Yoshi and Trek
Training Diary

By Ellen
Clary (Copyright 2004-2015)
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Thu Dec 31
Walked Yoshi and there were a lot of dogs around and he was a
complete twit at many, even with all the steering around several dogs.
If we avoided a dog he was fine but one angling toward him, he would
bark then get a hold of himself and look at me and ask for a treat. I’m
walking him on a harness and a flexi, and it may give him more freedom
than he’s used to. I have to pick him up by the harness to get his
attention (front legs off the ground) I think it means since I’ve
changed something that I need to go back and work on the basics of
getting his attention. As a result, I walked him over a mile and a half.
Trek had PT today. Looking worse than usual partially because she missed last week.
Fri Dec 30
Middling walk for Yoshi - some mile steering around dogs, but not much.
Average walk for Trek. I was cold, but we didn't get rained on much.
Tue Dec 29
Trek and I went to the Encinal Boat Ramp area for a walk. It’s a very quiet area and I let her off leash since she’s not that fast and good about staying close. Except for that intriguing smell that’s just off a short cliff... Trek COME! Fortunately she paused long enough for me the leash Ms. Adventure. There is some gravel that she has a harder time walking on. She clearly prefers grass but this isn’t the most perfect of grass so I tried to get her to walk on the asphalt. She preferred the dirt and negotiated around the rocks.
Slightly longer walk for Yoshi - no drama.
Mon Dec 28
Yoshi and I went Point Pinole for a walk.
What a cool, giant park. Slightly busy during the week. May be a zoo during the weekend. Lots and lots of lateral space with some pinch points like a bridge that you have to go across to get over the railroad tracks to get from the parking lot to the actual park. A very nice place. Has some stately Eucalyptus trees (spread out like an Oak tree instead of straight up and down) and I’m not used to seeing Eucs looking stately. and it has a Euc forest too but only in one section. Yoshi didn’t like the parking lot but he loved all the smells of the park itself and he really liked the long sight lines.
Regular walk for Trek.
Sun Dec 27
No swim for Trek - next week though.
Sat Dec 26
It usually takes us 2.5 hours to get back. It took 5. Fortunately the dogs did great in their crates with only one dinner stop in Fairfield.
Fri Dec 25
We all went to Paul and Mary's in Lake Wildwood for the holiday gathering. We stayed at Terri's Mom's (Treva's) house. The dogs don't get a lot of exercise there but there are some great smells for them in the Sierra foothills. I'm not a big fan of Lake Wildwood as dog's can't go in the parks which is way lame. There is generational pressure to at least have a dog park now. Dogs get walked along the roads which is completely silly. The one good thing is there is a trail near Treva's house that I can walk the dogs on and I just have to watch out for off-leash dogs which doesn't happen that often fortunately.
Thu Dec 24
Well that was more excitement than we planned on.
Squeezing in a quick Yoshi walk in between rainstorms
On Court, I see the owner of a snotty dog that we usually avoid, but he
doesn’t have a dog with him, must just be on a walk (in this weather?
Right.) Then I notice that he’s stopped, and he’s calling out. My slow
brain figured out the Snotty Dog must have gotten lose. I put two and
two together and swing Yoshi around and head for parts far away since I
can’t help catch a dog with Yoshi with me (or so I thought.)
We
get back to the corner we had turned on, when I hear Snotty Dog Owner
calling again in a way that you *know* is relevant To You. Sure enough
Snotty Dog is headed right for us and gets nose to nose with Yoshi. When
such things happen I have about a sweet-spot second’s grace of dog
shock/surprise before one reacts, and I use it to scoop Yoshi up. Now I
have two barking dogs. Yoshi and Snotty Dog bouncing off my leg. Given
that there are no holes in my leg at that moment, I realize it’s
probably going to be ok, so we all walk as a lumbering, comic, barking,
bouncing group back to a very thankful Snotty Dog Owner.
So
you can use one Snotty Dog to harmlessly catch another Snotty Dog. Not
recommended, but useful to know. As usual the big thing is to not panic.
Snotty Dog Owner picked up Snotty Dog and both Snotty Dogs were
glowering at each other closed mouth. Neither dog said a word they knew
they were ok. Phew.
Trek's walk was blissfully dull in comparison, and we managed to stay dry.
Wed Dec 23
Still ill, but got in walks for both dogs and only got sprinkled on some.
Mon Dec 21
I am ill, and it's pouring so no walks for dogs.
Sun Dec 20
Swim for Trek with her new vest. It helps her but I think her hear
is a little low in the water so for next time I'll probably have her try
the neck flotation collar in addition. Ziji asked that we shorted the
sessions, so we did 15 minutes this time. I want to buy them more of the
treats that Trek keeps gobbling up. They're by Plato and they're called
Thinkers and are made out of duck. http://platopettreats.com/product/duck-thinkers/
Sat Dec 19
Took Yoshi to Oyster Point Regional Park. A quarter mile in he gets a brief sneezing fit and then immediately, compulsive wants to eat grass. As in Must Eat Grass Now. I had to carry him part of the way. Got him to walk a little. Called the vet’s office from the car. They don’t have time to see him today, but they say to watch for vomiting or diarrhea. They can squeeze him in tomorrow. He was also doing the same grass chomping thing in the back yard.
Then he settled down and I went to the gym and Terri said that he just hung out. Went to the living room to bark at something and then came back to under my desk. I took him outside and he seemed ok, not eating every blade of grass he can find. FB friends say to keep an eye on him and watch out for abdominal distress.
Took Trek to Krusi Park and walked a circuit around it. I think I’m going to take her there on a regular basis since it’s a large park near me with varying surfaces.
Fri Dec 18
Walk for Yoshi before the rain.
Trek to PT and we got to swim home in the rain. Emily after watching a video that I took of Trek after she saw Ziji says the difference in before and after is striking.
Thu Dec 17
Yoshi longer walk. I need to tell him not to say hi in the middle of
the street since there are usually cars waiting. He got a treat from
her after we got to the corner.
Trek Washington Park. Did another walking test on the less even ground
there. She did great probably because she had just seen Ziji. Took more
video and put it on Facebook.
Wed Dec 16
Yoshi walk. Stress free. I've been putting him on a harness and a
flexi to give him some freedom now that I have a way to attach the flex
to my beltloop with a rope and a carabiner.
Trek obedience work. I drove her back over to the front part of Lincoln
Park and she again did great in the mown grass and the packed dirt
pathways. She loves training for rally even though it's tough work for
her. We walked to the back area and we met another trainer named
Ruthanna Levy (dgydance.com). She enjoyed meeting Trek (worked with her
briefly), and I got to explain what DM was.
Took Trek to see Ziji. She showed me how to get
Trek to engage her trapezeus muscle and then extend out her front leg to
help her to use all of her leg muscles on it in stead of just the tense
ones up higher. She’s considering coming down every six weeks after she
talks with Sharon. Ziji is considering coming down every six weeks. I
told her I'd pay her double if she did that.
Tue Dec 15
I took Trek to Lincoln Park to train some to see how she'd do in a
more familiar surrounding. She was thrilled to work even with some noise
from a moving truck, but it's on grass and heeling is hard work for
healthy dogs. I did take video to compare. She was much happier doing
this which is ironic as walking is much easier. She really likes
familiar surroundings as she wasn't that thrilled about the grass at Bay
Farm.
Yoshi walk. I took him to Encinal Boat Ramp and we made our way towards
the Hornet and back which is a completely lovely setting with few people
and dogs. He lost interest as soon as we ran out of grass near the
Hornet so we turned around there. Someone with two dogs said the usual.
"Our dogs are friendly if you'd like to put him on the ground." I
laughed and said that he wasn't friendly, so they passed on by with him
barking at them. Other dogs we were in a position to move laterally
without incident.
I did both their nails.
Mon Dec 14
Yoshi morning walk
Trek walk at Redwood Park. She's tough to read to see if she likes it at
all. I took video. She seems a little stressed, but of course was
thrilled to go racing back to the car.
Sun Dec 13
Rainy today so I put off walking the dogs till 4pm. Still windy and
Yoshi was in high spirits which means he got barky at two different
dogs. One was closer and almost justified but the other one was across
the street so I reached down and held him by the collar and just told
him in a steady voice "You don't need to do that." Surprisingly he
calmed right down in that "Well, ok" sort of way. But he still dragged
me the rest of the entire walk despite having a bike ride yesterday. It
was enough to just run him on the road like some people do, but that's
just too dangerous for a dog that likes to swing wide--possibly into
traffic.
Trek walk. Sort of out and back. Swung round on Mound which has nice
sidewalks. Out and back avoids the hilly sidewalks of Gibbons which is
nice for me.
Sat Dec 12
Yoshi walk. We did a longer walk and he still wants more so I'll take him for a bike ride.
Trek walk. We went half-way and she started to limp, so we turned around
which fakes her into doing a full-length walk because she's always
happy to retrace our steps.
Later on today she didn't seem to be limping that much.
Yoshi Washington Park. Went over to Crab Cove and rode his bike around
the park. He did some running and then really enjoyed all the smells.
Then on a way back he was a total barking jerk to a passing dog and I
haul him in by the long leash and told him in stern words that he was
being an idiot. He did settle down. Some. Uneventful the rest of the
time. It is fun getting him out with a bike.
Fri Dec 11
Yoshi walk in the rain. He doesn't like the umbrella I carry much.
He doesn't freak out about it but he stays well away from it open or
closed. I want to start his walk at 6:45 but it's not twilight until
about 10 min till 7 and it's going to get worse until the middle of Jan
(even after the solstice. It gets better on the sunset end of things
first.)
i didn't even try walking Trek since she has PT later on today.
Trek PT - went ok I've been worried about her front foot, but she did ok
on the treadmill. She's going to get the weekend off from swimming and
we'll try it again on the 20th using her new vest that came in
yesterday.
Thu Dec 10
Repeat of yesterday. Nice morning walk for Yoshi, paired with Trek
not wanting to move at all. Her foot is bothering her some and she
mostly wants to sniff. With encouragement and treats I got her to the
corner and then she unsteadily ran home. Hmmm.
Wed Dec 9
Switching to morning walks. Yoshi's went fine. The early morning is very peaceful.
Tried to walk Trek too, and she didn't want to go. She spent a lot of
time sniffing in my front yard and then my neighbor's and the neighbor
after that. She was limping in the front more than usual so I just took
her back home. I may have been played but if that's the way she wants it
then ok, at least for now.
Afternoon, Trek brightened up and I offered to take her on a walk again.
At first, she was doing some of the sniffing thing but with
encouragement and treats she came right along and we did a regular
length walk. Her front left foot is bothering her. I wonder if I can
increase her Rimadyl or add glucosamine. She will be skipping her
swimming appt this weekend to see if her walking is better next week.
Tue Dec 8
Yoshi walk. Annoying reactive dog was approaching so we headed in
the other direction for a very nice, long reverse walk. We did stop for
one little white fluffy dog across the street. She said her dog was
friendly. I said that Yoshi wasn't and we'd be happy to wait where we
were. She laughed and they moved one.
Trek walk. After yesterday, I'm just going to walk her on firmer
surfaces unless I can find some nice, smooth dirt like up at Redwood
park or the Navy base. Walked down Fountain and because it was the
middle of the day and she doesn't like the crossing guard, we headed
back via Court. Her walking is worsening and I can't tell if the
swimming is a factor for the front or not. She has the next session off
to see if that makes a difference.
Mon Dec 7
Basic walk for Yoshi.
Took Trek to Bay Farm to see if she liked the dirt and grass there. No
so much. She doesn't do well with the small gravel on the paths. She did
ok on the grass but she actually did the best on the smooth blacktop
asphalt of the Ferry parking lot. I can try her in a different park, but
it might be concrete sidewalks and grass for her, though walking with a
flexi around driveways with cars going in and out is risky and I'm not a
fan.
Sun Dec 6
Swim for Trek. It's possible that she is having more trouble with
her front left foot (pastern drop), so this time we put her in a vest
which went ok. she seemed more comfortable. I'm going to buy her an
Outward Hound life vest. Ironically the one that looks like a clown fish
is the one that fits a corgi better. Ah well.
Yoshi walk. A walk full of work-arounds. First I saw a small dog
approaching and then I could see the owner turn towards their door so we
kept approaching, but as we got closer I could hear the owner saying
"leeeeave it leeave it." thinking she was concerned about us I picked up
Yoshi and walked past only to realize she was looking across the street
at a Shar pei who was staring and all of us. Yoshi started barking at
the Shar pei, and I told him he was being silly and carried him past.
The woman's dogs did very well.
Later we had a neighbor who has trouble controlling his medium sized, annoying,
reactive dog approaching us, so we about turned to go around the block
the other way, but right as we got all the way around we saw them again
and U-turned again (argh). So Yoshi got a much longer walk than planned,
but it was good for him.
Sat Dec 5
Yoshi to Redwood Park. This was a test to see if he can handle
having other dogs off-leash around. Yes and no. Same story. If the dog
stays away he's find, if they approach he starts barking. I just pick
him up and the owner sees a barking dog being held up and calls their
curious dog. This happened twice without serious incident. We were over
at the Dunn trail/Serpentine Ridge area which is wider and has good
sight lines, and we had to stop to avoid a couple of approaches, but it
was workable. I don't know how well Redwood Gate will be unless we go
down Stream Trail which we've done before. Dogs are supposed to be on
leash for that trail but aren't always. I used a flexi and let him
wander when their weren't dogs around and locked it closer when their
were. The flexi is attached to my pants with a carabiner and a
prussik-tied rope, so I can't drop it, which is a huge problem with
flexis. He also work a harness that the flexi was attached to and it
made him easier to pick up. The only real risk is if he's further away
if a dog appears but with good sightlines that doesn't happen. I also
didn't bring treats which wasn't a huge problem though he did ask for
one from time to time. There was one place where there was a dog off
leash and we needed to get by but the owner called her dog to her and
that dog just hung out with her while she sat on a bench and we walked
behind them about 25' away without incident. I had to be watchful but he
got to get out and get some great smells and he wasn't a complete
basket case at all which was nice.
