Wrongdoings.

A forum I frequent has had disputes amongst members lately about "wrong doings" and "fixing things" and "inattentiveness" and "too many pets" ad nausem.  I've stayed out of it because... who really wants to be called out on what they did wrong six years ago, five months ago, yesterday?  If it was wrong, and the person knows it... I'd just be pretty darn sad if it kept coming up over, and over, and over... again.

With that said.  Irresponsible breeding kills me.  I have a hard time feeling sorry for people who have had litter, after litter, of non-health tested, non-otherwise tested stock.

Buzz was intact until 28 months old.  Bailey was 9 months old when Buzz was neutered.  Bailey was bough for me, to "possibly breed" with.  My dad thought if you have one of each sex and they're of the same breed, you might as well breed them, right?  Thankfully we neutered Buzz.  No Buzz puppies.

Bailey was intact until 14 months.  "We" (the family) had intentions of breeding her.  Then we went through a single hellacious heat cycle with her (half of which happened while we were on vacation, you see how wimpy we were) and she was spayed soon after coming out of heat.  They were then given the title of "just pets" or "farm dogs" or "hey, you, go chase the guinea hens off the cars."

So, while we were responsible with our dogs (I think that counts as being responsible--no litters), we had a barn kitty named Baby who had litter, after litter, after litter.  We loved playing with the kittens and they "always found homes" so, really, it was ok, right?  Wrong.  Baby was born in 1990 and had litters of kittens until 1997.  Seven years of uncontrolled reproducing.  She was our pet, and was vaccinated, but she had litters and litters of kittens.  We tried (unsuccessfully) for about a year and a half to contain her after weaning kittens to have her spayed.  She always escaped.  It did not fail.  Her second to last litter of kittens contained Rasza, our beautiful grey kitty boy.  She escaped ONE MORE TIME and had a singleton litter of a short haired calico female we named Mischief.  Baby was then, finally, spayed.  Except it didn't go so smoothly.  The vet "misunderstood" and declawed our outdoor, barn, kitty that we were trying to HELP (yeah, she was spayed too)!  My dad said NO More Cats In The House (we had Rascal and Rasza inside at this point), so she had to live outside, with no front claws.  Somehow, she still survived.  (The vet spayed her daughter Mischief for free to "try" to make up for declawing Baby... and Mischief died shortly thereafter.)

After a tragic family loss in 2005, everyone ended up coming to live in the house.  No more losses, no more tragic losses needed to take place.  We went from having one cat live inside permanently, to having five animals living inside all the time.  Some may say THAT was ridiculous, but it has worked for us.

I've done as much as I can humanly do for all of our animals, who didn't have the best start here, in an attempt to make up for it.  Nobody has had a truly bad life, but I've provided them with all the necessary veterinary care and good food and clean, safe, warm environments since then.  My perception of others has changed a lot, knowing how difficult it can be to make changes like that.

The point of this?  I'm human, I learn from (most) mistakes, and I have a genuine passion to provide the best life for my critters as I can.

As my dad would say, "Accident's don't just happen."  Well, he's right.

Tags

My dogs have been wearing collars lately.  They never used to.  Every collar they wear has a "name tag" on it.  Typically a Boomerang Tag, because I love those.  It's pretty uncommon though, for them to wear the collar with microchip/rabies tags attached too.

The point of this pointless post is to ask if your dogs wear tags, or even collars...

I have no real reason.

I'm Exhausted!

Between being Trial Secretary, going to School, exercising and stretching Bailey As Is Allowed, and dealing with Buzz's medical issues... I'm exhausted!

Recheck for Bailey tomorrow morning.  We've not been as good this week about stretches for various reasons.  Surprisingly, when I do them, she seems to be improving--rather than me getting frustrated that she is sliding backwards!  Maybe it's my imagination... we'll see tomorrow.

In other wonderful news, we finally got whole-blood DNA samples sent out for the CHIC repository.  They went out yesterday.  Let's hope the shipping place I used actually knows what the hey is going on.  They were mighty confused, and mighty slow.

Our house is a state of construction--still.  I think everyone's fuse is getting short because it feels like we live in a one room house for right now.

The dogs need baths.  Who wants to come do that for me?

Embracing My Dog

Our good friends Crystal and Maisy recently wrote a post titled, "In Praise of the Abnormal Dog."  It's a wonderfully inclusive post that you'll have to read to get the full effect.

It's something I've thought about a lot, and especially this morning.

