Dog Anxiety – …on the B.L.

Stormy Days and Anxiety

January 29, 2020January 28, 2020 RaeAnna

wp-1580266279316 — Beau has been dealing with storm induced anxiety. And yes my Christmas tree is still up. Don’t judge me. | Pajamas | Blanket | Chair | Ottoman |

We’re no strangers to anxiety in my house. We deal with it all the time. The past week has been a long one because of all the storms that have been passing through the area.

Houston can have some pretty epic storms. Hurricanes aside. The past few years, January and February have been particularly gloomy and rainy. This past week has been filled with storms, which is particularly stressful for Beau. I was having a gloomy, emotional week completely unrelated to the weather, so I wasn’t too upset that we stayed in and cuddled. I’ve rather enjoyed listening to the rain outside my window as I work or rest or read.

Beau is fine with the rain as long as she doesn’t have to go outside in it and it’s not accompanied by thunder and lightning. Unfortunately, not going potty isn’t an option, and there has been quite a bit of thunder and lightning. So the week has not been ideal.

Mostly, Beau just wants to curl up and cry. Literally, cry. Sometimes she hides in the closet shaking when the winds pick up and thunder claps. She likes to crawl as far into my arms as possible or squeeze herself tightly between Dylan and I on the couch or in bed. When we cuddle in our chair, she nestles into the blankets and lays on top of me. Being touched, held, and loved on makes her feel safer. It doesn’t stop her shakes or whines, but it settles her as much as possible.

Beau has a whole collection of sweaters. They help keep her anxiety in check. On the very worst days, we give her benadryl, which makes her sleepy.

It’s heartbreaking that she has such a hard time with storms. I wish I could do more to help or make her feel better. It’s so much harder when she refuses to leave the house during a storm because she needs to go potty. Sometimes I drag her outside covered in a coat and an umbrella, but she hates when her feet get wet. I have even tried to make her go potty on our covered patio but no. She is a stubborn girl; I have no idea where she gets it from.

I’m hoping the storms will pass soon.

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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I Bought A Chair

November 20, 2019November 20, 2019 RaeAnna

201911203443323906814685493 — Beau is thoroughly enjoying our [her] new chair.

201911201015724790395426420 — **She’s so photogenic when she’s comfy and hogging the chair…** | Chair | Ottoman | Sweater | Red Blanket | Sherpa Blanket | Blue Sequin Pillow | Green Pillow | Christmas Mug | Vase | Decorative Present | Fairy Lights | Ornaments

I work from home. When we moved into our bigger apartment, I knew I needed an office because it’s hard to motivate yourself to work when your office is your bed. We moved into a three bedroom apartment, and I monopolized the smallest of the three bedrooms for my office because I liked the bay window. At the time, my bookshelves took up one wall; otherwise, it was empty.

The first thing I bought was a desk so I didn’t have to sit on the ground. The criteria: no drawers. Drawers are distracting junk collectors. Next, was a big calendar white board for me to plan my non-existent social life and all my work projects.

My office is my favorite room in the house. I spend more time in my office than I spend literally anywhere else. I wake up, take the dog out, make a pot of tea, and start reading in my office for an hour before I start working. There are days, like today, I spend more than fifteen hours working in my office. It needs to be homey, comfy, and a reflection of me from the look, to the smell, to the feel, to the comfort. I want to walk in and be happy. My office isn’t perfect yet, but it’s damn close. There are a few more things on my list to make my office perfect. The biggest and most expensive purchase was the latest.

201911204089357884700159955 — **Beau’s only sharing because she wants to look like a good dog for posterity…** | Chair | Ottoman | Sweater | Red Blanket | Sherpa Blanket | Blue Sequin Pillow | Green Pillow | Christmas Mug | Vase | Decorative Present | Fairy Lights | Ornaments

I have had a papasan since my 22 birthday. I love it, but it’s not conducive to work or reading with a 60 pound Beau in my lap. I’ve been wanting an oversized armchair for awhile, but they’re not cheap, and I had a very specific thing in mind. I had been eyeing an oversized chair recently that wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but it was as close as I’m likely to get on my budget. Two weeks ago, we bought it.