I think we'll do the Stream trail next, we've done it before and it worked out.
Fri Dec 4
Yoshi walk we were on a mission to walk to a nearby post office box,
but ran across a mail carrier who saved us the trouble and we just did a
regular walk.
Trek and I went over to Lila's for a bit before PT. She noticed that
Trek seemed to have more trouble with her front foot which is something
I'd been seeing for a week. I talked to Canine Rehab and Emily suggested
that maybe having Trek wear a vest for this session and then giving her
a break for a couple weeks would be something to try. We really need
the front foot to be working and it's possible that Trek has a little
bit of pastern drop which is not great, but the treadmill session went
well. Usually for pastern drop they get a brace but it probably wouldn't
help Trek unless they could find a really small brace.
Thu Dec 3
Yoshi walk through the Fernside. Saw some folks wrapping a lightpole
with a red holiday ribbon - cute. then right as we got home it started
to rain. Phew.
(After the rain) Trek walk. I took her to a small park on Buena Vista
just to check out for fun. She liked the smells, but wasn't that
thrilled as the walkways were asphalt which isn't as easy for her to
walk on like the concrete so she mostly stuck to the grass/dirt.
Wed Dec 2
Dusk walks for both dogs. Trek's was actually at night. Yoshi was
uncomfortable about a medium sized bully breed across his street, but I
kept talking to him and feeding him and he coped ok. Actually we saw the
dog later across Central and there was no reaction at all probably
because it wasn't home turf or that Central is wider. Trek actually
slipped and fell on her side over a rough patch of concrete, but she
hopped right up and fortunately she had a vest on which helped protect
her.
Tue Dec 1
Yoshi walk. We went over to Harbor Bay, but instead of walking along
the water, we walked along the lagoon. It was before 5pm during the
week, so traffic along the lagoon was low. We turned around for one dog
who was coming out of the entrance. Yoshi barked but not seriously.
After that the plan was if we came across a dog I would just pick him
up, but we didn't see any dogs and just a few people.
Trek regular walk. Her right rear leg is worse, but again, at speed she
gets it just right. Tried to evaluate her in the wheelchair, but she's
too healthy for it to be useful, which is a problem you want to have.
Right now she is close to running over her right foot with the wheel.
This may improve over time or we might have to hobble it inward some
which is not ideal.
Mon Nov 30
Regular walks for both dogs. Both want to do more rally training.
Trek is knuckling her right rear foot when going slow but at speed she
flips it out properly and walked the whole distance without any
issue-well it does fly out to the side sometimes, but it winds up on the
ground correctly.
Sun Nov 29
Trek swim at Rex Center in Pacifica. This time she didn't get water in her ears and seemed to have a nicer time.
Yoshi walk. Just a slightly longer regular walk. He was really game
to practice rally so we did it throughout the walk. I could put him back
in AKC Rally Novice B if I wanted to or the longer WCR version. For the
AKC Rally I should wait till things move back outside as he wouldn't
like the indoor versions. I was concentrating so much on him recalling
to me and sitting beside me that we were nearly run over by a lab going
back into his house. Oops. Fortunately I had put a harness on Yoshi, so I
could easily grab him. He was also swearing at a dog right at the
beginning, but that didn't seem to influence his wanting to work in the
middle of the walk.
Sat Nov 28
Drove back from Lake Wildwood. Hit traffic at the merges on 80 in
Sacramento and at Vacaville. So before Vacaville we jumped off at Dixon
and went the long way around. Dogs did well on the long trip, but we let
them out at Dixon to stretch their legs. They're happy to be home,
Trek, in particular. Yoshi seems to really like Lake Wildwood especially
when a deer comes near him.
Fri Nov 27
Walk for Yoshi in Lake Wildwood. We went on the trail to the right
which I always have trouble following, but this time I figured it out as
you have to continue down the street for a little before the trail heads
off again. Sometimes there are off-leach dogs but not this time. Very
peaceful walk.
Trek walk. Trek's walks are shorter and she was able to walk down the
same street that Yoshi did earlier. I wound up carrying her down the
stairs and we walked out a ways and turned around. The her walking got
better and she even ran up the stairs that I carried her down. She is
knuckling her right right rear foot, but not at speed.
Wed Nov 25
Yoshi walk. He saw a small beige dog and started barking. I took
hold of his collar bent down and told him conversationally that he was
being silly. He desisted but still wanted to bark but they relented. He
would definitely have run up to that dog to "make" it go away. I'll
never understand dog logic about this. This left him excited and pulling
on the leash for the rest of the walk. We crossed the street for one
dog but that particular dog wasn't an issue.
Trek walk. Now if I make her walk slow, she knuckles her right rear
foot. At speed, she gets the foot placement right more often. I should
video it but it's kind of all over the place, but she can cope at speed.
Tue Nov 24
Ordered Dasquin for Yoshi. This time I got it with MSM to see if it helps his stiffness at night.
Mon Nov 23
Took both dogs to Washington Park for walks along the bluff. The weather
is cool and the parking lot is nearly empty (parking is free unless
there's an event on the weekend), so I can walk each dog separately and
leave the other in the car. It's like our own little paradise. Only
thing is when it's closer to dinner time Trek mostly just wants to go
back to the car. It was different than when I last took her to Lincoln
Park when I was actively training and feeding her. Maybe next time we'll
stay on the grass area and train. Yoshi always has a good time with the
great smells, so he and I walk along the bluffs, and then loop back
through the park going sort of alongside the dog park and then back to
the car.
I think I want to put Trek in the next WRT/ADPT Rally trial. Dogs with
disabilities can compete. She can have a jump height of zero and I might
have to help her stand up, and when I think she's done we can always
stop. Of course, there isn't one scheduled as the last one was in
October.
Sun Nov 22
Walked Yoshi in the morning this time and then took Trek over to
Pacifica for her swim session and then played on the beach for 30
minutes. Turns out you can park for 30 minutes free at Pacifica State
Beach. She ducked her head under water chasing a treat and then had
water in her ear so wasn’t that happy during the session but she got
through it ok. She has much more fun on the beach soliciting belly rubs
from surfers.
Fri Nov 21
Trek PT. She did ok. I was unhappy that yesterday I had stepped on her
foot and she didn't cry out, but she reacted when Emily pinched her toes
on that foot so she is feeling something
Wed Nov 19
Yoshi and I went to Washington Park for a nice stroll along the
bluffs. He got the great smells and I got to admire the bay view.
Trek and I went to the back of Lincoln Park and did some rally work. She
loved it mostly because she was hungry and food was especially nice.
When it's close to dinner I don't bother walking her around the house
because all she wants to do is go home and eat. I think I might show her
again in APDT rally but I'm not sure.
Mon Nov 16
Today was corgi ambassador day for Yoshi. He said hello to three
different human admires. Usual questions. How old is he? Does he shed? I
answered "buckets." Fortunately no dogs appeared to blow the assumption
of cuteness.
Dusk walk for Trek. She's the one that got the small reactive dogs screaming at him which we crossed the street for.
Sun Nov 15
Trek swim at Rex Center
At first she was half-hearted, but after being in the water she seemed
to loosen up and swim well. She would even leave the step herself to
swim in pursuit of a treat.
Yoshi walk. By the time we got out, it was quite windy which he enjoyed.
It's funny, it did not make him more reactive. We crossed the street to
avoid one dog who turned down the other street but there was an off
leash JRT standing in front of her house. She was clearly not leaving
her house and I had no way I could catch her with Yoshi, so we tried to
pass unnoticed which of course didn't work at all, but fortunately her
alarm barking got someone in the house to notice, so she was safely
called back inside.
We passed two other dogs without any comment at all from Yoshi including
one bully breed that I didn't even see a head of time. He is
pulling on the leash more so I'm working with him on that again.
Fri Nov 13
Yoshi and I took a stroll through Lincoln Park and it was lovely -
even parallel walked with a couple of dogs 25' off and not issue. We
spent a while working on some rally exercises. It's so tempting to go
back to competing with him but he doesn't love it, though he loves the
training. He would probably really like the Cynosport version since I
can give him treats at designated areas.
Trek PT. Over the past couple of days shes been having less lateral
stability, and I'm trying not to let it bother me, but it is. PT itself
went fine, but you can see she's showing less rear stability especially with her right rear leg. More ataxia.
Thu Nov 12
Yoshi walk. Saw the German Shepherd and Collie on Central. No
reaction from Yoshi though i admit to telling him he was a good boy
before he changed his mind.
Rest of the walk went smoothly.
Wed Nov 11
Trek got the fun walk today
We went down to the path along the water that's a ways down the street
from us. It starts out behind some condos and then is just a sandy dirt
path after that with some rocky sections that I had to help her through.
Besides that part, she was able to negotiate it fine and she loved all
the smells.
Regular walk for Yoshi drama-free save for a dog that looked right at
him across the street, got this excited look and started barking. I just
pulled Yoshi closer and just hung onto his collar facing me while he
barked back. Owner was apologetic and says "He always does that." but it
was clearly just a fun thing for the dog, so it was more a matter of
letting a riled Yoshi know it wasn't a big deal. He chilled out soon
enough which was good.
Tue Nov 10
Yoshi helped me out by tagging along with me on another business park
walk. We wander around, so I can check out all the signs. What was funny
is that we walked by the Girl Scouts office building and he was
immediately greeting by two preteen girls saying "Oooooo." They and he
said hello for a little while.
Mon Nov 9
It rained in the morning so their walks were later in the afternoon.
As a result we saw no dogs at all on either dog's walk, but they really
appreciated all the fresh smells.
Sun Nov 8
Trek rest day.
Yoshi and I went over to the Encinal Boat Launch, Jetty and Park. The
"jetty" is a narrow concrete trail over a bunch of rocks that people use
to walk out to find a good spot to fish though I don't know if anyone
catches any fish. It's the opposite type of place I would talk Yoshi on
but there were no dogs around so we did part of it just for the
experience of it, then we walked on land down closer to the USS Hornet
but didn't go that far. Watched one of the new, fast small sailboats
called a "Moth" sail some, though Yoshi cared more about the various
interesting smells instead.
Sat Nov 7
Trek swim. Because of tight scheduling, we did her Rex Center swim
today instead of tomorrow. I don't like to put the swim and PT back to
back but she seemed ok enough though she did get tired easy. I need to
mention that Trek must be the only dog on the planet who doesn't dearly
love high squeaky encouraging voices. She doesn't hate them but she
doesn't love them, she's neutral about them especially if there's food
around.
Fri Nov 6
Trek PT - she's looking the same as before. I'm panicking less as while she's not great she's not getting dramatically worse.
Thu Nov 5
Yoshi to Alameda's Washington Park dog park.
There were only two dogs in the small dog park so we just went in. Sure
enough one of the small dogs came charging over in a bit, we avoided
them for a bit and the owner called the dog away, but then he came back
and when I picked Yoshi up the dog started jumping on me. I asked the
owner to please catch the dog and we left. We walked the outside
perimeter all around the outside of the park, sfter checking out the
dogs in the large dog park I decided it was worth trying the big dog
park. It went ok. One small dog in the big dog park came up to him and I
let him sniff noses a couple of times for a count of about 2. I
explained that my dog isn't that friendly and she said her dog is too
clueless to realize that some dogs don't want to play. We moved on
without drama. We walked the inside perimeter and then back. Had one
drive by by a large, sleek, white shepherd cross or hound which went
fine. Our exit was blocked so I just carried him out which worked great.
Summary was that he really liked the smells and didn't know what to
think about the dogs but wasn't freaked out and did ok. I think going at
off hours in the middle of the day is a good thing where there were
just a few dogs.
Took Trek to Jackson Park which doesn't have any basketball court. The
path was a semi-rough asphalt which was less than ideal, but she was
able to run on the dirt/grass path which was ok. Didn't go very far, the
sidewalk is probably better for her.
Wed Nov 4
I went on a trip to Henry Coe State Park so no dog walks.
Tue Nov 3
Yoshi and I went to Point Isabel. I've been wanting to do this for a
while. We walked on the bike path that is fenced off from the park It's a
little narrow in places so if a dog were to appear on the path I would
have to pick him up but that didn't happen and the big discovery was
that on the other side of the park the bike path is a little wider so
there is more lateral space which is a nice discovery. The dog park is
fenced off from the path so it's like going to the dog zoo.
Mon Nov 2
Happy first day of standard time. I hate standard time. Walked both
dogs in the morning. On Court crossed the street for one dog, only to
watch the JRT that lives there go charging up to that dog before being
called off. That's happened before and while the dog is friendly it
always scares me as I don't want Yoshi to return the "assault" which is
just posing on the JRT's part (who is actually quite friendly), so I
kissed the ground and told the person that I was happy it was them and
not us. Her larger dog was surprised but not alarmed. Yoshi never fully
caught on to what was going on but he did watch a Pug cross in front ot
us very carefully, and the started walking much faster after that.
Trek walk. Did just fine, we were trying to beat rain that had just
stopped and was supposed to come back but it never did. Day after her
swim and she looks relatively fine.
Sun Nov 1
Trek Swim in Pacifica at the Rex Center. She did surprisingly well. We will definitely continue it.
Then we went down to Pacifica State Beach to commune with surfers, one
young child, and dog fans. Trek now randomly approaches people on
beaches which is funny as she never gets treats for it. While I usually
let Trek off leash I was concentrating on taking photos and wanted an
easy way to keep track of her, so I kept her on until we walked back.
