Little Miss Missy is a frightened wee beastie. She barks at what frightens her, and that is any one on walks, someone coming in the front door, a moving laundry hamper, and loud unexpected noises. I’ve been reading on how to help her (and have consulted the vet), and so we are trying to avoid what frightens her (not possible all the time, but we have managed a reduction), and teaching her calm.

The trouble, I think, is her amazing hearing, and her not so great sight, coupled with enough brains to know she is small and there are many things bigger than her. With what I’ve been reading, the idea is to slowly introduce the “scary” things starting at distances where they aren’t scary. Well, she can hear farther than even I can see, so that raises some challenges. One of the things we are trying is a Happy Hoodie which is used by some groomers to help muffle the sound of the blow dryer. She is not a fan. Her initial reaction was very cat-like: just hold still or tip over. It also hides her magnificently quirky ears and makes her look like a little old lady with a hair scarf (and a beard, I guess we all have different mental images of little old ladies). Still, we will continue to try it when there are scary noises.

We have also put on a pheromone based calming collar, and are using a Thunder shirt and calming treats. Walks have stopped until she chills some. And when we know something scary is coming (laundry hamper), we put her in her crate (and she loves her crate, sleeps there every night). We are making some progress; upon hearing unexpected fireworks she was able to calm with assistance (we said “calm” and pet her gently), and about 50% of the time she can greet my husband coming home with no barking (but lots of wiggles).

She didn’t start out understanding fetch, but now that she has figured out the game, she is obsessed. This is her favorite ball. She has a larger version that is for outside fetching. She will chase other balls, but this one out ranks all contenders.

We started out with ball chase. I had four or five tennis balls and she would chase one, and as she started to head back, I would throw another, until she was dropping the ball near me before I threw the next one. Then she discovered the blue ball had more use than just a chew toy. We are now working on getting her to place the ball in my hand. She completely understands when I point at the ball and open my hand, which makes it fun!

You can’t really tell from the photo above, but my sweet boy Griffin’s wonderfully scruffy beard is gone. The culprit is sitting on the left of the photo. Turns out big brothers make the best chew toys. And he not only tolerates it, he loves playing with her. I hope as she progresses through puppyhood, that the need to strip hair diminishes and he gets his beard back. But it explains her hair balls (though I am still maintaining she is part feline).