Saturday, November 30, 2013

I just wanted to do an update on Skylar, since it has been a while since I blogged about her! Skylar has been doing wonderful even though she still is sick with an upper respiratory infection (kennel cough) and coccidia, which is an intestinal parasite similar to giardia. She's on two different medications currently, and seems to be getting her energy back! She is on a bland diet of rice, chicken, chicken broth, sometimes canned puppy food, pumpkin, or yogurt, depending on the day. Skylar earned herself a new nickname of ricebutt from dumping her bowl of rice and sitting in it, getting it all over her back end. She seems to be doing a little bit better with her separation anxiety as well, because she doesn't go completely ballistic like she was doing. She'll cry for a moment or two before settling down. We've been working on targeting, sit, down, stay, come, watch, and heel. she does fine in the house with no distractions, with distractions however is a different story! I am using positive reinforcement and clicker training with treats as my method of training her! Skylar has already started alerting to my anxiety attacks and mood episodes 5-10 mins before they occur, which is really going to be helpful for me in the long run! She's performed the same procedure 12 times so far, so it's not just by chance. she'll pull on my jeans or do anything to get me to sit down. Once I'm in sitting position, she'll crawl into my lap, look intently at me and start pawing at my face, and pulling on my shi, rt. Then she'll lick my face and start pulling on the ends of my hair. Once it's over, she'll lie down either in my lap or next to me, look at me super intently for 5-10 mins or so. Once she's sure that i'm okay, she'll bring me a toy to play with her as a distraction. She's done this same procedure every time, so I know it's not just by chance!!
                        I know already that Skylar is totally going to change my life for the greater good! She is already helping me with my anxiety and depression and is keeping me busy! I already love her so much, and I honestly don't know what I would do without her!!