The Non-Prozac Nation

After email correspondence with our behaviorist which rivaled that of a 17th century explorer (minus the email delivery system), we decided to wean the polar bear off of his Prozac. Dr. Sung said, in a summary of our small novel, that ideally he would not need to take Prozac forever and although there are no long term health effects, regular blood work and physicals are necessary to monitor hepatic function etc. In addition, Prozac can also exacerbate underlying health conditions he may have that have not shown up yet or we are not aware of. While I have nothing but good things to say about the effects of Prozac and the necessity of having had PB take it his first year, I would love to have an "all natural" dog who is free from all outside forms of behavior modification. I can't really say he's getting better until I know it is completely unsupported by outside influence.

SO - Last week we began the long process involved in gradually reducing his levels. He is now on 20 mg every day for a month which is half his normal dose and he will then go to 20 mg every other day until he is off it completely. I will be monitoring him closely, hopefully not obsessively, to see if his behavior changes at all. It's only been a week so far but I have seen no negative changes and if anything, he seems more relaxed and affectionate than ever. (I say with fingers crossed, while I knock on wood and sit with bated breath...)

Although I hesitated to add in another variable given the change in meds, I decided to try him out on our new plan of socializing during the day time. He has been walking every day in broad daylight with me around 1pm on my work days which was unheard of before. No problems and no issues despite the busy, populated time of the day. So this afternoon I took him to a new park for us in Bellevue where we roamed the trails and he was exposed to lots of people, noises and stimuli but from afar.

He did very well so we walked to the dog corral which is part of the park and as the name suggests, is very small and fully fenced. I had intended on having him sit outside the mesh fencing, watching other dogs and getting treats as Dr. Sung recommended some time ago. We followed this plan but there was only one other dog in the corral and she was a very friendly small female dog who clearly wanted to play. She was accompanied by her male owner who asked if we could come in and play. I said the polar bear would be fine with his dog as she was female but he would be wary with him due to his fear of men. He agreed not to approach or touch PB so we went in to try it out.

Although he gave the guy a few sideways glances, he slowly began to relax and play and chase Halo, the female mix. It was so good to see him be able to run and socialize and it made me sad to see that he wasn't quite sure what to do at first because it's been so long since he has played with dogs he doesn't know. He was quite the mama's boy, running back to me if he became unsure but over time he played more and more with Halo.

We were then joined by two girls who brought in a very young male golden retriever puppy who *adored* the polar bear to his intense annoyance. The puppy threw himself at PB licking his face and trying to get him to play and the giant white grinch would only turn up his nose like he does when the cats throw themselves at him. So I allowed him to play with both dogs for awhile and to my surprise, he approached the two girls looking for treats all on his own. Another woman arrived with another golden and I decided PB was probably maxed out on the stimulation - too many strange people and dogs at that point and I didn't want to over do it the first time around so we walked back to the car.

We stopped at a carefully thought out Starbucks on the way home - one that had enough activity to make it worthwhile but had a large enough patio that he could watch from a distance. He sat with me on the patio watching people come and go without having to interact with them. This required a high value reward of string cheese because he was definitely more stressed in this environment so we only sat for 15 minutes or so and then left. It was productive as a couple firefighters sat outside at the table next to us but ignored him so it was good practice. All in all a very successful outing.

I am very proud of my boy. He has come so far; I never thought he would be able to do things he did today. I will give him a break tomorrow and on Wednesday we'll find a new place to sit in public and watch the world go by. I don't want to overload him but I do want it to be consistent enough to make an impact.

Despite my earlier promise of photos of monster cats, I have well, none I'm afraid. A boring entry with no pictures but I will get around to it this week. Also to come, the outline of my latest trip which will be April 1-11th to Jordan...