Jester
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Posts posted by Jester
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They only interact this way when Tiera runs. If I reduce the size of the yard, she won't run. I am picking up some rope today, I figure I can make a 20' lead and that should do it. Thanks!
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I will definitely try that. Biggest issue is that my yard is about 1/2 acre so they get far away from me quickly. Maybe I will try a rope on his collar.
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My girlie is only 55 lbs (soaking wet) and my current foster is 75 lbs. When she runs after a toy, he will run after her and start bumping and mouthing at her head and neck (muzzled). She immediately freezes until he stops and then runs back to me to hide. I'm not sure how to correct him. She really hates physical play from another dog. I really think it's because she's so small.
Thoughts?
Required picture:
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Cooper passed away from a tumor in his abdomen yesterday. He was such a good boy. We will miss him so much. 6 months with him wasn't nearly long enough, but I know Lady is counseling him and keeping him in line.
Goodbye, sweet boy.
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My dear, sweet Lady passed away from lymphoma on Thursday. Way too soon. I adopted her 1.5 yrs ago when she retired from being a brood mom. I have struggled for words to describe how wonderful she was and how important she was and ended up with a series of haiku:
There is a hole in
My heart only my Greyhound
Can fill. So empty.
Calm, rhythmic cheek puffs
Warm nose as soft as velvet
My sweet, precious girl
Run faster than wind
Loops and circles of pure joy
Mom came home to me
Persistent whining
My day's loneliness surely
Trumps your work fatigue
Your sewing room is
Not big enough for sharing
With you and Cooper
Hockey is boring
But snuggling on the couch is
Bliss for two hours
Your Miata is
Very small but I curl up
To go where you go
I will share my chew
If you will rub my ears and
Kiss my soft, wet nose
Large grass areas
Are for running and spinning
And digging big holes
I find you lacking
When you ignore my huffs and
Don't share your dinner
I did not act my age
Because my age was not what
I wanted to be -
I can't connect with my cell phone, using Chrome or Explorer, but I can login from work (which is always hit or miss).
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It let me do it from my cell phone
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tell me exactly what you are doing to post the image, and which editor, plain text (grayed out buttons) or the rich text editor. Are you using the image button, or manually typing [ img ] tags?
I clicked the button to edit the post and then manually typed in the tags.
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Nope
Cleared everything, closed the browser, reloaded, relogged in and tried to edit my post in EEG to add the tags. Still tells me that extension is not allowed.
I am on my home computer today (Chrome).
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Jeff, I can't post pictures either. Here at work, I have to use IE7 and when I press the image icon the screen goes gray and I'm stuck.
Here is the image I am trying to link:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8347/8270280812_a42dd2301d.jpg
It tells me I am not allowed to use that image extension here.
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Picked up Chad's ashes today. I made the desk ladies listen to a few Chad stories before I left. He really was a character. I finally feel like I can let Maisy and Bella's ashes go now, too. It was like they needed to be together first. I think I will take them all to my friend's farm and let them go on the private beach where they liked to paddle in the water. I just feel so lonely without them.
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Chad was my best friend. He was featured in CG Magazine a few times, and I used to post pictures of his couch antics and extreme ETS on here a lot. Many of you have met him in person so you already know. This past year was rough; all three of my dogs were diagnosed with terminal illnesses and they are all now gone. I really just don't have anything else in me right now.
Good bye, sweet boy.
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I took Chad to VOSM last week. The doctor spent at least 30 solid minutes doing a complete assessment of Chad, which is something I haven't been able to get anyone else to do, so that alone was worth the drive. All told, we spent an hour with the doctor. He has issues in three different spots on his spine, with the lowest one being higher than the lumbar region. He told me that the two most likely causes are bulging disks or stenosis in those locations, but that there were some other (very less likely) possible causes like infections. He said that I would need to do an MRI of Chad's entire spine to truely diagnose the issue, and that surgery would likely be the corrective action. He also noted that since he is having issues in more that one location, it was possible that the MRI would show that surgery wouldn't be an option for him given his age (they won't do more than 2 or 3 disks). We agreed that pain management was the best course of treatment for him at this time, given his age and condition. The other nice thing is that the vet told me his nerve issues aren't really that bad yet, and that he has a lot of function left in his legs, etc.
I had gotten one of my local vets to switch him from Previcox to Gabopentin and it had made a world of difference (he completely stopped licking his back legs within 24 hours). The Dr at VOSM had me double that dose; Chad has been like a new dog since then! I accidentally missed a dose Sunday morning and by Sunday afternoon I could see the difference. I was told that he is currently at the lowest therapeutic dose for the problems he is having, so I have lots of room to increase it if it stops helping.
