Road Trip to Exmouth - Day 1 - Perth to Geraldton

I managed to get leave between the Christmas and New Year public holidays, we decided to go on an epic road trip up to Exmouth, WA. I also got myself a car which would comfortably fit us, the dogs, and all of our gear.

I've yoinked this map from somewhere on the internet to show some major towns in Western Australia. We used to live out to the east in Kalgoorlie and make road trips down to Esperance.

On Christmas Eve, we packed up and headed off to our first stop - Geraldton, about 450 kilometres North of Perth.

Bender was hyper in the back of the car for almost the whole trip - he took ages to settle, but did eventually. Luxury of luxuries, we got to stay in a house at Geraldton. This place has a huge backyard. The dogs enjoyed the grass and the wide open space.

There was one problem. Bender ran to the back of the yard and he found his arch nemesis. A horse.

Of course, he barked. I had no idea what he was barking at, but I knew he was afraid. He was barking with a bit of a snarl on his face, but he was keeping his distance from the fence, and creeping backwards with each bark. N ran down there and saw the horse, who was totally freaking out and galloping around in small circles. He had run into a star picket in his pen and had a flesh wound on his chest.

N went next door to tell the neighbours that Bender had spooked their horse, and that it had hurt itself in a panic. The neighbour came around and was telling us the horse was only in the little pen because it had been recently attacked by a dog - no wonder it reacted the way it did. While N and the neighbour were chatting through the gate, Barbie slipped out the front of the house.

The neighbour had been saying that she really liked Greyhounds and was thinking about getting one as her next dog. Barbie slipped out of N's grip and stood in the front yard. N took her time getting out to her, and couldn't see her anymore. Barbie had headed towards the neighbour's house, as they have two dogs and I think she wanted to introduce herself.

I called her name - she looked up, then spotted the sheep across the road, so went over to their house. She refused to come back to me, and instead trotted circles in this person's yard, sniffing around very close to the house. She finally stopped and stared at the sheep. I caught her and bought her inside - she was not going to be trusted off leash on our holiday now, except for on one beach. Hopefully she didn't put the neighbour off Greyhounds for life!!

In the morning the dogs were given their Christmas presents, and I got the best present from N - a brand new camera to replace my ailing Panasonic Lumix FT-1 which turned out to be not-so-tough.

I didn't get any pictures of Barbie with her Christmas present - a new stuffie. She seemed to lose interest in it fairly quickly. Bender loved his toy though. Here he is enjoying it!

We left Geraldton after going visiting and headed north. We didn't get out of town until about midday. The dogs both settled into their positions on the back seat quickly, maybe a little tired from visiting and getting so much attention from so many people. We stopped at a few attractions on the way up towards Carnarvon (Banana Town) - but I'll tell you about that when I've recovered from New Years Eve.... so stay tuned for some beautiful pictures of what North West of Western Australia has to offer :)

Busy time of year gets busier

Poor Bender is in the wars again - he has an ear infection, so he has to put up with us squirting antibiotics in his ear twice a day til Wednesday. The vet says he has a peforated ear drum and it's been like that for a while. There was nothing in there though - I thought it was a grass seed when he started shaking his head. Anyway he is going to be susceptible to ear infections now - we have to keep an eye on it.

His anti-anxiety meds are not making him sleepy any more and they seem to have a calming effect on him, his on-leash reactivity seems to be getting better - though he is still pretty sensitive to loud banging sounds. He does seem to recover better from a freak-out though, so it must be making some difference.

Barbie is feeling the heat - we are going to buy a fan on Saturday so that we can direct it at her crate at night. I don't need the ceiling fans swooshing around at top speed but Barbie needs some extra cooling. She kept me awake with her panting last night!

With the change in the weather everyone is shedding like crazy and the house is full of drifts of hair. Barbie is shedding heavily because she had that mad-thick winter coat after her winter in the kennels when we were away in Europe. Bald thighs, belly and neck will be making a comeback for summer! Froufrou has a pretty thick coat as well and that comes off whenever you pat her. Mittens, who is long haired, but has a finer coat than Frou, doesn't seem to be losing much fur at all - but she does groom more than Frou, so maybe there are some kitty hair-balls in our future :P

Bender's experiment with Mind-Altering Drugs

I have written before about Bender's fear of percussive noises. It probably started about 3 years ago and has gotten progressively worse with each exposure. Now he can hear a distant car backfiring and freak out. It's not an issue when we are at home but it effects his behaviour when we are out on walks, as he shuts down and goes into flight mode, pulling as hard as he can on the lead to get home as quickly as possible.