I bought the chair for me, but Beau has monopolized it. The moment it was set up in my office, Beau started dogging it up. She has a memory foam dog bed next to my desk. Now as I type away at my desk, she stares at me from my chair. She loves it so much, she hangs out in it while she’s home alone. I like to think it’s a testament to how cozy and me-like my office is. It’s probably just the chair. We can easily sit side by side in it or curled up together.

I didn’t think my office could get any better, but I guess it can. The chair has made me very happy and even more productive. Maybe more importantly, it has made Beau’s life happier. She has less anxiety when we leave her home alone, and she’s as happy as happy can be curled up while I work.

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Stress Peeing

January 23, 2019 RaeAnna

I wish I could link Beau’s sweater cause it’s adorable! | My sweater | My jeans | My shoes

These pictures really don’t match what I’m about to talk about, but they’re adorable. Her sweater has a hood, ears, AND a little pouf tail. How can you not love her in this??? Yes. We match. I’m insane.

Two weeks ago, we started the moving process into our new and bigger apartment. Beau loves having all the extra room to run around. We have two spare rooms. One will be my office, and the other is her bedroom – guests will use it when they visit. After moving in, we realized there was some water damage from the previous tenants. The apartment management has dealt with it really well, and it is being taken care of. All the work that needs to be done does take time. Contractors are coming in and out. Everything is in boxes because we can’t really put anything away with all the work still being done.

Beau has been an absolute trooper. She has to be in her box or shut up in a room with me while the contractors work because they’re scared of her. I don’t think she’s completely for sure we’re staying here because the boxes haven’t been unpacked yet. Her anxiety has been a bit high the last week with the uncertainty. We’ve had a few instances of stress peeing. She didn’t even realize she did it. I was a little worried it was a UTI, but she’s just fine. Stressed. Poor baby had to wear a doggy diaper for a little bit. She looked so sad and pathetic.

We’ve gone two days without any stress peeing. No diaper. The contractors should be done by the end of the week. Which means I can finally unpack and organize and maybe get a desk for my office, and Beau can get comfy cozy!!!

xoxo,
Beau + RaeAnna

Blog + Dog

Moving

January 16, 2019 RaeAnna

Over the past several days, my little family moved to a new apartment in Houston. Moving sucks. I don’t know anyone who says “Yay! Moving!” After several moves in the last decade, this was the most stressful and the smallest.

Why?

It’s the first time I’ve moved with an anxiety riddled dog.

Traveling with Beau has hurdles. Moving with Beau also has bigger hurdles. The moment things start to change, she gets anxious. Her biggest fear, as far as I can tell, is being left behind. She does everything in her power to be included in everything. The only way to avoid her idiosyncrasies is to hide change from her until the last minute.

Normally, I like to be very organized. Moving is chaos even for the most organized. This was the most chaotic move I’ve ever been in charge of. Chaos ensued for three reasons: 1) We didn’t get back from holiday travels until three days before moving. 2) We didn’t pack at all to help save Beau from a complete mental break. (See above paragraph.) 3) Once we moved in, we realized there was a lot of water damage that needs to be fixed in the new place.

It’s hard to avoid holiday travels.

I had no idea how Beau would do moving, so we didn’t pack anything knowing we would have several days to move. This ended up being chaotic, but a good idea. We took things a little bit at a time starting with all of Beau’s stuff. She stayed in the new apartment as we packed. It helped her get acquainted with the new as the old was being introduced. She settled down a lot once the couch and bed arrived in the new apartment. Although, she did enjoy having a huge empty apartment to run around in with nothing but her toys, which only lasted for a few minutes.

Everything is now in our new apartment in a variety of disarray. It is not sorted or put away because we have contractors coming in and out of the apartment. They’re fixing everything, which is great, but in the meantime, it’s not so great. Beau has to be kept in her crate because the contractors are kind of scared of dogs.

I’m wishing I had one of these magic wands from Sleeping Beauty that organizes, cleans, and puts away.

xoxo,
RaeAnna + Beau