Hi Paula, I know I will be seeing you on Saturday with Edith but wanted to give you a running report on her visit to the vets last night. I got there quite early ~4:15 for a 5pm appt. I waited in the car with her for a good while (15mins) to help her and her arousal level. I would say she was in orange when we arrived and was able to have her dunk some feet into Green/yellow. There were a lot going on outside the car and she was able to at least sit and just look. She was very good about waiting in the car once I opened her door, she let me change her leash patiently etc. She was also very patient about getting out of the car but the blacktop was hot and so I had to move her quite quickly to a shaded area. We stood there for 10mins and she was very good. She basically sat and watched her little world go by. She didn’t take any kibble from me but she was happy to sit. Once it was time for her appointment I went into the waiting room area where there was one other person with a cat. Edith was interested and pulled on her leash a little but no barking etc. She then sat by me until it was her turn.  She was very unsure about the scales but we took our time and she slowly walked on after following me. Once in the room I let her sniff everything. A dog was barking in the waiting room and she barked a couple of times and then she actually did OSR with me. She was very cautious with the Vet tech but I explained to her not to push Edith and to take everything slowly with her so we first put her on the table and let her have a sniff etc and did a little OSR although at this point I think she was genuinely scared. I let Edith know everything I was doing-“Up” “off”, “Help” etc. When the Vet came I again explained that we just needed to go slowly and inform Edith everything that we were doing. The vet was my old boss so she was very understanding. Edith was scared but slowly she relaxed. I had been practicing with Edith a lot at home with saying “eyes” when looking in her eye, “ears” “teeth” etc, etc. And after telling the vet, she let Edith know everything she was going to do, and you could physically see Edith relax slightly. She was such a good girl.  I am sooooooo proud of that little lady!!

Hi Paula! Just a quick update. My niece is hanging with the girls this week due to an unexpected summer camp mixup. When Lily came over we started by doing the usual process (having Lily come thru the front door, clover in crate) and it was apparent very quickly that clover remembered her. Once clover was calm and relaxed in her crate, we let her out on leash and then soon after let her be off leash. She has been as relaxed with Lily as she normally is with us. She’s not doing appeasement behaviors, she’s mostly doing her own thing and saying hi when she wants to. They’ve been snuggling today

Merry Christmas and again, thank you for all you do. We appreciate you so much!  And by the way, this is huge, my brother surprised us again and came in yesterday when I got home from the sniff spot. This morning Ava was manic with her toy and I did OSR and she just laid down on the couch and chilled after that. AMAZING!!! 

Good morning Paula, I wanted to let you know that Norman is my boy and I am so, so proud of him. Saturday he took himself off to have a snooze in our bedroom (which he never does-he normally follows me around) and then when he woke up he came running in the living room to where we were sitting and looked for me, jumped up on the sofa gave me a kiss and promptly laid down next to me and fell asleep again. He is becoming so much more relaxed and happy 🙂

As an update, Clover has been home with us. My mom is a great guinea pig since she’s pretty calm and unfazed by Clover and doesn’t try to get in her space. And she knows we are practicing with guests so she’s been willing to help.

I’m pretty sure Clover remembered that last interaction with my mom because when we did the arrival protocol, Clover did her stranger danger bark and she doesn’t do that too often anymore (even when we have had repair guys come). So we just let her chill in the crate until she relaxed and then when ready brought her out on leash and did OSR by the couch. My mom and I chatted for a couple hours and Clover was mostly relaxed but definitely keeping an eye on my mom. Like idling at yellow I would say and dipping into green now and then. We put her back in the bedroom while I made dinner and the girls came home and she came back out on leash after dinner and was then much more relaxed around my mom and curious about her (sniffing at her a bit and even laying pretty close to where she was). The girls started doing tricks with her so she got a little playful and was then much more herself. She even laid down on the couch between my mom and me (a few feet away from my mom) before bed. We’ve just kept her on leash while we are all together.  This morning, Clover was a little startled when she came out and my mom was still here so she barked but we just did the routine again and did OSR on the couch and she settled. She at one point went close to my mom to check her out and sniff at her and then froze and growled quietly so I just said her name and she refocused on me and we did more OSR. But she’s mostly ok. She just walked by my mom (on the leash) and gave her a little lick on her hand and walked off. I would say it’s mostly a really positive experience. She’s just uncertain here and there so we are doing our routines and I can see her settling back down again. My mom leaves tomorrow so we will probably just keep doing what we are doing. So that’s what’s happening!

I’ll let Brian tell you about how he encountered a dog on his walk with her last week (all went well thankfully, but it was an off leash dog so we are lucky). 🙂