She's official! And stressed.

I received Secret's very first USDAA title certificate in the mail a couple of days ago!  Isn't that awesome?!  An organization that actually sends you stuff without even having to request it!  We won't mention another certain organization that never even sent out awards last year....

I checked online and sure enough, her SPJ title is listed amongst the bazillion other border collie achievements.  It looks like things are processed through the first weekend in June thus far, so I would expect her other titles to show up shortly.  Go Secret!  I am looking forward to Kaiser being listed amongst the very few Klee Kai listed.  Hopefully soon, hopefully soon....

Poor Secret.  Her stress continues, all from feeding off my own stress over the last couple of weeks.  Yesterday I thought she was finally doing better at home because she stayed out in the living room/kitchen area while I was on the computer before dinner.  When we all settled in for the night to watch a movie on the couch, though, she once again disappeared to hide in the back hallway.  :o(  This just makes me sad.

I tried putting the Thundershirt on her and it didn't help.  Tonight I plan to have her wear the Thundershirt to bed.  Secret continues to hop up and down off the bed all night long and I can't seem to put any sort of schedule to it.  I've heard her lay down in the bathroom, next to the bed and out in the hallway.

I have a theory as to why this started -- at least the bedtime routine.  I have a sneaking suspicion that all of the stress in my life has caused me to start grinding my teeth again.  This was a horrible habit when I was younger and apparently the noise it makes will wake the dead.

I believe I mostly grew out of it, perhaps only grinding on occasions where I was SUPER dead tired or had been drinking a lot.  Since I haven't gone out drinking in forever, I probably haven't really done this since Secret has been around.  I can imagine that being as noise-sensitive as she is, the noise of me grinding my teeth in my sleep would probably make Secret come completely unglued.

So....  After work tonight I picked up a bite guard from Walmart.  I just fitted it and ugh, that is going to be so fun to learn to sleep in...  But I will try it, to see if it helps Secret.  My other option is to crate her, which I may still attempt.

In an effort to get Secret to rejoin the family in the evenings, I placed a baby gate up to prevent her from accessing the hallway/laundry/bathroom area that she tends to hide in.  She is staring daggers into the back of my head from the kitchen as I type this, but at least she's not hiding in a dark corner!

It's just so peculiar.  She is fine outside.  She is fine at work.  She is fine in the house 75% of the time.  It just seems to be the evening hours that are setting her off, so hopefully I'm on to something with the teeth grinding and we can bring happy harmony back to this household.  If need be, we'll have an extensive thyroid panel done to see if there's any chance that this could be a medical issue.

That said, Secret is in for a rough week.  I got a call from the company for which I did the phone interview on Friday!  I now have an in-person interview scheduled for this coming Friday.  Poor Secret, my nerves will be on overdrive again and she will no doubt be affected by it.