We got our Heads Shrunk by Dr. Jones

While we were away we had a big thing happen.

Our day started out with a stop to the Paducah Bank.

Got nummy nummy bones.

But then we ended up at that usual place...the V-E-T!

It was time for Uncle Puppy's Shots and then we had a "pain free appointment" as momma called it.

Take the big one first!

They checked our records.

Got out all the tools fur Uncle Puppys shots and exam.

And began their work. Well as soon as the dogtor touched Uncle Puppy he lived up to his reputation of "The Tinkler". Poor boy could hold it at all! See Grandma she is having to push him so the dogtor could see him. He kept scootching back.

Then the dogtor turned her attention to us. See Dogtor Flanary recently added a new dogtor to her practice and one of her specialties is dog behavior. And supposedly thats what we were here for. -------------
Here we will let momma bore you with why she thinks we need our head shrunk!
What there is nothing wrong with us! Never mind the big heads!

(Thanks ASTA fur the pic)

Well my mother (Mollie and Bobo's grandma) and I had been discussing some things that had been happening in the household such as Bobo's "attitude problem" towards Uncle Puppy. He seems in the past few months to have turned very grouchy every time Uncle Puppy goes by he lunges at him and growls. Then Mollie will kick in and help Bobo. Also in public lately he had been lunging at other dogs and growling. He had never shown aggression to humans and never bit human or dog. Before we ever decided to consult Dr. Jones we began looking at when things took a turn. We pin pointed it to the ice storm of 2009. We had been living at Doggy Nanny's house with no power, no water, and no way out for over a week with trees crashing down, everyone stressed and then the most horrible thing happened during that time. Dolly, Doggy Nanny's cocker spaniel and Bobo's beloved companion, got very sick and later died. We all knew what happened but for Bobo, he didn't know where she went. He only knew she was gone and it happened during a time of major stress. Then after that he began going more instead of staying at Doggy Nanny's house. And we began seeing small things here and there but didn't think much of it. Later in 09 we began fostering dogs. It did seem to help bring him out of that sad place and socialize him some. But when Betty came in 2011 things took a turn for the worse. Her energy really did something to the overall feel of the house. Bobo became more apt to lunge and growl at Uncle Puppy, he was just in an overall foul mood and Mollie soon followed and became moody towards all the dogs. Then Ellie joined this pack and when I had decided to adopt her things got even worse. Bobo spent alot of time under the couch hiding and when I would play with or talk to Ellie both Mollie and Bobo would get mad and stare at me. In the car they would growl at her. That is when we decided to see if the new doctor at the Vet Clinic could help us find a solution. We sat and talked for over an hour about the behaviors, pack dynamic, and our hopes for the pack. She explained that Bobo's anxiety levels were always high (just his nature) and that added stress (uncle puppy, fosters, dogs taking his attention time away) were making him more anxious thus he would lunge and growl at the "stressful thing" to make it go away. She gave us some tools to use to see if they could help which include DAP, medicine (for Bobo to relieve stress) and new rules for the house. We put to use all of the tools and it really made a difference. Then once Betty and Ellie were adopted we could really see a difference in the house. Its peaceful here again. Uncle Puppy is no longer being lunged or growled at and Mollie and Bobo's moods imporved. Mollie was feeding off of Bobo's anxiety and doing what he was doing. So by removing the stressful things (fosters and Ellie) and putting Bobo on medicine we are all happy again.

This situation was a major reason I decided to let Ellie be adopted by Valerie. This house and pack was not right for her, although I really love her it was best for all. I know she is happy and now Mollie and Bobo are happy.

It was hard for me to go to the clinic and put this on the blog because I didn't want people to know my dogs were, at the time, out of control and behaving like they were. I was embarrassed but this entire experience was a good one for dogs and humans alike.

Right now I say the house is 99.9% better. We still have a moment or two where Uncle Puppy will get on Bobo's nerves and he might lunge but its way less severe and way less often.

So we all thank Dogtor Jones for helping us shrink Bobo and Mollie's heads. They are much cuter with small heads.

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Mollie and Bobo here....
To top off our crazy day we saw this on the way home. BOL!

Wags and Licks,
Mollie Jo, Bobo and the Tinkler!