It’s been three weeks or so since we had the animal behaviorist in to tell us what to do with Katie’s idiosyncrasies.  We’ve been keeping her off the furniture including the bed but we haven’t been very consistent with pulling Kleenex out of the box to desensitize her.  It really takes two of us to do this and we just can’t seem to coordinate the training time.  Even though neither of us has a real job at the moment.

So anyway, no more of this for Katie:

Or this:

Poor puppy.

Katie is so smart.  She knew right away what the new rules were and after the first night really didn’t try to jump up on the bed often.  At least not when we were looking.  I came home once and watched through the window of the front door as she casually jumped off the sofa to greet me.  So I’m not so naive as to think she follows the rules when we’re not around.

She has a big pillow bed in the living room that she flings herself down on and pouts on when she wants something that we won’t give her.  Or when we tell her to get “OFF!” a chair on the few occasions she gives furniture another try in hopes that we’ve forgotten the rule.  In the bedroom she has two bed pillows with one of my T shirts on top that she sleeps on.  It’s right next to the bed and she goes there on her own, curls up and sighs when I go to sleep at night.  Later in the night she migrates to the hallway floor and then back onto her pillows depending on her mood.  But she won’t jump on the bed unless she’s scared about something; say the noise of her dad shoveling the driveway, or some carpenter guys banging away in the living room.    She also has her crate, which she runs to when she thinks we’re getting ready to go anywhere scary.  Like the vet or something.  As we pick up car keys she slinks down the hall and into her crate where she will wait us out, not leaving it until she hears us walk out the door.  It’s her super safe place and I won’t pull her out of there, even if I did want her to go with me.  I take the time to entice her out because I don’t want her to feel she doesn’t have anywhere special to be safe.

Speaking of vets, Katie developed diarrhea last Saturday evening and by Monday when it had only gotten worse I called the vet.  We got in on Tuesday morning and it turns out she has a bacterial virus.  So for now she’s getting yogurt in with her food.  And a daily antibacterial pill with a treat.  She loves both!  Today there was improvement in her stool, not normal, but a lot better.  But the vet said no school this week, so we are missing a night of agility and a morning of rally.  Oh well.  She’s feeling better so that’s all that matters.

What a princess.