He told me that I should make an appointment with the rehab specialist for exercises to help build his core, and that I should leash walk him daily and not let him run around (he doesn't run around anymore anyway). He said that he has clients that have had great success with acupuncture for the pain and that the Chiropractor will either help or not help, and I would know after a session or two if it was worth it. It said that it can cause issues, but that is very rare. He said it was up to me if I wanted to use any of those therapies; he saw no issue with it and thought that it could provide relief. He cautioned me that none of those would cure the underlying issue, he would require surgery for that.
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Great tip thanks, but will have to save it for days when he is not in the ocean.
Why? If you use the really thin liners (they are about $1 for 25 of them) they aren't absorbent. I used them under Chad's vet wrap for years and he would swim in the river with them on. I had to change the wraps after a day of swimming, obviously, but you would be taking them off anyway.
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Use panty liners turned sticky side out wrapped around the legs under the vet wrap. That will keep the vet wrap from moving. I used that when i had to wrap Chad's legs and it works perfectly.
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There are actually acupuncturists in my area, believe it or not. I was leaning more toward the Chiropractic care because the reading I did suggested that was more effective long term for the sciatic pain (licking lower extremeties) than acupuncture.
VOSM is closer to me than the Chiropractor and I will call them. Melinda is the other board certified chiro in Maryland (2+ hours from me); the ones in Virginia are actually closer to me than she is. I will wait and see what the Equine vet thinks before I check with her.
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I'm with you, Jen, on attacking when I don't feel my vet is helping. Unfortunately, it is over an hour's drive to the closest specialist so it is not an easy thing for me to do. My current vet, and the second vet I went to did nothing for this, not even the spine check Dr. Stack outlines. The second vet is at least interested in options I find and will talk to me respectfully, but the first one sat me down and actually told me to accept that Chad is terminally ill and will slowly lose all control and I need to come to terms with it. She told me there is no treatment for a dog his age (12), only ways to manage the pain. She won't do the steroid injections and is "disinclined" to put him on long-term oral steroids. No vet has discussed anything other than previcox as a solution to manage the pain, and MRI/surgery to fix it. I will have to look into the gabapentin because the previcox really isn't cutting it anymore.
For people, they actually talk about the steroid injections, chiropractic care, various types of surgeries and arthritis treatments, and acupunture. I didn't pay much attention to the medications because I know not all will translate to dogs. They note that the acupunture helps manage the pain, but is temporary. They noted that chiropractic care can be corrective for some causes of the disease.
I will ask Meredith for the contact info and give it a shot. I contacted the Equine vet and the receptionist is going to ask the doctor if she would be willing to see Chad (she used to do dogs but no longer has all the equipment) and get back to me. Thanks for the lead on the specialist. I think that the second vet I saw would at least be willing to take the specialist's recommendations and run with them.
Chad licks at all of his legs obsessively, but his rear left legs are the ones he will mutilate. He tends to lick the upper parts of his front legs, up where they attach at his chest, and the lower parts of his back legs. It has definitely gotten worse over the last 5 years.
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done
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Yes. There are only two listed in Maryland on their site, one is an Equine specialist and the other is more than 2 hours from me (3 with traffic).
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So... I did a ton of reading about LS in people and in animals and learned some interesting things. It is not necessarily degenerative and there are a lot of things they do in people for it that aren't mentioned in the articles about pets. The other thing that I found interesting is that it can cause sciatic pain in the lower extremeties (read that in an article about people). About 5 years ago, Chad started licking his lower legs to the point of self-mutilation. I was told by multiple vets that "some dogs just do that" and it was behavioral and that there was nothing wrong with him to indicate anything else. If I wrap his legs in vet wrap, he doesn't do it. Seems to me that wrapping them helps the sciatic pain. Anyway, the documentation for people notes that chiropractics can help with the sciatic pain so I started to look for a canine chiropractor for Chad. The closest one I can find on the 'net is in Stafford, VA (2 hour drive). There HAS to be one closer somewhere in Maryland, has anyone heard of one?
On another note, I just need to vent. The idea that Chad has been suffering for 5 years just hurts my heart. I am angry that the vets wouldn't listen to me when I told them that something was wrong and I didn't think it was purely behavioral. I am angry that none of them noted that the way he twists his feet when he walks is indicative of a lower back/neurological problem. He has ALWAYS twisted his feet when he walks, but no one else seemed to think anything of it until I noticed that his back was bothering him and he had trouble doing steps from the pain. The thought that someone could have put this together 5 years ago and we could have done something for him makes me want to scream. This isn't a rant about vets in general or anything like that, this is purely me venting on behalf of my poor dog. The only buddy I have left. He trusts me to take care of him and I've let him down
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very sorry for the loss of your beautiful girl
here is to you Bella Ann:
That's my girl! Her nick name was "fastest black dog in the house."
