Stressful Situations

I've walked Kal twice this week.

It's really tough.

The anxiety.

My own.

The fear every time a dog barks behind a fence,

or a closed glass front door.

Or even coming from someone's closed garage.

The neighbors across the street (the ones with a "window" cut out in their fence for their dog to see out, a dog that's always barking and racing back and forth in something other than a happy, excited manner, are having work done) are having some work done, and, though I opted to avoid walking in that direction today (Kal wanted to, and balked when I saw the dog through fence boards and turned around), we ended up passing by on our way back.

The worker's were gone, but the garage was still open, and I could see through the garage that the side door- into the yard where the dog had just been 10 minutes ago- was also open.

I could hear him barking from the other side of the yard, and, as I know nothing about the yard, could not fathom anything other than that the dog would surely come around the house, through the garage and out into the yard.

Fine time for Kal to be stopping to sniff at every little thing.

Exactly what he'd been doing in the open field when a dog across the street was out in its backyard, barking and watching us through the chain link fence.

I've always allowed him to sniff and investigate, and it was all I could do not to panic and urge him to hurry up.

Nothing happened, mind you.

This is just my mental and emotional state these days.

I'm always on the verge of freaking out about it, now.

I've walked the girls along our usual route every day this week, and been wary of those dogs barking behind those fences, when they never bothered me before.

Today, we went a slightly different way. It was later in the morning, since it was raining today first thing.

The dog at the glass door, the one in the garage, the one on his usual tie-out... even the friendly one,

all pushing me into a mild level of freak-out.

I wasn't even sure which route to take home, after that, since I had no idea what sort of dogs might be out and about at that time of day.

Again, it was fine.

But I'm still freaking out.

He really is doing so good.

DH has been walking him in the evenings, and they've been enjoying it, although that sends me into a panic for other reasons. They've actually encountered loose dogs twice, with no issues, DH handling the situations the way I used to be able to.

But I don't like it.

I don't like that he is insisting on walking in the evenings- when other people are arriving home and letting their dogs out to run loose.

I feel like he's taking unnecessary risks.

It's all sort of moot, since in two weeks the time change is going to mean it's dark by 5pm, and since wrestling practice also begins that same week and he won't even be home before 7pm. The dogs' bedtime is 7pm (another reason walking later has been hard, Kal is too wound up or hasn't had a chance to cool down, and getting him to relax and go to bed on time has been impossible. I really need him to keep the same bedtime as the girls- it's practically the only thing they still do together as a pack. Having two packs in this house,this tiny house, which was ok when all I had were 3 older dogs who slept all day, has been really difficult. Plus, I  need him in bed on time, so that I can finally have a break.

DH arrives home at around 4pm and promptly sequesters himself in the bedroom with his video games, ignoring all of us for a couple of hours, instead of taking over minding the "children" like I keep expecting him to...

I'm not sure what I'm going to do when the daylight changes and wrestling practice begins. The plan was for him to get up earlier and walk Kal before going to work.

But I just finally got Kal sleeping (or at least being quiet in his crate) until I'm ready to get up.

I'll probably have to start walking him again, though I'm not sure I'm up for that.

He's doing so well, playing Frisbee, ball and tug in the yard in the mornings, and working on skills and tricks. I can tell it's sufficient, both physically and mentally, and that he's learning things, and becoming calmer.

Now if I can just keep him from aggravating Kansas, and avoid her overcorrecting him during the day...

I can't remember when the last time I had a "good" day was.

It seems like they're all bad days.

The vet visit went fine. Everyone made a big fuss over him, and he made lots of new friends. He didn't really like having his ears messed with, and the vet was unable to actually see in them, so we had to resort to  another $20 swab/culture, which came back with "still too much" yeast. That means another re-check in two weeks. She wanted me to start administering the meds twice a day, instead of just once, and asked if I needed more. I have plenty of ear wash, which I guess is still once, every other day, because she didn't discuss that (and that's the more expensive of the two), but I really didn't have enough of the actual ear medication to last two more weeks, especially at twice as often. I don't intend to double up, though. I really feel his body handles things like this on its own, so I'll continue with the daily drops til they're gone, and continue with the ear wash til it's gone. If need be, there are a couple of holistic methods I can then employ. But I wasn't going to spend another $60 in meds.