Much calmer day....

Today is much, much calmer for my hyperalert little pup. We went for a short stroll on the quiet dirt road, and when the van went by, he managed to sit and watch it without flipping out. Good job, Vanya! For the rest of the walk, he was a bit too alert--scanning a lot--but he never started whining, and he was able to relax and sniff.

The big news is: I just talked with Dr Chris, his wonderful vet. Vanya's starting Prozac. I hope it will help him a bit, relaxing some of his obsessive/compulsive fixations (ie, scanning and screaming at spots of light), and I hope it will allow training and his counterconditioning protocols to work a little better.

The rest of the day, we've been exploring the sea caves beneath the cabin, which are now, officially, Vanya's Favorite Place.

I can hang out on the mermaid rock and Vanya can scramble up and down and inside the little caves, clamber up onto promentories, and generally have a wonderful time. I try not to think about how unstable these cliffs are, nor do I think about how many rocks come tumbling down each spring. It's such a good thing for Vanya to have a safe place where he can hunt and explore off-leash.

He gets very cheered up down in the caves, and he loves to come bounding over, leap onto the mermaid rock for his treat, and then go flying off the rock onto the sandstone ledges. (Last year, he screamed his little head off each time he got onto the mermaid rock and then couldn't figure out how to get back down. This year, he magically realized he could simply jump down, flying safely over the waves. Progress!)