Eddie has not been inside the house for the past week, and has been spending the night in his spot by a tree about 30 feet from the house. I put a six inch layer of wood chips on the bare ground at the bottom of his 18 inch depression in the snow. I'm encouraged that he has chosen a spot close to the house. I also knowthat he occasionally sneaks up onto the deck at night as evidenced by the wood chip trail he leaves behind. He is staying warm and is putting on wieght and seems to be staying warm enough. He seems to be keeping an eye (or ear in his case) on the house. Snow is still melting and dripping and dropping off of the roof and the surrouding trees. I think this is a mater of some concern to him. I think this is one case where seeing might help to understand the strange noises created during the snow melt processes. His animal patience and quiet mind probably helps him making these long term observations. As his mental paradigm I'm hoping that over time it will take him less time to ascertain safety.
On the food front, I have decide to change my appraoch a bit, for two main reasons: Random and constant change to avoid reinforcing negative patterns, and releiving the stress of eating. Over the past few weeks he did not seem to be getting any more comfortable eating from his bowl so I have been setting his bowl out with food in it, and then after he sits down to think I dump the food on the snow. He immediately chows it down without the tension and apprehension of eating off his plate. He ignores the the bowl placed on the ground about two feet away from where the food is dumped. I conclude from this he is afraid of EATING from the plate not afraid of the plate itself. In the past he was wary of just the presence of an empty bowl or plate nearby. This is part of my new strategy to illiminate sources of stress and making him feel more comfortable and safe.
I have come to htink of his mental paradigm as one of fear, and I'm trying to shift that to a more positve hopeful outlook. It seems that he is afraid of change. any change seems to result in a default reaction of fear. I'm trying to reform that to a more optomistic and less fearful outlook by removing sources of stress I have control over. I'm hoping that an inate tendency away from fear will take over and shift his mental framework toward one of safety and away from automatic suspision of change. I have a feeling that the doggy disiplinarians out there are rolling their eyes, we shall see.
As well as hanging out closer to the house he has begun peeing closer to the house and is now adopted a spot near the garge about 150 feet closer to the house than his original spot by the snow plow turn-around. Also he is beginning to hold his tail a bit higher and wagging it on walks more frequently, as well as lifting his leg when peeing on walks. These subtle shifts are encouraging to me as indications that a more positive mental framework is emerging in his mind.
On a more theoretical note if that is possible, I have been intorducing small chages in the daily routine, mostly as result of normal circumstances due to the changing season and my ongoing house remodel. I moved the three plywood sheets from the deck yesterday, and will be interested to see how he reacts if he ever comes back onto the deck. In the coming weeks as I get back to into construction mode with the longer warmer days kicking in, I'm hoping that he will not be terrified by the power saw and other pandemonius construction noises. So my overall strategy is to eliminate all unnecessary stress while introducing new possible sources of stress. Change is going to be rampent around here with the coming of spring and as the house interior morphs, so I'm going to let him define his comfort zone. In other words I'm going to give him some space and time to relax and enjoy, instead of asking him to confront his fears and accomplish what I want. The main reason I feel comfortable in doing this is that I think we both share the same goal, of a more socialized Eddie. I'm shifting my paradigm to noe of change coming from the bottom up instead of from the top down, allowing him set the agenda of his transition.
On the food front, I have decide to change my appraoch a bit, for two main reasons: Random and constant change to avoid reinforcing negative patterns, and releiving the stress of eating. Over the past few weeks he did not seem to be getting any more comfortable eating from his bowl so I have been setting his bowl out with food in it, and then after he sits down to think I dump the food on the snow. He immediately chows it down without the tension and apprehension of eating off his plate. He ignores the the bowl placed on the ground about two feet away from where the food is dumped. I conclude from this he is afraid of EATING from the plate not afraid of the plate itself. In the past he was wary of just the presence of an empty bowl or plate nearby. This is part of my new strategy to illiminate sources of stress and making him feel more comfortable and safe.
I have come to htink of his mental paradigm as one of fear, and I'm trying to shift that to a more positve hopeful outlook. It seems that he is afraid of change. any change seems to result in a default reaction of fear. I'm trying to reform that to a more optomistic and less fearful outlook by removing sources of stress I have control over. I'm hoping that an inate tendency away from fear will take over and shift his mental framework toward one of safety and away from automatic suspision of change. I have a feeling that the doggy disiplinarians out there are rolling their eyes, we shall see.
As well as hanging out closer to the house he has begun peeing closer to the house and is now adopted a spot near the garge about 150 feet closer to the house than his original spot by the snow plow turn-around. Also he is beginning to hold his tail a bit higher and wagging it on walks more frequently, as well as lifting his leg when peeing on walks. These subtle shifts are encouraging to me as indications that a more positive mental framework is emerging in his mind.
On a more theoretical note if that is possible, I have been intorducing small chages in the daily routine, mostly as result of normal circumstances due to the changing season and my ongoing house remodel. I moved the three plywood sheets from the deck yesterday, and will be interested to see how he reacts if he ever comes back onto the deck. In the coming weeks as I get back to into construction mode with the longer warmer days kicking in, I'm hoping that he will not be terrified by the power saw and other pandemonius construction noises. So my overall strategy is to eliminate all unnecessary stress while introducing new possible sources of stress. Change is going to be rampent around here with the coming of spring and as the house interior morphs, so I'm going to let him define his comfort zone. In other words I'm going to give him some space and time to relax and enjoy, instead of asking him to confront his fears and accomplish what I want. The main reason I feel comfortable in doing this is that I think we both share the same goal, of a more socialized Eddie. I'm shifting my paradigm to noe of change coming from the bottom up instead of from the top down, allowing him set the agenda of his transition.
posted by Nikopotomus at
3/10/2009 10:59:00 AM
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