Yoshi walk. Some posturing with a happy bouncing dog across the street. I
told him he was being silly and walked a few steps down a driveway and
he was able to refocus. Then we walked right by at least two dogs with
no reaction at all.
Sat Oct 31
Yoshi went to Bay Farm and mostly enjoyed the smells near the ferry building.
Trek had a brief walk among the younger ghouls before we all gathered to hand out candy to the hordes.
After a short time in the living room with Bill and Diane, dogs spent
much of the evening in crates. It's just too much unnerving chaos for
dogs. Yoshi would lose his mind and Trek just isn't that thrilled with
the noise.
Fri Oct 30
Trek PT. Seemed to go ok though I haven't reviewed the video which shows
all her various weird ways of adjusting her gait. I've since looked at
it it's pretty off, until she gets it right, then it's fine for a little
while.
Thu Oct 29
Yoshi to Washington Park Crab Cove. We just walked out to the water
and back and did have to do some creative evasive action with dogs, but
it all worked out.
Trek did a cavaletti workout earlier in the day which she very much
enjoyed. Lots of back and forths and then out to a target and then
around the orange tree pot with some sits and downs thrown it. She loved
it.
So, given that, I tried to cut her later walk short by trying to turn
off earlier. She was having none of it. "I want to go straight ahead.
This is what we do." Well ok. She did great and didn't seem tired at all
even at the end of the walk. Her walking was doing very well at the end
which I found surprising. More cavalettis in her future I guess.
Wed Oct 28
Took Yoshi around the school which was peaceful, beyond having to
turn right around in the driveway to let an approaching dog go by.
I worked with Trek in the backyard doing agility like maneuvers with
some herding thrown in doing outruns around an orange tree in a pot. I
should video it someday soon and I need to think of more things for her
to do like weaving through the cones or let her have a set of three
weavepoles (2 bits of it are my cavelettis. Could even toss in a target
for her to go to.
She also need to practice in her cart, but that's no fun for her.
Tue Oct 27
Supposed to be easy basic walk for Yoshi. Ah well. Max the Corgi
wanted to say hi so i decided to give the one-two-three game a try which
is where you let them sniff noses for a count of three and then pull
them back reward them and let them do it again. We did this three times
and it worked great save for having to drag Yoshi away each time.
Then there was an almost mastiff on the other corner who turned the
corner and walked away which was fine. Then we stopped at Central and
backed off half a house length to let a Berner walk by - fine. Then
there was a Brittany running right at us. Oh great. For this one I
picked him up and walked a few feet towards the house we were in front
on. Yoshi, the dog cop, is barking "hey you stop that." but he didn't
flip out or struggle. We saw the dog again and retreated across the
street and they stopped and turned away from us and went down the other
street which was nice.
Trek walk. It was near evening so we just went out half way and came
back on the better lighted streets so I could see better. Her walking is
not horrible. Not great, but not horrible.
Mon Oct 28
Took Yoshi to Franklin Park. Leashed dog city. He barked at one dog
trotting on a flexi who was further away from their owner and the dog looked loose, but Yoshi
didn't bark at any of the others who were more standing or walking
slowly.
Trek Lincoln Park. Went in the front because of no easy parking in the
rear. She was fine until we went closer to the basketball court which
had all of one bouncing ball. Rather than argue I just carried her past
it. Given that it's the sound she doesn't like she wasn't happy but was
fine when we got to the rear but then there was a ball behind her and
she wanted to leave the park. The ball wasn't bouncing much and the kids
moved away so we headed back after a bit and there were no balls on the
basketball court so she was totally fine with walking by it again
(she's honest that way).
Sun Oct 25
Regular walks for both dogs. Had to carry Yoshi past a medium-sized
golden-colored dog who could have been several different breeds. The
owner hid behind a parked car to let us by. They called my carrying him
the "No drama option," I like that. Yoshi made a tiny growl but that was
it. I have carried him through all sorts of drama. Being up higher is a
big sense of security for him. Fences help him too. I should take him
walking over on the path beside Point Isabel dog park. the only problem
is that sometimes a leashed dog will be on that path but I can carry him
through that too.
Trek walk. I tried putting one of those "Paws" balloon-like things on
her feet to see if it would help with the proprioception on her
right-rear but I couldn't see it. The one thing that helps is
repetition. If she gets the foot placement of a step correct, the next
step is likely to be ok too.
Sat Oct 24
Fernside - where we don't commonly see dogs at all. We started on
Northside. A lab appeared seemingly out of nowhere which surprised both
of us. Fortunately, the dog was across the street. I just held Yoshi by
the collar and told him he was ok. He barked every so often, but that
was it. Then once we were just about to start up again another lab
appeared right in front of us just down the street. They crossed the
street. What was interesting is that the male owner was holding the dog
by the collar. I noticed as they went by that the reason was that the
dog was off-leash. I rarely see an off-leash dog here, but the dog
seemed perfectly manageable.
Trek walk. I put tape on her right rear foot to see if it helped with
her foot awareness. Hard to say. Maybe. Might have to wrap more of her
foot or use the foot balloon things called Paws. Her walking is poor
going slow, but better at speed where she's relying on momentum.
Wed Oct 21
Yoshi Bay Farm walk. What a lovely day to be out there. Sun was out.
There was a nice breeze off the bay. Not too many dogs. The path is
wide enough that, these days, if I'm over to one side that['s far enough
away especially if I put a tree or a bush in between us and them. There
was even a loose dog, but I don't think he saw it and he just loves all
the great smells out there. He would be thrilled to go there every day.
And the wee guy pulled on the leash almost the entire time which was
around 1.5 miles.
Trek walk. It's cool enough now that she can use her Ruffwear Web Master
harness which helps stimulate the nerves on her sides. Research tells
us that wrapping affected limbs increases the nerve stimulation for that
limb. I should try something for her right rear: vet wrap or an ace
bandage.
On the walk a loose small dog came right up to Trek while crossing the
street. This got the dog off of the busy street and while I and a
neighbor tried to catch the dog, a different neighbor appeared saying "I
figured it out." (Meaning she figured out where doggy might be). All
turned out ok.
Terri and I have decided to take Trek to swim lessons twice a month on
Sundays at the Rex Center. The cool thing is she'll be able to do this
even without being able to walk.
Tue Oct 20
I attended a webinar for DM treatments and approaches so that dogs didn't get walks.
Mon Oct 19
Normal walks for both dogs. Some petting by a young [person] dog fan, but that's it.
Sun Oct 18
Trek goes swimming. I took Trek to the Rex Center in Pacifica for an
assisted swim lesson. She of course though she was going to be drowned
in that gonna die passivity she gets, but then she started to have a
nice time. Her instructor "Ellen" was really excellent with her. It's
not that easy to get to and kind of pricey though this first lesson was
given to her by a kind friend who lost her Corgi. It's probably cheaper
to go there every 2 weeks to a month than to run a hot tub even it it
was free.
Yoshi walk in Washington Park. He loves all the smells there. Scored a
bite of bread before I figured out he was eating something. Saw a couple
of dogs but they were around 30' away and no issue.
Sat Oct 17
Basic walks.
Trek with the Ruffwear harness and a flexi. I'm putting more tension on
the line to make her pull more and work harder. I'm wondering if some
basic weight pulling would help her. I should ask the wheelcorgi list but not sure I want to appear on it yet.
Fri Oct 16
Trek PT. She does so well in the water treadmill because of the
buoyancy, and the laser helps loosen up her muscles that are tight
because of her ataxia.
Yoshi walk.
Thu Oct 15
Yoshi Lincoln Park walk. No issues at all but returning home he did
bark at a Lab across the street which made me laugh after all his good
behavoir. I just kneeled down and held him by the collar until he got over it.
Trek walk. Flailing about, but the harness contact does help her.
Wed Oct 14
It was getting late so Yoshi had a regular walk (one dog, no reaction), and Trek had a shortened one.
After leveling it, I put Trek in the cart and rewarded her for moving
around the yard and video taped it. She's moving better but still struggles.
Tue Oct 13
Regular walk for Yoshi.
In the morning Trek and I went over Lila's and she fitted it for Trek.
We're going to give it a couple of weeks trial - likely much longer than
that. We got her to walk around a little with it. Lots and lots of
treats involved here.
Later on, I took Trek over to Lincoln Park. She isn't that comfortable with her right rear leg in the cart,
but that's the gimpy one. I recorded it and sent it to Bobbie and Lila,
they say to give it time, but I was welcome to change the height if I
thought it would help. I will once I go over to the hardware store to
get American-sized allen wrenches.
Mon Oct 12
Yoshi walk. Down right sleepy. He even walked right by a cat that was starting at him.
Trek walk. I took her by the school for variety. By accident I made her
walk past two bouncing balls and she was followed by another one. She
had paused and I just encouraged her and realized later, but she did ok.
She wasn't thrilled, but survived and she did the whole walk without a mobility problem.
Earlier we went down the Redwood city and picked up a friend's cart that
she loans out to people. Lila is going to refurb it for Trek which is
sweet but we're still trying to figure out if this Eddie's Wheels one or
a K9 Cart is a better choice for her. For a few months we'll just use
it as a walker so she can go further if she needs it.
Sun Oct 11
Yoshi walk. Just a little longer than average. He asked to do some
Rally work. I forget how much he loves it when he's comfortable. We
could go back to competing in it since it's low stress on his joints.
The Half Moon Bay Cynosport Rally Trials are a lot of fun because the
courses are large. They just did one last weekend, so there won't be one
for a while. He could do AKC Rally trials, but usually the wintertime
ones are indoors and the crowding can be stressful for him, so I never
did them (though I did with Trek). The hard part about the outdoor ones
is I have to crate him for my walkthrough and even with the crate
covered, he still finds something to bark at. Maybe I can find some fall
ones that are outdoors, but where I could crate him in the car.
Anyway besides doing some nice Rally training the walk was uneventful
save for my nearly walking us into a dog when starting to cross the
street so we walked down the street a bit and then crossed it. No issue.
Trek walk. It's cooling off so she can use her Ruffwear harness which makes her look like Underdog. Full length. Not much issue.
I will be picking up a wheelchair for her to try. i will pick it up in
Redwood City and then at some point in time I need to get it over to
Lila's for fitting suggestions if it's not perfect right at one. It fit a
larger corgi so it's going to take some adjustment.
Sat Oct 10
Trek
and I went to the Golden Gate PWC fanciers Herding instinct test held
at Joyce's. trek mostly hung out in the car while I helped with the
running of things. It was a lot of fun to see the young corgis
experience sheep often for the first time. It's amazing to see a dog go
from disinterest to "Wow, what are these things?" to "Hey look I can
control them."
What the test looks for is being willing to "gather" stock (run around
the outside in either direction), "fetch" stock (bring them to the
handler), and to "balance" - when the handler moves in one direction the
dog moves in the other direction keeping the stock in between the two.
Then when it was over, for fun I put Trek in the round pen with some of
the same 3 mellow sheep. She did it! briefly as she gets tired easy but
she's willing to work sheep. She's been showing some interest from the
last couple of times I stuck her in the round pen. Heavy on the irony
since she's about 2-3 months to needing to be in a cart, but I'd love to
do exhibition-only entries with her. Ducks and test-level sheep.
When Lila gets back one of Corgi Aids Eddie's Wheels I can try it on
her. I was all set to order a K9-cart but I like the larger wheels and
counter balancing of Eddie's wheels, but it might be too heavy for her.
Yoshi walk. A little shorter because of time. He walked right past a
fairly mellow, short hair, medium-sized hunting type dog. He kept an eye
on it, but didn't react. Good boy.
Fri Oct 9
Trek PT - she did ok, but I’m still trying to come up with more ways to
help her. I’ve added the laser treatments back as they may help with
swelling in her back and muscle tightness. The wobbling is hard on her
body.
Yoshi walk. He did great. Turned off to a side street to let an
approaching dog pass by, only went hald a house length down and the dog
passed by no issue when we returned to the corner another dog was
approaching on our side of the street so we just did the retreat again.
No problem. Then later one there was a white Cairn Terrier (I think)
walking on the other side of the street that I didn't see until well
after Yoshi saw him and again there was no issue.
Thu Oct 8
Yoshi's walk was much better than yesterday. Trek did ok with encouragement.
Wed Oct 7
Yoshi walk. Well he's had better days. Rounding a corner, there was a
dog and Yoshi saw the dog first and flipped out because the dog was
within 10 feet and the owner mysteriously keep approaching and walked
by. Who walks by a dog screaming bloody murder at your dog? I think she
was just trying to get out of there. I couldn't even get a good hold of
him - though I had him under control. The rest of the walk was fine and
he even walked by a dog standing up in his/her vehicle across the
street. (I think not being in motion is a good thing.) Then we went a
chatted with neighbors and that was fine until another dog walked by and
he freaked again. The first one I could understand this one was just
silly though the dog was 12 feet away and he was riled from the last
time. This time I got a better hold of him but it didn't calm him down
at all, even when I picked him up.
Tues Oct 6
Ordinary walks for both dogs. Trek needed some encouragement but her
walk was at night which I don't like doing because I can trip over
uneven sidewalks.
Mon Oct 5
Played with Trek in the yard doing cavalettis, and lots of other
things like sits, downs, stands, flanks, aways. some backing up (hard
for her) and some outs, which she can do to the left and really
struggles to the right. She had a blast getting rewarded for it all. We
should go somewhere larger to do this like Lincoln or Washington Park.
The open space near the dog park would work well. The dog park it self
is tough with it being mostly loose dirt.
Sun Oct 4
Yoshi walk. Peaceful talk through the Fernside. Zero dogs hardly any people.
Trek walk. Again she's in a harness and on a flexi and did the full length walk and didn't much encouragement at all.
