oh my goodness that last photo of Al smiling is so adorable. <3
I have seen that same worried look on Kahlua's face that you mentioned as well. Change upsets her and stresses her out. Strangers and strange animals upset and stress her out. But, she is nowhere near as anxious as Al. She is able to calm down and be happy when the source of stress is not around.
Diesel has weird anxiety about wanting to patrol or be in certain rooms at certain times. He goes into full blown panic attacks if he feels it is time to be in bed or time to be on his bed in the office (new one since moving) and we don't comply. Usually I can mitigate that by putting him in his crate but he still is clearly stressed with panting until he gets to go to whichever location he seems to feel he needs to be in. I have to wonder if part of this is just sensory overload or him being tired and needing to decompress somewhere he feels calm. I am thinking of buying him more beds for more rooms in the house so he can retreat to a bed no matter what room we are all in.
Since moving Diesel has been stress humping. He hasn't humped in so long and suddenly he is humping his bed, humping kahlua all the while panting and yawning. Stress humping is a real thing. The only thing that calms him when he starts stress humping is for me to come over and put him in a down position and then crawl on top of him in a giant bear hug then he slowly calms down until he is normal again. I am pretty sure this will stop as soon as he is used to the new place and my husband joins us again. Part of the stress is likely Sean being gone in addition to the new location.
Change is hard.
Also love the collar choices. Mine like new clothes too. Odd little fashionistas.
Oh and the lying curled up by you.. Usually that is Kahlua with Sean so it has been me since he isn't around right now. But, after our early morning potty when I returned to bed the little minx crawled under the covers with me! First time she has ever tried that little trick. I guess she thought it was a chilly morning.