Maybe I Should Try Not Having A Dog

SUMMARY: Whenever Zoroo departs for good.

Backfill: date

I noted in yesterday's post:

Maybe I should try having an empty house, though [after Zorro is gone]. Maybe.

Have had at least one dog since shortly after I moved out from parents' to my own place.
Over 40 years. (Plus the family dog before that.)
Maybe it's time.

I don't miss my pups when I'm away from them.
I mean--well, yes, I do, but more like, wish I could snuggle with one right now.
Or, this situation is uncomfortable and I wish I had a dog with me.
So, bits and pieces.

But mostly I love the freedom to go where I want, when I want, and not worry about supplies or whether dogs are allowed or whether it would be challenging or worrisome for me to have them with me.
16 days I was gone in 2018, staying at hotels or friends' places, and I loved it. Me and my camera. Who is a much less demanding companion. (In most ways, anyway.)

I have said it--maybe time for no dogs--multiple times in my life--
Like, after Amber died.     (But then, eventually, Remington came home, making 2 again.)
Like, as Jake and Remington were aging.      (But then,  Tika came home, making 3.)
Like, as Tika and Boost were aging.      (But then, Chip came home, making 3.)

Maybe it's time to be free to travel anywhere in the world for any length of time and not worry about dogsitters. Or dog hair everywhere. Or having to ensure that they get the mental and physical exercise they need. Or the fun and love they need.

Devoting I don't know how much space in the house to them--dog beds everywhere, multiple shelves in various closets or cabinets filled with assorted gear and toys. Crates often in multiple places. Water bowls in various places. All of that. Crates and gear in my car and all over the garage.

I'm scared to actually add up how much space dog paraphernalia and ephemera consume.

And the yard--at least the current one--all that agility gear and all those limitations on landscaping so that I could do some real practice with the beasts. Not that I do much any more.

It's always something I think about after one of mine has died. Sometimes think more, sometimes think less about it.

So, just, not making a decision now. How long should I give my wound to heal? A month (It has been nearly 4 weeks already, hard to believe)? Two months? Four? Wait until I'm competing with Zorro? Will I ever actually do that?

What kind of dog would I want--another that I "intend to do agility with", as Chip and Zorro were?  A mellow dog? Must be smart, I think, and eager to learn.

But, aye, there's the rub: Those qualifications come right back around to "ensure that they get the mental and physical exercise they need. Or the fun and love they need." 

Enough on that for now.

Chip's Grizzled Face

SUMMARY: Comparing a year apart.

I don't really have good photos of Chip from the side, for comparing the white in his black muzzle and chin. Here's the best I can do, and I don't see much difference.

Three years old:

Four years old:

Dogs in Our Lives: To Remember

SUMMARY: Living within a fragile circle of life.

"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own, live within a fragile circle; easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we would still live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan."
                -Irving Townsend

Thanks for posting on FB, Katrina P.

Tika Update

SUMMARY: Hanging in there. By a toenail or two.

I've got so much recent history to fill in about Tika, but I just never want to sit down and write about it.

Her endurance and strength and appetite continue to fade gradually away.

Walks

She still wants to go for walks. Walks in a slow but excited circle when I get her leash out--versus bounding into the air and racing in circles screeching for most of her life.

Walks about half a mile in half an hour, very slow but very steady. Likes to sniff at things and I let her. I no longer walk her with the other dogs as they have so much energy and she has so little. She doesn't usually seem to want to go home, but I insist. I don't want to have to carry her home, and i have no really good way of telling whether she's had too much.

She no longer pulls on the leash, versus me trying to teach it for months and months and months and then just giving up and managing it for the rest of her life until the last year maybe. (See, if I'd been doing regular posts, I'd know.)

This morning for the first time I thought that she was going to say no. She struggled to get up from her bed, had trouble, lay back down, and just lay there, head down. But I asked again, and she managed to get up and get excited.

Playing

She still, sometimes, wants to play, gives it a very slight effort--a playful paw on a toy, or a tiny sort of half pounce--and then it's over.  Poor girlie.

Tricks and treats

She will still do tricks for treats, in fact, begs to be involved if I bring the treats out.  I don't do "Bang!" any longer or anything that requires her to lie down and get back up again, because it's such an effort for her.  But just this evening she did some backing up (Beep! Beep! Beep!) and figure 8s around my legs and back legs on the small wobble board and the usual lefts, rights, shakes, shake lefts,high fives, and Behinds.  Very slowly, but eagerly.

Eating

Appetite can be a problem. Some days she wants to eat a regular meal and is happy with some kind of kibble, but that happens less and less often. I've got so many kinds of kibble here, now, and she so seldom wants any of it.  And hardly eats any of it when she does.

She more often wants some canned food, but not very much of it, and probably not the same stuff more than one meal in a row (leaving me with 2/3-full cans).

She always seems to want to eat baby food... but SO expensive! But even that she won't necessarily eat all of.

Always seems to want to eat people food, but not always a lot of it.  Two nights ago she was happy to share a bunch of tortilla chips, but snubbed the hummus (!). Last night she had a bunch of my frozen meal of chicken risotto with veggies but didn't finish all that I offered her, which wasn't really very much. Today, a little diarrhea as a result. Tonight she had a taco for dinner and sucked it down with enthusiasm.

Stairs

She has to work to get up and down them--but does all the time, to go out to the yard and come back in, and to go down to the office-level of the house and come back up. (About 5 steps in each case.)

However, it had been a long time since she had been all the way upstairs to the bedroom hallway (about 12 steps), maybe a couple of months or more. And I had been thinking that that was it, she'd never come all the way upstairs again.  However, two and a half weeks ago, my sister's dog stayed with us, so there was quite a bit of activity and angst.  I went upstairs to get dressed, and the other 3 dogs followed me upstairs as normal.  Then, cruising in through the bedroom door as calm and cool as could be, came Ms. Tika.  She checked things out and then lay at the top of the stairs in her favorite old location--where she could keep an eye on everything upstairs and down.

However, she hasn't been back up since.

