Oh, the Indignity!

After the last thunderstorm, when Georgia kept me up until 4 AM, I’ve been searching for some thing that will calm her down, relieve her anxiety and let me sleep. Admittedly, the thunderstorm season is drawing to a close, so I may not have too much more time to find a solution this year, but still seeking any kind of solution puts me a leg up on next year. Plus, it’s not just thunderstorms, it’s also fireworks and firecrackers, the ice-maker in my fridge, the beeping of the oven timer, etc…

So, I tried anti-anxiety medication, which did not work, at all. It could be because the dosage was not right. I’ve also heard about melatonin, dog appeasing pheromones and the Thundershirt.  So, the first thing I’ve tried is the Thundershirt.

And, I actually think it might be working, but not because it wraps the dog in comfort. No, it’s the indignity of it. I put it on her and she looked at me like I’d just embarrassed her in front of her peers. I’d stolen her dignity.

This evening something freaked her out and she was pacing and pulling furniture around so I put it on her again and it definitely calmed her down, she would just stand there very close to me. After a while she finally lay down, on my foot.

Maybe I have a winner, at least for me!

Footprints in the bathtub

Storm season and the thunder we got last night drove Georgia into the bathtub. I forgot and so had to add cleaning the tub to my morning routine.

Dog breaks into refrigerator, steals chicken

Sounds kind of like an Onion headline, yet it’s true and actually happened.

I’ve taken steps to safeguard my edibles from Georgia, but things don’t last forever and cheap things don’t last at all. The latch on the refrigerator was coming unstuck, probably due to visitors to my house not knowing it was there and attempting to open the fridge without releasing the latch. But it hadn’t fallen off in a while so I didn’t even think about it, assuming I was safe or rather my food was safe.

I went grocery shopping in the middle of the week, which I usually never do and since I’ve been working so much wanted to get some quick food that I could make last. Enter, Wegmans Rotisserie Chicken, an economical pre-cooked food that would last quite a number of meals. I had one leg for dinner and thoroughly enjoyed it, plus the protein was good for me as I’d been skipping too many meals.

Knowing Georgia, I put the garbage in the garage before I left for work, the chicken bone smell would have made her very determined to break through the plastic toddler lock on the kitchen cabinet where I usually keep my garbage. I merrily went off to work. 9 hours later, I come home to a wide open refrigerator, with a broken latch and no chicken. Usually, when she gets in the fridge, she likes to eat the cheese or butter, but this time she must have been too full from the chicken to eat anything else. However, who knows how long my fridge had been open, could have been 8-9 hours if she started her break-in right after I left for work. So, that middle of the week shopping trip did not really do me any good, because I just lost about 1/2 of it, in perishables.

Now I have a dog with a stomach full of almost a whole chicken, bones and all. Luckily, she didn’t appear to be suffering. I was slightly freaked, but she seems to have a cast iron stomach. A co-worker had a friend whose dog was in the exact situation and he was told by a Vet Tech to feed the dog white bread and pumpkin puree. I did have some white bread and also made some white rice. Instead of stopping food I kept feeding her normally. I added in the bread and rice to make sure her system kept moving. The first night I wasn’t sure what would happen, she was very restless and kept pacing and when I heard gurgling, I knew something intestinal might happen,  so I took her out a couple of times, thank goodness. It was about 4 meals before things started flowing normally again.

She’s fine and had a very nice treat. It didn’t faze her at all as the very next night she stole the dish that had roasted potatoes in it. I’m going to try to superglue the latch and really get going on researching kitchen remodeling, so that I can replace the fridge, maybe something not so easy for paws or nose to break into.

Georgia racked up at least 3 points on her score.

Finding Safe Haven

So, it’s the start of thunderstorm season and Georgia has already become familiar with her hideout. It’s gotten worse over the last couple of years ever since she was outside when a really loud crack happened.  My strategy is to not be solicitous and make a big deal about it. The consequence: my bathtub gets cleaned more frequently!

Hiding from the thunder

Waiting out the storm

Those sensitive canine ears

If you have a dog in the house, make sure you replace your smoke detector battery. My smoke detector started chirping yesterday, warning me that the battery was low. When I get home from work, I see Georgia slinking around the house and then she went into the backyard and didn’t want to come in. Initially, I didn’t get it, but finally figured out that she was freaked out by that chirping, she was whining and wimpering up a storm. I immediately changed the battery. I almost didn’t get her to come in so we could go for a walk.  But all was resolved, after our walk I don’t think she even remembered that she was upset.