What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

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MPbandmom
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by MPbandmom »

Yesterday I took Sirius for a solo walk to see if we could accomplish at least 10 miles to meet that requirement on the Dog Scouts of America Traildog Excellent Title.

I had decided some time ago that the quiet park across town would be the best place to attempt this as it is an area that is familiar to her, so she could be at least a little more relaxed that she might be in an unfamiliar area. The weather had taken a chilly spell, so the temperature would be more suited to walking a northern breed that is just beginning to blow coat. I called the parks department and checked to see what activities might be scheduled at the park. There were no official activities scheduled. :D

We arrived a little later than I had hoped and initially walked the perimeter of the park. This is about a 2 mile loop. We had done this twice when it was quite apparent that the sun was shining too brightly and the temp was rising too quickly to continue that route. So we switched to the various paths through the woods. Every 2 miles I would go back to the van and put Sirius in her crate for a drink of water. I also had water with me which I gave to her to drink along the way, but she is one that has a tendency to refuse to drink while out on the trail, but then will drink like crazy once back inside of the van. I was actually quite pleased with the way she was drinking yesterday.

We had a bit of a snafu shortly after mile 5. A family came out with a model rocket which they set off several times. Sirius did not like the sound that the model rocket made, so we tried to move away from where they were launching until we got up to 6 miles. They were launching close to where the van was parked. When we got back to the area where the van was parked, the rocket launchers were gone, but someone was out with a large tractor mower mowing the soccer fields. Sirius is not a fan of large noisy mowers either. She didn't try to scare them away for once, but clearly wasn't happy.

After a short break in the van, I got ready for us to continue our walk. Sirius had other ideas. We only have one crate in the van at the moment so that it is easier to get Sky in and out. Sirius took advantage of the opening between the front seats and instead of going out the side door with me, charged up and sat in the driver's seat. I eventually coaxed her out of the passenger side door, but wondered if I was being cruel in doing so. I did move as quickly as possible away from the area where the mower was running.

When we returned for our next 2 mile break, the mower was gone. Sirius was still a little reluctant to leave the van after her break. By this time, I was getting hungry as it was around 1:00 in the afternoon. I had packed a sandwich, so we headed over to the shady picnic area about a half mile away from the van and relaxed for a while as I ate. Sirius did eventually settle and stopped panting. I had thought she might take a little nap, but she was too busy watching the fish swimming around in the pond we were sitting beside.

The park was what I would consider unusually dog quite. We saw 3 or 4 dog walkers during the first 4 miles, and then there was a blissful absence of dogs for almost the remainder of the walk. We were down to about the last 1/4 mile. I was finishing our walk on the wooded loop trail which is about 1/4 mile. I was on what should have been the next to the last lap, when I suddenly realized there was a lab gaining on us from behind. I picked up the pace. There were children standing in a side path that would have been my first choice for escape. The children decided to run down that path after we passed which caused Sirius to kick off a bit at them. We managed to outrun the lab, but then I was afraid to repeat the loop, so headed off down another trail through the woods to take a cut through back to the van. At the end of that path was another dog. :shock: So we backtracked and took an alternate route to the other paved trail in the woods, where we encountered another dog coming our way. :roll: I moved Sirius off into a cleared area from some construction and that dog passed without issue. I started back down the trail and there came another dog. We dodged again. Back down the trail again and here comes another dog. :shock: :roll: This time we dodged back up the dirt trail in hopes that the first dog that had been between us and the van had moved on. Of course we had hit 10 miles shortly after dodging the lab and before encountering all of these other dogs. The dog hadn't left the exit of the pathway as we arrived in sight of that area again, but fortunately moved away shortly afterwards.

We ended up with 10.35 miles total distance. I ended up wondering why in the heck people would wait until the hottest part of the day to take their dogs for a walk? I had ended up walking Sirius longer and in warmer weather than I had hoped, but we were almost finished, she was drinking well, and didn't seem to be getting over heated. And we were trying to get finished so that we could get out of the heat. I really think it ended up warmer than was forecast.

Sky ended up at the emergency vet getting a bandage change last night as the original one was falling down her leg even with my attempts to patch it up and suspend it with a wrap around her belly. She is not a happy camper with the restricted activity or the boot that she has to wear when she goes outside. I had wanted to get the dogs used to booties. It seems to be the wrapping of the velcro around her foot that bothers her the most.

She is so desperate to take a walk somewhere fun (she is limited to 3 5 minute walks plus potty breaks) that she was ready to walk past a barkey yard dog today. I had her turn around to head back home and she immediately turned back around because she wanted to head to the park even though a large, loud barkey dog was between her and the park. We had gotten to the point where I planned to turn around anyway.