Sat Oct 3
I'm this close to ordering a wheelchair for Trek because she had been
stopping on walks only after a couple of blocks, but today she was
racing around the yard and my BS meter was going off. So this time I put
her in a harness and a flexi, so she didn't have to deal with me being
attached by a leash and she could spaz around all she liked. With
encouragement, she goes and does a full length walk with only a couple
of rest/treat pauses.
Terri helped me figure this out later. Since we know from the PT folks
that pressure on her sides activates her nervous system, it's the
harness that is helping and the pressure that the flexi puts on it helps
even more. So she's going to wear her basic harness more often.
Fri Oct 2
Trek PT - went well though I'm getting concerned about her stopping early on walks.
Thu Oct 1
Yoshi walk - uneventful.
Made a cavaletti video to show Canine Rehab. She's so happy doing it.
Later on went for a walk and she just mostly sniffed things and we
turned around at Johnson. Maybe I should try walking her during the day
instead.
Wed Sep 30
Yoshi walk. We were walking down Central and a white Poodle-like dog
crossed the street in front of us coming over to our side of the
street. We stopped about a house width away and watched them cross
slowly in front of us and continue on down the crossing street. No
reaction at all from Yoshi. Cool.
She loves charging up and down the cavalettis I made for her out of
weavepoles, she has so much fun with it I figured why not? She slows
down when she gets tired.
Trek walk. She may be charging around the yard but on walks she gets
tired quickly So I don't get stranded, we do out and back walks now.
Only got as far as Santa Clara.
Sun Sep 27
Walked out with Yoshi and Amy and Maverick were walking by, turned
around but it's all barkbarbark, until I finally shoved treats in his
mouth and got his attention then he was fine with refocusing on me. We
then followed Maverick downt he street and Yoshi was pulling a growling
then got a hold of him self. Amy went in her house and immediately came
back out to chat. We talked for a little bit and a small dog went by so I
just picked Yoshi up to get him to maintain. After that he was fine to
hang out with Amy and I and then we had a very nice walk after that.
Trek walk. She was racing around the yard like a fool so I wasn't going
to listen if she quit walking though we're now taking the shorter way
and then doing some Rally training in the yard which she is starting to
not like so I may change that. Stand from a sit is now hard.
Sit-Down-Sit-Down-Sit is still quite doable. Going to the side is hard
but she can do it. Haven't tried backing up.
Sat Sep 26
Yoshi walk. Medium length. He spend quite a while running in figure
8s earlier today until we felt sorry for him and brought him in.
Trek walk. Went down Santa Clara for a shorter walk. She still walked
very slowly coming back, but was able to do some side stepping on the
front lawn when she would stand up which wasn't often. She had her
harness on and that contact seems to help her which is what Emily and I
were talking about yesterday.
Fri Sep 25
Trek PT Treadmill. I was surprised that it went well since "on-land" her
gait has worsened. We talked about how just touching Trek's sides helps
her gait and proprioception. Apparently, touch helps the nerve to
communicate better across her body.
Thu Sep 24
Yoshi walk. Several brave cat moments though none jumped him. He
would sometimes bark at them and they would look at him with either
scorn or indifference.
Trek walk. We were going to go a different route, but she was hot and
didn't want to go far so we turned around and did some work in the yard.
Worked on heel and sit. Her stand is poor. She can however step to the
left or the right. The right is the most difficult, but she's figured
out how to do it. She still falls all over the place when maneuvering in
the house, but when she's moving in a direction she can repeat the
motion.
She gets tired easily so I canceled her Odor Recognition Test entry and we'll just go out with Andrew for fun.
Wed Sep 23
Yoshi walk, went smoothly.
Trek walk. Did some rally training on Court just before Central. We
worked on sit, stand, heel, back, and side which was hard but she was
able to do it. Then we did the rest of the walk and she stopped at Santa
Clara and Gibbons, so we rested for a bit and then walked very slowly
back home. On our block, she sped up some and I got behind her to watch.
Even going slow her gait was nearly normal which is a shock. I'm going
to have to rethink our route or start carrying her backpack, but I don't
want to carry her on Gibbons where the footing is poor, so I'm going to
have to change where we walk.
Tue Sep 22
Trek's worsening gate improves with Rally training so we're going to
get serious about doing it every day now. Sitting and backing up and
good for her. she's not acting like she has a disc problem at all, so
it's very likely DM. Which I'm at peace about though we're going to
fight back as best as we can.
Yoshi walk. Several dog sightings from afar so he was excited and pulling on the leash but nothing serious. Medium length walk.
Mon Sep 21
I needed to race off to the gym, so basic walks for dogs. Completely
drama free. I'm thinking of not always crossing the street when we see a
dog, but it would mean going way up in a driveway so most people just
cross the street. I do want to figure out a way to decrease the distance
between him and other dogs. Through the dog park fence is one but that
may not help in the way that I want - it depends. It's really safe which
is nice. Bay Farm is another possibility, and also the rest of
Washington Park.
Sun Sep 20
It was hot and in the middle of the day. Just to try something I
took Yoshi over to the Washington Park Dog Park. Hardly anyone was in
the park so after we walked around the outside once, we went in and
walked the perimeter once. Two playing dogs came barreling up and Yoshi
barked at them (appropriate) and we walked away and he reconnected with
me though was more riled up but wasn't too upset. I let him sniff noses
with a small dog in the other park and he started barking again but once
I walked him away a few feet he reconnected again. We walked around the
outside. Dog came charging up and he wanted to charge back but stopped
immediately with leash pressure. Then we stopped and talked to someone
with an American Eskimo dog and they politely said hello. So Yoshi is
clearly not off-leash dog park material but I think we can work up to
him not completely losing his mind in one. Dog parks are usually a
collection of rude dog behavior but there are parts of them that are
work able. I don't know whether it's something we might want to work
towards but I'm trying to think of a way for dogs to be around him
without him losing his mind.
Trek walk. We did our usual and then did some sideways stepping on the lawn two times on each side.
Thu Sep 17
Meeting with Dr. Schwartz.
It
was very nice to speak to him, he steadies me. He pointed out that if
you count from March 2015 when symptoms started to appear obvious (like a
normal progression), then it could easily be DM since a Corgi with DM
symptoms is usually mobile for 12-18 months and it’s been 6 months.
Second
choice for him is a bulging disc. The other possibilities of a tumor or
an infection seem remote. If I wanted to pursue this, an MRI would be
next but it’s nearly $2500 and if I’m not going to do surgery then it
might be just for curiosity, and that's a lot for curiosity. I’m
thinking I should just treat it as a bulging disc since I can’t treat DM
except for PT.
He says the Rimadyl may be helping with a concurrent issue.
Mon Sep 15
Continuing to work on Trek's side stepping motion. To the left is going ok. To the right is much more difficult.
This week have been taking Yoshi on medium length walks. Some times around the school or the park but mostly the neighborhood.
Wed Sep 9
Trek walk. still doing ok at speed. I have scheduled a consult with
Dr. Malte Schwartz to ask him his opinion on possibilities. I want to
know if i should consider an MRI since she is benefitting from Rimadyl
and she shouldn't be. If we find something else is there a more targeted
therapy we could be doing?
Yoshi walk, walked by starting at a GSD growled slightly out of
excitment I think and looked back to me - Good boy. then saw a Boston
Terrier walking across us. No reaction, but it's curious that whenever
he sees a dog he doesn't react but gets more excited and starts walking
much faster. Hmmm.
Entered Trek into an Odor Recognition Test in October, I have the entry
for the next one in November. I need to see if I can be in one and if we
pass cancel the next entry in time. in theory these are hard to get into so we'll see if we get in at all.
Mon Sep 7
I had time so I took Yoshi on a walk in the morning. It's a holiday,
so it's very peaceful. He just wanted to sniff everything and I mostly
let him. Because of that through I had to make it shorter and went down
Santa Clara.
Trek is going to do some duck herding later on today.
Sun Sep 6
Yoshi walk via Fountain. That seems to be a nice length for him,
he's not panting and panting. It was warm so he stopped and sniffed.
Trek Walk. Egad. Her rear instability is much better While grateful, this is bugging the snot out of me.
Facebook update:
Trek's rear instability is improved with Rimadyl. If she has DM, that
should not happen. I am losing my mind. I just emailed her "team" of
doctors asking for opinions. I have talked myself into doing a full
length MRI on her, I'm half hoping they talk me out of it.
It's a holiday tomorrow, so I won't hear anything back until Tues at the earliest.
Sat Sep 5
I've been worried about Trek's rear lateral stability starting to
get worse this week. Then I realized we had stopped giving her Rimadyl
on Monday, just to see if it was helping her. We started her back on it
this morning. 1 tablet a day in the morning.
Yoshi Washington Park walk. I was going to take him biking but it's a
holiday weekend and going to be busy. It was nice. Tide was so low I
walked him down to the water's edge and let him wade, but he wasn't that
interested in going very far in. (I might consider letting Trek swim
during these times, but water access is difficult and she's not a big
swimmer - easiest water access is Lake Del Valle.) Then we walked around
the park. I nearly walked him into a dog tied to a bench that I didn't
see in the shade, but other than that things went fine. I have a feeling
that I'll just be sort of walking with the bike our next bike ride but
that's ok.
Yoshi is due for his senior exam and I'm picking up more Rimadyl for
Trek, and toothpaste (going back to chicken) for both of them.
Fri Sep 4
Trek PT. I think she's getting worse but she tests only a little worse,
but you can see it when she stands on a bare floor there or at Pet Food
Express (where we went to get treats)
Wed Sep 2 (and Thu)
Shorter walks for Yoshi so he's not panting for 15 minutes after wards. He could do a little longer and still be ok.
Trek walk less lateral stability as her hips swing more.
Tue Sep 1
Did another long walk with Yoshi this time across Central, behind
the housing complex and back down Versailles. There was a bully breed
that he barked at. I was looking down telling him to cool it and he
barked again because the dog had crossed the street to go into his house
which was right beside us. Ah well. Interestingly enough right after
that he had no issue watching a golden walk down the street on the other
side. I don't know how Yoshi figured out that the bully breed was about
to cross the street towards us or if it was just "luck." When we got
closer to home he happily started to pull and I asked him a couple of
times to not to which he would try for a bit and then lose focus but the
last block he was fine about.
I found out later that during my walk with Trek, he panted for 15
minutes afterward (the walk itself was about 25 min). Terri thinks his
pulling is just excitement and adrenalin and he pays for it afterward,
so maybe he doesn't need the longer walk even though he appears to ask
for it. Didn't appear to be in pain she said.
Trek walk about the same. I always do the same walk with her so i can
see any differences. The only difference was that I tripped and fell
over an uneven piece of sidewalk. Banged my finger and knee a little but
I'm ok.
Mon Aug 31
Tried to walk Trek at lunch time, but it was warm and she would just
sniff and sniff and sniff. After three houses I asked if she wanted to
go back and she nearly towed me back.
Walk with Yoshi down Fountain which we call barking dog alley. He was
fine. There was a dog bouncing along beside a bicycle which I arranged
for him not to see.
Then tried Trek again who was thrilled to go out and just trot right
along. I had her slow down a little, and it was hard to see any
disability, even though it's plainly obvious in the house.
Sun Aug 30
Longer walk for Yoshi and I. The weather has been warm, so he's shedding like a fiend.
Basic walk for Trek. She seems to have recovered fine from herding training. That was a concern of mine.
Sat Aug 29
Duck herding lesson for Trek.
She did great. It's a very small yard behind Linda's house, but she's
leveled it and put up a couple of flower pots as obstacles. It's a great
environment for her, but unfortunately would be a terrible one for
Yoshi because of no lateral space.
She gets tired pretty easy but Trek's PT tech Emily tells me it's
neurological fatigue as opposed to muscular fatigue. After a brief
break, she's ready for more.
I'm
not convinced that she would be happy with the length of a
competition run and the stress of strange stock and location, but she is
enjoying the training and she had never seen those ducks or that
location before and she did fine. I showed a video of her working to the
Corgi Herding group and people were pretty positive and could see that
she was enjoying herself.
I'm
having these odd fantasies of her, in a cart, doing a Not For
Competition duck run
at the L.A. Corgi trial in April, because the arena that's
using for the ducks is relatively hard pack dirt and not deep sand. If
she gets stuck in a corner, I'll just go lift the cart up a little. One
person tells me I could teach her a 3 pt. turn. Given that she knows
"Back" from rally that's quite possible. Now that I think of it if she gets used to a cart she would have more endurance.
Fri Aug 28
PT for Trek. Pretty much the same as Aug 21. Emily worked with her more on the tilt board.
Thur Aug 27
Longer walk for Yoshi. We crossed Central and went down the next street
only to see a cat in a harness walking on a leash (great idea if they'll
do it) and ran into the two reactive dogs that live on Central (the were across the street. No one
made a sound. they all must have been shocked by the cat.
Tues Aug 25
Yoshi and I went around the housing complex on the other side of Central
steered around one or two dogs but no drama. He starts out slow and
then winds up in front of me.
Trek walk - doing ok.
Mon Aug 24
Trek noon walk. Warmer today but she after starting out slowly then she picked up speed and seemed to walk ok.
Sun Aug 23
Yoshi walk. No big surprises.
Trek walk. Shortened because we had company, but she seemed happy enough.
Sat Aug 22
Yoshi Washington Park walk
First we went to watch the kite surfers then wandered around some around the duck pond.
I'm not a fan of flexi-leads because of the mayhem they can help create,
but I've been walking my slightly-disabled dog Trek on a flexi, so I
don't trip over her wobbling. Since I had the flexi out, I used it and a
harness with reactive-dog Yoshi on a walk in the park I forget how
helpful a flexi can be for recall training. I can let him wander further
away and then recall and reward him. For either dog, I tether the flexi
to my belt-loop using some rope and a carabiner because I don't want to
drop the flexi.
