Project Hailey - Progress

In the wee hours of Sunday morning, we have a thunderstorm. This was the second one in less than a week. Our unmedicated girl, did great.

While she paced some and was restless, she did not insist we get up. The only damage she did was to there blanket that she keeps ripping up (and we are cool with that). We were soooooo proud of her.

Needed a little extra sleep after a rough night.

Phod did ok too. He did need some love on the bed, and having a scared dog panting in your face in the middle of night in a heat wave is not a dream, but he was able to settle quickly too.

Project Hailey - Decisions and Off leash by Lee

Hi friends,

As you may recall, from about April to October I take prozac to help me with my anxiety with storms and fireworks. You may also recall that a few times, when I have been home alone during a storm, I have gone through the wall. 

This picture cracked the Lady up

Lady and Man had a long talk and they decided for now, since they are home all the time, they are not going to put me back on it. Obviously, if I seem too distressed (meaning I keep them up all night freaking out), or the world becomes more normal, they may change their minds. They have a couple weeks of pills left from the fall, so they can start any time. They made this decision because I am more fun and crazy and more me off the pills. 

In other great news, the Man has started some off leash training with me. Short sessions, with lots of cookies. It is nice to not be attached to those who are too slow! So far, I have been good and listened pretty well. We will see how it goes. 

I really love having my peeps home all the time and having them follow my schedule! 

Tasty Tuesday - That Looks Good

Lady, that looks good and you really want to share with me!

An off the drugs so I am starving Lee

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. 

Trouble on Tuesday - More Mischief

As stated yesterday, we are decreasing Lee's prozac. We are doing this because she doesn't need it when storm/fireworks season is over. For her health, we would rather her not be on it.

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, a thunderstorm rolled in. While rain was in the forecast, thunder was not. Lee moved right to scratching the wall beside Lady's head. It was Man's turn to get up with her.

It took a long time for Lee to settle. She was determined to do some damage. She tried pawing at/destroying Man's computer. When that was not successful (he made her move), she finished off the bed that was in the fortress of solitude (aka the downstairs bathroom).

A used comforter has been put in its place, so she does have a safe place. 

In the event another storm rolls in we will either increase her dosage for the day and/or give her Xanax. It was much more challenging for her to settle down on the lower dose.

While the Man was pretty tired the next day, our princess had lots of naps.

Mischief Monday - The Dishwasher - A Dramatic Re-creation

Miss Hailey Bug's prozac has been cut back from 30 mg to 20 mg a day. This has her more herself. She is more alert, she is spending more time with us and she just seems more content. However, being more herself has some draw backs, which we will discuss over the next two days.

The first issue with her being more herself is she is far more interested in food. This means she is in the dishwasher helping more.

Friday night, as I was loading our dishwasher, Lee was licking the dishes in it.

Suddenly, Lee realized she was caught on the dishwasher and started pulling, pulling so hard she pulled the bottom rack out!

Lady quickly grabbed the bottom rack, which only had a few dishes, while yelling for Man to help. She held on to it, while Lee shook her head and pulled backwards. Man came running over, and unhooked Lee. The rack was returned.

Did Lee learn from this? Nope, she was immediately back in the dishwasher. Lady remembered the sit stay trick and there were no further dishwasher incidents. 

Lady realizes in hindsight, yelling was no the best way to handle this. Lady also realized how disappointed she was that none of this was caught on video or picture. A true blogger!

Tomorrow, we will share some more mischief!

A Hailey Update

While I was at the clinic with Phod, I was able to discuss how Lee was doing with our vet. At the time, he said we keep Lee on her 30 mg of prozac, even if she seems a bit stoned, for at least another week and we would talk about it then. He also prescribed Xanax, to be used when we can't be home, but a storm is coming. 

I did ask him about cannabis, and he said that there are no products designed for dogs, and no studies on use in dogs. While he is interested, he can't recommend it. He has had clients try and and they report success. He said if I was interested "I was on my own." So for the time being, we will not be exploring this for Lee. We will try things that are vet approved.

While our Xanax is meant for emergencies, I did not feel comfortable giving Lee a new drug and leaving her alone all day. Saturday night, while we were home, a huge storm rolled in (the type that takes the power out for a short period of time). It was the perfect time to test it. After a few minutes, she was able to go to her fortress of solitude (aka our downstairs bathroom) and curl up on the bed there and ride out the storm. While texting with my vet the next day (I don't know what I will do when he retires), he said that is probably the best we can hope for.