I am debating trying Sirius and the 5 mile walk which will be the completion of the requirements for the traildog excellent title, but the local rec center is closed, which usually means the parks are also closed and I am afraid there will be memorial services at the battlefield that might include things like cannon fire and 21 gun salutes.
Grammy to Sky and Sirius, who came to live with me, stole my heart, and changed my life forever as I took over their care and learned how to be a dog owner.
lucyandbella
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by lucyandbella »

Went to a university vet hospital my veterinarian referred me to today for my fear aggressive dog Bella to see a veterinary behaviorist. Normally the majority of the appointment is dedicated to learning training techniques, clicker training, and counter conditioning methods, etc. but I got to skip all that thanks to my already doing these things with Bella. Still it was a long appointmeant and poor Bella is so tired and hiding in her crate now.

Instead the vet behaviourist and students observed Bella while we gave detailed history (already had emailed videos and 15 pages of a questionnaire to them) and answered questions. The vet said I had a very intelligent and anxious dog which combines to make a dog even worse in reacting because they are clever and will associate scary things even more than your average scaredy dog. She had a lot of insight. They went to consult together while we waited and ended up diagnosing her with six things (including neophobia and obsessive behavior) and putting her on two drugs (which will be reduced to one medication a day after the SSRI kicks in, and the other we come off of will still be given but only if a particularly stressful day is to occur). She believes Bella issue is genetic and that something is not quite there with her (though said in nicer way hahaha). She also carefully told us Bella may need to be medicated for life which I understand.

What I did like is they watched by DS/cc technique and said all my timing and techniques was perfect and I was doing everything right. It's just that Bella is not responding to training because her brain chemistry is not right. Though they said that she will always be a dog with issues, hopefully with medication we can get to a place where she can actually respond to training.

If we talk about a scale of 1 to 10 and a 5 is right where we get to a dog being over threshold and not in a good place to learn or change emotion behind an event the vet believes Bella is right around 4-5 always. And she says you would prefer a dog in the 2-4 range to train. The medication will hopefully bring her to that level.

Bella has had fear aggression and reactivity toward inanimate objects since 8 weeks old. Since then we have tried training alone. So I will be very curious to see what medication combined with training is able to do.
JudyN
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by JudyN »

Good luck with the doggy drugs, L&B - and let us know how she does on them :D
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
delladooo
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by delladooo »

I hope Bella does well, do keep us posted :D

I just wanted to share a couple of videos I got this evening. As usual, my video skills are somewhat lacking but MiMi's recall is excellent (especially considering I gave her no proper training on the topic) and Laufey has so much more patience than he did

MiMi: https://youtu.be/Dn9R85GRjug
Laufey: https://youtu.be/8adSuwbd29Y
MPbandmom
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by MPbandmom »

I hope you see good improvement with the medication Lucyandbella. Great videos Delladooo.

Sky is healing well. The bandage came off yesterday and the drain was removed. We are not quite 1 week post surgery and OH and I seem to be having a difference of opinion on what restricted activity means. I had Sky outside on her lead the other evening and OH came out and commented that when he had her out earlier he didn't have her on lead and she was fine. Today he decided she shouldn't be confined to her room so we placed items on the furniture that she likes to lie on and that seemed to do that trick, although OH reported in the morning that she had been outside and gone racing around to the back yard.

Yesterday we were to bathe her leg with soapy water and a soft cloth as there was still some drainage from where the drain had been. OH did not and by the time I got home from work there was no more drainage. Yesterday OH stated she had to wear the cone of shame so that she wouldn't lick the drainage, but today as it wasn't draining felt she should be free of the cone of shame. She still has staples in and my opinion is that she therefore is not yet healed sufficiently to be licking at her incision.

We have a schedule written down for her medicine. OH will announce that he altered the dose usually lower and as she seems to be in no pain, I don't think there is any problem with this. The times seem to keep changing. We were taking Sirius out for walks and missing one of the evening doses, so we moved the time back. Then this morning, I got up and gave Sky what has become the 6 am dose. OH got up and apparently assumed I had missed giving the 6am medicine, so he gave it to her at 7. Both of us had cut the dosage, so she ended up having only a half tablet total more than prescribed.

On Tuesday when I left for work, Sky's skin was a pale white. In the evening I noticed it was more of a pink color. Not sure how long OH had her outside, but clearly we need to come up with a means of protecting her skin from the sun. I was going to share our sunscreen with her this morning, but read the ingredients and warnings and decided that wouldn't work. Having altered some boys boxer pants to cover the wound when the bandage didn't quite provide adequate coverage, I am toying with the idea of further modifying those so that they may be worn outside to cover and shade her skin. OH commented that I should have purchased a skirt instead of boxers, so I am also considering which option might work best. How I could utilize my sewing skills and spare fabric lying around here to design and make the ideal sun shading garment that allows for a husky tail and bodily functions. There is also the option to buy some baby sun screen.