N took him to the vet a few weeks ago for his shots, and they discussed his problem. The vet is a friend of N's and is very fond of both the dogs. Her advice was that an anti-depressant may help him cope with his fear, and working with a behaviouralist will probably help too - but that most behaviour specialists won't work the dog unless it is medicated to start with to take the edge off.

He is now on amitriptyline tablets (brand name, ENDEP 50), he's started with 100mg, to be reduced to 50mg in a week's time. The only side effect is that it makes him a bit more sleepy than usual. I've also noticed him drinking more and seeming more hungry. He stares at his food bowl from about 5.30pm now, when his dinner time is 6pm. I have never really known him to ask for his dinner unless we go past his regular meal time. Barbie won't let us forget when it's time for dinner (or walks) anyway....

He still has a phobic reaction to unfamiliar noises on walks, but it does seem to me that he can recover a little better instead of just being shut down for the rest of the walk until we get back to the house. I have been able to get his attention back at times, asking him to heel and giving treats liberally. We are also doing more heelwork any way on walks so that he gets into the habit of doing it when he is relaxed, so that it is easier to get him to heel when he is stressed.

Last night we had a really long and loud fireworks display happening near our house. We had just gone to bed when it started, and Bender got on the bed and curled up between us where he felt safe. We ignored him til it was over and then kicked him out. I mused I should be thankful that he doesn't turn into a destructo-dog when his phobia is invoked. Really, in terms of impact on our lives, his noise phobia isn't that bad. He's not digging through walls or keeping us awake by barking at the thundergods.

The hope is that once the medication starts working then we can start working with the behavioural side of his phobia. I have a feeling it will be a long road but I really just want my boy to enjoy his walks again.

He is due for a follow up appointment with the vet in a couple of weeks so I will update more about it then.

Bender's Noise Phobia

Our brief stay in Kalgoorlie-Boulder was 100% bad for Bender. We had neighbours with nasty, scrappy dogs who liked to fight him under the fence (hence he became territorial), he was attacked by two offleash dogs while he was walking minding his own business (developed on-leash reactivity), and also developed a phobia of thunder and other loud bangs as the storms were simply louder and more frequent out there.

All of these things have gotten worse as he has gotten older. His phobia of banging noises, and his on leash reactivity have led me to the decision that I can not walk him with Barbie any more. The last thing I want is for her to pick up these behaviours from him as well.

The main event that I can attribute his noise phobia to was a massive, mother-of-all thunderstorms we got caught out in when we were living in Kalgoorlie. We weren't expecting it and we were caught out a long way from home. N was walking him and ended up letting him go - he ran straight home to hide. If he is at home he isn't too bad - he just goes to his 'safe place' which is usually my bed. He doesn't shake or pant, justs tucks his ears back and his tail down. He does cope, as long as he can go to his safe space. We have never mollycoddled him when he has reacted to storms, but I am afraid that very first walk where he was allowed to run home at his own pace has had a lasting effect.

On walks, he has degenerated to the point that a car backfiring some distance away makes him into a pulling freight train. He gets down low and exudes all his force (which is quite considerable) to pull me home as quickly as possible. He refuses treats but does obey the 'sit' command. Last night he reacted to something I did not even hear and did not recover from it at all for half of our walk. My quads are killing me from resisting him pulling me along the road. It was a real struggle to hold on to him and to also keep an eye on Barbie, who was for the most part, walking at a loose heel next to me. It was OK when it was just thunderstorms and fireworks (though there are so many fireworks displays within hearing distance from our house that we were caught out by them a few times), but it is impossible to predict and avoid a car backfiring within 10kms of the house.

Leash reactivity I can work on, but this extreme sensitivity to percussive noises is something I find hard. We have worked a bit on conditioning at home and he has improved a bit - but he has only degenerated on leash walks. If he is off leash his only focus is his ball and being near a shooting range doesn't even register with him. I guess we will have to consider medicating him. I am also considering trying out 'mutt muffs' for him - they are sound blocking earphones for dogs, which I have seen on Never Say Never Greyhounds, though they didn't work for Reagan.

We shall see how we go, I guess.