So, it seems like I post once a year instead of the weekly post that I want to do. I promise to try and do better. Life has been pretty crazy for us. S, of course, has PTSD. He had a good job and then got an even better job at the local base. Well, one of the lovely VA doctors put him on some meds that caused him to blow up and he was fired. We have since figured out that the way his PTSD is right now, there is no way that he can work. When he got fired, I went and got a job as a Screen Print Production Artist at a local t-shirt shop. The pay is way better than my last job, but it is still lacking. I am also going to college full time for a B.S. in Psychology. My plate is very full.
Back in April, we were looking for a cat to add to the family. While on Craigslist, I saw a Golden Retriever listed. I told S about it and told him that if he wanted him, I would get him. We had been looking for a Golden because S missed the old one we had when we lived in New Mexico, plus we wanted one to train up to be a PTSD dog. Bud, joined us on April 20, 2015. We didn't think that he and Molly would get along at first because he kept trying to start issues with her. We got it all sorted out though and are much happier for it.
This fall, S and I moved in with another veteran to try and save money to move to another state. The dogs have a yard to play in now and they couldn't be happier. Well, they could as the yard is infested with fleas and I've been battling the little bloodsuckers for the past month. I just tried a new flea topical this month, I will review it next week.
S has went back into treatment and will be gone anywhere from a month to 4 month, so I am left here to be keeper of the dogs and to work on Bud's training. His last owner kept him in a crate all day and didn't really give him much attention. He's house trained and we have since trained him the sit command, but I have a lot more work to do with him if he wants to be service dog ready.
We did take Molly and Bud out to Blue Springs, MO last weekend for the Dogtober Fest. This is the first time Molly has been to anything like that and she loved it! She did pull on the leash a lot, so I need to work on that while in large crowds, but there was no barking or snarling from her. She even sat and tried to beg food from a complete stranger! (Which was a bit rude of her, but so out of character for her to give a stranger that type of attention anyway). Bud also did well. He pulled some, but no where near as bad as her and he did not feel the need to go sniff every person or do that came by. I think he has great potential as a PTSD dog, especially seeing how he has calmed S down during major anxiety attacks in the past. The only major issue I have with Bud right now is that he is destroying the yard of the rental by digging holes. They aren't small ones either. The yard looks like the moon with all the craters. I'm sitting outside working on that one today though. Hopefully I can get it through his head.
Anyway, I must wrap this up. I will try to update again next week and let everyone know how the flea treatment is working.