My idea of frozen kong toys with peanut butter has been bypassed due to the large amounts of peanut butter that she is consuming with all of the various medications and dosage times per day. An interesting side effect has come of this. Anytime Sky now sees a spoon in someone's hand, she immediately starts slurping and smacking her lips. :lol:

She has been enjoying her sidewalk walks and decides whether we go right or left initially, but is re-learning where the barkey yard dogs are and is clearly looking out anxiously for them about a house in advance of where they live. She hasn't yet tried to charge past a barkey yard dog house which is an improvement from before and which was a main reason that I stopped walking her on the sidewalk. She is also choosing when to turn around I think. Either that or she is anticipating and thus checking in with me to see if it is time to turn yet. I have started telling her to turn around when she checks in because I noticed when we kept walking in the same direction, she would almost immediately check in with me again, so I figured she was ready to turn around, and when I said okay lets turn around, she was right on it.
Grammy to Sky and Sirius, who came to live with me, stole my heart, and changed my life forever as I took over their care and learned how to be a dog owner.
JudyN
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by JudyN »

I have had a very embarrassing experience this afternoon.... :oops: I was sitting - squatting, really - on the low stone wall of a flowerbed outside a local shop with Jasper, while OH popped in for a couple of things. I had a flask of water in a bumbag (fannypack in the US?) and offered some to Jasper. He didn't want any, so I put the lid back on and stuck it back in the bumbag, with the pocket at the front. Shortly after I felt a chill in my groin... looking down, I saw water seeping out of the bag and onto the crotch of my jeans, then trickling down and forming a puddle on the ground beneath me :shock: :shock: :shock: :oops: :oops: :oops:

I'm toying with the idea of buying something like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NH ... ag=v0d8-20 One flask for me, one for Jasper, and hopefully, no embarrassing leaks :lol: If anyone has any recommendations, do let me know please :D
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Ari_RR
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by Ari_RR »

JudyN wrote: I'm toying with the idea of buying something like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NH ... ag=v0d8-20 One flask for me, one for Jasper, and hopefully, no embarrassing leaks :lol: If anyone has any recommendations, do let me know please :D
Good idea. That and this one: http://www.amazon.com/Jardin-Collapsibl ... 0050NDNXS/
JudyN
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by JudyN »

Ari_RR wrote:Good idea. That and this one: http://www.amazon.com/Jardin-Collapsibl ... 0050NDNXS/
I was sort of hoping I could get him to drink straight out of the flask - the bag section doesn't look very large. I'm really not sure his emergency tennis ball will fit in! And then there's poo bags, treats, phone, whistle, keys, emergency money.....
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Erica
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by Erica »

I hope Sky is doing well, MP!

I groomed Delta over the weekend (pics in the photos subforum). He looks very...well, honestly, he looks funny. :P I love it.

The facility I went to for the enrichment walk is having a recall games session tomorrow - $7 for 45 minutes of games. Incredible.

I uhh, may have signed up for an agility class there starting on the 22nd. :)
Delta, standard poodle, born 6/30/14
bendog
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by bendog »

Ben turned 12 in January and I coped pretty well.
However I've just realised that he is now almost 12 and a HALF and that means in a couple of weeks he will be nearer to 13 than he is to 12. And for some reason that makes me really sad ! :(

Why do they have to get old??

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Nettle
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by Nettle »

He looks in super condition.

It's so sad when they get old (though 12 isn't old for a terrier) but I always say that it would be far worse if they outlived us.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
bendog
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by bendog »

He is great for his age which I think is why I forget he's 12. He's definitely slowed down a bit though, rarely wins the ball at fetch these days so we make sure to give him an easy win sometimes ;)
http://youtu.be/v43xQ-YwOzE
JudyN
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by JudyN »

Jasper doesn't do well in the heat, but he does insist on his 3pm walk, so we have a meander at his speed. Towards the end of a walk, if he passes a grassy verge, he likes to have a little lie-down. So I sit down beside him, offer him a drink, and watch the world go by.

The only problem is that when he's flat out on his side, he does a pretty good impersonation of something that died a couple of days ago...

Image

A few times now I've had people ask if he's OK, and a couple of days ago a woman passing in a car pulled over, stopped, and asked if he was OK.' He's fine,' I replied, 'he's just lazy, but thank you for stopping.'

It's all a bit embarrassing, and I really don't want to upset all these people who think he's collapsed and is drawing his last breath!
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
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Nettle
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by Nettle »

Lol, that looks pretty dead! :lol: Good of them to stop.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
mansbestfriend
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Re: What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

Post by mansbestfriend »

Max the greyhound is recovering like a champ from having a broken tail with possible nerve damage. Vet removed the short broken part a few days ago under anesthetic. He' still on meds for a few days (pain relief and antibiotics) and he gets the sutures out next week.

When the tail was broken, the only indication I could see was his tail didn't look quite normal (much less expressive with his tail, and it looked 'funny'). Since the op. his tail looks perfect again apart from being a bit shorter, so he must (I assume) have been in pain when it was broken. It seems to be healing OK, but really hard to tell how much pain he's in. :?:
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single Sit.
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