Trek walk. I also took her to the park but it was windy with things
flapping and she didn't like that. I accuse her of not being a real dog
sometimes.
Fri Aug 21
Trek PT at Canine Rehab
The left front has stabilized. Emily says it's quite strong, but she doesn't always remember to put it down on the floor.
The right rear is the one that shows an increasing deficit but not terrible.
I wrote this to them later
I went over Trek's video.
It's pretty much as you observed.
She does pretty well up until 8 min with the right rear leg scuffing a
little and not being raised as high as the left rear which looks fine.
Then after that, the RR leg gets a longer delay, and she rushes to pull
the LR leg up (not lifting it as high).
So while it looks like the LR is involved, it's probably more the RR
affecting her gait.
It is interesting that after the treadmill she was able to cope ok on
the cavalettis.
I could set up some cavalettis with our weavepoles.
Thu Aug 20
Yoshi walk. Went out to Lincoln Park back on Liberty which I don't
think we've ever done. The walk was a series of near dog experiences
that we had to work through. First nearly ran into a Sammoyed in the
bushy area on Court (crossed the street - Yoshi saw the dog first and
hesitated which alerted me to look closer).
Then a neighbor dog (German Shorthair Pointer) came out on his front
lawn. Yoshi has harassed this dog before, so I didn't want any
interaction, but Yoshi was looking a head and never saw the dog. In the
part we watched a Lab and then a Border Collie. Then on the way back we
avoided a very young kid with a Std. Poodle. Kid's parents were around
but kids don't get needing to stay away from some dogs, so it's a dicey
situation better missed.
Trek walk. Making her walk slower through part of it. I need to walk her on short grass or sand more.
Wed Aug 19
Yoshi rearranged the evening’s plans by biting a squirrel and we
then spent 30 minutes catching it, so we could take it to Lindsay
Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek. And they wonder why they didn’t get a
walk.
Patricia had to say goodbye to Mr. Giles, her 14 years old Cavalier. We will miss him.
Tue Aug 18
Yoshi walk. We went a little longer but not super long. It doesn't seem to have thrashed him.
Trek walk about the same. One of the reactive white dogs looked out his
just opened front door as we were walking by and didn't react. His owner
was thrilled. Of coures this is the less reactive of their dogs, but
still. I did the same thing of letting her have her head at the
beginning but made her walk slower at the end of the walk.
Mon Aug 17
Yoshi via Fountain St. He's moving pretty well today, so it may have been the heat that's been wiping him out the past few days.
Trek walk. About half way through, I shortened the flexi to make her
walk slower and focus more on foot placement. Not as fun, but it's good
for her to be doing it.
Sun Aug 16
We got absorbed in an electrical project that sucked more time that
it deserved and the doggies didn't get walked. It was really hot today,
so they spent time in an out of the house in the backyard for brief
period.
Sat Aug 15
Yoshi walk. I still kept it short to see how he's doing. He seems mostly
ok. We had a dog across the street catch up to us so I had him sit to
watch the dog walk by which worked great, save for he found that
exciting and was moving much faster until someone said hello to him and
we stopped to say hi back.
Trek walk. Wound up walking with Corgi Shelby down the street which was nice.
Fri Aug 14
I'm realizing by reading Bobbie's Corgis on Wheels book, that I need
to make Trek walk slower for part of her walks. When she runs it's fun
to watch, but she doesn't have to pay as much attention to foot
placement.
No walk today as she has PT at Canine Rehab in Walnut Creek today, but I
should bring her harness so we can work on walking slower over the
cavalettis.
Thu Aug 13
Yoshi walk. Just did a basic walk so I could better evaluate how he
was doing. Started out slow but picked up speed and by Gibbons he was
way out in front.
Trek walk. More wobbly - trying not to worry about it. I hope she can keep walking into next year.
Wed Aug 12
Yoshi and I crossed Central with the idea of going around the
housing complex there but there was a slow moving dog in front of us so
we U-turned and went down Central.
He seems very tired and it was just an average walk. I worry that we over did it yesterday.
Tue Aug 11
Long walk for Yoshi. We turned down Court St and just kept going and
going and would up at Krusi park and did a look behind the tennis
courts (found one ball), then did some rally exercises on one of the
unused softball diamonds. He did well but was a little distracted by two
further off dogs one I didn't see until later. The we headed back the
same way - he's tired now.
Walk for Trek doing her usual bounding along. Said hi to two different
pairs of people. Neither was sure if she was young or old. Her bounding
makes her look like a puppy.
Mon Aug 10
Basic walks for dogs. Yoshi scared me as he tried to charge a
neighbor who was walking rapidly past us closely. I caught him and told
him not to be silly.
Sun Aug 9
The dogs get to go to nosework training today at Andrew's.
And they are not ready for prime time. Still need to pause longer at the
target. We tried Trek on the ORT boxes and while it was clear which was
the hot box, she didn't really freeze on it, but instead kept looking
at me. Worked with both dogs on the usual scent boxes with the nose
holes and then with tins magneted in various places.Yoshi was not
getting it at first, but he kept searching until he found it.
Sat Aug 8
Yoshi walk. This time I've resolved to just carry him across busy
streets that we usually don't cross without a signal. I was going to
carry him across High St but there was low traffic right then so it
worked fine. We went down Garfield which is a lovely quiet street. Then
we came back via the Park and Santa Clara. Got some nice Rally practice
in. He still remembers everything and it's tempting to just keep
entering him in Rally Novice B or fun matches where we can do the
Advanced classes on leash. Accosted by 3 children and then another whose
attention he enjoyed or at least tolerated. I intervene with 2-3 year
olds and teach them how to touch him. The parents were playing with a
football.
The older one fired 20 questions at me while petting him until Mom said it was time for them to move on.
Trek walk.
Wed Aug 6
Slightly longer walk for Yoshi. We walked right past a Boxer that I
didn't see at all until i noticed looking at him and looking at
me. Good boy. In contrast my neighbor walked out of her house with
her bounding small dog and Yoshi did bark at him/her, even after I told
him he was being silly.
Trek walk - did a walking status video. Some more proprioception loss at slow speeds, but she's still motoring along.
Tue Aug 5
Down Fountain with Yoshi. It's still warm so using the lighter harness on Trek.
Sun Aug 2
I'm back from Seattle. Dogs were happy to see me. I'm done with
traveling for a while as I want to maximize my time with both dogs.
Dog walks.
Yoshi, one U-turn and other with me holding his collar while we were on a
front lawn with two smaller dogs walking by. He sped way up after the
first turn around.
Trek walk. I'm telling myself she's not worse, it's just that I haven't
seen her in 2 days. She got better as the walk progressed.
Wed Jul 29
It's really hot today. Just did basic walks. Yoshi walked right past dogs then would snap his head for a reward.
Trek and I were invited to walk past two Labradors who promptly pulled
their owner to the ground to try to smell Trek. It all worked out, but
it was amusing since we didn't have much to do with it besides walking
past.
Tue Jul 28
Happy 12th birthday for Mr. Yoshi! He ate some yummy Vanilla ice cream.
Longer walk for Yoshi, basic walk for Trek
In two weeks, Trek will continue her nosework training.
Mon Jul 27
Std walks for both dogs, just getting back into the swing of things. Saw two dogs without incident.
Sun Jul 26
Yoshi walk. Some nice moments. Two of the dogs he saw yesterday were
coming right at us so we crossed the street. This time instead of
talking to him I just let him check the other dogs out and after a
moment, on his own, he turned back to me for a treat.
Trek walk. It's tough to watch her flail around, but she's ok. Terri
wants to go ahead and order a wheelchair for her but I'm more inclined
to let her be worse off to see if it will really help her. I think
either way will work. Maybe after I'm back from Seattle.
Sat Jul 25
We're all back. Dogs seem to have survived there week just fine. It's harder on me than then.
Trek's walking seems worse but it may be that I haven't seen her for a
while, but I don't think we should skip any of her PT sessions while she
can walk and that daily walk will help too.
Yoshi walk. He did very well passing two sets of two dogs. We nearly
walked into another dog when the dog's person (on the phone) turned
around and started heading right for us and we had to dash across the
street (retreating would have worked too.)
Trek walk. Wobbly as ever, but happy to go on a walk so I should stop stressing about it.
This week -
We're off on a Sierra Trip and dogs are being boarded in Pescadero.
Fri Jul 17
Trek PT - She's struggling more but got through it ok and had energy afterward.
Yoshi - I've resolved to try to be less hyper-vigilant and see how he
does more on his own. Watch a couple of dogs across the street but he
was fine. There was a dog I was wondering if we were going to run into
them, but they turned off.
Thu Jul 16
Yoshi walk around the school but I took the perimeter street out and
back to add some distance. He's walking slower again but doesn't seem
injured or ill.
I'm forever curious about reactive dogs wanting to charge and bite other
passing dogs. Many behaviorists say it's a stress reaction and what the
reactive dog wants is for the other dog to go away. I'm still trying to
figure out how to prove it. Certainly rewarding Yoshi for just being
around dogs makes him focus on me more and relaxes him, but is that just
training? Jesus Rosalis Ruiz's CAT (constructive work where the other
dog only goes away when the reactive dog calms down (this is called
negative reinforcement, where the bad thing goes away as a reward) seems
to argue for that.
Yoshi and I just stood on a corner and watched a Sheltie walk up to the
opposite corner and then turn the corner and walked down the other
street. Not a peep from Yoshi but he kept happily asking for treats
while keeping a eye on the dog (in general he likes Shelties unless they
move suddenly.)
Trek walk It’s
so hard watching Trek’s walking get worse, yet she runs along in her
walks in the most ungainly of ways, yet she is clearly happy.
She struggles to get up right when she has woken up and she spends a lot of time just laying down.
Wed Jul 15
Yoshi walk - fine.
Trek walk - her rear wobble is getting worse.
If she lies down for a while it takes her more effort to get up.
She can still climb stairs and hop up on the bed (using the step), but
it takes her more thought and she likes it better if I'm putting my
hands on her sides to stabilize her.
Terri is wondering if we should order her a wheelchair now, but I'm not
sure if we'll be able to tell if it's going to work or not. I do know
that I can get her used to her backpack.
Tue Jul 14
Yoshi peaceful walk through the Fernside. Waited for a Newfie to slowly walk by.
Trek walk. She's moving along but it's taking her more effort.
We're prepping for a mountain trip and dogs know something is up but
they don't stress about it as they usually go along though this time
they're going to Pescadero to be boarded at a fun location.
Sun Jul 12
Usual walks. Yoshi was staring hard at two kids walking until he
realized there wasn't a dog with them, He also was looking pretty hards
at a brown curly coated retriever. I talked to him and finally got his
attention. I did that to see if I could do that without leash tension. I
could but he was right on the edge of an outburst.
Trek walk went fine. She blasts along fast enough that I think her walks tire her out as she pants pretty hard afterward.
Sat Jul 11
I was at a seminar for most of the day so just basic walks. Trek and
I walked past a smoke alarm that was going off and I should have
pounded on the door. 15 minutes later the firedept was there.
Fri Jul 10
Walk for Yoshi and PT for Trek.
She didn't get as tired this time possibly because she had yesterday off.
Thu Jul 9
Just a regular walk for Yoshi because I needed to run to the gym
because we're leaving for the mountains in a week and a half. Lots of
dogs to steer around. Only one out burst at a dog that resembled a
medium sized Poodle. I decided just to talk to Yoshi to see if he'd turn
around after I had pulled back some - he did but after a could of
barks.
Wed Jul 8
Just basic walks because I wanted to work with both dogs doing scentwork.
Scent work went well but I made it harder by putting the q-tips in a
scent tine and then putting that in a cup in the box. It took them both
longer but they both got it and we able to consistently indicated the
hot box.
Tue Jul 7
Basic walks - nothing too challenging.
Worked with Trek in the Living Room with the boxes with scent-only in
the hot box. She getting that I want her to hold on the scent target for
a longer period of time but she still thinks it a little silly. She'd
rather look back to me after a find but she looks back to me all the
time so it's not a clear enough signal.
I also introduced her to the tin container, but I'm not sure what I'm
doing with it so I video'd it and emailed it off to my trainer.
Mon Jul 6
The dogs' scents have come in. birch is a much more subtle scent
than anise or clove to my human nose. Seems weird to make it the Level
One scent.
I don't like that they've just given me Q-tips and no liquid. Highly
limited supply. Well, it didn't cost that much money - more time than
anything. And the alledgely last a while.
Yoshi walk. Stopped to let a couple of smaller dog passby acroee the
street. The were cursing at him some, but he didn't react Most notable
was that I hat told him to sit and when I was getting a treat out to
reward him he had stood back up. I said "Hey sit." and he did but i
followed his gaze to see two large Spitz dog (Malamute likely) right
across the street and looking right at him, but not doing anything past
that - good Yoshi.
Trek walk. She seemed tired again, but we slowly went the long way and
it was fine. Lots of sniffing and letting dogs pass us. A firetruck in
the distance, but those don't bother her.
Time to work with our scents. Did all three scents-only in the
living room with the boxes. They both caught on right away - I took
video.
Sun Jul 5
Long walk for Yoshi. Went down Gibbons, then Versailles, over to
Court. Only had to wait for one dog to get out of the way on Encinal and
then crossed Court for a resident dog. No issues. I usually don't like
walking on Encinal because it's a busy street, but it's wider than High
St so has more room to maneuver which wasn't necessary.
Trek walk. She seemed tired so we just did the shorter version.
Her toe grips are continuing to work well but I'm replacing around one a day. I do need to take them all off and do her nails.
Michaelle has told me that there are no fireworks at all in Pescadero,
and they can board with her July 4, 2016 (which is a Monday) I told her
to pencil us in.
