Poopy Progress
When we first adopted Rufio, he had anxiety issues. He whined and pooped when left in a crate. He would fling it around in fits of anxiety from being trapped in a confined space.
Leaving him on the back patio during the day solved this problem. He could roam and poop at his leisure.
However, he still managed to anxiety-poop when he went to the groomer. I don't know what kind of life he had before our loving family. I deduce that the groomer caused painful memories to flood his delicate psyche, resulting in multiple poops throughout the grooming process.
I considered learning how to groom, so that I wouldn't have to deal with the embarrassment picking up my intestinal nightmare of a dog from the groomer. However, I failed to learn how to groom in the last two months.
There's just a lot of stuff to learn - anal gland expression, ear hair pulling, hair in the paw pads, nails, eyelashes, shaping the face...
So I took him to the groomer on Friday. I made sure he emptied his bowels before arriving (as best I could sans an enema). I brushed him for hours (read 30 minutes) a few days prior. I played with his ears and feet so as to desensitize him. But I've done this routine in the past before a groomer trip, all to no avail.
Until now.
It was not in vain! I'm proud to announce that he did not poop during his grooming! The groomer was very proud of him. I imagine I was like a parent receiving a good report from a teacher after her kid behaved poorly in class. Hopefully the behavior in question would be different in that scenario.
All this to say: I do believe we're poopy-free!
Leaving him on the back patio during the day solved this problem. He could roam and poop at his leisure.
However, he still managed to anxiety-poop when he went to the groomer. I don't know what kind of life he had before our loving family. I deduce that the groomer caused painful memories to flood his delicate psyche, resulting in multiple poops throughout the grooming process.
I considered learning how to groom, so that I wouldn't have to deal with the embarrassment picking up my intestinal nightmare of a dog from the groomer. However, I failed to learn how to groom in the last two months.
There's just a lot of stuff to learn - anal gland expression, ear hair pulling, hair in the paw pads, nails, eyelashes, shaping the face...
So I took him to the groomer on Friday. I made sure he emptied his bowels before arriving (as best I could sans an enema). I brushed him for hours (read 30 minutes) a few days prior. I played with his ears and feet so as to desensitize him. But I've done this routine in the past before a groomer trip, all to no avail.
Until now.
It was not in vain! I'm proud to announce that he did not poop during his grooming! The groomer was very proud of him. I imagine I was like a parent receiving a good report from a teacher after her kid behaved poorly in class. Hopefully the behavior in question would be different in that scenario.
All this to say: I do believe we're poopy-free!
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