A Tiger By The Tail

September 20th, 2012

Because he seemed to be a little calmer upstairs without any other dogs, I decided to keep my routine the same for now.  Wake up out the front door, around backyard, into the kitchen for morning training.  Then upstairs for playing and first pill.  The issue of that darn bath tub was again going to be an issue.  In the tub, I had started throwing his "special occasion ball" to make his fun last a little longer.  It would give me about 2 more minutes.  It was frustrating, but I didn't want to close the door to the bathroom, it was such a great area for him.  I knew I had to come up with something.  As I watched him play with his ball in the tub, I had a really bad thought.  Things could get worst.  What if he somehow destroyed or lost the ball.  I had asked Machelle about getting more and she said she had no idea where it came from.  It had been very popular and if I found it to get a couple extra.  Well, I had begun to feel guilty about taking the ball out of the mouth of another dog.  Of course that feeling had not bothered me until, I had said ball, safely to my house.  I quickly found the exact ball online.  Found 'em, ordered 'em. bam.  Done.  Now back to the tub debacle.  As I watched him, I saw him go from 1 to 60 so fast.

I haven't shared with you about a "60".  That was his umber fit.  They were horrible and I think extremely hard on Drake.  He would go into them so fast.  He would become angry, spin like I thought he would turn into butter and his bark would sound more like a yelp.  I would pick him up from behind, as I had been taught by my ladies at Paws.  Wrap both arms around his chest, and hold on for his outburst.  He trust around yelping, throwing his head from side to side, and fighting me with all of his strength.  I would sit down to conserve my strength.  His yelp would slowly turn into whimpers.  It was not unusual for him to turn his head and lick my mouth, as he would melt into my arms.  You had to continue to hold him for awhile and make sure he was okay.  If you would start to reach down to release him too soon, he would immediately try to rip himself away from you.  Then you would have to pull him back for a short struggle.  If you let him get down, it would start all over again.   It was as close as I would come, or even imagine coming to, having a tiger by his tail.

The fits look like a temper fit, but I have never thought they were that simple.  He will spin and always will, it is part of mapping.  All blind dogs do this to make sure where they are.  He does it all day, but comes out of it by his self.  What causes these '60" fits?  Are they frustration, manipulation of me, senses overwhelmed, fear or are they all for different reasons.  I am trying so hard to understand, if I could, I could really help Drake.  In my journey to locate a reason, I did reach out to another blogger, named Harold Gale.  His blog is called Blind Dogs Forever.  He has much scientific information and really did teach me alot about the double dapples.  However, this is an emotional outburst and only I can figure this out.  Research, watch over him and continue to take all his fears away and replace them with trust.  Well, that sound pretty darn simple.

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