We all spent the night at our cabin, and after arriving home this morning, I didn't put the kitties crates away (or close the door).  Buzz went to sniff Rascal's crate and Bailey immediately shoved herself into a tiny crate so she could guard it.

Why am I posting this?  Because all my girlie-dog did was lift a lip.  I've been oh-so-concerned about the relationship between my two dogs now that Buzz is deaf and doesn't respond to her "get away" cues.  Buzz has had teeth on him more times than I wish to convey, despite me trying very hard to protect both of them.

In the past Bailey has gone from lip lifting to snarl/lunge in record time because other creatures did not respond the way she wanted.  For her to lift a lip... and WAIT, is pretty darn impressive.  She's been showing me a lot lately that she's capable of quite a bit more than I give her credit for.  She's learning that even at home, I can manage things that are going on, and she doesn't have to take on the Hallway Monitor job she doesn't really want.

Buzz responded, she didn't aggress... and it was a pretty funny situation after that.  I practiced calling her away/out (she did so successfully, score one for training), and then I put her into her own crate, for a break.

Improvement, improvement, improvement.  We can do this, we can function as a household.

Not Enough Improvement

Bailey had another appointment with Dr. Julia on Wednesday.  She was slightly better, but Dr. Julia wasn't very happy with her progress.

Still right quad stiffness, her core muscles aren't building, and she needed another adjustment (or five).

We go back next Friday, and I'm hoping for better news... but if not, Bailey will be getting vibrational therapy to hopefully jump start her recovery.

I have a feeling this will be longer than the anticipated 8-10 weeks.  I'm working on letting go of the guilt, and focusing on the fact that she WILL improve, even if she can't compete again.  She'll be pain-free, sometime in the near future.

Camp 2010

Camp is Awesome.  That's all there is to it.  We even got nap time this year!

The campers were awesome, all four dogs in the bad dog closet did a nice job.  We squeezed seven people and nine dogs into the itty bitty red cabin.  It was loads and loads of fun.

Buzz practiced his cookie moving powers after we used him for a structure lesson.  The kids "drew" lines to see how well he was built and then... we played with the toothpaste.  It says "4-H Dog" on his right side...  He was such a good sport.

And then it was bath time.

When your dog is on leash restriction...

it just so happens that you tend to work on leashed behaviors.  Bailey is on strict leash restriction until further notice (hereafter referred to as "UFN").  She is also on "no stairs" UFN.  This could, potentially translate to "no fun" UFN, if I'm not careful!  She may be Ten and a Half years old, but she sure doesn't act like it, even when she's hurting.

Now, for the not-so-fun-part.  My dog has poor leash manners.  I tend to avoid this topic because I'm not motivated to change it, I manage her when in public and we use(d to) use an x-back harness for walks in not-crowded public places.  And I used an Easy Walk if I was feeling less lazy (the rate of reinforcement needed for the EW is actually pretty low, because I did attempt to train that a couple times in the last few years).  A Gentle Leader was put on if we were going to be in a super crowded place.  

The missing component?  Teaching my dog to walk on a loose leash reliably.  

The reason?  I'm lazy and she got far better exercise running on property at home.

The justification?  I'm lazy (What?  Isn't that what all good trainers say?)

We were REALLY GOOD at walking in town this winter for exercise.  We always went when nobody else was bound to be out, so we rarely had an issue that required her to be on a short leash at my side.  Not irresponsible, but good planning I think!

Anyway, this post isn't to complain (rather... to brag!) because I've actually been training my dog!  Her exercise(s) include 20-30 minutes of Leashed Walking (UFN) twice a day.  How handy is it that I feed twice a day.  How nice is it that she's eating kibbles that are easy to handle.  I'm actually training my dog to do something practical!  We do some sit stays occasionally, but no formal heeling (in fact, I do NOT click/treat if I'm getting eye contact--I want that body to stay as straight as possible), just some casual, loose leash walking.  

Just don't ask about the rate of reinforcement for this whole Loose Leash Walking phenomenon yet, we've only had three sessions!

Bailey has woe.

Hurting Right Quad

Bailey saw Dr. Julia Tomlinson today on the recommendation of many, many friends.  It's taken us a while to get there due to a few reasons but boy am I glad we finally went.  Dr. Julia was wonderfully competent and clearly understood dog behavior.  She took the time to let Bailey get used to the room before even entering herself.  After she entered, we chatted for a couple minutes as Bailey sniffed her and got to know her.  She read our check in sheet and took care when working with Bailey's feet... oh, and she had dehydrated liver for her.  Despite manipulating and poking and prodding Bailey for quite a while, my dog was relaxed, and in turn I was very at ease with the whole thing.