Lynne tells me there is a nose work 2 trial in Santa Rosa at the
beginning of Aug. I will unfortunately be in Seattle then but it's nice
to hear they are continuing to go on. I checked again and there are no
odor recognition tests for N. California for the rest of the year.
Our own scents will come in tomorrow - hooray.
Sat Jul 4
Took Yoshi to Bay Farm for a walk. He's already stressed but liked getting out.
For the Fourth, we ran away to the quiet Sierra Foothills. The dogs
spent a quiet evening at Jan's house while we went out to dinner. Got
back very late (2am), but it was the best Fourth ever for the dogs.
Fri Jul 3
Fountain St walk for Yoshi.
Trek PT. Did well.
Thu Jul 2
Started to cross the street for a dog, but they crossed before we did and Yoshi very carefully watched them walk away.
Wed Jul 1
Yoshi walk - went down Fountain where a group of kid were playing
(as usual), and it was a full block later that I realized there was a
dog with a kid in one of the carts they were wheeling around. She even
waved to us with the dog's paw and it was so out of context that neither
Yoshi or I quite put it together that it was a dog.
Trek walk - fine.
I put toe grips (http://www.toegrips.com)
on Trek's back nails and they appear to be helping her move around the
house where there isn't a mat. We have a couple of places where it would
be diffcult to put a mat (like under a door). I'm using the green ones
and they slide on ok after I soak them in water for a few seconds. Dr.
Buzby says they'll also help with proprioception (knowing where her foot
is.) She posted a link to her FB page on how to glue them on.
Tue Jun 30
Trek may have mobility issues, but her Dry Eye is looking fabulous.
Doxycycline is a miracle drug for dry eye which is amazing as it's an
antibiotic.
Mon Jun 29
Yoshi and I went through Lincoln Park, I was more interested in a
relaxing time that a lot of challenging dog training, so we mostly
avoided dogs, but there were amble opportunities and dog sightings, so
it turned out to be a very nice walk. Dogs across the street he is
mostly able to handle but he still doesn't fully trust that doggy is
going to come charging across the street, and he still clearly has the
desire to tell the occasional dog who looks out of control his opinion
in no uncertain terms, but after maybe a half-growl he decides a treat
would be much nicer and turns to me.
Trek walk. If she's not standing she's loping with her right leg
shooting out strangely every so often. It's hard to watch, but she's
happy and mobile for now.
BUT I watched the video I made of her walking and it's not terrible at all. She just trots and lopes everywhere.
Sun Jun 28
Near miss with my neighbor's dog Cisco who was getting a bath on his
front lawn, but I saw them intim and we crossed the street and Yoshi
never realized that Cisco was standing there. Phew. Then avoided a
couple of cats though he pointlessly barked at one of them who of course
did the feline equivalent of "You are beneath my acknowledging you."
Videoed Trek's walking which is starting to worsen in the rear.
Thu-Fri Jun 25-26
I was at Mt. Shasta
Terri took Trek to PT.
Tue Jun 23
We'll be doing regular walks today and tomorrow as I'm leaving for Mt. Shasta early Thur.
Yoshi's was fine, Trek ran into a young Polish girl who was stopped to
greet. She was chattering away but then she said in recognizable English
"she's a dog." Her mother was surprised and said this was a first.
Language lessons by Trek. She petted her a couple of times too.
Mon Jun 22
Regular walks for both dogs. Yoshi and I watched a couple of dogs across the street with no issues.
Sun Jun 21
Long Yoshi walk. He was very patient getting dragged around while I
showed other people our current resident juvenile Cooper's Hawks.
They're on Versailles between Santa Clara and Central. Still learning
how not to fall off a telephone wire.
http://www.birdinginformation.com/wp-content/gallery/cooper039s-hawk/coopers-hawk-juvenile-sitting.jpg
Trek walk. Went smoothly. She moves along at a good clip though her wobbling is worsening.
when the time comes, I have decided on a K9 Kart for her. I can either
rent it or they'll accept returns within two weeks. She may be able to
use it indoors ok, but I can't lea
Sat Jun 20
Nosework lessons with Andrew Ramsey. They, of course, had a blast.
They just love it and it's really sad that the competition opportunities
are few. Andrew wrote the rules for UKC's new nosework program, so he's
hoping that will change, but right now the closest ones are in the
middle of the country. The main group National Association for Canine
Scent Work has much closer trials but they are nearly impossible to get
into and they first require an Odor Recognition Test and there are no
more in N. Calif. for this year. Yeesh. There was one in Novato in Jan
2015 (by Candy Bennyi, Cbennyi@att.net, http://www.outandaboutwithyourdogs.com),
and another in Grass Valley in April 2015 (Nevada County Dog Club)
which ironically is where my Mother-in-Law lives. I sent Candy email
asking if she had any plans for another. Next year she says.
Andrew had the dogs looking for scent-only (cocktail of
birch-anise-clove) which went surprisingly well. They have done searches
with the scent paired with food and a couple of scent-only before. They
seemed to have no issue zeroing in on the scent. Now it's a matter of
getting them to freeze when they find it instead of wiggling. They
started to get that. Yoshi is better at the freeze. Trek is better at
the find.
I think when the dogs are ready they'll just join Andrew on the general search classes.
Basic dog walks later on.
Fri Jun 19
Yoshi walk. Perfect dog storm. Dog on the corner house brought out
by a kid taking care of her. Yoshi starts barking. I said "He doesn't
like other dogs" and I pick him up and continue to the corner where a
different neighbor with a reactive dog is walking up and that dog starts
barking. I carry Yoshi (barking) across the street. I'm talking to him,
but he's still doing that "I'm uncomfortable bark." I'm just about to
put him on the ground where I hear a jangling collar tags and look up to
see a different dog with a bike coming down the street. So Yoshi got
carried a little further, then we crossed back to our usual side and the
rest of the walk was drama free even with parallel walking with a
different dog down Central
There's a blood spot just over his left eye. Terri says he may have hit his head when he charged into his crate for dinner.
Trek PT. More wobbling, but she's looking strong during the treadmill session.
I think a K9 Kart will do nicely for her and you can rent to own which
is nice ($71 for two weeks, the kart is $255 for a small). The wheels
are more narrow than the Walkin' wheels and they're less heavy than
Eddie's wheels.
Thu Jun 18
Yoshi walk through the Fernside. For the first time ever we had to steer around two dogs.
One looked sort of like a Leonberger and the other was a bully breed. No
incidents at all. This time we didn't try walking the long way down
High since that's always a little stressful for me for now much gain.
Trek walk. Went the usual way, but detoured to go watch some Coopers
Hawks on a telephone phone over on Versailles. So she got a longer walk
than normal.
Her walk is starting to deteriorate. This will be a long heartbreaking process for me.
Wed Jun 17
Trek to see Ziji at Sharon's.
While Trek doesn't like being around agility noise, she loves going to
see Ziji. Trek's back is showing more strain probably because of her
wobblyness. She showed me more about how to work my fingers into her
spinal muscles to try to ease them (dig in slowly and pull your hands
apart to ease tension on the vertebra). I sent her Trek's most recent
treadmill videos.
Tue Jun 16
Game 6 of the NBA finals and dogs walks were easy. Yoshi and I
parallel walked with 2 dogs across Central and that was it. Trek's gait
is ever so slightly starting to degrade more yet she goes tearing around
the yard too.
Jaclyn saw the nosework video and liked it. She's going to ask
Andrew about the harness but he has all sorts of photos of dogs on
harnesses so I think it should be ok. I think I'm going to insist on the
harness as the dogs are doing well with it.
Mon Jun 15
Yoshi and I went down Fountain to stay with the longer walk but turned down Gibbons and not Pearl.
Sun Jun 14
Average walks in non-average circumstances. Streets were nearly
deserted because it's game 5 of the NBA finals and the Warriors are in
it.
Sat Jun 13
Dogs spent a lot of time in the yard supervising us repairing our fence
and barking at the dog on the other side. We would calm things down and
then they'd start again so finally put the dogs in the house.
Got the scent boxes for the
dogs finished and practiced with them with a food scent only. Had been
struggling with Trek on a collar, so I switched her to a harness and she
has no issue with pulling on that. Yoshi is doing surprisingly well.
He’s more “sticky” than Trek is. Made a video, uploaded it and sent the
link off to Andrew and Jaclyn to get their feedback.
Scents are on order. Should be a week or two.
Fri Jun 12
Yoshi and I through Lincoln Park.
Much to steer around. Dogs appearing in unusual places.
Did some Rally work with him he enjoyed it but has trouble concentrating.
Trek PT in the morning. She was the most awake one there.
--
Practiced Nosework with both dogs.
i have boxes with a doorknob (and dognose) sized hole drilled into them.
I taped a paper cup into the one that will contain the treat and each
box is weighed down with a dumbbell. Best is 3 lbs but 2 lbs work ok.
Eventually when the scents come in the hot box will also contain blotter paper or a q-tip with the scent.
The goal is the the dog to lock onto the scent and stay on it until they
are called away. This makes the indication obvious. Andrew teaches dogs
to pull towards the scent but this confuses Trek who doesn't pull on a
collar hard, so switching to the lighter harness seemed to work better.
Yoshi doesn't find the scent as fast, but he's much better about staying
on the scent. he's up to three seconds and Trek is around two.
Thu Jun 11
Yoshi Fernside walk. I took a chance and we went a long way down High
St. It's a busy street and I can't just dash across it if I want to so
if another dog appears all we can do is U-turn or go hide in a driveway.
We got all the way down it and turned on Lincoln only to have a dog
approaching near us. We crossed Lincoln and watched them turn down High
St. If we had been 1 min later we would have run into them. Phew.
Wed Jun 10
Normal walks. Steered around three dogs. Lots of go down a side street
and let the approaching dog pass by which works great unless they also
turn down the same street but that didn't happen this time.
Trek walk. Again she patiently waited while I talked with a neighbor. We did her usual walk backwards again.
Tue Jun 9
Yoshi and I went down Fountain. We nearly walked into a fast moving
white dog bounding by then watched an elderly lab moving slow.
Trek did a walk with her regular harness. We did her usual walk backwards this time for variety.
Mon Jun 8
Picked
up 4 mailer boxes from Office Depo. They’re not an exact match to what
Andrew uses for nosework, but I can make them work. I need to put nose
sized holes in them and rig up a cup that can hold a treat.
I need to order sweet birch (Betula Lenta).
Whole foods has it. Perhaps, also aniseseed (Pimpinella Anisum) and
maybe clove bud (Eugenia Caryophylatta or Syzgium Aromaticum) and small
tins that can hold them eventually.
Re: http://www.k9nosework.com/target-odors-kits-supplies
Just read that dogs like aniseseed as much as cats like catnip. That should make nose work easier.
Tue Jun 2
Yoshi walk. Went the other direction. Peaceful except a pit bull
down the block running at us with his/her person that we took evasive
action for by going down a side street and letting them pass. We also
went over to Fountain to see if there was any change in the house up for
bid - there wasn't.
Trek. Long chant with neighbors where she got to chase a hose. That tired her out, so we just went around Johnson.
Mon Jun 1
Long walk for Yoshi
Down Fountain and all the way down to Pearl. The house on Fountain in
foreclosure hasn't changed a bit. The German Shepherds next door to them
still bark at us and everone else too from what I hear. Yoshi just asks
for a treat when they bark at him. No squiming puppy on the way to
Pearl this time thouch crossing Gibbons took a while - it can be busy.
Back @ the school there was a Dad being very patient with his crying
son. So we crossed the street for me to compliment him. I offered Yoshi
as a distraction. Dad petted him, but son declined.
Trek Walk. Second one in her harness I carried her down the steps
just using the handle and I could hear her oof some, so doing that does
take her breath away some, so I should use my other hand to support her
when I do this. She's moving along with the flexi - often at the end of
it.
Sun May 31
Tried to repeat yesterday's walk but there was a squirming puppy in the way so we detoured down a sidestreet to Santa Clara.
Sat May 30
On Lincoln, two dogs passed us, and we watching them walk by. Yoshi
was able to watch tie first one, but was making excited half growls.
Then the second one was a Pug, and he did well at first, but right as it
was passing by he tried to charge. I dragged him back (short leash - I
was ready) and told him that that was a bad idea and made a point of
putting his treat away which was probably pointless, but I felt better
doing it.
Trek did her walk in her new harness which she did well in. It's a Ruffwear Web Master and it has a handle.
Fri May 29
Stopped to talk to a couple of neighbors about a rare foreclosure
near us. Yoshi was very patient except for one neighbor coming out of
his house.
Down Fountain again. It's a nice distance for him. He could have happily
gone much longer which is nice giving that he's approaching 12 years
ole.
Trek PT. Looked similar to last time.
Thu May 28
Fernside walk for Yoshi which is always peaceful. That direction is a
little shorter than I care for, so we also went down Fountain and then
down Santa Clara and around.
Trek walk - right leg is looking questionable but she moves right along in front of me after sniffing the first 2-3 blocks.
I did some remote sit work with Yoshi in the back yard and video'd it for our instructor.
I sent him out to a target.
She wants him to be able to stay until released - verbal only.
She also wants to see him go out on command.
I don't think he'll ever reach that goal but the work is fun.
Need to buy some boxes like the ones we work with at Andrew's.
Wed May 27
Yoshi noon walk. Peaceful except for Kiko the aussie emerging from
underneath a vehicle to say hi. We stopped, I picked Yoshi up and he
barked some as she approached, and I asked someone on the crew to call
her. Worked out fine.
Tue May 26
Longer walk for Yoshi because he needed it. Fountain and then over
to Versailles. I would have gone down Pearl, but there was a wiggly
puppy in the way.
Shorter walk via Santa Clara for Trek.
Disc exercises - PT tech says it's good for her as the knobbly side is good tactile information and it's good core exercise.
