When we started working with Paula, Clover had the habit of licking us all rather frequently and frantically. We thought at the time she was just a licky dog and discussed this with Paula as something we wanted to get a better handle on. Paula explained how the licking behavior was actually associated with Clover’s generally high anxiety and use of appeasement behaviors with us (vs more genuine affection and friendliness).We started with refraining from all touch with Clover unless she asked for it. At first, Clover did not ask for any affection, even after we could see she knew how to ask (by softly pawing at us). We started to wonder if she was a dog who just didn’t want much affection. Maybe a month or two after little to no petting, she started to ask to be pet. We would pet her and then stop, giving her the option to ask for more if she wanted it and allowing her to walk away when she chose. Over time, her interest in being pet increased, at the same time as the licking decreased. About a year into working w Paula, we have a super cuddly and sweet dog who initiates a lot of affection (to the point we have had to teach her the cue “not right now” when we are the ones not ready for petting!). The licking is occasional and without the franticness. It comes as little hello kisses and she stops when we ask her to. She seeks out closeness with us in a way that is much more genuine, at ease, and natural for us all. It’s been really sweet to see her feel comfort and safety in our presence that wasn’t there before (without us even realizing it).

Starting to reintroduce beds. She still bites and pulls at them but only when she’s higher energy and arousal, which is pretty predictable to us now. We are trying keeping her bed out when she’s in daytime nap mode (and putting it away when she’s more energized) and she’s actually handling it. We tried this a few months ago and had very limited success so beds went back to the garage. But this time seems better. We even found her sleeping in her bed in the office all by herself last night during bedtime routine which is one of her higher energy periods where she usually tries to put herself in the action so maybe she’s remembering these are comfy places to go unwind. Definitely seeing her learn to make different choices in these higher energy periods all around. Not perfect yet but getting better.

Clover did awesome! I’m also kind of blown away that I didn’t know vets like that exist. It was such a positive experience for both of us.I’ll tell you more tomorrow and run a couple questions past you but the vet, vet tech and I just sat and chatted in a room today. They gave clover a steady stream of cream Cheese, Vienna sausages and spray cheese. She growled for about a second when they first came in but was very quickly eating from their hands and was pretty curious about both of them throughout. They gave a few suggestions on how to make things stay really positive. Their behaviorist is going to schedule happy visits for us, which are Sundays and we would be the only ones there (that’s when they said she can sniff around more if she wants to). After a few happy visits we will tackle an exam and a shot since she’s due for both.Overall, they seem to know what they are doing and they’re excited to hear that we are training the way we are. I think this will be a great vet for us.  Thanks for the suggestion!