He also wants us to keep her on the 30mg for at least another week, so we will. Probably a good idea as we have 3 days of thunderstorms in the forecast. The wall repair should be done this week, we don't need to add another hole.

So that is where we are with our girl. I hope this will all help!

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As a pet owner, the best thing I have done is teach my dogs to tolerate me "shoving" pills down their throats. It all started with our Loki ,who at the height of his disease needed 15 pills a day. We had tried all the other methods, and he would spit them out. These were drugs that were keeping him alive. I recommend to everyone, to teach your dogs to tolerate it because it will help you assure they are getting medication they need. 

Project Hailey - An Update

This is how she seems a lot of the time

It has been a week since Lee's prozac was increased. At this time we are unsure if we are happy with how she is doing. It is a bit challenging to know what is the drug and what may have been the extreme heat last week. 

We have noticed some changes in her. She remains anxious, especially in the evening (not helped by the fireworks that continue as they are allowed all year here and we live in cottage country).   However, she is able to just go and hide. She is less pacy.  She has not destroyed anything. She does seem more drowsy/wanting to sleep more. But again, could some of that have been the heat? Finally, she is eating so slow she would not finish her food in her Slo-Bowl. We have put her food in a regular bowl and she is eating at a regular speed. This is a first.  One night, she was nervous of the thunder and refused to eat dinner. She just hid. 

We are going to give it another week or so and see if she adjusts. Our goal has always been to let her be a calmer version of herself, not a stoned out pup. 

The contractor comes to start fixing our wall today! He is doing it in the evenings after his other jobs so it will take some time. We are just happy he is fitting us in.

This is where we are today. 

Project Hailey - A Fail

This is the mess we came home to on Friday evening. It has been nearly 7 years since Lee went through the wall.

Last week we had a series of thunderstorms roll in. Hailey made the choice to start peeing on the basement floor, which meant Phod started peeing on her pee on the basement floor. So on Friday, I blocked the basement stairs before I left for work. I closed the bathroom door as I always do (as Phod likes bathroom garbage).

A storm rolled through in the afternoon and when the Man got home, this had happened. She had clearly cut her foot doing it (but not serious enough to require medical attention).

We happened to be having brunch with our vet and his family on Saturday, so we discussed this. Hailey has been on 20mg of Prozac. We tried 40, but it was too much for her. So he prescribed another 10 and we will try 30. He is also going to look for other medications we could give her if we knew a storm was coming and we weren't going to be home. 

Of course this was followed by a very stressful weekend for her. We had our niece and nephew here all weekend. Plus there were fireworks. One night, so she wouldn't wake the kids up, the Man sat with her in the bathroom. The next, he just carried her to bed and made her sleep (I missed all of this as I was with the kids). 

We are feeling a bit defeated again, and we have a gaping reminder of her stress. We hope the increase in meds, plus us leaving the basement open and moving the bathroom garbage will prevent her from needing to destroy our house. 

Mischief Monday - It Scared the 💩 Out of Her

The Scene: The wee hours of Sunday morning, the peeps and pups are sleeping happily in their beds, when suddenly low levels of thunder can be heard.

Our protagonist, Miss Hailey Bug, turns into the fearful pup. She starts pacing, panting and scratching at the door to escape.

The Man lets her out of the room.

She continues to pace and carry on, which causes Phod to become anxious.

The Man gets up to be with her to discover she was so scared she had 💩 at the top of the stairs.

The Man spends the next hour or so trying to comfort her (turning lights on, turning music on, blocking all the places she will try and scratch through).

Phod goes back and forth between the peeps and finally sleeps with the Lady on the bed.

Finally, our girl settles with the lights on, the music on, and the Man on the couch.

She was very tired on Sunday.

There are no thunderstorms in the forecast until Wednesday.  Natural alternatives are being researched to complement her Prozac.

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I apologize for not getting to visit you all as often as I would like. Life is happening and until the flooding/construction is a little bit better I will be losing a lot of my spare time to work. 

A Project Hailey Fail

As you may remember, our Lee is on prozac (the generic form picked up at the human pharmacy) from about April-October every year. She is on the prozac to help her with her severe anxiety cause by fireworks and thunder. (If you have forgotten how severe, in August of 2012 she chewed her way through the wall).

She went back on it in early April. We had our first storm. Short story, I ended up asleep on the couch with the TV and lights on and she ended up in bed with the Man after almost 2 hours of stress. 

I spoke to our vet after this and we decided to try increasing her dose. He said we could double it. We increased it to see. 

