We’ve had a lot of change in our household in the past month. Pooh Bear spent her days at home since I got a new job and she was with our house sitter for 8 nights while we went to Mexico. Either of those events may have sent her into a spiral, but she was steady. The house sitter said Pooh started to struggle a bit at the end of the week, but overall it went well. So, I thought we were in the clear until spring weather warms up and Pooh decides she wants to go to work again. She doesn’t like the cold so she has no interest in going to work lately anyway. I just set that concern aside since she is pretty lazy and “Go to Work?” may just fade off her list of vocabulary.
Since all was well and the gym is full of New Year’s resolution people I decided to get my house under control. Pooh and Matt were watching tv at the other end of the house so I went for it. I gave Pooh’s room an overdue, thorough cleaning. Her
bedding needed to be washed before we went to Mexico, but, as you know, she isn’t a fan of change so I decided to wait until we returned. I washed ALL the bedding in her room at once. Her futon got brand new flannel sheets and pillow cases that I washed so they would be soft and smell like our soap and her nearly unused crate got new bedding too. I moved the futon to
vacuum all around it and then put everything back just how it was…or so I thought. The vacuum had been put away for hours, but I realized she hadn’t left the front room at all. Hmm? So, I got a bag of treats and invited her down the hall to her room. She
came down the hall, looked in the doorway at me, and assumed her hunkered down “it’s a scary world” shape. I spent
several minutes tossing treats toward her, regardless of how close I got she would NOT step into her own room.
So, job changes and long vacations were fine, but cleaning brought us to a complete standstill. I didn’t
see that coming!
After a few minutes, I decided we needed a break so I walked out of the room (left treats scattered all over) and we went back to watch some tv. On the next round the appeal of the treats started to have an impact, but it still took quite a while (and a lot of treats) to convince her to make it all the way to her futon. Later that evening she was fine, but it was a sketchy couple of
hours. I am still struck by how wrong I was about the impact of the cleaning spree. It’s nice that my dog shows me how little I know about life.
Since all was well and the gym is full of New Year’s resolution people I decided to get my house under control. Pooh and Matt were watching tv at the other end of the house so I went for it. I gave Pooh’s room an overdue, thorough cleaning. Her
bedding needed to be washed before we went to Mexico, but, as you know, she isn’t a fan of change so I decided to wait until we returned. I washed ALL the bedding in her room at once. Her futon got brand new flannel sheets and pillow cases that I washed so they would be soft and smell like our soap and her nearly unused crate got new bedding too. I moved the futon to
vacuum all around it and then put everything back just how it was…or so I thought. The vacuum had been put away for hours, but I realized she hadn’t left the front room at all. Hmm? So, I got a bag of treats and invited her down the hall to her room. She
came down the hall, looked in the doorway at me, and assumed her hunkered down “it’s a scary world” shape. I spent
several minutes tossing treats toward her, regardless of how close I got she would NOT step into her own room.
So, job changes and long vacations were fine, but cleaning brought us to a complete standstill. I didn’t
see that coming!
After a few minutes, I decided we needed a break so I walked out of the room (left treats scattered all over) and we went back to watch some tv. On the next round the appeal of the treats started to have an impact, but it still took quite a while (and a lot of treats) to convince her to make it all the way to her futon. Later that evening she was fine, but it was a sketchy couple of
hours. I am still struck by how wrong I was about the impact of the cleaning spree. It’s nice that my dog shows me how little I know about life.