Good progress over the past couple of days, but today, we took a step back. I was somewhat expecting this to happen.
The good news, it was the beagle not the cocker spaniel. She started around lunchtime when I checked in via the Google Nest camera, she had her head up and the howl was bellowing out. Our good run over the past few days has come to and end, not a crashing end, but more a speed bump.
I am not going to change anything, I expect we will see set backs from time to time. I dont expect the dogs to be perfect. They are older and I understand it takes them longer to adapt to changes.
Dogs sleep in a different room to help barking during the day
As we live in an apartment, we have a long staircase that leads up to the second level. The second level also has carpet, which for our old cocker spaniel equals a nice place to do her business. We blocked off the second floor during the day, so we dont end up living amongst her smelly pee’s. Once in the carpet, its not easy to clean up, and I think within the first few weeks we had a good number to clean up.
As a result, more recently, the dogs have been comfortable sleeping on the ground floor without us close by. They previously slept in our room, so a reasonable change for them.
I am going to add this as a new strategy, I dont expect this is going to be an option for everyone as I understand the importance to have your pet sleep close by. For us, it was more chosen by the dogs as they struggle with the steps. I am thinking this slight separation might be helping them disconnect a little when we leave them during the day too.
I am going to include this as a strategy moving forward. While I dont have a set time when they started to change their sleeping habit, I would say its been gradual over the past few weeks.
Other Updates for the day
Otherwise, the day was not too bad, as I said the beagle is starting to play up a bit, I am thinking about starting the Rescue Remedy drops that arrived a few days ago. I might try on the beagle and see how she goes. I have also ordered a new Adaptil Calm collar for her, I will see this makes any difference.
I was chatting to my vet friend who also reminded me to keep steady with our approach, she said we are going well and to expect set backs every so often. Its normal for different things to trigger a dog and if we can achieve a 80% or above success rate on a weekly basis, we are going well. She also said different breeds can result in varied speeds of adapting and changing. I know the beagle is smart, but you generally need food to motivate her. The cocker on the other hand likes to protect food, so thats just an example I have seen on how our breeds vary considerably.
Anyway, I will see how the Rescue Remedy drops for dogs go and provide another update shortly.
Strategies and Techniques Used in this Update
To make things easier to follow, I have decided to list of each barking mitigation strategy I am using, to keep a track on the progress and identify what is and what isn’t working.
New Technique added: Dogs sleep separately to owner
Combined Current Techniques:
- Dogs sleep separately to owner (new)
- Adaptil Calm Collar
- Playing Calming Music
- Calm dogs before leaving house.
- Radio playing in the background.
- 10 Minute Morning Walk