Tired, Old, Depressed, Sore, or Whatever

She spends a lot of time lying around looking pathetic, not raising her head, just watching or sometimes just listening to what's going on. Very un-Tika-like.

She particularly likes the raised bed under the table.  (Not so much the raised bed that's next to the table; not sure why.)  I've figured out that that's because it's easier for her to get up from--she basically walks her front legs off and then works her much-weaker back legs after them.  That is--if her front legs don't slip on the floor and leave her stranded half on and half off.  This is why there are now a bunch of rugs around the bed, to give her front feet traction.  Makes it hard to sweep the floor, though.

Activity

If I'm out in the yard, she'll come out, too, and wander around all over, checking things out, then come by for some butt-scritching and other snuggling, then go wandering off again.  For a while. Eventually she lies down and just watches, which would not have been the younger Tika.  But she doesn't go out much on her own.

Still, she does occasionally do a yard patrol. Just a few minutes ago I heard her out there, barking at something that needed her opinion.

Incontinence

I sometimes find that she's been lying in her own urine.  I don't know, though, whether she's somewhat incontinent and isn't aware that she needs to pee, or whether, seems equally likely, that she gets stuck on the smooth tile floor and can't get up.

She can get stuck if her rear legs slide out from under her in the wrong directions. She'll struggle some and then give up for a while.

So I wonder.

Meds and infections

I go in circles, trying to find ways to get her to take her meds without my having to pop them down her throat.  At this point, she's willing to take pill pockets with the smaller pills in them and I just have to pop 2 larger halves down her throat.  I dread the day that she figures out that there are tiny pills in the pockets because then I'll be scrambling again to find some way to get them down her.

She's off the antibiotics, though, yay!  About a week before her 2nd round of 20 days completed, I realized that I no longer smelled the foul infection/decaying smell from her mouth, so, for now at least, that's gone. (this most recent was in the floor of her mouth under her tongue--there was  a break before tha and after the first one, in her cheek. So, hoping there won't be more.)

And in the end

I dunno what'll happen or when. Discouraged about the decrease in appetite in particular.  But she's still my good girl and she's still seeming to enjoying being here in various ways.

Tika's Mouth

SUMMARY: That odor. That dripping blood.

The symptoms were the same, Thanksgiving morning, as the previous huge lumpy infection/lesion thing that she had a couple of months ago that antibiotics (and losing part of her cheek) made better.

But no matter how hard I looked in her mouth (and, surprise, she was willing to let me), I saw nothing. OK, turns out it's because it's under her tongue. This--if you've never tried it--is an astounding adventure to try to see or get at.  Anyway--on antibiotics again.  (Actually a larger one and a smaller one, and then the original site is a little iffy, also.)

Tika was not thrilled with going to the vets (AKA "This torture on top of forcing me to swallow thousands of pills all the time").

I convinced her to overcome her justified concern and get out of the car. We strolled around the parking lot for 10 minutes, and her agenda consisted entirely of coming back to the parking spot and pointing out that there are doors on MUTT MVR that could conceivably be opened to let her back in.

But mostly she handled things OK and we're now both home, resting from the ordeal.

On a side sad note, the vet said that it's possible that these mouth lesions are as a result of her kidney gradually failing. Which I already knew was happening from the blood test that we did when she had that first infection.

She seems to be racing to find as many problems to survive as she can before she leaves this opportunity for extra Zukes and crosses the so-called Rainbow Bridge.  To prove what an over-achiever she is. Which, OK, Teek, I already knew.

I can commiserate. Aging is not for the hyperactive of heart and mind.  She's so slow now. Back legs weaker. Heart hanging in there against all odds.  Abdomen full of fluid despite aggressive diuretics. Occasional bouts of incontinence. The last two of which I suspect are not unrelated.

But just look at how beautiful she still is!  And smart. Good old girl, knowing exactly what car doors look like from the outside.

Of Renewed Energy

SUMMARY: Tika's doing well today.

Annnnnnnnd, whew, Tika's back to more like Tika again, after 3 or 4 days of not. No coughing. Ate her kibble for breakfast--well, not all of it, and I had to put it out on the floor for her a few pieces at a time--but at least she showed interest in it and ate it without coaxing or having to try 3 or 4 varieties. Ate her pill pockets with the pills in them (which she hasn't for the last 2-3 days, typical when she's not feeling her best), has been out in the yard patrolling and just came bouncing in to say hi and get some snuggling, found the remnants of the bully stick and has gone hard to work on it, not desultorily as yesterday.

Today is a good day.

Of Tika the Old Dog, and Food, and Walks, and Bully Sticks

SUMMARY: A general decline.

It is hard to write about Tika getting older and slower and less healthy. I meant to do so regularly, to track for my own purposes, but somehow don't have the heart for it most of the time.

She hasn't been in a steady decline, but more like descending waves: Some days or weeks almost like the same old Tika; other days or weeks I wonder whether she's going to make it to the next morning. I remember just before Thanksgiving, she was so bad, I was terrified that it would be all over during the holidays. And then she perked up again.

The worst part for both of us is the Cough. Vet had said that it might be pressure from the enlarged heart or just an old, weakened esophagus that doesn't stay open as well as it used to. Sometimes she'll hardly cough for days. Other times, as in the last 3 days, it's almost constant except during the short times when she can manage to fall asleep.

And it's not so much of a cough any more--just a harsh exhale with a rattle in the throat, with every. single. breath.

Some days she's perfectly happy to eat any choice of kibble that I offer. On other days, it's the same story that I think I've mentioned before: Might or might not eat any of the different kinds of kibble. Or might eat it if I give it to her by hand a few pieces at a time. Or, not that, but only if I put a few on the carpet in front of her a few pieces at a time.

Canned food, she usually eats. But no matter what it is, she's eating less and less of it and leaves some or lots uneaten (from the dog who inhaled anything you gave her). I think that eating adds to the discomfort in her throat or whatever's causing the problem. She still looks pretty good--the advantage to a nice fluffy coat--but underneath, she feels like skin and bones.  (I haven't weighed her lately... I should... but have always done so by lifting her and stepping onto the bathrooms scale, and my back is so painful lately that I'm not eager to do it. But I should...)

