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a whole new dog

these are not ACTUALLY buddy's pills - he's on the generic!
dollar sensible little fellow that he is.
so, our family got a new dog when we got back from alaska.

ok, not really - we still just have buddy. but the buddy we have now is a completely different beast altogether. 

we were baffled at first. he seeks out affection - he'll actually come find you and ask to be petted. if he's laying down and you walk past him, he might lift his head - but he doesn't jump up, afraid. heck, he even let my husband refill his water bowl while he was eating food right there. and the capper: last night we went on a family walk, and he was darn close to loose-leash walking the whole way. oh, he needed strong corrections, but nothing like the nonstop pull-fest it typically is.

we had no idea what to make of this amazing transformation. did he really miss us that much? did he think we'd left him at the kennel for good? had he been abducted by aliens who rewired his brain?

and then it hit us: after six weeks on xanax, we're seeing the "real" buddy come to the forefront. the buddy who's not paralyzed by 60 forms of fear and anxiety. the buddy who wants to be a part of a snuggly loving family dogpile. the buddy who wants to please his mommy and daddy and listens and - oh dare i say it - might even be trainable to learn BETTER behavior and "tricks!"

i spoke with the vet, and the general consensus is, buddy is a dog who needs to be medicated. we will find the lowest effective dosage, and we will continue to work on behavioral efforts to improve his general state of mind and specific fears (thunder). and our "indestructible" crate is to be delivered today, so we will have a way to contain him as well.

and you know what? it's worth it. it's all worth it. it's phenomenal to see the sweet, gentle, awesome dog we have always suspected buddy could be, starting to come out of the woodwork.

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