Today's Cloud

So, let's do this quick and dirty (so it actually gets done...)! Today we've had yet another reminder of Monster's difficulty with cats - severely aggravated by the cat related injuries he received recently. On a walk he saw a cat run across the road quite a distance ahead of us, and suddenly he was manic. Pulling on the leash, scanning all around (looking for something to react to), bouncing around, and showing all signs of stress and frustration. Eventually he exploded and lunged at a car driving past. Cars are no longer an issue for us, but because of that cat he suddenly reverted. I've tried working with him around cats to get him to calm down again, but so far no luck... This is a (depressing) reminder of how all problems are linked, and "fixing" just one or two issues isn't an option: I need to fundamentally alter his associations and coping mechanisms. And I'm just not good enough...

Bloody cats!

Well, no point in giving up!

Week In Review

You know what sucks? Let me give you a list:

• Migraines. Migraines suck. You know what sucks worse than migraines? When a migraine goes away, gives you half a day's relief, and then starts over again. That sucks.
• Miserable weather sucks. Yet another winter storm blows in, making it pretty much impossible to leave the yard for days - and for the worst of it impossible to even leave the house. Hurricane force winds with all kinds of debris make for a very nervous walk in open terrain! Not that it would be any more fun in a forest, admittedly...
• Cats. Cats suck most of all. Especially that cat I just peeled off Monster's face. Monster found a cat on our lawn when we came home from a walk, and it apparently decided that it should claim our yard as its own since instead of running away it fluffed up and started growling. I didn't see it in time, so Monster ran over and stuck his nose in its face - not trying to bite it, he seemed to be more confused and curios than anything else - and the cat just latched on and clawed him bloody. There are deep claw marks all over his face, including inside his nose, one of his eyes, and inside his lips. A neighbor heard me screaming and came over to help. The cat wouldn't leave! He had to chase it out with a stick (he didn't dare try to touch it) while I held on to Monster. As far as he and I could tell the cat was perfectly fine (and I didn't see Monster hurt it in any way), but it's a neighbor's cat so I'm sure I'll hear if it's been harmed after all. I just find it hard to muster up much sympathy for it. Monster's lived here for three years, the cats know perfectly well that this is his place, why can't they just leave him alone!? And this was a different cat from the one we've been having problems with who hides nearby and jumps out and attacks us when we're walking past... Cats clearly suck. Right now Monster is pacing around the house licking everything in some sort of stress reaction. He's licking himself, me, the carpet, the walls, everything. And when he calms down he'll no doubt start to feel his wounds... I'm hoping it looks worse than it is, I've cleaned them as much as I can right now and will go through them more thoroughly once he's calmed down a bit - hopefully we can manage with home care, but cats' claws (thank god the little orange devil didn't bite him at least - that I saw) tend to leave nasty and easily infected wounds... And I'm worried about his eye. We'll see if we'll need to brave a visit to a vet...
  
  

A what!? No-no, I feel fine, promise!

(Another thing which sucks could be that I apparently write like a drunk child when I have a migraine, but let's just pretend that didn't happen OK?)

Today's Cloud

I've said it before but I'll say it again: cats.

What!?! WHERE!?!

It's now official, cats really are more difficult than dogs by now. Today we were meeting a man and a dog so I hurried forward to reach a side street before they got too close, only to find a cat sitting in the middle of that street looking at us. Monster fixated completely on the cat, freezing up and staring, every muscle in his body tensing up. I couldn't get him away, I couldn't move him forward (why do nearly all cats just sit there calmly staring!?), and on the other side of the road was a passing, not very relaxed, dog. Monster knew they were there - he'd been staring at them before we came across the cat after all - but all he could spare was a quick look over his shoulder at the passing dog since there was a cat right there. Nothing beats a cat...

Caaaaaaaaaaat...

People think it sounds funny when I say I have a problem with Monster hating cats. I try to explain that it's actually quite serious, but nevertheless it seems all people hear is "silly"... But it's far from silly. Monster's fixation on cats is damaging to all other training - once he's spotted a cat his nerves are shot, he will react to any trigger simply to get an outlet for his tension. His stress levels make him unmanageable on leash, and he can't listen to a word say (unless that word is "cat" or "kitty"). And there are cats everywhere. I don't know what to do, I have no clue how to relax him around cats. I've tried BAT but haven't gotten it to work, I've tried classical conditioning but nothing works as a reward with cats at any distance, I've tried just standing out by the road for hours where I know cats pass by regularly (friendly ones, not the psycho cats who actually attack us), but nothing seems to make even a dent... I need to fix this but so far I'm lost. And blind. Possibly dizzy too. And the compass is broken.

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