She usually is happy to lick my plate, however, or eat any doggie snacks/treats or human food that I offer. Haven't tried to make a full meal of that sort of thing yet, but this week I am at the point where I really need to make the effort to cook for her and see whether that helps.

Pleez can haz more charlie bears?

She still wants to play, but the urge doesn't last very long, and she doesn't shake very hard at all when shaking the toy. She can still sometimes pull pretty darned hard with tug-of-war, but sometimes now she doesn't want to.

She pretty much never runs any more for any reason. She'll still sometimes chase a thrown frisbee or toy, a couple of times, but only at half speed, and she no longer makes an attempt to grab it off the ground, which she always excelled at, like a shortstop scooping up a ground ball.

In the last week, I've been out in the park taking her for a walk almost every day, but just for a short, slow walk.

You know, she used to be untiring; could "hike" 10 miles with me, which meant that she ran back and forth and acted as scout the entire time, so probably more like 15 or 20 miles for her, and then still wanted to play when she got home. She used to fly over jumps and through tunnels at a phenomenal speed with great joy. So this is hard for both of us to take. Yet, going for a walk is still her favorite thing in the world, even on days when she doesn't want to eat or play.

But, this week in particular, she doesn't seem to have the energy to walk very far or very fast, and she's coughing a lot, and she's not eating very much.

When she lies down or sleeps, now, she almost never lies on her side like she did her whole life; she just puts her chin down. Vet person at the seminar I did yesterday with Boost said that fluid and pressure can become worse when lying on their side, so that's probably why.

I gave The Merle Girls bully sticks about an hour ago. Tika sniffed at hers and then put her chin back down. It hurts me to see that. But, after about 15 minutes, she picked it up and started gnawing. Set it down for a bit and went out into the yard to cool down, I think (can't believe it hit almost 80F today!). I rescued it from Boost, the little thief, and gave it back to Tika when she returned.

Then Tika took it out to the back lawn--to her exact favorite spot for chewing chews, working on stuffed Kongs, and the like.

Boost will typically follow and lie a couple of feet away, hoping that Tika will give up chewing and leave it, and this evening, same thing. So all of that is normal. But Tika isn't doing much chewing, just lying there with the rawhide between her feet, panting/gasping, poor girlie.

Another agility friend's dog died suddenly today, not even 11 years old. A frequent hiking companion of ours. I cried, not just for him and his humans, but for Tika, too, after the slow walk and her eating only half a can of food, and for myself, feeling the pain of loss in advance.

Then I just now heard an odd noise in the garage and went out to look. Because of some things going on here lately, I have a couple of interesting stacks that aren't usually there of boxes and dog mats and canopies and such, and there was Boost on top of one of the piles, eagerly checking out a couple of the storage shelves that are normally way out of her reach. Her look of alert surprise when I turned on the light and saw her there made me laugh out loud, and she came bounding back into the house.

My girls.

Another Hike

SUMMARY: January 2, with friends.

This time, from the Mendoza Ranch entrance to Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch County Park. I'd never been there before, and the day was lovely--somewhat chilly air but sunny, looking to be a record high for this date (upper 60s (~20C)).

A friend organized this, including 8 people and 10 dogs (2 Whippets, 2 Border Collies, one Great Pyrenees puppy who was bigger than any of the adult dogs, and a slew of Aussies). I thought I'd get a photo of everyone at some point, but I had to turn around after 45 minutes to be able to make a noon meeting. Then I realized that I didn't even have a photo of myself, so I set up the little camera on the little Gorillapod, and voila. (I think that's Loma Prieta peak again, towards the right in the farthest range; saw it from the north in yesterday's photo.)

Tika stayed home, which made me sad every time I thought about it. However, after yesterday, I knew that she wouldn't be able to keep up with a herd of younger, healthier people and dogs. She doesn't seem to mind so much when I take Boost somewhere in the car, but boy, try to take Boost for a walk out the front door without her, and look out world!

It was a bit hazy, but still the views were nice enough looking across the Gilroy area. And, sure, it was a weekday rather than a weekend, but in the 3 hours I was there, I saw only one biker and only one other hiker.

Looking pretty much due west, with the trail wrapping out around the grassy slope.

Looking northwest from another spot.

Looking mostly south towards southern Gilroy and Hollister. Still a lot of farm land here.

Lines! Probably cattle trails; the ranch still hosts tons of yellow-white cattle. We saw only one up close, and she and Boost eyed each other suspiciously as we walked by. (But you can see how dry things still are. The lack of rain is becoming an omnipresent topic of discussion here.)

I almost missed my meeting anyway. Got back to the car and discovered that my camera was no longer in my pocket. The last place I remembered having it was at a pair of memorial benches where I sat to give Boost a drink, and it had been a bit uncomfortable so I reached back and adjusted it a little. Those benches had to be at least half a mile from the parking lot, maybe more. I confirmed for sure that the camera wasn't in my pack or other pockets, and looked for my friend's cell phone number but didn't find it, so was in a bit of a panic. Put Boost's leash back on and headed towards the trail to go back.

Now, here's the good luck-- I commented to the park folks (who had just finished working on repairing a water valve by the gate) that the reason I came back early was to leave for a meeting and now I don't have my camera, just to ask them how far back they thought the benches were--and the ranger had a truck, and offered to race back and look for it. Off he went in a cloud of dust, came back the same way in probably a lot less than 5 minutes, and I was on my way! Had I gotten back 5 minutes later, the crew would've been gone and I'd have had to go back for the camera myself. Whew! I was a little late as a result, but all's good.

Two days in a row of hiking with some uphill after so much time off was a little much (even though it was only about 4.5 miles today with mild ups & downs)--the muscle in my right front thigh is sore, and ditto for my left ankle front,  I noticed after my post-meeting nap. So I bagged on class for Boost for tonight and I promise not to go hiking tomorrow. Maybe just a short walk.  Generally feeling good, though; it is SO nice to be back out in the hills!