The increase caused Hailey to be extra tired and she looked uncomfortable in her body (I think she just felt too stoned). After a short time, we returned her to her regular dose.  I spoke to the vet and he said we could look at an in-between dose and I said let's see.

We just got through our first long weekend of the year which means a lot of fireworks for us. While she was a bit pacy the first night, we let her out of the bedroom and she settled without any destruction. Overall she did really well. So for the time being, we will leave her meds as they are. 

Storm Season is Upon Us

Last Wednesday, we had our second thunderstorm of the season. This is significantly fewer than we would normally have by now. The storm thankfully rolled in during the evening on my work at home day.

Miss Lee was very upset at first and ran downstairs and tried to dig her way through my office door. When she is scared she wants to either be outside or downstairs. I brought her upstairs and put on her thunder shirt and she 'settled' in the kitchen. For Hailey, she was very calm, just sitting or standing and panting.

Phod, who use to never show any real reaction to storms, has learned to be fearful from Hailey. While he has never been destructive (go back to around August 12, 2012 to see her worst damage ever), he does want to be near you and pant. 

Emma is oblivious to it all, and I only got her in this picture because she was interested in what I may be cooking in the kitchen. 

I spent my evening while the Man was out cooking (which is so rare) and trying to comfort my dogs. I hope we don't have too many storms (or wind, or fireworks) this season. 

Training Thursday - Off Leash

This is a real picture, there has been no photoshopping of a leash or tie out

Over the winter, when the snow was deep and it was cold, we were able to start some off leash training with our girl. This is always done with great care (assessing Lee's mood, the environment etc.). Historically, Lee has done much better in the winter than in the spring/summer/fall when all the good smells are around.

However this year, again, under very restricted situations, Lee has been doing a good job at being off leash in the yard (100% supervised as we don't have a fence) for short periods of time. Generally, she has been much better at this kind of thing for Man than Lady (which really makes Lady made as she is the one who has spent the most hours training Lee), but she seems to be doing equally well with both!

We are not sure what has lead to this change. Is it maturity? Age? Whatever it is, we will enjoy it.

So will Lee, who had discovered there is nothing better than an off leash roll. Look at her grin!

Project Hailey - More Sillies

Hailey has decided she likes to play with the ball. She likes to chase it and chew it. She does not like to bring it back.  Don't think Phod is thrilled about her taking one of his balls, but as long as he has his, he is ok!

Project Hailey - Living Drug Free

Hailey is now prozac free until the spring (knock on wood). She went off of it very well. Last year when we took her off, she was starving all the time. We didn't notice that sort of change in her this time. What we have noticed is that in the evening, she and Phod have crazy puppy play time. We love to see them racing around and playing with each other.

Here are some blurry pictures of them playing the other night.

This is a behaviour change we can live with! 

This Happened!

Our girl, who is generally terrified of small people, amazed us last night. Our niece Maggie is staying with us for the weekend. Yes, Lee barked at first, but within a few hours, this happened . . . .

Maggie was eating an orange, not a food Lee even likes. She just snuggled up next to her and was looking for pets! We were amazed (especially because our girl is 5 days off prozac). Let's hope the weekend continues to be so successful! 

Be sure to come back tomorrow as we are joining Dory and the Boyz for No Tricks Just Treats For Shelters. Be sure to visit them as they are having a comment-a-thon.

Also, a friendly reminder that Tuesday is the last day to get on the Christmas Card List. If you want on, please email us at leeandphodATbellDOTnet or give your info to Oreo and you will get on the list.

Finally, remember November 8th is Blogville election day. Zaphod is the election judge and all votes will be submitted at our blog. For all the details of voter rules etc. please click HERE. We will post all the rules on election day. Phod is going to be a strict judge. The polls are only open for 24 hours. To help everyone know when, Murphy and Stanley have created this wonderful poster. (We are testing moderated comments to keep everyone's votes a secret, so it will be on for a day or two now, then be off until after the votes are counted and deleted). If you have any questions about the election let us know. 

Free In The Yard

As mentioned before, we have been working to give our girl some "free" time in the yard. It has to be under very specific conditions so she is successful (aka we aren't freaking out because she ran away). The day of our fall photoshot, we let her run around the yard. She was attached to her tie out, but it wasn't attached to anything. The pups had a lot of fun!

Project Hailey - Meds

As I mentioned, we decided to try Hailey on her meds again (prozac) because her anxiety was increasing. We had some at a low dose left, so started with that and saw an improvement. We called the clinic and asked for them to prescribe the low dose.

