Project Hailey - Loving My Winter Girl

It was a rough summer for our girl. As most of you remember, at the end of June, she went through the wall again during a storm while we were at work. This led to us playing with her medication. It sort of felt like she was our Goldilocks - 20 mg of prozac was too little (she will still go through the wall), 40 mg was too much (she will do nothing but sleep),  but 30 mg (and the occasional Xanax) was just right!

She remained on 30 mg until the end of September. At this time, we decreased her dose to 20 mg.

We did this because we thought the kennel would have more success giving her 1 pill (she needs 2 to get 30 mg) and because we like to take her off it in the winter.

She remained on 20 mg until last week, when we reduced her to 10 mg.  (We are now currently looking at fading that out, and we can talk more about how that goes in a later post. She had a hard time with that last year!)

The world is now white

The difference in my girl with 10 mg compared to 20 mg, is very clear. On the lower dose she is far more food motivated. She begs more. She drools watching you eat more. She counter surfs more. She is in the dishwasher more. Basically, you would think we did not feed her. Interesting to note, we had to remove her slobowl when we increased her meds because she was eating so slow, she would get tired of eating and not finish her dinner. It was just too much effort. As of yet, we have not had to return the slobowl.

Other noticeable behaviour changes. She is far more cuddly (although the fact it is much colder, it was -25C/-13F this morning may also be a factor in this, but even before this week, she didn't just spend her evenings hiding). She is also more easily excited. She jumps more. She barks more. She has more life!

While I love my winter girl more, I know that being medicated through storm and firework season is what is best for her and our pack. She deserves to feel as relaxed as possible. It is not safe for her to be so anxious or to engage in such dangerous behaviours as going through the walls. We all deserve not to hear her bark endlessly out of fear. 

Having Lee be more Lee, is one of the only good things that comes out of winter!

Taken yesterday. We had a record breaking snowfall on Monday. It is now here to stay I fear.