The DOOM Spaniels

We don't often have to give Tristan anxiety meds any more, but today I misjudged a storm coming in. I thought we had enough time to take the dogs out to check on the Big Doggies before it started. As we were going in, lightning struck very close to us, with an immediate thundercrack. Tristan bolted for the indoors. (good boy! leave us to die! we deserve it!)

We supplied a little Better Living Through Chemistry when his respiration rate stayed noticeably high for twenty minutes after he got inside. He's still stressed now, but not excessively so.

No more racing the storm with Tristan.

...

For a reminder of how Tristan developed a distaste for thunder, see July 4th 2019. (It felt like the sky fell in. We later heard from a neighbor that his tree was destroyed by lightning.)

Aha! Buried at the bottom of the new Chewy delivery, we had a new squeaky. Finallly found something to make Tristan feel better on bushhog day. We played fetch, and chase, and keep-away. There was much booping of the toy to make squeakings.

It's bushhog day. The tractor is going all around us. Tristan is having a trying time.

Can I offer you a nice extremely stinky Good Candy chew in this trying time?

I suppose not.

Can I offer you a nice brand new zombie head puzzle toy in this trying time?

I suppose not.

(Yvaine is happily chewing her extremely stinky hoof and Tristan settles down to chew for a few minutes every so often. I *think* today he's annoyed because he has finally decided this noisy Pasture Dragon holds a friend, and he wants to go see the friend.)

I held Tristan for the groomer yesterday; he is still nervous about big trucks and not thrilled about being carried off by strangers. I want him to keep enjoying grooming, so I made sure it would be okay with the groomer when I made the appointment, and then stood there with him the whole time while he was being clipped. I think next time he will be able to handle it on his own.

Got a photo with the mohawk clipped off, but Tris still had a cute lopsided fringe over his eyes.

After Tris was clipped nekkid (except whiskers, ears, and tail), he and I sat and stared suspiciously at the truck from the far side of the yard, while he munched a chew. I also asked for some easy tricks, to get him thinking about something besides the truck and give him more opportunities for reward moments.

~Tristan's Big Vet Visit~

Tristan wants to be good, he wants it more than anything. Tristan tries very hard. Tristan puts 100% Derpish Enthusiasm into everything he does.

Tristan is a very soft boy. Tristan responds to even a "No!" by running away.

Tristan likes exact phrases, and gets confused if you change them at all ("Tristan, come" vs "Tristan, come here") Tristan likes routine; it makes him uncomfortable when routines are even slightly different.

The vet thinks this indicates that Tristan has some anxiety issues and that he might need some anxiety meds. If Tristan's quality of life is affected by anxiety, then we certainly want to make that better. Tristan is a very, very good boy. We don't want to change him, but we want him to feel at ease, not stressed.

Tristan poops about every four hours. The vet says this is far too much, and possibly is caused by stress. Among other things, it seems to be causing him some bottom burn--it hurts. We hope his new meds can help Tristan feel less stressed, calm his digestion, and reduce the poop frequency to something that will be comfortable.

[Note: we also are doing pre-neutering bloodwork anyway, so if there's something unusual that isn't otherwise obvious, that should tell us.]