Thank you for that and all the work you put into finding/digitizing/posting them for us. Yet another occasion when "thank you" just doesn't seem adequate.
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I'm so sorry PJ. I know how special he was to you, I wish you had more time together.
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Bella passed away on Monday. I'm not sure that I can call it sudden because she was diagnosed with a terminal illness last year, but she was such a strong dog I don't think I would have ever been ready for it.
The story of Bella's Life
When we adopted Maisy, we quickly realized that she was just a great dog. I looked into her history and found that one of her 10 littermates, Bella Ann, was still racing. We used to watch her races (she raced at Hinsdale) online and realized that we would like to adopt her. I called her owner and chatted with the wife for awhile. I found out that they had whelped Maisy and Bella's litter at their house and the puppies lived with them and their infant in their house until they were weaned at 12 weeks (can you imagine a litter of TEN puppies in your kitchen?!). She eventually told me that they planned to breed her because she was a good racer. I asked her to keep my contact info and let me know when she was done breeding because we would like to adopt her. I hung up the phone and not 2 minutes later the husband called me back. I will never forget that conversation:
Me: Hello?
Owner: You want Bella Ann? (THICK New England accent)
Me: Uh, yes, we'd like to adopt her when she's done racing and you are done bree--
Owner: I want to get out of the business. It's been a nice run, but I don't really want to raise another litter of puppies. I don't know what my wife is thinking. I'll retire her now and you come get her.
Me: uh... uh... OK, but she's racing really well and I don't want to take money from you. I can wait until she retires.
Owner: That's fine too. I'll call her trainer and let him know.
A few months later at 730 in the morning her trainer called us. I'll never forget that conversation, either:
Me: Hello?
Trainer (his name was Wayne Wright, how funny is that?!): You wanted Bella Ann, right?
Me: YES! When she retires.
Trainer: Well, she's retired. She raced this week and just isn't having fun anymore. She used to be so excited and now she's just "ho hum." We figured we'd retire her before she gets hurt or something since she has a place to go. Would you like to meet me somewhere this weekend?
Me: Uh, sure! Let me talk to my husband and get everything set up and call you back.
It took my husband and I about 30 seconds to decide to call in to to work for two days and just drive to New Hampshire to get her. It took a lot of coordination because the track she raced for required all dogs to go through their adoption program which sent ALL of the dogs to groups in Canada. They would not give her to GEGR. The only other way for dogs to leave were to be on trucks going to other tracks or the breeding kennel, or for their owners to check them out. Luckily Bella's owners lived near Hinsdale and agreed to meet us there. We caused quite a stir driving into the kennel area with our van covered in Greyhound Rescue stickers. They were watching us from the tower and sent a security guard down to see what was going on. He yelled at the trainer telling him he couldn't give the dog to us. Wayne looked that guard in the eye and said he was giving her to her owner and walked right out of the compound and handed the leash to the owner saying over his shoulder, "I can't influence her choices for her dog after that" and the owner instantly handed the leash to me. The security guard was so flustered, but he really couldn't do anything. We introduced the dogs and I swear Maisy took one sniff and said, "of all my littermates, WHY did you pick HER?!"
Bella being brought out by her trainer
At that moment, I realized that we really didn't have a well thought out plan here. We were staying in a hotel with no crate with three greyhounds that didn't know each other. I have no excuse for that, we had probably fostered a dozen or so dogs by then and really did know better. We got to the hotel and settled our stuff in and the brought Bella in. As soon as i took her leash off she jumped onto one of the beds and then leapt across to the other one. Then she saw the mirror above the dresser and jumped from the bed across the dresser to get to the dog on the other side. She was so shocked when she saw the nose print! To say that first bight was an adventure would be an understatement. But. we all survived and made it home.
At the hotel
Over time, Maisy and Bella grew to like each other and really did have a strong bond with each other. They had such different personalities but they were both just incredibly wonderful, sweet, friendly, kid loving dogs.
From Bella, I learned what "small animal hostile" really meant! We were at a meet and greet and I knew Bella wasn't good with small animals so I had her plastered to my leg while I was talking to an interested person. A lady walked in with a toy poodle on a flexible lead paying no attention whatsoever. The poodle ran right up to Bella and jumped up into her mouth. I swear I couldn't make this up! Bella was so shocked and excited! I screamed and pried the poodle out while the owner stood there embarrassed and mumbled that she was sorry.
Bella was fearless and incredibly intelligent. It was a pleasure having had her as part of my family. I feel such an intense loss knowing she won't be there to chatter at me and run her face through my hair, snuffling my face (Bella kisses were very hard to come by) anymore.