Mon May 25
Memorial Day
Yoshi Walk. Walk down Fountain - numerous barking dogs behind fences
which he likes as it's a treat opportunity. Some dog sightings that he
stopped and stared at as if they needed to pass inspection. We had to
steer around Kiko on Gibbons, but she came when her owner called.
Trek shorter walk down Santa Clara.
Did more disc exercises and video's them again and sent a link to our PT place.
Sun May 24
Nosework lesson with Andrew with both dogs and Andrew helped me work
out the leash timing with his dachshund Mitzi which was fun and
informative.
Walk for Yoshi - usual direction.
Walk for Trek. I took her down Gibbons for some uneven surfaces. It was a
different direction than we usually go and she had to sniff just
everything. Then she got tired and wanted to turn around fairly early
which we did but I had her do a part of her regular walk too.
Google maps has a way to measure distance similar to the Google
pendometer but you can do it on any map street or dirt. It's great for
hikes and dog walks.
Disc exercises. I video'ed her on a Fit Dogs disc - the knobbly
side. I would get all of her paws on it them press down on the
disc to make it rock side to side (core exercise). She loved charging on
and off of it but it took some effort to get her to actually stay on
it. Most amusing.
Sat May 23
Regular walk for dogs since I had a birthday gathering I had to
drive a distance to. It's funny how much they like their routine walk.
It may look the same to us, but all the smells change to them. Later one
Yoshi got a similar walk from Terri - lucky guy. Only encounter was
going by a neighbor's garage sale which he found interesting since
there's all this stuff on the ground. Trek didn't much care either way.
Fri May 22
PT for Trek. The treadmill is currently out of service so they did
some exercises with her which was really interesting. Lots of balancing
on inflated items and stepping over rails. We are encouraged to walk on
uneven surfaces and grass.
That evening backing out of the driving going to dinner the two white
dogs that bark at us on Central came walking by so I told him that now
Yoshi would be barking at them instead.
Thu May 21
Longer walk for Yoshi. Right on our street was the most interesting
encounter. There was an approaching Husky head up, tail obviously curled
over its back looking right at us. A full block away Yoshi is growling.
We turned off on a side street and stopped and watch the dog a little
but Yoshi was still doing a half growl. The body language of the dog was
happy, in your face "what are you doing?" In contrast near the end of
the walk we walked past Kiko the friendly construction Aussie would 20'
away from us stood up to say hello and took a couple of slow steps
towards us until her owner told her to Stay. No reaction at all from Yoshi.
In between the two encounters we walked all the way down to Encinal and
came back on the next block down crossed the street for two offleash
Shepherds that were saying hello standing beside their people. They
looked over and I said that Yoshi wasn't friendly and one owner said too
bad but Yoshi was cute anyway. I thanked them and said he loves people
and we moved on. The longer walk was good for Yoshi and he seemed to
enjoy it, but wanted to stop at every new smell.
Wed May 20
Squeezed in a walk for Yoshi this morning. I love how it's
completely dead quiet when we start out but quite active when we get
around to the path for school. Tara the crossing guard said hello to
him. After yesterday's gruffing at a passerby I had him sit when someone
walked by this morning. Though in all fairness he was otherwise
occupied then.
Trek evening flexi walk. Holding steady of her gait, but she isn't leaving me behind nearly as often.
Dogs are going for a nosework lesson 8:45am Sunday at Andrews.
Tue May 19
Yoshi walk. We went around the school which is usually a guarantee of
dog sightings. We weren't disappointed and he handled them all well
though was more amped by a couple of small dogs bouncing by. What was
more unsettling is that he woofed and tried to run up to a man in a
baseball cap walking quickly by on the sidewalk. (Yoshi was trying to
poop on the sidewalk grass strip.) The guy just laughed and went on but I
was surprised as Yoshi likes humans but this was walking by very close.
Trek flexi walk - about the same.
Mon May 18
Regular walks but continuing important milestones for Yoshi.
Without prompting with me he watched a RottieX walk by on the other side
of the street and reengaged with me asking for a treat. Then he had a
Golden and then later a GSD cross in front of him (about the same
distance away aw one of our residential streets. No reaction at all. I
just stop far enough away and he makes it clear he feels safe.
Trek walk. Increasing instability, but not dramatic.
Sun May 19
Yoshi through the Fernside. Trek regular walk.
Sat May 16
Grisha Stewart has refined her Behavioral Adjustment Training
(calling it 2.0) and has released a series of interesting videos on it.
Talk with Me
https://youtu.be/EnCrFXpFqP8
Walk with Me
https://youtu.be/4caLivNlyDs
Survival Skills
https://youtu.be/Iw3FTegJxEU
4:05 in this video sums up life with Yoshi.
BAT 2.0 Setups
https://youtu.be/dkXvccggf3I
In this one she talks about how to help the dog to make better
decisions. I need to focus on this as he still doesn't make good
decisions when the trigger is closer.
BAT for Geeks
https://youtu.be/Oh_p1vEr-0E
-------------
Nose work with Andrew today for both dogs. They're splitting a private lesson.
Fri May 15
Trek PT. She seems to be having a harder time in the rear but it's a
subtle difference. Emily wants us to do more of the spin left and right
exercises as it should help her.
Yoshi walk through the peaceful part of the Fernside. Went the other direction for fun. Saw almost no one.
Thu May 14
Short on time so walked the dogs together. They like it, but they
have differing needs and I don't have any separate time with them.
Walking them separately allows me some time to train and bond with them
individually. Evasive action if I needed to do it would be more
difficult. This time it was peaceful. Both dogs were on leashes and no
flexi for Trek but she didn't sulk about it.
Wed May 13
Took Yoshi a different way through the Fernside. Closer to the school.
Less creepy quiet and more people and dogs moving about. No problem as I
saw the dogs in time but nearly ran into one set on a cross street, but
it was ok.
Trek walk - just the standard direction so I can see progress or lack of
it. She likes the flexi now - she's actually way ahead now.
Tue May 12
There was a bully breed staring at us that Yoshi barked once at them
looked to me. I told him (in an even voice) to not worry about the dog
and walked him up a driveway a little. He settled down.
Trek harness and flexi - she's getting it she gets to move around with out worrying about the leash.
Mon May 11
Yoshi walk. Went through Lincoln Park backwards this time by going
down Central and going into the back. We only saw one dog in the
distance though I had to call his name to get him to stop staring.
Trek walk. After her running me around yesterday I dug out a rarely used
flexi and put her in a harness. Then I brought a camera along and was
able to video her walking which worked out nicely and the flexi let her
charge along without dragging me. She is able to walk using each leg
separately and doesn't have to run, though she often does. There is
some proprioception going on in her back legs, particularly with the
right, but it's not terrible.
Sun May 10
Yoshi walk. This time we walked all the way down Lincoln to Broadway and U-turned and then looped around the achool.
Trek walk. She ran the entire way. At that awkward 3.5 mph that speed is
tough to walk that fast but a very slow run, but it was impressive to
see her moving along that way.
Sat Mar 9
Trek PT. She is very gradually getting worse but it is very subtle. I
video each session and I only see it when I review the video.
Yoshi walk. I just let him lead and he took us in the usual direction
which gave us the opportunity to watch a weird combination of an Italian
Greyhound and an overweight Bulldog. We moved on when they were going
to cross the street right at us. No outbursts from Yoshi, more a
curiosity. He's walking in front of me now. I think the Dasuquin is
helping him.
Fri May 8
Yoshi out and back walk in the peaceful Fernside. The whole place is eerily quite.
Regular walk for Trek. She is still running along.
Thu May 7
Average walks for dogs. Trek is still walking relatively fast. If the
day comes when she's in a wheelchair she will be nigh impossible to keep
up with.
Bloodwork for Trek to check if she can stay on Rimadyl. Her ALT is
slightly elevated but not enough to rule out her continuing to take it.
Did a heartworm test too which was negative.
Wed May 6
Terri comes back tomorrow. We will need to measure Trek for a wheelchair while she can still stand.
Their are eight measurements.
I had a meeting this evening so Yoshi just got a quick out and back walk
Tue May 5
I was too tired for the extra vigilance needed to walk the dogs
together (and it's a bit maddening), so I just walked them separately on
their usual walks.
Mon May 4
Out of time desperation I walked the dogs together. This is not
always a time saver. It used to be that Yoshi's behavior was way worse
when Trek was around. That's not so bad now, but they still have
competing neurosis. Yoshi I have to steer around dogs and Trek doesn't
like weird noises I had to do 2 complete U-turns, cross the street for
something odd sounding. It might have been faster to walk them
separately which is not entirely true, but it felt that way.
Sun May 3
Dogs to Joyce's for some herding. Yoshi working sheep, Trek as a tourist.
He did pretty well in the round pen - he needs work on getting out and sit from a distance.
We'll work on that more in the yard this week.
Trek had a wonderful time sniffing everything she also rolled in fresh
sheep poop which got her hosed off there and a bath when we got back
home.
I put them both in the front pen for a little while, which they enjoyed.
We'll see how sore his is tomorrow.
Sat May 2
Yoshi Washington Park walk. We went all the way across the park and back steering around a few of dogs with no outbursts.
Trek walk. Straightforward. She's moving ok when at speed.
Fri May 1
Yoshi noon walk. He got to see Tara the crossing guard which he
hadn't seen in a while. He loves seeing her since he gets treats for it.
Trek Water Treadmill. She's more wobbly but doing ok. Emily reminds me that it's still pretty subtle even it's obvious to us.
Thu Apr 30
Yoshi walk. We went over to Lincoln park and had a nice stroll.
Steered around a pomeranian who wanted to stick with her mom despite
being off leash. Had a nice half Spanish half English with a nice guy
who wanted to pet him. Audrey stopped us to say hello for a while.
Trek walk - I went over to the school but turned down the street as we
got there since someone was bouncing a ball in the playground. Went
around the other way but cut over to Johnson which we rarely walk down.
Wed Apr 29
Yoshi walk. We looped around the school with various bits of
drama-free evasive action. Worked some more on him sitting slightly
behind me and me rotated towards him when a dog walks by. I can't tell
any difference.
Trek walk. I shortened it because Audrey intercepted us for a 5 minute
petting session that Trek enjoyed and because Trek seems a little tired
though she was running around the yard today a fair bit. I am concerned
that her movement is getting more wobbly, but I have to remind myself
that it's not terrible.
Tue Apr 28
Yoshi got an abdominal ultrasound to check further into his panting
episodes which have improved greatly in the past couple of weeks after
the addition of Dasaquin and no herding. CLEAR! No evidence of cancer. "Unremarkable abdominal ultrasound, no lesions identified." Music to my ears.
Mon Apr 27
We all went on a walk today. It was fun and we did have to steer
around some dogs with no incident including the reactive small white
dogs. I saw then and we crossed Gibbons and hid behind a tree. I noticed
that they had stopped for us and I explained that we were about to
cross back and head down Lincoln, so they moved on down the street. It
went shockingly well.
I sent Suzanne Clothier some of Yoshi and Trek's videos and she said she'd use them in her presentations. Cool.
Sun Apr 26
Day 2 of Suzanne Clothier. To day was fun as it was all about
dog-dog interactions. We watched and analyzed a lot of video and I asked
her about how to help Yoshi with his initial emotional stress reaction
when he sees a dog. We talked about teaching him to position himself
slightly behind and my turning a quarter turn to face him and looking at
the other dog over my shoulder. Apparently that means that I am not as
concerned about the dog. I need to go back over my notes to be clear on
this.
On our walk I did sometimes says "Yoshi" and point to a place just to
the left and slightly behind me saying "There" and he went right there.
Trek walk. Her wobbliness is still there without the Gabapentin and her
left front foot is bugging her, so I'm putting her back on it in the
evening.
Sat Apr 25
I am at a Suzanne Clothier seminar this weekend. I asked her about
Yoshi not wanting to come in at night and she suggested I try him at
night but not at bed time. So I tried it at 8pm without bossy Trek
around. You can so predict it. Training! I love Training! (read:
treats). 100% recall success rate. Sigh I guess I'm going to have to
quietly train him at 10:30pm. I did and at first it was the usual "I
can't hear you." but then once he realized I had treats he did a couple
of recalls and went inside with me. Once he got inside the hallway he
was like Eyore: Oh you want to brush my teeth - sigh." That may be the
reason he's slow about coming in. He doesn't love it even with the yummy
toothpaste.
After I got back from the seminar I walked both dogs without incident. I
spent some time reworking on loose lead walking with Yoshi. Trek was
walking at a good clip.
Fri Apr 24
Trek is licking at her left foot implying she's feeling some pins
and needles without the Gabapentin so we might put her back on half a
dose. We'll give it to Monday.
Trek Hydro treadmill. She did ok, but her foot placement may not be as good. Hard to tell.
Thu Apr 23
I have been ill all this week and the dogs have been mercifully
tolerant. This reminds me that if I get a Border Collie in the future
that may not be the case.
Yoshi walk stopped to let Audrey pet him, and sure enough another dog
appeared on the other side of the street and he barked a little. She
moved away asking if he was barking at her dog in the house and I said
no and pointed at the other dog, but then her dog started to bark too and
Yoshi put two and two together shut up and started to look to me for a
reward. Audrey was amused and I did give him a treat while he watched
the other dog walk by.
Trek walk. She's still a bit unsteady without the Gabapentin so I don't know if it's much of a factor at all in that regard.
Wed Apr 22
I took Trek off of Gabapentin entirely to see if that makes any difference in the steadiness of her gait.
Sat-Sun Apr 18-19
Trek - Nosework Seminar at Oakland Dog Training Club instructor Andrew Ramsey.
Andrew is a tall guy and Trek was hesitant at first but once she
realized that being near him and sniffing at boxes paid off in treats he
was her best friend.
He starts with them first finding treats in drawers, then pairs the
scent with the treat in smaller boxes beside the drawers, then works on
scent alone in the smaller boxes.
