Hah! We also tried the booties, but Lu hated anyone touching her feet so they lasted about a second and a half before being ripped off. Too cute.

I don't think we ever tried rimadyl.

It's carprofen -- I think it's also called Novox.

When she was acting really disoriented after we started the 1/2 tablet dose, the vet told us that when he had been on a high dose of ibuprofen (since carprofen is an NSAID, just for animals, not humans [although The Boy took it accidentally one day]), the high dose of ibuprofen made him feel all loopy.

It's a sad sign of how often I take 4 ibuprofen that I honestly thought he was kidding. (Really? Ibuprofen can make humans feel loopy? I perhaps need to cut back.)

We will not speak of MGG.

He always needs a haircut! Boy's regular all the way!!

Please do reach out brenda. I'm here for ya.

That 'out now?' behavior sounds adorable! How great that she is so acclimated to her harness.

smonster is very wise with the hotdog suggestion. I swear, hotdogs, are like God's gift to dogs. You might want to consider the chicken kind that are low sodium because some of them are like 30% salt. If you chop them up small, like she suggests and nuke them for a couple of minutes, it makes them easier to carry and less sticky for your fingers.

I'm going to recommend something that is going to seem all whoo-wooey, but despite not knowing how or why it works, I just know that it does.

I was at my wit's end with a rescue client who was being fostered and basically unadoptable due to anxiety issues...which, thankfully Darby does not have. I asked her people to do it, just because I asked them to and, being at the end of their own ropes, they went for it. Within a week, the dog was completely cured and ended up being adopted shortly there after.

I'm finding it to work on separation anxiety, noise aversion and several other fear responses. The best part is, it can't hurt anything.

It's called the push exercise.

Chop up some hotdogs and see what happens!

Steph, I know Lori had paw..mittens?socks? for Bear for clambering around in the mountains. I wonder if something like that would help for traction for the dalmation.

ION, my dad's retirement career seems to have become geothermal energy and the county water board. He's presenting to the state on a kinda ginormous venture-capital-seeking geothermal plan, roping in the uni, electric company and feds, and not as some freakshow off-the-street type. To my amusement, they have BP consultants. And with water, they're expanding and...yeah, I shoulda known retirement wouldn't mean dad quit working. Just thankful he found causes to manage.

Hah! We also tried the booties, but Lu hated anyone touching her feet so they lasted about a second and a half before being ripped off. Too cute.

Chloe isn't thrilled when we put them on her -- and we don't need to do it every day, fortunately -- but she tends to keep them on. Except one night when we went out, we put the booties on her and when we came home, they were off her paws and lying, one on top of the other, very neatly next to her bed.

We suspect a multi-pet scheme was involved in getting them off and then carefully stacking them up.

(I can't even fathom what happened the day that I came home from work and the cat bed -- which sits on the back of a chair against a window, as seen in the background of this picture: [link] -- was on the floor, literally 12 feet from the chair, upside-down. I want to install a video camera to see what they do all day.)

Steph, I'm so glad to hear your sweetie is doing better.

And, hey, that Uhaul ramp is hella sturdy, eh? Class or no, it surely makes her feel more secure than some of those cheapo jobs made specifically for dogs.

One of my coworkers set up her mac laptop with the webcam to record her dogs one day. Comedy gold!

It's a sad sign of how often I take 4 ibuprofen that I honestly thought he was kidding. (Really? Ibuprofen can make humans feel loopy? I perhaps need to cut back.)

I'd have had the same reaction.

Steph, I know Lori had paw..mittens?socks? for Bear for clambering around in the mountains. I wonder if something like that would help for traction for the dalmation.

Muttluks! Those are cool! We got her Pawz booties, which are rubber about as heavy/thick as a swimming cap -- she can feel the ground much better through the rubber than she would be able to through something heavier like the Muttlucks. And the Pawz do help her with traction, although she doesn't need them every day. [link]

Actually, bonny, I have a friend whose dog is having such separation anxiety that they are close to being evicted because they cannot stop the barking anytime they leave the house. I've been meaning to ask you about it but right now I don't remember the details of what they've tried. I might e you (or have her do so?) in case you have any advice.