Sequoia & Dudley's Page

I want to thank all of you who welcomed me when I signed up for DoodleKisses at the end of 2011. Your welcoming words meant the world to me. I was in a particularly low ebb at the time - a never ending bronchitis that began the week before Thanksgiving had me drained. I just want to say that things are a lot better with Dudley now. I got a helpful book - Leader of the Pack by Baer and Duno - which changed some things. Dudley now eats after we do instead of before. The alphas eat first. I hadn't realized how important that was. We walk him on lead in a heel position rather than letting him have free roam with a retractable lead. He is much calmer and seems content at our sides. I used to let him run free in a woods area that serves as an informal dog park. But then once this last fall he ran away and was gone for hours. He often comes home agitated. So is this running free good for him? It seems to take him into a wild part of his personality. He often comes home agitated instead of relaxed. So we don't do that any more. Now, when he gets agitated here at home, we calm him, both with giving him time out in his crate and with soothing words and strokes. I have never had a dog this anxious before. It took me a long time to realize that we need to calm him at first signs rather than let him get crazed. Finally, because his cholesterol tested high, we are making a low fat dog food for him. He really likes it. So with all of these changes, he hasn't had a seizure for at least a month, maybe longer and he has been much improved in terms of getting into things he shouldn't, etc. I hope to return to DoodleKisses more often now, but I just wanted to say thanks a million and to share that things are much better.