Larry is Such a Good Dog, Except When He’s Not

We knew all of the changes would have an effect on him. Junebug is a typical Beagle, very mellow and go with the flow. But Larry is a high strung typical Terrier. First we lost Howie, and less than a month later, we moved a 9 year old girl into his house. And then, we bundled him into a thundershirt and put him in a car for hours on end.

These are major changes for anyone, let alone a dog who cannot understand, and who is, by nature, anxious. Given everything that has been going on in his life it would not be surprising if Larry were having episodes of not being a good dog. But the truth is, he has been a really, really good dog.

Mostly he has shown his stress by not eating at much as he should. But we have had one or two episodes, always at the worst time, of his stress becoming apparent in other ways. Recently, SP’s court appointed advocate came to visit. Larry decided to lunge at her at the door, getting a mouth full of her shirt. He tried to chase after her when she went down the hall to SP’s room, because that part of the house isn’t somewhere “strangers” are supposed to go.

We ended up locking him in our room for the remainder of her visit. The worst part is, she likes dogs. And yet Larry could not settle while she was in the house, or even get to the point where he could be conceivably friendly.

Admittedly, we normally try to have him closed away when people first come over and get them seated and give him a treat as part of the meeting, but right now, we are going to have a lot of people in and out of our house (at least for the next 6 months) and we really need him to become more accepting of those visitors.

I love my little boy. And he really is such a good boy, except when he’s not.