[Dailydrool] slowly gaining ground

[Valerie]

Believe it or not, we are slowly gaining ground in the ongoing struggle to reconcile Bo 's dementia and our lives. There is hope. In addition to his meds for his longtime condition of ulcerative colitis (which is under good control)' Bo now takes Prozac in the morning and Melatonin and Valium at bedtime. The new meds seem to be working as hoped to reduce the anxiety Bo feels secondary to confusion and his near blindness, so he is not feeling the need to bellow randomly all night. the doggie diaper suit has taken care of the problem of random peeing in the house. Bo has learned to holler at the front door to have his suit removed when he goes outside to poop.

And I've discovered my own role in creating part of the problem. Before the new meds, I was getting up on and off all night and giving Bo snacks to calm him down. Ha! You can imagine what resulted from that--Bo quickly learned to bellow to get snacks. so I'm in the process now of "extinguishing" this learned behavior. (No snacks, no attention, from eleven to four). and Bo had been getting breakfast at four. My next project is pushing that back to six. there have been a lot of sleepless nights, but Bo is now sleeping from eleven to about three, when he starts agitating for breakfast in an hour. Over the next two weeks my plan is to keep moving breakfast back (an ignore the agitating). this morning he dined at five. I think we are going to succeed. (and so far, no neighbors have called the police about a hound bellowing in the night). (I close all the windows at night--I'll be glad when I can open them again. Val

this is Bo, commander of the Pacific Basset Feet. We are at war! My slaves are rebelling. I am losing ground. Help! Colt and Ruger! missiles please? ahroooo.