Things That Tika Has Mistaken For Something Alive While Out On A Walk

SUMMARY: Dogs see shapes.

Tika goes nuts when she sees another dog while we're out on a leash. She makes a ruckus, but in fact she really does just want to go check it out and then she's happy. She just doesn't often *get* to go check it out, dang Human Mom.

Photos from the web--things that Tika has actually mistaken from a distance for a person walking a dog on a leash (motion vs blurry vision)--suitcase with long handle, person pulling wagon, man using string trimmer:

Tika also is ready to take off like a rocket--from 0 to 60 in a nanosecond--if she thinks some critter is running. Image of something that almost got my arm ripped off--shoulder hurt for days-- because I was thinking, "innocuous inanimate thing blowing in the wind that dogs would have no interest in" and Tika was thinking, "Thing run! Me chase!"

Now she has cataracts, which the vet noticed yesterday are getting a bit thicker, so who knows what she's going to mistake for something else.

Weekend Wrap-Up

SUMMARY: Fun but not a lot of Qs.

Had both cameras with me all weekend, but here's the only thing I photographed all weekend--pulled off the freeway on my way home tonight. This is out on I-580, across the Diablo range of mountains (that's Mount Diablo about 40 miles north). The Central Valley for the most part is a huge expanse of agriculture. Wanted to give a sense of the traffic streaming by on the interstate (tail lights).

The weather cooperated: Cool to cold but clear; pretty much perfect for the dogs. Actually took my fleece jacket off for a couple of hours this afternoon. But frost in the morning.

There are so many fun, wonderful people in agility. Spent a lot of my weekend laughing.  At one point, I explained Tika's priorities to someone who was petting her: "Food, toys, attention." Jim D., standing near by, said, "Sounds like a man!"  I miss my agility friends when I'm not around them. Plus all those dogs! For someone who's loved dogs since at least 4th or 5th grade, agility is a good place to be.

Tika got attention and treats and we practiced tricks and wandered around letting her sniff the ground for stray iotas of food, one of her favorite activities.

Boost and I had some lovely portions of runs, but only one that 100% lovely. So our superb weekend of last november (last time we competed) did not hold up. Only one Q of 10 runs, but it was a 6th place out of 32 very fast dogs, so that was a bonus. One of those Standard runs where everything just clicked. My knee felt good (all weekend in fact) and I felt that I could really move around the course. I pushed the envelope a bit on everything and she seemed to love it.

Our Grand Prix was 95% perfect like that; I took a risk that she'd pop out of the weaves to do an aggressive front cross, and sure enough, she popped. I watched about 30 other dogs do exactly the same thing when their handlers tried the exactly the same move, so it wasn't a surprise, really, and the rest of the run felt SOOOO good.

Other details:

• Saturday Pairs: Entered the weaves wrong, so had to restart them, and popped out, so had to go back to pick up the last pole, so with the 10 faults plus all the wasted time, we did not Q. Our partner ran beautifully, though.
• Satuday Standard: Lots of nice bits, but the handler made three small handling errors resulting in 2 refusals and a knocked bar.
• Saturday Gamblers, wow, a stellar opening... well, OK, not quite, because I briefly forgot what I meant to do next while she waited at the bottom of the Aframe, and then she came off early to see what i was doing, so I had to turn her around to get her back on my plan.  As a result, we were only halfway through the weaves when the whistle blew, so we ended up with 29 opening points, about 6th highest of all dogs instead of 2nd or 3rd. The gamble itself, bleah, not even close.
• Saturday Snooker: Knocked two bars in the opening, including a red after which she hit another obstacle, so whistled off after 8 obstacles.
• Saturday Steeplechase: Two bars and ran past the weaves entirely. Not entirely sure why, although she might have been running straight into the late-afternoon sun. Still, I didn't see other dogs missing that entry.
• Saturday Jumpers: A few parts very nice, several parts with runouts and refusals and at least one bar down.
• Sunday Jumpers: A runout that I'll blame on her and two dumb handling moves resulting in two refusals in a row. But the rest really nice and fast, including some great rear crosses! (one of our big weaknesses), and she kept her bars up.
• Sunday Standard: Just about perfect as noted above! Felt great! Q and 6th place.
• Sunday Grand Prix: 95% perfect as noted above. Felt great! 6th fastest time of 32 dogs in her class, really felt great!
• Sunday Snooker: A spot-on perfect and aggressive opening and then I got ambiguous on the #2 in the closing and got a refusal. But what we did felt great!

I found it interesting that, although I  released her quickly from contacts all weekend to just keep moving and be exciting, she still kept sticking them almost all the time (waiting for my release). Yeah! What a good girl!

Her table-down in the two Standards were GORgeous--fast down and no problems with the hydraulic elbows.

And back to Tika. Another sign of her aging is this: I always share a little of my lunch with them at trials. I open their crate doors and they have to be lying down to get a tidbit. Tika has *always* struggled with her self-control--down for  a few seconds, then popping to her feet. Down again for a bit, then popping to her feet. Also, she LUNGES FRANTICALLY to grab food out of the air, and as a result half the time hits it and sends it flying instead.   Something weird happened today--she lay there quietly the whole time and picked the treats calmly out of hte air as they came towards her. Makes me sad at the same time that I'm glad that she is finally behaving herself at almost 12.

And, yes, her birthday is this week. Oh my.

I slept well in the hotel Saturday night. I think I'll sleep well again tonight.  Must go have some dinner and then to bed.

Random Updates

SUMMARY: Boost, Tika

Last week in class, Boost and I did not get through a single exercise without knocking one or more bars. Usually more. Haven't really been practicing. That could have something to do with it. Started doing some jumps again today.

On the other hand, today she carried her frisbee all the way to the park, 2/3 of a mile. That's a record for her.

No class this past week due to rain.

Tika is doing fine. Seems deafer and has less stamina all the time, but ohhhhh so gradually. Still can leap straight into the air with all four feet when I get the leashes for Walkies, and run full speed after a frisbee.

