[nagdu] A Little Concern With Chet

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Buddy,

I can only compare to what I've seen in my young dog, but I'm wondering if
Chet is starting to feel physical discomfort when lying down for a car ride,
which maybe heightens his anxiety about the hospital?

If it is anxiety, perhaps some sort of positive reinforcement during the car
ride would help, as well as some extra positive reinforcement during the
time at the hospital.  He could be picking up some of your anxiety, since it
sounds like you are having some very rough times there.

Those are just suggestions I'm throwing out, since those are the two things
I look for first in fidgety behavior in a fully trained animal.

I know what you mean about not being allowed to leave your dog.  /smile/  I
left Mitzi in the car yesterday with Daisy for a whole 15 or 20 minutes to
go sighted guide with my roomie into a crowded saltwater taffy shop (yum!).
When I got back to the car, I discovered my velcro dog was suddenly a
superglue dog.  /lol/  She's still stalking me a bit today to make sure I
don't get out of line.

Best to you and Melanie and Chet in this difficult time.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Buddy Brannan
Sent: Sunday, May 17, 2009 3:02 PM
To: Discussions Of The Seeing Eye; doggie-den at yahoogroups.com;
buddy-l at yahoogroups.com; the National Association of Guide Dog Users NAGDU
Mailing List
Subject: [nagdu] A Little Concern With Chet

Howdy,

So, as if life isn't interesting enough around here, right?

I'm getting a little concerned about something with Chet. Certainly  
it's something to keep an eye on, especially now that Chet's getting  
well on into middle age. (He just turned eight in February.)

Over the past little while, I guess I started noticing at Alena's  
hospital trip, Chet has shown a bit of anxiety during long car rides.  
Not so sure about the short ones, could be those as well, but very  
evident during the long ones. He doesn't want to lie down for them;  
when he does lie down, he sits back up, sometimes even stands and  
turns around and would probably pace if he had the room. Well, he did  
have the room, in the limo on the way to and from our plane to Disney,  
and he did. He was, in other words, very restless. Of course, he also  
still doesn't like hospitals; when we went for a test Melanie needed,  
he urinated in the admissions office, even though he'd been out  
something like a couple hours before. It could be that he associates  
long rides with going to the hospital, I don't know. One thing i *do*  
know is that we'll be needing to make more trips like that in the  
coming months, as Melanie needs several surgeries.

Otherwise, his work is still fine, and he still jumps up ready to go  
when asked. (Also, he gets very bent out of shape if for some reason I  
go somewhere without him.)


Anyone ever deal with something like this? 

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