I was most impressed by her ability to find things that I clearly didn't tell her (because she didn't want to cloud her judgement).  Measuring Bailey's right shoulder abduction at 30cm, when left was at 20cm, prompted a question about possible trauma.  She made me recall that Bailey had dislocated her right shoulder as a young dog (we were playing frisbee, she lied down in front of me, I stepped on her foot as I threw and she leaped up to get it... it was NOT pretty and I'm sure quite painful, but it went back in on it's own in a matter of seconds).  I don't think I've even told the vet about it, because it seemed so insignificant.  It went back in, right?  Obviously there was lasting trauma.  She was even able to show me some changes on the x-ray.

I have a list of exercises to work on with Bailey (I lured/shaped a bow today... she doesn't have one apparently, but is learning pretty quickly) and a list of restrictions.  She's still coming to Ohio with me (she HAS to) but she won't get to participate in anything, other than being a massage dog.

My dog has a hurt right quad, and hurts in a lot of other areas due to compensating.

A Sad Happy

I didn't even think about it until tonight, but I've been taking Buzz for off leash walks quite often, with Bailey, with a relatively low rate of reinforcement... for quite a while now.  Not every time, mind you... but I don't think anything of just letting them both out the front door, and expecting them to both stick around with me.

Part of it is probably due to training, but I'm sure an even larger part is that he doesn't want to RUN anymore.

Definitely a sad happy.  He gets more/better exercise this way but it's still a bit sad.

He's been going to the car leash-less for probably a year now.  That is still something I'll have to get used to.  He used to be incredibly naughty and RUN at any chance.

It is what it is.

Retirement.
It's a wonderful word when it pertains to humans and a lousy one when it pertains to dogs.  I feel like I keep running into the same wall with both dogs.  I research, ask around, talk to my vet and we think we solve "the" problem and it comes back again.

Even if I can get either one of them "fixed" I have a feeling I'll be so concerned about them getting hurt again, I still won't compete.

Buzz's acupuncture on Wednesday was... bad.  He started shaking, flinching, and being so tense we were NOT doing anything good.  We discussed a couple options.
1) Aquapuncture-yes, water acupuncture... B12 injected into the acupoint
2) X-ray the really sensitive areas and see what we find (I need to ask if we could then to Adequan injections if those super ouchy areas are joints).
3) Me realizing my dog is 12.  I refuse to accept that statement.

I have a feeling both dogs will need multiple x-rays (there goes the rest of my savings after I paid for TAG teach and school) if I want to get a definitive diagnosis and start a treatment plan.

On the "to do" list outside of things I can have done at work are
1) CERF visits for both
2) Massage appointments (they've been made, I'm just waiting to hear if she found other people to make her trip worthwhile and thus available on that day for us to go see her)

Good news is that Buzz's senior blood work was all normal.  We do need to run a urinalysis at some point (oops, I forgot) and it was suggested we send out a full thyroid panel because his level has changed.

Retirement is imminent.  I just want my dogs to be happy and pain free.

Oh, and retirement does not pertain to Tracking and Hunt Tests.  Buzz will continue to track and do rally.  We'll see what Bailey can do, if she's ever sound again.  She says fetching bumpers in the stinky lake is a great activity, and one she can enjoy for years to come.

Of Hairy Dogs

Or... not so hairy dogs.

I shaved Buzz down a couple months ago.  He haaaaaaates being groomed.

I cut Bailey down to about 2" just before her birthday in January.  I started by doing a "pet cut" with a 7 blade today.  Then I gave her a bath and went a little crazy.  My spaniel is nekkid, except for ears.  I promised her I would never strip her out again and well... I certainly didn't do that.  She looks a little rough around the edges, but we're off to play in the lake and I'm looking forward to the two minute bath afterwards, rather than the 15 minute bath.  She looks a little ugly, but we are both pleased.  I just won't have the courage to take her out in public for a couple months.

There are no photos of this ordeal.  She'll be confined to The Farm and The Lake until it grows out a bit.

House Guest

We have a nine month old house guest until next Monday.  I was skeptical because the last time I had to take him for a walk he was BAD but this was after I'd agreed to watch him while his family went on vacation.

I'm happy to say he's been really, really, good.  Yesterday I let him out before I went to work, picked him up and off we went, with Buzz, to Elizabeth and Beckett's house!  To say we had fun is a huge understatement.  He and Beckett raced around the yard and much to Fritz's dismay, Beckett was much faster.  Hmmm, greyhound vs sporting/herding/hound dog, I wonder who's gonna win?!

