing around him. If I am not here, Pete will do.  If we are at a rally or agility trial, he can tolerate someone he knows feeding him in his crate, but that’s the most he can do. Once, when I was not home, one of my instructors took him out to the pole barn to play. He had a complete meltdown, even though it was someone he knew well, and he was on his own property. He was fine in the training room, though, which is adjacent to the fenced yard. It was just one variable too many and that was more than he could handle.

The other challenge that now makes more sense to me is how he behaves toward other dogs. When he was a youngster, he could play with anyone. He could even get dogs to play who hadn’t played for ages with another dog. As he reached adulthood, that social behavior changed dramatically. He would approach a dog in a friendly manner, but then started humping the other dog. It became so frequent that it was pretty much all he’d do. If the other dog didn’t care, he wouldn’t stop. If the other dog did care, he would become snarky. In the end, we stopped letting him play at all. My new understanding of this challenge is that he really does want to play, but as his anxiety developed, he became more uncertain of how to behave. His anxiety is so global that it affects most of his world.

All of this has given me a new perspective of all of the things we have done and the things we do now. I realize now how incredibly difficult a trip out west must have been for him, and we did it twice. I kenneled him twice in his life; the second time I vowed I’d never do it again. I am VERY fortunate that Tango came into his world. Tango is small, white, super friendly and relentless in his desire to play. Tango has become Bing’s pet, someone to play with. And because of Tango, we were able to bring Harriet into the house. It couldn’t have happened any other way.

So, for now, I will be vigilant about what I am asking of my friend, Bing. I hold the answer to all of his questions, and he relies on me for safety. He’s a great dog when he’s in his comfort zone, so my job is to help him stay there. In the meantime, we continue to tweak the medications and work on the breathing biofeedback exercises.

 

Ali

 

 

 

 

Bing Blog 64