She's taking 3 different meds. Found that I could get her a pet prescription card at Walgreens for $20 and get one of the meds there at less than from the vet. Just ordered more meds from KVVet.com, about half the price of the vet's office. As he said, i can probably get better prices from companies that buy huge quantities of these things at a time than from their office, which buys small amounts at a time. (Small practice.)

That all helps immensely. Closer to $100 a month than the $200/month I'd been worried about. Still--that adds up over the year.

Tika didn't make Top Ten in anything this year, no surprise--competed less often and not as fast as she'd been. But still #16 in Jumpers and I think still around 26th in Standard and Snooker (Gamblers we stopped competing in at all).

Just sent in my entry for our first agility trial since November. Very very weird to fill out an entry for only one dog. I've competed in 273 trials through the years, and these are the only ones for which I entered only one dog:

• 1996/97, had only Remington: 11 trials.
• 2005, tried to retire Jake so running only Tika: 3 trials.
• 2006, only Tika for some random trials, not sure why I ran Jake in some and not others: 6 trials
• 2006, only Tika--Jake died and Boost not ready: 1 trial
• 2007, USDAA nationals, only Tika, Boost not qualified: 1 trial
• 2009, Boost out with sore abdominals so only Tika, 2 trials
• 2009, Tika swollen toe so only Boost, 1 trial

That was over 50 trials ago. And all of those I considered to be simply temporary. This time--there's no one else in the lineup. Just feels weird.


But still not sure what my future agility plans are. Still fermenting.

Tika Update

SUMMARY: Activity, attitude.

Tika has now been on all her heart meds (3 pills) plus antibiotics for a week now--over 2 weeks for the diuretic.

The coughing has gone away almost completely--guess I should've pushed the issue more with the vet earlier. Her stools are a little soft (sorry if TMI) but not really bad--vet suggested looking out for that sort of thing. We'll see how they look when the antibiotics for her anal gland finish up. Nothing wrong with her appetite.

But her energy level or enthusiasm for playing are still lower than they were before The Incident. She played a bit more yesterday and today than she has since The Incident, but not for very long at all. It might be good that she's self-regulating. But I'm also concerned that there seems to be a notable difference.

She likes to just sit or stand there and be rubbed. She always did like it, but now is choosing that instead of toys, which is unusal.

Friday morning I ended up at a drop-in agility class. Ran Boost--mostly good except all the bars coming down--and got some additional pointers on handling (move sooner! where have I heard that before?). Tika looked eager to go, standing up and pawing at her crate. So we set some bars at 12 inches and I ran her over about 5 jumps and then gave her a bunch of rewards, and she seemed satisfied with that.

She's definitely drinking a lot more than she used to--result of the diuretics, I'm guessing.

Anal gland looks better every day. Don't notice any swelling under the surface now. Just 3 more days of cleaning and antibioticking that, thank goodness, although she seems to not mind me massaging it a bit as I clean it and apply the ointment. (Oh, and of course give her a ton of treats.)

And she participated happily in the nosework seminar that we did this weekend--but that's the topic of another post.

All in all, she's acting generally healthy but more like an old dog than she did just a few short weeks ago. I hope it's temporary. Good old girl.

There Is No Joy in Mudville Except for Tika

SUMMARY: Bad heart, bad anal gland.

As I reported here, I've been waiting for this morning when we had an ultrasound and follow-up x-ray scheduled for Tika's heart and lungs.

Meanwhile, she' been licking at her anal area. Since she has a history of anal gland abscesses, I checked when she started licking maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago, saw and felt nothing. Checked again a couple of weeks ago, maybe just before the last agility weekend, I'm pretty sure. Nothing.

Set my alarm for 7 this morning so that I could drop her off at the vet's at 8:00 for the various tests. 5 a.m., bam!, she hits the floor with all four feet and assumes the, you know, "about to poop" position. I rush her out to the yard, where she does that for about half an hour, in between stopping and licking.

I took a look--bright purplish red under there. That can't be good.

In short, we never could get back to sleep, as it was bothering her too much and she kept returning to that position. Clearly in a lot of discomfort.

By the time we got to the vet, lots of bleeding, too. Gads. When it rains...

Anyway, vet *thinks* it's just an abscessed anal gland again. Reason I didn't see anything is because the swelling was all inside this time--possibly all the scar tissue from previous infections was keeping it from showing outwardly. We're *hoping* it's just swelling from the infection and not something worse. Vet had to give her local anesthesia to clean it out, then they kept her longer so that he could do it again a couple of hours later.

But on to primary news: Tika's heart is in very bad shape. If she were a human, she'd at least be looking at valve surgery and isn't far from what would require a heart transplant. How she kept going at all is beyond me. So the other heart medications that we thought maybe we'd add gradually as the need arose--? She's now on them.

They didn't bother with the x-ray to check fluid in the lungs--they sound very clear and the heart is the bigger challenge.

There is no way she's going to be doing any more agility. But, because she's an active and eager dog, I'm not going to keep her from running or chasing a ball or playing tug--but we might try to keep it to a minimum. No more long hikes in the mountains, I'm thinkin'. Although she does like those interesting off-leash explorations.

She's now taking antibiotics for the anal gland and diuretic and 2 other meds for her heart. And my checkbook is down another $1200. Gads.

The vet thinks that the heart could give out at any moment, or she could last a year, or maybe longer. But probably not a lot longer.

She's not even 12 yet! I really had hoped for a longer old age for her, as she's been so active and (generally) healthy. Well, it ain't over till the fat lady sings.

Goal is that she's happy, comfortable, not in pain.

And, right at the moment, she is VERY happy to be home and to be having dinner.

Class This Week and Stuff Like That

SUMMARY: Boost: Bars. Tika: What the heck?

Tika is on two weeks' rest per the vet's instructions. No running, no tug of war. Walks are OK. She, of course, wants to run and play and is starting to look dispirited when once again I'm throwing the toy for Boost to chase while distracting Tika with treats tossed into the lawn. Oh, she likes the food, but it's so clear when we go outside and she bounds into position, ears up, eyes bright, and then instead of running, all I'll do is nudge the toy around while she's hanging onto it--she likes that, but not as much as running and tug and is just kind of giving up on me.