Today was a very. good. day. at the Funny Farm.  I have a puppy choosing to sleep near me and relax, after he squeaked a toy to death.  To say he's being good is an understatement.  He even endured a bath and nail trim today without much complaint.  Bailey is zonked out in her crate, Buzz hasn't recovered from yesterday yet, and I have a feeling I'll actually get a good night's sleep.  I'm excited and not exhausted!

Not a complete bust.

Although I'm pretty concerned about my dog, she put in a better than decent performance in the rally rings today.  87/3rd in Excellent B (I cost us 10 points on the offset figure 8), 91/3rd in Advanced B for RAE QQ #5.  We won't talk about Open other than to say my dog is still broken and I'm going to pursue some more advanced options for hopefully getting her fixed for real this time.

Buzz was absolutely wonderful at camp yesterday, but more about that in a later post when I write my article for TD, Inc.

"easy to live with"

I've always said Bailey is easy to live with.  She doesn't counter surf, care about litter boxes, get into the trash, eat plants, chew up things that shouldn't be chewed up, or do something she's been told not to.  I adore these things about her, it balances Buzz out (what, there's a crumb on the floor, I'll chew through the rug it's on--true story) and it makes me call her the "perfect pet" with a few minor changes.

Today I was asked if she doesn't do those things because they scare her.  I immediately said "no!" pretty emphatically, and then through a series of questions started to change my answer.  I still don't think it's completely fear based, but I'm curious now if those "perfect pets" have some crazy fears outside of their "perfect" behaviors, and act that way due to a lack in confidence.

Still Walking The Same Road

A comment from tonight really got me thinking.  Is it ever a goal for an aggressive/reactive dog to play with other dogs?  


Co-exist, yes!
Tolerate, yes!
Ignore, yes!


But... play with?  No.


Did I ever expect Bailey to play with another dog?  Not really.  If you had asked me last year right before I left for camp in June, I would have given you a blank stare and asked if you were talking about my Bailey, the black and white English Springer Spaniel, born on January 24, 2000... had you asked me if she wanted to play with another dog.  Eat another dog, why, yes, she would love to... but play, you must be joking.

I trust Kristen a lot, maybe too much, but she hasn't given me reason to believe otherwise (yet), so when she told me to let Bailey loose with Griffin; I actually did without too much convincing.  I don't know that it can be called playing, but it was definitely happy and relaxed socializing with another creature of the canine variety.  They responded appropriately to each other and I relaxed, just a smidge.

Do you see that other dog standing close to her?  She was enjoying racing around the property with him.  They never played but this is the first dog she has done more than tolerate.  Griffin is a pretty special guy, to earn that award... and it's because he's most excellent at reading other dogs and reacting appropriately, really great!

The moral of this story is I have MORE pictures of Bailey playing with Fritz from Sunday.  THREE times they played.  One, she actually initiated, and the other two I started by running around with a rope toy.  Three times she acted more like a normal dog than I ever thought possible.  

What or who can I thank for this?  

Good training--thank you Karen Pryor above all

Medications--treating for a "low normal" thyroid and getting her into the "normal" range/utilizing a SSRI (fluoxetine) to help fill in the gaps in her brain

Friends--willing friends with wonderful dogs

(I soooo wish this was in focus!)

I can't get over how HAPPY she looks here.  This is the game of chase she initiated!

I have a couple more great photos from Sunday that need a bit of editing, so I'll work on getting those up but... I still can't believe she's playing with another dog.  Barking, arroooooing, and being well-playful!

Is my dog steady?

The short answer is no.  The answer I feel compelled to give is "yes" because we still have a 95% success rate.  Two days in a row I took Bailey to the lake to fetch bumpers.  She adores fetching bumpers, she lives to fetch bumpers, she would do it all day long if I let her.  She's also fabulous at problem solving.

My dog walks at heel, waiting for me to stop walking, she promptly sits at heel and plants herself.  She then stays sitting while I throw the bumper, with no cues from me (see how brilliant she is, moving dogs don't get throws, and moving dogs don't get released for the bumper).  

I had two breaks today, one on land, one on water.  (I still can't determine what makes her break, but we're working through it.)  Both times I called her back, she did NOT return to me on the water one, which is the first time that has happened in at least a year!  She did return to heel position when called for the land one.  They were interspersed, and the others in between were beyond solid.  No movement, she never lost her mark, and she flew out there when cued.

If I can find the right person to reintroduce guns to her, I'll be feeling better about hunt tests.

Then we came home and she got a bath...

