Update!
I went grocery shopping this morning before work. This was partly because I needed groceries, and partly because I wanted to see how the dogs would handle my leaving for a short time before I left for work. They were very vocal when they heard my car pull in, and I swear I heard Kaia do a low-level redirection onto Caspian when they heard the key turn in the lock. However, Caspian was his usual dopey, happy self when I came in, and she definitely didn’t hurt him at all.
Not exactly the totally low-key, every-day entrance and exit that I was really hoping for. But still, another sign that whatever it was seems to be diminishing. Last night, several of Kaia’s really scary things were totally silent. Not a good sign. Today, she was loud and growly. Much better, as far as the ongoing stability of their relationship together. And, since I didn’t really have any other option, I headed off for work and kept my fingers crossed.
And they were great! There was a normal amount of barking when I pulled in, and no sounds that make me think redirection was occuring. They gave me their usual greeting, with no signs of guarding or touchiness or escalated stress. They did both refuse to follow me into the bathroom (I figured it would be a good test, since I thought they were nervous about it yesterday and that’s where most of the stuff fell), but came in after a little bit of coaxing. Even there, they were fine with each other.
So, yay! We seem to be back to normal. I still want to keep an eye on Kaia in case there’s something medical going on, but we seem to be back to life as usual. I hope it stays that way.