Last night was class, so Boost ran all the exercises. Had several bars down. Of course, usually Tika does half the exercises, so Boost had more opportunities to knock bars. After knocking hardly any last weekend.

Maybe the lawn was too damp.

AND she still can't do that entry bearing left into the weaves--you know, the entry that's supposed to be easy because the dog wraps around the first pole? This is the same entry she's always had trouble with. I don't think she ever really got that "the first pole is to your left," but instead thinks it's "go between the first two poles." Well, we have 3 months in which to practice. If I feel like it.

Tried to keep Tika feeling not attention deprived during class. Between runs, did some tricks for treats, trotted her out to the backfield to go over an 8-inch jump a couple of times, practiced some downs on the table. And gave her a lot of rubbing. Still, she went from looking excited about being there to "ok, whatever."

This will be hard on both of us, another week still to go. I'll be glad when we get the ultrasound done on Monday to find out what her heart's strength really is right now.

And my knee suddenly started hurting last night after a few weeks of wonderfulness. Seems OK today so far. Just weird.

Thinking about how/when i want to have a retirement cake for Tika. Well... for me, anyway. I'm sure she'd get some, too. Any excuse for frosting, though.

The emergency vet last weekend said she was busy admiring what great teeth Tika has. Guess we've done something right--and/or she had pretty good teeth genes. Except for that one cracked/abscessed tooth that had to come out a couple of years ago, and a few tips that look like they've broken off (versus worn down), they look pretty good to me, too.

Planning on going for a 4-6 mile walk on the level tomorrow with a friend. Normally I'd take the dogs, but I'm thinking that might not be what the vets had in mind when they talked about a walk to the end of the street. (Actually we've been doing about a mile and a quarter a day, which is less than our "normal" walk, and doing it somewhat more leisurely than usual.) Hm. Maybe I'll just leave them home this time. :-(

Still, generally, I've been pretty lucky with my dogs. Tika has done very well until a pretty good age. And Boost *likes* doing agility, even if we have some issues out there on the field.

Anyway, I think I'm rambling. Off to bed early tonight and hope for another sunrise like yesterday's:

A Good Night At Class

SUMMARY: Boost and Human Mom do well; Tika--well--

It's been two weeks since our last class; the Power Paws instructors were all off at Power Paws camp last week. We didn't do camp this year, so we were on our own for practicing.

We haven't done much in the last couple of weeks. I did set up a straight tunnel in the middle of the yard (usually they're in U shapes around the sides of the yard to give the dogs somewhere to run and keep running back into the yard). This is because, at our last trial, Boost (a) didn't seem to understand about sending to the far end of a tunnel where the opening wasn't facing her, and (b) tends to come out of tunnels and chutes and then turn back to me instead of taking the following jump.

So I set up jumps past either end of the tunnel and practiced a little bit of both of those scenarios.

Did just some random jumps and things with Tika to try to be sure that she stays in shape.

Practiced a few dogwalks and teeters. A few table downs.

Wednesday night and yesterday morning it rained a bit around here. Not a huge amount, but enough to get the ground and the grass wet, and enough so that, when class time rolled around in the evening, when the temperature hit the dew point, everything turned wet wet wet--jump bars, grass, dogs, everything.

Typically in class I alternate runs between Tika and Boost, so they're both getting half a class worth of runs. Two weeks ago, Tika ran well in her first two chances, and then on the third one, she seemed slow and uninterested, so I put her away and ran Boost instead for the rest of the evening.

Last night, Tika ran beautifully in her first run, although it seemed to me that her rear end slewed out from beneath her on many turns. Still, she was bright-eyed, happy, and eager. A break for her while I ran Boost once, then the next time I got Tika out, all she wanted to do was sniff the ground around the start line. I tried to jolly her into paying attention and running, tried restarting her, clapping hands, offering treats. Sniff sniff sniff.

Well, sniffing can be a huge displacement behavior--"I'm stressed and don't want to do this." With Tika, it's sometimes hard to know, as she is SUCH a food hound, and a damp ground probably has even more interesting smells. But when I finally grabbed her collar and almost pushed her over the first jump, she ran with me, but not particularly fast or drivingly. Not droopy or sore looking, just--not all there. So she was done for the night.

She certainly had no issues like that at our last trial. Maybe class isn't exciting enough for her, or the runs are too close together, or,  I think, maybe all that slewing around in the first run made her uncomfortable or nervous, or I dunno--just another sign that she's not going to be doing agility forever.

Boost, meanwhile, ran great! She had two bars down for the evening, and for once I was alert enough to catch her each time before she got to the next obstacle to give her a time out. Everything else was wonderful. Even better, *I* felt great last night--knee didn't bother me at all, I felt like I was hauling butt around the field, getting in what felt like aggressive crosses and such. This doesn't always happen, so it felt good all around. A couple of classmates even commented on it.

If only that all holds up for another week--our last USDAA, and last trial period, for the year next weekend.

THIS weekend, I'm off to a two-day seminar featuring THE Bob Bailey and Dr. Sophia Yin, who is another expert on dog behavior. A sampling of topics:

• "Dog training: Craft or Technology--is there a diffence?"
• "The difference measurement makes: Lessons from the treat and train project"
•  "Your mind's saying one thing, but your body's saying another: The subtle differences in technique that make one handler exceptional and another so-so"

Looking forward to it, even if it is two days of lecture!

Honoring the Veteran Dogs

SUMMARY: Tika's moment in the sun.

Every few years, one of our clubs does some special event to honor those veteran agility dogs who have participated in the sport.

This August, SMART is making this nice gesture:

SMART's 10 Year Anniversary Honor Run for Veteran Dogs
On Saturday, August 25, SMART would like to honor the agility dogs who have for most of the last 10 years been the reason SMART and its sister clubs exist.