Context C(l)ues.

When I got home for lunch today, Bailey and I worked on front vs heel position discrimination.  To say it went poorly in the beginning is an understatement.  She was not hitting either one of them.  Then I looked at how I was standing...

I've trained my dog to only go to heel position if I'm A) holding my left hand on my stomach, B) my head is turned towards her, and C) I say "get in."  If any of those components are missing, she goes to the general area, but does not line up straight.

I've trained my dog to only hit front position if I am A) looking directly at her, B) have both hands at my side, and C) I use her name first.

Someone please fix me, so I can fix my dog!  That's an issue... but when I do all of those things, she's STRAIGHT and PRETTY and GOOD.  Harumph!

A Harsh Top Coat

While in surgery today, I commented on Buzz's nice, harsh topcoat.  Can I throw dirt on my dog before we go in the ring next time?  After being outside and rolling around a. lot. the last few days--his top coat is very nice!  I'm only half kidding about showing a dirty dog.

In other news, Buzz had a lump removed from his foreleg today.  A "probable infected sebaceous cyst" that he chewed open.  He's my good boy and we only used a local anesthetic.  Nasty blood clot drainage earlier today, but it seems pretty good now.  He'll be a cone head for the next 10-14 days and he gets to come to work with me the rest of the week.  Hey, now I can train my dog!

I suppose a picture is in order... tomorrow.  Maybe.

Cone head Buzz.

Agitation and "Asking"

Today has been a weird day for the dogs.  We have a lot of weird days, but this one involved a lot of sleep, followed by a lot of unstructured outside time, followed by crate time, followed by people hauling large quantities of "stuff" into the house* (which resulted in dogs being outside again so they didn't escape).  Somewhere along the lines Bailey turned into Bailey... and got stressed.  We trained a little bit and as I was getting myself some food she clearly came over and "asked" to be put away.  She's never done that before, except at bedtime.  I saw her looking at Rasza grooming himself, I said her name softly and her eyes were almost pleading when she turned to me, it was quite sad.  She made eye contact and then headed for my room.  She wanted to be away from the cats, from everything, so I just shut the door to my room.  If I crate her and leave the door open, cats/Buzz are likely to walk in and frustrate her while she's in her crate, so I just shut the door.

This isn't the first time I've started to wonder if the Fluoxetine isn't working as well anymore.  She's clearly *thinking* now, and I have a much larger window between observing troublesome behaviors and her reacting, but she doesn't seem to be relaxing like she did when we initially started it.

Poor muppet.

*(I'm afraid to jinx it, because the papers haven't been signed but... the large quantities of "stuff" are ours, from another place that will hopefully not be ours anymore very, very soon.)

"Getting Away" with ... "Stuff"

I hear it a lot.  "My dog is getting away with (insert x, y, z)" so the owner feels compelled to correct the dog, rather than correct the training.  I definitely don't discount that a history of intentional and/or unintentional reinforcement makes changing the behavior difficult, but I also know that "allowing" an annoying behavior to happen once or twice impacts you, more than the dog.  

Last night I got home from work, packed up both dogs (along with an insane amount of "stuff") and we headed to a Nature Park about 20 minutes from our house.  I took Buzz walking there once, and it was beautifully large, secluded, and had a LOT of things for us to work through.  I laid Bailey's track, laid Buzz's track and then ran Buzz.  The past couple times I've taken him tracking, he hasn't offered the article indication I want to see.  He's been "taught" to pick up the article (since he won't sit or down reliably on wet/otherwise yucky grass... and I need a reliable indication), but just hasn't lately.  Sometimes I waited for the correct indication, but other times I just let him "get away with it" (said tongue in cheek) and we continued on.  At the UGSDA show this weekend, we worked on our article indication.  Yes--in the midst of a conformation show, I trained my dog for tracking.  *gasp*

1. Find suitable article

2. Get dog playing "101 things" with it

3. Reinforce the desired response

4. Reinforce some more

5. Take dog out tracking almost two weeks later and see that training the dog has a positive effect... whoda thunk?

I let Buzz "get away" with not indicating in previous tracking sessions and yet he... indicated (arguably) better?  Yes!

I also chose not to work on Bailey's LLW after we tracked.  LLW takes work (imagine THAT), so instead I put her x-back harness on, put my skijor belt on, and off we went.  She happily pulled ahead, I was happy to be pulled... and neither one of us was hurting ourselves.  Best invention and suggestion ever (the x-back and skijor belt with line that is).  I guess I let my dog "get away" with pulling then, and by that I mean I encouraged it!