What's the latest on the continuing saga?
Thanks for asking!
Since the "attack" last week Nigel has been completely separated from Zoot and Rushmore. Zoot is getting his stitches out tomorrow and is still on pain meds, so I don't want them to be together just yet. And Rushmore is just so small (20lbs) that as a precaution I don't want him around Nigel any time soon.
So no aggression to report (yay!) but probably because Nigel's favorite targets haven't been available.
I am happy to say that Nigel is still his sweet goofy self in the presence of all of the other dogs (you know... Mokey, Leeloo, Furley, Turkey and Samson!). Thank goodness.
I have been working with Nigel and obedience and he is doing AWESOME. He is so smart and eager to please. I want to get him into a class with others so that he can do well in a group and boost his confidence even more.
I talked to a friend of mine who is a licensed acupuncturist and he gave Nigel a diagnosis from the Chinese Medicine perspective. That was some great insight too. He has high hopes for Nigel's reformation and healing.
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I haven't started on the desensitizing for food aggression yet since Zoot is still on pain meds, and he will have to play an active role in those training sessions. But I am looking forward to what we will be able to do. A new friend of mine has a dog who used to have serious food aggression, and now his dog can eat in a room with 4 other dogs. So you better believe I am going to pick his brain about what he went through!!!
I am feeling really good about everything. Keeping Nigel separated from Zoot and Rushmore is a pain in the butt sometimes, but I am dealing with it, and so is Nigel. I know we can work through this. I think it will bring me and Nigel closer together.