If you have a veteran dog ten years of age or older, please consider participating in this "Honor SMART's legacy" run. This will be an abbreviated agility run without contacts (or if you wish, just walk into the ring with your dog) during which time an announcer will read your dog's achievements over the PA.

Entry is free and each participating dog will earn a certificate of merit and a gift as SMART's way of acknowledging lifetime effort and achievement.

I attended SMART's first two events, which were fun matches, in 2002; Tika participated in their December 2002 match. So Tika's competition career just about exactly parallels SMART's existence.

Therefore, I have submitted the following according to their guidelines (although not sure that they'll have time to go over all of this while she's running the abbreviated course).

Full registered name of dog:

Finchester's Tika

Call name of dog:

Tika

Date of birth:

Feb 14, 2001

All titles achieved (not just agility and not just USDAA, include obedience, tracking, comformation, etc) or special placements:

In USDAA:

• LAA-Gold, ADCH-Silver, PDCH-Silver, PGCH/PJCH/PRCH/PSCH-Gold*, TM-Platinum, PTM-Platinum. (* 3 snookers short of her PDCH-Gold)
• Annual Performance 22" Top Ten in all four classes in 2010, and in 3 classes in 2011 including #1 in Jumpers and #2 in Gamblers
• Ooh--new fun numbers! Lifetime overall Performance 22" Top Ten:
  #8 in gamblers,
  #9 in jumpers,
  #10 in snooker,
  #11 in standard,
  #20 in Tournaments-- 

• oh, and Lifetime among 22" mixed breeds:
  #1 in  Gamblers,
  #1 in Snooker,
  #1 in Jumpers,
  #2 in Standard,
  #1 in Tournament!
  

In CPE: C-ATE, EX-ST/JP/WC/FH/SN

In NADAC: EAC, EGC, NJC

CPE Nationals 2006: High in Trial - Standard - Level C 24-inch dogs

USDAA Nationals:

• DAM Team finalist 2006 with Carlene Chandler's Brenn and Mary Van Wormers's Skeeter
• Qualified for Nationals in Grand Prix 2003-2012, Steeplechase 2004-2012 (except 2007), DAM Team 2005-2012

Is dog a rescue? If so, brief explanation of how your dog was adopted?

Tika is a rescue. She was turned in to the shelter at 3 months for being too wild, adopted, and again returned at about 6 months for being too wild. The shelter then turned her over to rescue, where she was fostered by Gina Campodonico, who knew that I was looking for another agility dog.

Dog's favorite activity, any special characteristics/likes/dislikes that will give spectators a sense of what makes him/her special:

Tika loves to snuggle, loves to play tug, loves to go for long off-leash hikes, loves clicker training, and really really really loves to eat.

One thing you'd like to tell your dog, if s/he could understand English:

"Please don't bark so much! But I love you anyway!"

Anything else you'd like us to know?

Tika's ground speed still seems as fast as ever, but arthritis slows her down in agility, and our biggest handicap now is that she can hardly hear anything anymore.

Vet Clarifications for Tika

SUMMARY: Follow-up to Thoughts From the Heart.

Spoke to the vet. Yup, I misunderstood about the thyroid. Normal is .8 to 3.5, "low-normal" is .8 to 1.0. Tika tested at .9.

He says that the measurement can vary widely even at different times of the day, so one reading like this doesn't necessarily mean anything. He says the key indicators of low thyroid are a decrease in energy and weight gain, and he doesn't see either of those with Tika.

I did note that she doesn't have as much energy as she used to--chases the ball or frisbee a very few times instead of relentlessly, for example, but does chase them full speed. She looked pretty energetic before and after being in the ring all weekend this last weekend.

I've chalked that all up to being older and/or recurring soreness or arthritis acting up and subsiding.

He pointed out that her heart murmur-- 3 on a scale of 0 to 6--could have the exact sort of symptoms as that or low thyroid, pointing out the difficulty of diagnosing a specific thing.

He recommended another thyroid test no sooner than a month from now, and unless I really notice a change in energy levels, even 3 months or more would be fine to wait, and if it reads low again, then we can decide what to do.

He noted that, once thyroid meds are started, they have to continue for the rest of the dog's life.

Forget the jetpack and the household robot maid, where's the tricorder medical scanner that exactly pinpoints a problem in half a second? Waiting-- and hoping--

(Photos thanks to Diana Wilson)

Sunday at Agility On The Green

SUMMARY: And another agility weekend goes by.

From our running order for the whole weekend: One of these things is not like the others:

Today often felt more like a handler having a bad weekend than the dogs doing so. Both dogs ran nicely, looked healthy and happy and eager to run, although, yep, Tika can't match the speed of so many other dogs in 22" performance now.

Tika:

• Steeplechase Round 2: It had 2 sets of weaves. We can't compete on time with that these days. Placed 4th of 5, all of us running clean. Brought home $7 for it.
• Standard: Ran nicely, got all her contacts, kept all her bars up, went down pretty quickly on the table for a change--and 4 obstacles before the end, I sent her into a tunnel under an Aframe that I thought was a gimmee, but apparently she wasn't convinced because she pulled off it and jumped onto the Aframe from the side for an off course. 100% handler issue (although I don't think I'd have had that issue if she wasn't checking in with so much as she's doing now).
• Grand Prix: A killer of a course, very few dogs Qualified. She ran nicely and clean, although much slower than many of the dogs. However--out of ten  22" dogs, only two of us Qed, giving her 2nd place. 
• Jumpers: A pretty smooth run, although I was late on a couple of front crosses, slowing her down a little. Qed but placed only 5th of 8 dogs. Our time of 25.82 wasn't *horribly* behind the winning time of 22.97... but, well, 3 seconds, that's more than 10% slower. Ah, me.