Last week I went to pick it up and after I left the pharmacy (because she is on a human drug, not one you get at the vet clinic), I realized they had given us the original higher dose. I knew she was going to take it because I had just spent $46 on 30 pills and we weren't going to waste that. However, I called the vet to clarify.

As you may remember, our vet is a close personal friend, who has proven time and again he is a wonderful vet (although there is a joke at the clinic his note taking could use some work). After talking to him about why  we had the higher dose (even though I left a message saying the lower one seemed to be working), he had decided, after looking back at the books and doses, that the lower dose was just too low. He wanted her to be on this higher dose. So like many times in our vet relationship, we have agreed on a compromise: Hailey will try this higher dose for one month (I have paid for it anyway). If we don't think it is any different from the lower dose or if she has side effects etc., he will prescribe her the lower dose.

Now we are waiting to see if we notice a difference.

This and That Thursday

Project Hailey: Minus the incident I reported on Monday, Lee's prozac does seem to be helping. She is still nervous with the wind, fireworks, thunder but she is able to just go and hide. She is not pacing and barking and keeping the whole house awake.

We will continue her on 10 mg until about October and we will look at putting her back on it in May of next year.

Several people asked if we had tried a thunder shirt, and yes we have. Hailey has a lovely pink one we call her hug. When her anxiety was not as intense (it has been made worse by some terrible storms that took out trees at our place and the almost nightly fireworks) it did seem to help. Now it is not as helpful and she finds it very hot (and we don't have a/c).

Phod and glucosamine: We had tried that last summer (he tends to look the most stiff in the summer as he gets more exercise). It appeared to upset his stomach, so it will likely not be something he can take. We never tried it in the form of treats. I will look for some the next time I am at the pet store.

I love that you can see his muscles in this picture! 

The walking situation: Thank you all for all your kind words on my post Monday. Your kind words have helped mend my heart. I am slowly recovering for this. I changed my plan as I felt too bad about leaving Phod without a walk.  Our mornings now go like this. Up at 5, dressed, out for both dogs in the yard for a quick pee. Phod goes inside. He barks once when we leave him. Hailey and I walk for approximately 30 minutes. Then I put her in the house, and I take Phod for the same 30 minute walk. He likes to follow her scent and pee where she peed. Hailey whines while we are out, but will settle. I am walking 60 minutes by about 6 am. I admit I am tired, but know I will get use to this.  We haven't been doing our evening walk at all. It is my hope to get the Man to help us with this several times a week so they are use to being together.

Mischief Monday - Shredding

Hailey had a rough week and had us up every night in the middle of the night. The first night it was because there were actually fireworks at 1:30 am (which went on for like 20 minutes, insert HBO words here - stupid city-its). But the other nights there was no clear reason for us. I said to our vet "if we wanted to be up in the middle of the night, we would have had children." He laughed (I nannied his now adult children for like 8 years).

Our destruction this week was:

One of her beds in our closet

The sheets on our bed. This happened while we were out at our anniversary dinner. We aren't sure if she did this trying to bury the chicken foot we gave her or because she was stressed. I am going to have to see if I can fix them . . . . 

We also noted a new behaviour. When stressed Hailey is trying to "bury" things. In the closet she was taking things from the garbage or the laundry and pushing them obsessively with her head and paws.

We spoke to our vet and have decided to give meds another go. I think being medicated June-October may be how Hailey has to live as long as we live in cottage country (which we plan to do for at least another 20 years, so the rest of her life). She did amazing on them last summer and we only took her off because we don't like the possibility of long term health problems associated with long term use.  Because she faces her fear almost every night for at least 3 months (we live in cottage country so there are fireworks almost every night, if not it is usually because there is too much wind or thunder - her 3 main fears), we can't just do an occasional use pill. As I am preparing the post, it is windy. The windows are open as we have no a/c. She is pacing and whining and not happy. At 8 pm, she will go to her fortress in our basement bathroom and if we do take her out, will be so scared she will refuse to pee. So to help her with all of this, we will try her meds. We have about 2 weeks of a lower than she was on dosage of her pills left (it was when we were fading her off). We are going to start with that. If that is helpful, we will keep her on the lower dosage. If not, we will increase it.

It makes me sad that we can't help her with this in another way. But it also makes me sad to see her so stressed. While the Man and I love her, we can't give up hours of sleep a night because she thinks it would be safer to be outside at 4 am . . . . In the long term that is going to cost us our patience.

Let's hope her puppy prozac works.