Thursday the 4th. December.
Timeline for Bubba’s fear issues: https://doglog.avant5.com/bubba-timeline/
10 pm
The video may take a couple of days to produce – I have very poor editing and compositing skills, for now. The recap for this evening’s excitement will be in the morning. I’m exhausted, and I’d rush through it to get it published if I tried to do it tonight.
Bubba was resting comfortably, and acting almost=normal by the time all had settled down. He had gone to sleep in the fireplace bed, and Buddy had gone to bed on the back of the couch, but on the side closest to the deck. It was an exciting evening for them both. I’m hoping for a nice, dull day tomorrow.
8 pm
Quick update: He’s better. It’s been a process. LONG post coming later + lots of video.
5 pm
I started on dinner. Buddy followed me to the kitchen, Bubba didn’t move from his bed. I put out dinner, went into the kitchen to put the food away in the fridge, then go home to finish the timeline then reach out to Hillery to see if she was even able to get up the stairs to check on him. When I came out from putting the food away, Bubba was up and eating. He was standing on the rug next to the bowl, but at least he was up – and hunger is a very good sign.
4:40 pm
I ran to the UPS Store, because I needed to and to try to de-frazzle. I was getting very worried about Bubba. Bubba had moved into the fireplace bed while I was gone. I brought in a couple of the packages and put them into the bedroom. Bubba did not follow. I came back out and sat on the couch, hoping he would get up and come over to get some attention. He stood up in the bed, moved his front paws out of the bed, onto the dog blanket which was hanging off the edge of the bed, and stood whimpering at me.
He was afraid to step on the hardwood floor.
I sat for a long while, but he wouldn’t get out of the bed. I scrolled through my phone looking for old text messages about Bubba and his behavior at the harbor, but could not find it anywhere, and the search results on the log were coming up with too-many answers to be helpful.
~ 4 pm
I came in with the to observe Bubba and try to calm him, but also to do stuff so he could see that everything was fine. I changed the outside pee pad. I noticed the inside pee pad had not been used – a bit disturbing. The outside pad was well-used and looked like it was by Bubba (Buddy tends to pee on the outside of the frame, Bubba on the inside corners). Bubba had also pooped on the deck.
Bubba did not come to investigate when I changed the water in the bedroom, or went into the guest bathroom and shut the door behind me.
I went home to start working on a timeline of Bubba’s mental changes. Another benefit of The DogLog is fairly-accurate dates and times of each noted change, which might be important.
3:30 pm
I tried to work with Bubba again. He was lying in the piano bed when we got back. I opened the screen door all the way, and I sat down. Bubba came all the way out onto the landing. He wanted to be outside. He would only stay out if he could be sitting directly next to me, leaning against my leg. I would sit and pet him in that position for a long while, and then I’d shift a little away from the door when he would move to reposition himself. I was gradually working him away from the door, trying to show him it was relaxing and safe.
He was tense the entire time.
He would shake badly, getting up periodically and spin around, like he was thinking about running away from the stairs, but seeing nowhere to go except the wall would sit back down. The tension seemed to keep building until he decided to go back in. But he looked scared inside, this time. Walking by the food dishes, he started – like something had bitten him from behind – and jumped. Then he was suddenly scared inside his home.
I came in and he moved to the rug by the front door, and looked like he was trapped, in a cage. He would walk to the edges of the rug, but not come off of it. When he finally did, it was a quick hop into the fireplace bed.
1:30 pm
We went for our first walk, finally. We spent the first 15 minutes on the landing, trying to ease Bubba out. Inside, all was totally normal. He got dressed, he got leashed, he went to the door eager to walk, and then once he got his front paws out, he stopped and went into the defense posture. I sat down with him, petting him. I called Buddy to come back up the stairs a couple of times to try to engage with Bubba – and he did, but just quickly nose-poking and then jogging down the stairs again. When it became clear that he was not going to go, I let him back inside so I could get Buddy out. There have been no accidents this late in the day – he will need to go badly.
We ended up walking for almost 2 hours. Buddy pooped by the mailboxes, usually a bathroom-only walk indicator, but we went out to the path to PCH. At the top of the path he wanted to head into town. We only went as far as the cul de sac on Blue Lantern, but it took forever getting there and back. We had a couple of stops to stare at squirrels that wouldn’t move, which lastest over 10 minutes (thankfully I had my phone to chat). I didn’t prod him along at all – Bubba’s issue had limited his walking time, and I wanted him to get as much exercise and fresh air as possible, so I gave him no time limits on staring. The one place I moved him along was at the gazeebo on Blue Lantern. There were a lot of people enjoying the view, and I didn’t feel like trying to control him as he tried to weave in and our of the legs of people standing along the fence line.
We also bottlenecked coming and going outside The Point. He didn’t try to get in, but he would stand and sniff for extended periods, just standing on the grass and taking in the smells of all the things that were cooking.
Once back home, we did spend almost 30 minutes talking to a neighbor who wanted to catch up. Buddy sat down and patiently waited.
8:40 am
I put out the breakfast. Buddy still did not want to walk, and Bubba was not in the bedroom, but well-hidden in the piano bed. I checked to make sure he was breathing – now an old habit – but let him sleep.
Wednesday recap
I’m often too tired when I get home to finish the logs for the day, so this may become more common – next day log polishing when I don’t get updates done.
Buddy and I went out for two more walks.
Bubba and I tried to get out on the landing outside the front door, and it did not go well. He didn’t want to walk outside at all, so I picked him up and carried him. In other places where he’s been afraid, he was fine when I would pick him up. Off of Santa Clara at the view points, he wouldn’t go near the fencing where he could see the harbor, but he would take in the view calmly when I carried him right up to the railing. He started shaking as soon as we walked out the door.
The screen was closed, and Buddy stayed at the screen to monitor our therapy session. I held Bubba, never leaving the landing, stroking his head and his belly to try to keep him calm. He would not calm down at all. I put him down, and I sat down, and tried to calm him. I stayed out as long as we could – I didn’t want to torture him and make it worse. He backed up against the wall, furthest from the stairs, and hunched down. His eyes were constantly scanning, looking for some imminent threat. It was not fun to watch.
I opened the screen door to let him in, and he was stuck. He was too afraid to walk around the half-open screen door to go inside, until I stood up and walked out to the stairs. When I was between the screen door and the wall, he would not go out. He needed me as a shield from whatever was lurking beyond the landing.
Like magic, as soon as he passed the door frame, he was instantly back to Normal Bubba. The fear doesn’t linger once he’s “out of danger.”
Today we’ll try it “softer” and sit by the door with the door open. He’s not afraid to step out with his front paws. That’s probably where I should have started with him.
8:15 am
Buddy greeted me at the door. Bubba was not awake, and not in the living room. I didn’t bother him, because he normally is awake when he’s resting in the bedroom. I wanted to get Buddy out for his bathroom walk, without taking up time to dress Bubba and then deal with the fear problems. Buddy ran to the bed when I grabbed the walking gear, though. It fooled me – because he hasn’t been doing that lately.
I put out the breakfast to marinade and went for a quick 1-mile walk, that ended up being only .6 miles before I was too winded. I really have to fix my health, or Bubba’s going to out-live me by 3-4 years.