07/08/2025
What a day!
As is routine, Ernie was dropped off with his Valerian juice to help his nerves, he gets some right before grooms and usually gets a top-up before we tackle his worry spots. Today, he seemed in good shape when I was feeling his worry areas and doing my general all-over check... so I decided to see if we could start the groom without his juice, we have it to hand so I could easily give him some if we needed to and take a little break for it to kick in.
Ernie did his WHOLE groom without having any! That's not to say that in the future, he won't need it. But today was a GOOD day, and I am BEYOND proud of him!
He had a little accident recently and has some lingering discomfort in a paw. Paws can be tricky for Ernie generally, and thanks to his mum, I knew which paw was sore, anticipating needing to adjust his groom to account for that but willing to put the trust we have to the test. Not only did Ernie let me check his paw, but he let me trim his nails and groom his sore paw, too!
It's been 22 months in the making, and he has made me work HARD for it at times, but we have a solid foundation of trust and communication. It's been a joy seeing Ernie grow and flourish into a boy who feels safe enough during a groom to just rest his eyes for a few minutes on the table and willing to work through worries with me as they arise, and we learn to work together.
Thank you, Ernie!
🐾
