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Monday, April 6, 2020

The Hachi Chronicle

"Happy Hachi" is his nickname when he has that joyful spring in his step. He almost always has it during our evening hikes. He's at that age when he spontaneously leaps just for the fun of it.

I think that Shyla loves their afternoon romp as much as Hachi does. She gets amped up as we walk toward our favorite meadow.

They trade off who initiates each round of chase or wrestling. However, Shyla still appears to be the leader during play. I think that she's teaching Hachi important lessons with her playful and never aggressive demeanor.

Hachi is doing fantastically with his counterconditioning for nail clipping and general handling. We do it when we return from our evening hike, and Hachi voluntarily goes to the spot, lying there waiting for the session to start. That's such a good sign that he is not at all stressed out by our sessions.

He now gets happy when he sees almost everyone on our forest trails. He's ready to be friends with anyone who appears to behave normally. We have observed, however, that he can pick up on unfriendliness from a long distance.

We will be continuing the very slow ramp up in his Paxil. So far, it seems like a breath of fresh air in our lives. I think that it's made him able to learn that many things that used to scare him are okay or even fun.
Hachi doesn't mind the "stay at home" and "social distancing" rules. Aside from the excess energy that he has due to being a young dog who'd like to run all day long, he seems happy.

Happy Hachi!

19 comments:

  1. that are great news... to learn that things can be funny at the end is a good thing...;O)

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  2. Hari OM
    OH my... a joyous post to start the week!!! Hoorah for Hachi - and his handlers!!! Hugs and wags, YAM-aunty xxx

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  3. Joy and delight, and those wide, open, safe places where you can all be out together. Love the look on both their faces as they play.

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  4. This is wonderful news! We love the photos of you and Shyla at play, Hachi!

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  5. We're so happy to hear about Happy Hachi! He and Shyla sure do look like they are having a great time playing together.

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  6. I am so happy to see a happy Hachi!!!! and a sweet sister also

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  7. I'm waiting for the best news of all...
    that he loves Black Dog again the way he did when he was a puppy!
    they used to be so close... ALL of them! and miracles do happen. XO

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  8. So thrilled Hachi continues to make great progress. Kudos for your conditioning sessions-clearly they are making a difference.

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  9. He's a handsome pup too. I'm glad things are going well.

    Have a fabulous day and week. Scritches to the pups. ♥

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  10. Such wonderful photos of Hachi and Shyla letting off steam together.

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  11. Happy Hachi I'm thrilled and delighted...
    Happy
    Active
    Crazy pants fun and
    Humorous
    Intelligent

    Hugs Cecilia

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  12. Great report....he's keeping Shyla young, as well.

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  13. It is so nice to see all your hard work paying off. It took Phod 2 weeks but he now likes us home. Hailey loved it from day 1. When the end comes, they will both be sad.

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  14. He definitely looks like a very happy pup! Loads of fun to be had with Shyla.

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  15. I love the photos of Hachi with Shyla, their joy is palpable.

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  16. Happy Hachi is such a joy to see, he sure loves the Shyla playtime!

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  17. It seems like Hachi brings out the puppy in Shyla as well! It's so fun to see the two of them playing together; I miss that not having multiple dogs anymore.
    Jan, Wag 'n Woof Pets

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  18. This is the best report I've heard on Hachi. May it continue!

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  19. Oh, that is FABulous news! I might have no choice butts to put the nail clippin' into practice, as all non-essential vettie visits are a no go. So nail trims are gonna be up to me.....yikes. better start that conditioning now ☺
    Kisses,'
    Ruby ♥

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