And now, neutering, nebs and training.

I got wrapped up in my little world in the previous post, and never talked about any of these. "Nebs" = what we call Jake's twice-daily nebulizer treatments. These used to be just a five-minute hypertonic saline treatment to help liquify, break up and clear mucus from his lungs - along with using something called the Flutter to help him clear his lungs. Now we've added in an inhaled antibiotic, tobramycin. So it's doubled the amount of nebulizer treatment time. This morning was a rushed affair and I will need to adjust our morning so that we can get it done. Other mornings if we've gotten up late, I have just skipped the treatment - he is healthy and it's not a huge deal for him to skip it. He doesn't have much mucus to cough up (yet). But with the antibiotic, skipping is not an option.

I worried about how Jake would react to the change in routine, but he is doing well. We have to count through most of both treatments, and I try to put on a favorite TV show and let him settle in to watching it for about ten minutes. I have to hold the mask on his face, but he is starting to help hold the whole shebang himself. The nebulizer is this nifty little battery-powered thing so the whole nebulizer gets held up to his face, essentially - although we have a cord adapter that would allow the base of the unit to sit on the couch. I might dig that out and play with whether it is easier for him to hold it himself that way. At this point, anything that encourages independence is a good thing.

So there's that. A new wrinkle to the daily routine. And a few weeks ago we got Burke neutered. I'm so glad we did. The trainer was absolutely spot-on about the effect on his behavior. And, we still have another month or two before it really helps calm his reactivity! But already: he doesn't mark or hump anymore. That alone makes it totally worth it. We did our half-mile out and back today, along the road. Normally he is nose-down on the side of the road, sniffing away, and pees at least ten to fifteen times in a half-mile (then it calms down on the way back). Today? He peed once. Once! And he was more focused on me than on sniffing the ground. I am hoping this extends to not marking in the pet store, the only place we've had issues with marking indoors.

He still barks at all kinds of noises outside, even in the middle of the night. I am hoping that the calm provided by lack of testosterone will help him chill about that, but we'll see. Going to order Chill Out Fido!: How to Calm Your Dog on interlibrary loan, as I got a Kindle for my birthday and spent some coin on new books for it, and am a bit tapped out at the moment. Although I think we're doing most of what it recommends with the trainer. Getting him to focus on us and not external stimuli all the time. I did some off-leash work with him yesterday and it was really astonishing how distracted he is when in the woods. Going to do more of it this week with the 30-foot long line.

Training is rewarding but is taking a lot more time than I anticipated, and I get kind of stressed out when we haven't had a chance to take Burke and Jake in public together in a long time, because I worry that he will forget. We did a Home Depot run earlier this month - November 8, when Jake had clinic. That's it. Still, Burke did fantastic. He really is a natural and he seems to love to work. I am starting to anticipate whether he'll be ready to go on the plane with us in April. I would like him to accompany us to Florida. I need to start getting my ducks in a row with a letter from Jake's doc about that - and in fact, I need a physician to write a prescription for Burke for tax-related reasons. I am thinking that his DAN doc will refer us to his "home" pediatrician for that, so I probably should just buck up and make an appointment. It all takes so much time, and time management is something I am still struggling with when it comes to my writing work - and just life in general.

I've been working hard on a sensory space for Jake in the basement. Matt and I have been talking a lot about whether we'll do the addition or try to do something that meets our needs without getting a loan, perhaps building over a couple of years instead of all next spring and summer. I think it makes sense. We need to hedge our bets and not end up upside-down in our house. Our monthly outflow could be less; we could refinance our current mortgage and save quite a bit of money every month.