Dress-Up for Dogs, NOT! & Another Paw Step Forward

Since I totally flaked on posting last Friday, there are two entries today. We're still dealing with Wyatt's barking, however it is improving and Luna is not as bothered by it. We went to the vet on Friday and Luna is A-okay medically except for the hookworms which we're treating. Saturday Luna had an appointment with the groomer.
She had a few mats that I was having trouble with and I wanted to rid her of her undercoat and start fresh with her! Well, she did well except for not liking the dryer, but to our groomers credit, she was careful not to stress her out too badly. When it came time to pick Luna up a smiling, tail-wagging girl greeted us with blue bows on her head! The bows were a big hit with my kids, but I have to say dressing and putting bows and the like on dogs is the dumbest and the photos I took prove
that at least Luna agrees with me.

Sunday we noticed a vast improvement in Luna, her panting was almost non-existent except for related activities. Then the rain and thunderstorms happened and she was panting full tilt again. The compounding of stressors is not helping her. There's really nothing I can do about Mother Nature, so I am working on the barking trigger from Wyatt. For whatever reason Wyatt doesn't like when Josie and Luna play and begin to bark at them. I am able to redirect him with either ball playing or treats but if I stop he goes right back to barking and Luna doesn't like it. But then neither do I. The upside is Luna is turning her back on his barking more and more instead of growling.

My vet thinks Luna is a gem. He loves her temperament. He thinks once we get her past her fears she'll be a true golden girl. My thoughts exactly, but my vet is a past breeder of golden retrievers. Sunday night I had a duh moment when it dawned on me why Luna runs to her crate at night instead of following the others outside for their final potty break. She's rushing to her crate most likely because she doesn't want to get left outside. She was after all kept outside away from her family for who knows how long. It's difficult to say whether she'll ever get past this fear but the husband and I are determined to help her. For now we're using lots of yummy treats and consistency to show her we'll never leave outside. Hopefully the nightly routine will over-ride the fear of being left outside.

Until next time Woof, Woof, Woof and a Roo!