Boost:

• Standard: A challenging course and there was one spot where dogs needed to make a sharp turn but instead were shooting ahead for an off course or not turning tightly enough and running past the jump. I vowed that we would not make yesterday's Jumpers mistake, where I knew it would be an issue and still couldn't fix it. So--yes, indeed, I came to a dead stop, did an RFP (reverse flow pivot--aka fake front cross), and yelled her name--and, yes, indeed, I managed to catch her and bring her in over the jump, but I think I was in her way, because she knocked the bar. The rest of the run was flawless. Another one of those "just ONE thing wrong!" courses.
• Gamblers: Almost perfect opening, but a bobble going into a tunnel--pretty sure it was a handling thing although I didn't review the video--cost us 2 points and the highest of all opening scores. Still, once again, I believe we were tied for 2nd highest of all. The gamble--I was rushed, didn't make sure Boost had a good approach line, and we weren't even close on a gamble that I think lots of people got. 
• Grand Prix: The wheels on our agility train started wobbling--she had to make about a 30-degree adjustment in her path to come in to the weaves that I was running at and yelling Weave!, and she had at least 20 feet in which to do it, but she just ran completely past them on the opposite side from me. Later, she went offcourse where tons of other dogs had gone offcourse--the strategy that worked for Tika didn't work for her.  Most of the rest was nice, though.
• Jumpers. After Tika's run, I was determined not to be late on my front crosses. But-- the wheels came off completely.

So--4 Qs out of 10 for Tika plus $7 Steeplechase winnings and a 2nd in Grand Prix. Real pity about not getting Snookers, though, so that PDCH-Gold is still aching for 3 more of them. Down to only 38 more needed for her Lifetime Platinum.  (As of mid-June, only 96 dogs have ever achieved that. Peer pressure is omnipresent when 20 of them are people/dogs you know and have regularly competed against--you know,  as Janis Joplin sang,

"Oh, lord, won't you buy me an L.A.A. Platinum?
My friends have all got one, I must raise a hat to them..." )

One Q out of 11 for Boost--the win in Pairs yesterday. She didn't even win anything in the worker raffle this weekend.

Tomorrow we'll go for a long walk to drown our sorrows and get MUTT MVR's brakes and rear windows checked.

Thoughts From The Heart

SUMMARY: Well--actually *about* the heart. Tika's.

Tika went in for her annual checkup and shots and tests the other week. Actually it has been about a year and half although we've been in a couple of times in the intervening months for various other reasons.

It was about that time, back then, that I think I first was told that Tika has a heart murmur, but very slight.

This year, the vet said that, on a scale of 1 to 5--hmm, or was it 1 to 6?-- a year and ahalf ago it was about a 2, and now it's about a 3. Still nothing to worry about, he says, but if I notice any change in behavior, or less energy, let him know.

Well, of course, I've noticed less energy in recent months already. I attributed that to being 11 and a half. She still runs full tilt after a ball or frisbee, but instead of being indefatigable, she does it only a few times and then stops or takes a break.

So is that heart related or not?

He said to report in if she does a lot of coughing, say, first thing in the morning. She had been doing quite a bit of coughing in odd ways and at odd times, but now that the doc has said something about it, I haven't heard her do it at all. So... maybe just low-grade allergies or a tickle in her throat?

Also, I asked for a nice full panel on the bloodwork, not just a heartworm check. He reported back that her thyroid is borderline--normal is .8 to 1.0 and she's at .9. If I heard the phone message right. Which makes me wonder, if .9, smack dab in the middle of normal, is borderline, what exactly is normal? I just got around to calling him back, but now he's out of town until next week, so the mystery remains.

Mostly everything seems to be in good working condition, but now I have more things to fret over than just her ever-increasing deafness and what I still think is her deteriorating vision.

For a dog who's been so healthy most of her life, this is all quite distracting for me. I guess every dog will be different as they age, just as they've been different when they were younger. How rude.

We have three weekends of agility coming up, so will see how we all do.

Well--kinda 3 weekends. This weekend, SMART USDAA trial in Prundedale. Next weekend, Bay Team CPE in San Martin, about as close as it ever gets to my house any more. Following weekend--"Dreams of the '90s Are Alive in Dog Agility Woodstock", which seems to be an excuse for a bunch of agility people, who obviously don't have enough agility events yet, to get together for 24 hours from midday to midday and do fun, useful, or silly agility-related things and have a big potluck and sleepover party. I think there are about 30 of us.

We will see how we all do there, too.

Top Ten Nostalgia

SUMMARY: Tika's Top Ten summary

Gee, it was only a few months ago when I was obsessing about getting just another placement or two to get into the USDAA Performance Top Ten. Now we're just out of it; Tika no longer has the speed with her age or the confidence with her hearing issues, I've already conceded that.

Today's mail brought a reminder of former glory: her pin and certs for 2011 Top Ten in three of the four regular classes.

Thereby making me wax nostalgic about her brief but excellent appearances in the Top Ten ranks. We could never manage it at Championship 26", but moving over into Performance 22" at about 8 1/2 years old, her body loved it.

We were never a really astounding team; we did it with consistency, just enough speed to be able to place regularly, and (I like to think) pretty good strategies in the points games. Now, though, the speed isn't there, and the points games (Snooker and Gamblers) have been a disaster for us for the last few months. Still Qing in Standard and Jumpers kinda regularly but not getting the placements.

Herewith some notes about our rapid rise and decline. She's turned out to be such a good girl, for a dog pound reject because she was too crazy for two different "normal" families!

	2009	2010	2011	2012
Gamblers	tied for 12th (Moved to Pf in April; had 29 points, took 30 to be Top Ten)	6th (46 pts; took 37)	2nd (59 pts; took 39)	- (Not even entering gamblers any more; can't get the gambles)
Jumpers	- (Moved to Pf in Oct, for 2 trials only)	4th (53 pts, took 25)	1st (64 pts, took 30)	currently 8th with 13 pts (but we won't get 30ish pts to stay in top 10 )
Snooker	11th (moved to Pf in April; had 29 points, took 30 to be Top Ten)	4th (42 pts, took 31)	12th (had 26 pts, took 27)	- (not even in top 25)
Standard	- (Moved to Pf in July; not in top 25)	4th (48 pts, took 34)	6th (41 pts, took 35)	currently 15th with 13 pts (for sure we won't get mid-30s pts for top ten)