Change and dealing with it

Every single dog is different, much like humans.  And like humans; each dog deals with information in their own way.  I spent a good part of yesterday demolishing our family room.  We made a ton of noise ripping off two layers of old paneling, drywall and wood.  Jessie came down early on, had a look around, was confused but found her bed and lay down.  Tilley jumped onto the couch and made herself comfortable.  I was working on ripping apart a support beam down to its raw form which was on the other side of the room.  So although the dogs were out of harms way they were subjected to very loud demolition noise.

Both girls lay sleeping; every once in a while when I would make an exceptionally loud noise they would raise their head for a moment and then go back to sleep.  Luke on the other hand was pacing, he couldn't relax and when I would grunt and groan trying to get the dried old wood off he would run to me panting and wagging.  He is the nervous type; and he worries about everything.  Mostly he was worrying about me and all the commotion together.  He was not afraid of any of it but obviously did not like that I was in the middle of the mess.  I asked him to take a seat, to sit and get comfy in one of the leather chairs.  He did so until I grunted or shouted at the stupid wood that was not coming off.  Up he got and over he came to make sure that all was fine.

He stood vigilant in his duty to watch over me.  If I moved to a spot up high he ran to the top of the stairs so that he could see me better.  Luke is much more aware of his environment, he is very flexible as we slowly change it to an upgraded state but he worries during the process.  Tilley takes notice at changed environment but cares little about it.  She is very adaptable, she always has been and basically goes with the flow.  She has stepped as my protector several times over the years when she felt that she was needed but she does not worry needlessly. 

At this point Jessie can only hear the very loud noises or feel their vibrations so the construction does not bother her.  What will bother her is the change, it is very difficult for dogs with little or no sight to deal with change.  Jessie is also dealing with dementia so for several weeks we will be watching her like a hawk.  Just last night we sat in the living room watching tv.  We've never done this before because the tv is in the family room.  But because of the mess it is moved to the living room until we finish.  Tilley and Luke were fine with it, they lay on the couch and watched a movie with us.  But Jessie sat looking at the tv, obviously confused.  She sat for quite a while just staring at it, you could see that she was extremely baffled.  She then got up and went upstairs to one of the dog beds in our room.  No doubt she felt a sense of normalcy there.

Change is good, I think it's good for dogs and humans.  Without change we and they can get too set in doing and dealing with one way of life.  Inevitably change comes, in some form or shape and if you have never dealt with any sort of change before it can be life altering.  This is why it is so very important to change things around, not hugely but enough to be noted as a change.   Dogs who have never had to deal with it have a very hard time doing so.

Once our demolition got truly underway the dogs were removed from the area.  This in itself gave Luke something to worry about, he could no longer watch over me.  But for their own safety they were put in our room with all the blankets, toys, water etc.  And after an hour or so I joined them, having enough of demolition for one day.