The story of Bella's passing
I traveled to California on Monday and when I got off the plane and called home to check in, I found out my stepdaughter had rushed Bella to the vet because she suddenly couldn't move her back end. I immediately called a close friend, and God bless her she dropped everything and went to the vet to find out what was going on. They conferenced me in and we decided to see if steroids would help. My friend offered to take Bella home and care for her because my stepdaughter and husband couldn't. While within a few hours Bella was able to stand on her own, but a few hours after that she passed away. I think she had nothing left after fighting her illness for so long.
It made it so much "easier" to handle knowing that friends were there for me and for Bella. I don't think I can express the depth of feeling I have for them as friends. I got more than a dog when I adopted from GEGR; I got some of the most incredible friendships; people who have meant as much if not more to me than my family. I don't think a Thank You is adequate, but I don't know what really is, so all I can say is Thank You.
Some pictures:
We call this pose "flat dog" She would always lay so absolutely flat that you could barely see her
Always on alert:
Runnning on the track at the Wonderland Pet Expo:
All my girls. I can't believe they are all gone
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My vet won't diagnose LS without an MRI. She hasn't said it flat out, but she implies that she thinks Dr. Stack's assessments and treatment protocols are those of a quack. I asked her to humor me and do the LS check that Dr Stack recommended and she said, "Oh, he will absolutely collapse if I do that" and wouldn't do it
. I asked her if she would try giving him the depo shot to see if it helps and she didn't refuse outright, but doesn't want to. She launched into a vet-speak laden discussion (that I only understood half of) about how the steroid shots are "contraindicated" for long term care and blah blah blah (there was more to her argument). Chad is 12 years old... what's long term?! Anyway, it's a bit moot for Chad right now because he has a tail wound that we are trying to get healed and adding any steroids right now will make that worse. What we decided on was doing laser treatments to get his tail to heal and to go ahead and do the laser treatments for his back at the same time. She told me she'd like to do the laser treatments on his back long term if they help. He just had his 5th treatment and I'm just not sure how I feel about how it is helping. He still is very stiff getting up and down, and has to adjust himself to get into a poop crouch, but he LAUNCHED himself into the back of the SUV after the last treatment, so it must be helping (before he was 50/50 on his attempts to even get into that car with his front feet without help). I have also been working unusually long hours for the last week so I'm not seeing him all day to really see what he's doing.
On a side note, I am taking Chad to a much closer vet's office for the laser treatments and I asked the vet there for a second assessment. She wouldn't do the check on his back (the other vet already said he'd fall), and also agreed that "long-term" steroid use probably wasn't a good idea. She is a much older vet and commented that she used to dispense steroids a lot in her younger years but that new developments indicate it might not be the best choice. I gave her the same schpeal about Chad being 12, and seriously what's "long term" at that age and she didn't really have an answer. When his laser treatment was completed, she came back into the office and sat down with me and told me that she had taken some time to think about what I said and agreed that in a 12 year old Greyhound, "long term" steroid use really wasn't the problem, and quality of life should be a bigger consideration. She agreed to do the shots if I wanted them once his tail wound is healed, but she agreed with my current vet that the laser treatment may be just as effective and safer.
I don't really know if any of that helps you, Jen, given that Zuri is much younger but these are the things I've been told. Maybe the laser treatments would help him. I'm (as I said) on the fence about it and they aren't really cheap. We are doing 2-3 treatments a week for his tail and it's $40/pop at his regular vet, $300 for a 6 treatment package at the closer vet. They just charge me for one session each visit even thought it's three locations each sitting (1 tail, 2 on the back). I don't know if that's normal or not. I feel a little trapped with it all because I'm working so much and can only drive so far and I don't have time to "research" the laser stuff. I can tell you that its effects on his tail wound have been dramatic. After two weeks of trying to get it to heal on its own normally with no change, the wound is now 1/2 the size with 5 laser treatments (1.5 weeks). It also just looks 1000x healthier.
. I asked her if she would try giving him the depo shot to see if it helps and she didn't refuse outright, but doesn't want to. She launched into a vet-speak laden discussion (that I only understood half of) about how the steroid shots are "contraindicated" for long term care and blah blah blah (there was more to her argument). Chad is 12 years old... what's long term?! Anyway, it's a bit moot for Chad right now because he has a tail wound that we are trying to get healed and adding any steroids right now will make that worse. 
Play Correction
in Training and Behavior discussion
Posted
We plan to keep him, so separate play isn't an option. I NEVER have martingales on except for walks. Rope is tied non-slip and loose. The fact the Tiera immediately stops interacting with him is helping more than anything I have done. His face when she stops is priceless - "hey! Come back! Please?". Yesterday evening was great. I could see him holding back from bumping her and he mouthed without touching her.