Still Doing Well

Remington has been very happy today. Managed to do the UpsideDown Dog Thing in the morning--which has been a while--and several times yesterday & today grabbed his furry toy(s) and nursed on them for a while--another sign that he's happy and comfortable and looking for something to do. Also hasn't been interested in doing that for quite a while. So I think he's been only half healthy again for a couple or 3 weeks.

I'm busily signing up for Feb & March agility trials. I don't know what to do about Remington. Usually when we're at trials he won't lie down or relax until he has had at least one run, and he's clearly distraught when I take Jake out to run before I take him out. And taking him for a walk hasn't worked in the past to trick him--he knows perfectly well why we're there and what he's "supposed" to be doing.

So I'm signing him up for 2 or 3 runs a day as usual. I figure that he can run if he feels up to it, and if he shows the slightest signs of not feeling up to it, I'll pull him without hesitation and--well, I guess the wasted entry fees are a pittance compared to his medical bills.

Maybe I should be signing him up for only 1 run a day. Except that you never know in advance which classes will run first, so if I pick one and it's the last one of the day, that defeats the goal of getting him out and running in at least one class.

Plus the other thing I'm thinking about--besides the general vulnerability of his tumor & its likelihood of rupturing--is how out of shape he's going to be. He's done almost no running and jumping of any kind for almost 2 months. So maybe I should just plan on doing the first run of the day and pulling him from others.

And I should probably also be getting him out to the park more to give him a chance to trot or dash around and see what happens. Such a fragile between being cautious and letting him enjoy himself! Argh--