Little Peanut is a nosy girl who gets into everything she can find. She wants to know what's on every coffee and end table, in every bag and behind every obstacle. It's important for safety management and for training that we puppy-proof a home and manage a dog's access to her environment while she's developing good habits of occupying herself while not being entertained by people.
It concerns me that I'm getting a rising number of cases of what's often called "global fear," where a young dog is afraid of, well, everything. Sweet Madden here isn't as affected as some, and you can see he's cautiously interested in me, but he does struggle to cope with everyday events and sounds, and with leaving the security of his home, even for a potty run.
I'm generally resistant to Christmas decor before December first, but Paisley is so proud of her jingle-bell collar, I had to share. Apparently she asks first thing each morning to put it on, and struts around proudly as soon as she's wearing it!
(in case you wonder, like I did: the bells are very quiet and only jingle softly when she does a big shake, so they aren't constantly accosting her sensitive hearing)
Separation Anxiety is a term that gets thrown around pretty loosely. I hear from people using the phrase for a range of behaviour from a dog who is just happy to see them come home to one who follows them from room to room, barks a minute when left behind, or complains briefly about crate time. Dogs are supposed to prefer to be with us. But Separation Anxiety is akin to a panic disorder, where the dog can't cope with being alone or apart from someone, and suffers real distress. Joey here needs help managing alone time, and success will come from carefully managing his experiences alone to change his feelings.