Here is a video of the second day: https://youtu.be/gqWE3V_Vq7E
Terri walked Yoshi in the middle of the day both days. No dogs around.
Fri Apr 17
Noon walk for Yoshi which was blessedly uneventful. He is offering
Rally work and he seems pretty happy to do it since there are no dogs
around to worry about. Poor stressed doggy though he doesn't seem that
stressed right now.
Today Trek goes to PT as usual. She’s now taking
Tramadol and Rimadyl and it really helps her, so we’re going to reduce
her Gabapentin with an eye to eliminating it.
I called Park Center asking them to submit Yoshi's most recent visit to
Trupanion. Unlike VPI, they like to have the vet's office do the claim
submission.
Thu Apr 16
Yoshi noon walk. He has moments of slowness, then seems to warm up.
Wed Apr 15
Yoshi vet appt with Dr. Applegate. I want to ask about his panting
episodes. He seems fine now, but he's nearly 12 and I think due for
another abdominal ultrasound.
We talked about both dogs.
I showed her Yoshi's videos. She said that panting was a symptom of
Cushings, but he doesn't have any of the other symptoms. It could have
been a heat or a pain response especially now that it seems to have gone
away. We talked about it being episodic and it would happen around
every two weeks or so. I had them take a chest X-ray, do urinalysis,
fecal. She checked his lungs and prostate and they're fine. While we
haven't heard back from the radiologist, she did look at the X-rays and
said that his chest looks clear, but his elbow snuck into the view and
on that she can see some arthritis and that could be a cause of pain.
She sent me home with some Nutramax Dasuquin joint supplements saying
they would be good for Trek too since the Rimadyl is helping her.
I asked about long term use of Rimadyl and liver risk. There isn't much
but there are some unexplained times when the liver is involved so they
check levels every few months.
We are going to try reducing her Gabapentin to just at night for a time
with a look to seeing what the effects are of stopping it.
Yoshi did bark at dogs in the vets office if they started to approach but hiding behind the reception desk worked nicly.
Yoshi walk. Went round the school. Surprisingly peaceful.
Trek walk. Our usual route. I tend to repeat her route so I can see any
changes in her gait. Look the same. Happy sometimes brisk.
Tue Apr 14
Fernside walk with Yoshi. We actually had to cross the street for a Sheltie. It's so rare we see dogs there.
Trek walk. She's still happily bounding along, so I think she gets to
stay on both Tramadol and Rimadyl and we give her the screening blood
tests to see if that's ok.
After a lot of introspection, I've decided not to try the DM supplements
on Trek since I can't find any evidence beyond the 1990s paper that
they work and no neurologist besides Clemmons thinks they help.
Mon Apr 13
Basic walks for both dogs. Yoshi and I steered around Mark and Corgi Shelby.
Sun Apr 12
Dogs went with us to Lake Wildwood for a family gathering. We took a
break inbetween the meal and dessert to go to Western Gateway park
which they enjoyed. Trek off-leash and Yoshi on a long line. Except that
Yoshi didn't like my walking up to another dog with him in my arms, but
that was much better than him on the ground. Friendly dog and person
too.
Fri Apr 10
Trek PT. Looking pretty much the same as last week, but happier and with more energy.
Yoshi walk. Nearly walked into a Lab that I didn't realize was a dog
till we got closer then U-turned and watched them walk by, then we saw
them again on my street. We said hello and I thanked her for helping to
train my dog. She complimented on how well he was doing and I explained
that he used to react to dogs a block away.
Thu Apr 9
Noon Yoshi walk - fine.
Evening Trek walk. She loped nearly the entire time with me half jogging
along with her. She's clearly feeling better. I have no idea if it's
the Rimadyl which she's been on for 6 days. I made another walking
video. She still has trouble at slower speeds.
Wed Apr 8
Yoshi was through Lincoln Park. Steered around four dogs or dog groups.
It's getting so easy compared to how he was. One tense moment waiting
for the light to change while another dog was approaching but it worked
out without him even noticing that a dog was approaching.
Mon Apr 6
Yoshi walk through the Fernside which was peaceful as always there. Place is almost unnerving that way.
Trek walk - full length. I walked behind her to watch more carefully and
made her walk slower. The right rear has been showing
difficulty/deficit for a long time, but it's consistent. Problems show
up with the left rear leg has any shifting to the side. Then everything
goes wonky.
Sun Apr 5
Well it was supposed to be a herding day, but rain canceled it, so both dogs just got regular walks.
Sat Apr 4
Day off for the dogs. Trek's 2 week Rimadyl trial began today.
Fri Apr 3
Noon Yoshi walk. Saw a dog half a block away. No issue. I then
looked off to the side then looked back to see that the dog had crossed
over to our side of the street walking right towards us. Now it's an
issue. Yoshi is barking. I ask if they would stop while I carry him
past. They decide to turn down the street going the other direction.
Trek PT went well. She's curving/roaching her back more. I made a video
of her walking to show friends. They can see some issues, but Trek knows
where her feet are right now and this is the issue with DM. A DM dog
loses proprioception of their rear feet, which is the knowledge of where their feet are in space.
Thu Apr 2
Basic walks for both dogs.
Terri and I are considering back and hip X-rays for Trek.
Wed Apr 1
Noon walk for Yoshi. No issues.
Evening walk for Trek. I can't see as far ahead so we're nearly on top
of dogs when we need to pass. Fortunately the large puppy we passed was
friendly though Trek was concerned about being stepped on.
Showed Lila Trek's walking video and she is asking that we video her at a lower level and on leash on concrete with some turns.
I sent her and Bobbie her walking videos and one of the water treadmill sessions.
Tue Mar 31
Went the other direction to talk with a neighbor who has their car
plowed into while it was parked on the street last night. Yoshi was very
patient while he and I talked.
We were off to see a movie so Trek had a very should round the block walk which is still decent since it's a long block.
Mon Mar 30
Gave the dogs the day off.
Sun Mar 29
More panting but he seems better.
Yoshi herding training. Well he's still a bit charger around sheep.
Joyce thinks I should just use Stop instead of Stop and Sit. Whichever
is fine. She would like me to keep the Flank and Away directionals.
after flailing around in the PT arena I put him in the round pen and
things got a little better.
He doesn't know how to pace himself so he gets pretty thrashed early on.
Joyce has a shorter flag that I really like. I've asked her where she got it.
Trek moped for an hour after I left, so I'll bring her along next time.
Sat Mar 28
Yoshi is automatically looking to me for a treat when he sees a dog
across the street, even when walking by one walking on the other side of
the street. He did this three times today. Over at the school I spent
time working on Out, Stop and Sit and it's working pretty reliably.
Repeated it in the yard. I might give up on Flank and Away and just
point and say Get Out. I can still use "Switch" for go the other way.
That non-conventional command has worked well over the years.
Ever so often he starts panting kind of hard and then recovers. I'm not
sure if he's going to be ok at herding tomorrow, but I haven't decided
yet.
Trek walk. Still the same: happy but a little unstable.
Fri Mar 27
Yoshi noon walk. Mostly peaceful (actually all peaceful). We stopped
and waited for the two smaller reactive dogs to go in their house on
Central. Every so often I would tell him to "Stop" and then "Sit."
Sometimes if he's looking at something else I get "I can't hear you."
I'm likely to get a lot of that with sheep around.
He's still walking slower but I'm watching him walk and his gait is normal. He needs his nails done. I did Trek's two days ago.
Trek PT.
I had them look at her right rear leg as it feels larger than the other one.
Emily noticed that when she's standing she mostly flexes the rear one
and that makes it much larger, but when she gets Trek to engage both
legs, they are of similar size.
Trek is still on Tramadol (still seems happy on it) and I'll film her again on grass at Bay Farm this weekend.
Her tank walk went well today.
Thu Mar 26
Yoshi walk. Some basic avoidance moves but the highlight was him
watching three small dogs walk by on the other side of the street with
no comment at all and then a belated look back for a reward.
He's walking slower. I'm so used to him in front of me but now he's beside or behind - if I let him.
Herding trainer wants Yoshi to work on Sit on Recall.
Trek walk. Wanted to mostly sniff, but did a full length walk with
encouragement, and didn't seems to be in pain. At the end, Audrey who
was on her way to school for an evening recital ran up to her and petted
her until her parents caught up.
Wed Mar 25
Yoshi walk. Stopped for a shepherd mix to cross in front of us. We had
U-turned and backed off a house or two, so Yoshi wasn't too hyperaware
of the dog, but he knew something was there. Back to Gibbons another dog
bounced by across the street. I put steady pressure on his collar and
this seemed to calm him down some.
Trek walk. Still seems a little happier but still a mild drunken walk in
the rear. Audrey, Amy's daughter, stopped us to pet Trek for several
minutes. Enough time that Trek asked her for a belly rub and I showed
her how. She's so gentle, and Trek appreciates that.
Tue Mar 24
Yoshi evening walk. Went over in the direction of the school, but I
want ed to make it a longer walk so we went down a couple of the side
streets on the other side. Two U-turns. One a small off leash dog and
the other was a medium size dog that was just coming out of their house
for a walk. As a result we would up walking on Fernside which is a
little busy for us but workable enough. The house across from the school
with the dogs who always looked like they were going to jump out of
their window have grown up and calmed down quite a lot. Then he got to
stand on his front lawn and watch Corgi Shelby walk by on the other side
of the street. He did very well.
Against better judgement I have entered him into the May 30-31 Auburn
trial in Started Sheep. He probably won't get in and he probably won't
be ready anyway.
Trek walk. Did a usual full length walk. Her rear is still wobbly but she has good energy.
I spoke at length with Dr. Applegate on what I wanted to try with the
Rimadyl and Tramadol. She adjusted the Tramadol dose to 25 mg twice a
day (50 mg tablet cut in half - she was getting quarters. Her weight is
21 pounds so the does for her weight is 39.6 mg or in rounder numbers
25-40mg 2-4 times a day. She is suggesting doing 2 weeks of it and then
trying a full two weeks of Rimadyl (she adjusted that dose too to 25 mg
twice a day and gave us our refill. If either of them help then we can put the two together.
After these trials I want to try a month of the DM supplements even though it's not likely to make any difference.
She is hoping to talk further to Dr. Lavely who returns on the 31st.
another neuro (Anwer) at Animal Care Center told Dr. Applegate that it
wouldn't be a bad idea to talk to Lavely again since Trek's symptoms
seem to be shifting.
We could consider doing a lumbar MRI to look for disk disease. If
there's nothing there, then it's DM. Unfortunately an unlucky dog could
get both and if they do have DM then surgery is not indicated.
Sun Mar 22
Made some walking videos of Trek at Bay Farm Island. I'm afraid that
her rear leg deficit is getting worse. I sent her vets comparison
videos between this one and a month ago, though even 5 days ago she
seemed to be doing ok. Since Friday I put her on Rimadyl to see if
it would make any difference and it didn't. Now I'm going to try four
days of Tramadol. She is still on Gabapentin.
Yoshi walk on Bay Farm. He did very well. We carefully steered around a
little white fluffy dog in a cone (twice) but we later passed a medium
sized dog and I didn't do much prep save for getting us about 15' away
and Yoshi didn't pay any attention to the dog.
Sat Mar 21
Ran into two small dogs twice, the first time I crossed the street the
second time the owner just held her dogs in a driveway and I just
carried him past.
Fri Mar 20
Trek PT. That wobble is showing up more in the treadmill tank, but the water exaggerates things too.
Thu Mar 19
Yoshi walk. While talking to a distant neighbor, another neighbor of his
with a dog stopped to talk. I had been hiding behind his truck and just
carried Yoshi in the other direction.
Wed Mar 18
Trek saw Ziji at Sharon's. She's now only coming down once every
three months, so I'm likely going to have to start taking her to Wendy
again. Ziji right away noticed her rear end wobble and found a pivot
point in her spine that's getting a lot of wear and she showed me how to
decompress it.
Mon Mar 16
Dog walks went fine. I can totally tell when there's a dog around
even if I don't see it. Yoshi stiffens and holds his head up more
looking more intently. Eventually I see the dog. this time it was one of
the reactive dogs so we just stood there and let them walk by. At first
they were hiding behind a tree until they realized we weren't moving
and they moved on.
Sat Mar 14
Dogs are going off to Vicki's for fun and maybe a little herding.
Trek was in the arena just very briefly before she got tired.
We put Yoshi on sheep and it went ok but Vicki noticed that I tend to
follow him to far around the stock instead of staying on the other side.
Instructions are similar to Linda's and Joyce's: maintain a distance
between him and the sheep. Don't let him crowd in.
Fri Mar 13
Morning walk for Yoshi, Peaceful.
Trek PT Same story - her front leg is improving by she's holding her
rear legs out wider, but she's not wobbling in the rear which is good.
Saw a dog with braces on its legs and we're checking into seeing if a
front carpal one would help Trek. It could help or hinder her healing.
Thu Mar 12
Evening walks for both dogs separately. Yoshi was first. Approaching
Santa Clara I saw a reactive dog with a very proactive owner stopped in
front of us watching to see what we were going to do. I pointed across
the street that we were going to cross. We did that and waited for them
to walk by (we were still on Court). I felt like I was in a Control
Unleashed works shop each of us paying attention to our dogs and
rewarding their good behavior. It was perfect. And of course right then a
smaller dog walked/bounced by on the street that we were headed to.
Yoshi held it together but the other dog (medium sized, brindle, cattle
dog cross) who had moved further away, was upset by it and cried out (Yoshi didn't react). I
could see how Yoshi had been a few years ago and I sent vibes of
sympathy as best as I could. I really should meet her some day.
Trek and I went on a short walk with Corgi Shelby and Janice and Mark which was quite enjoyable.
Wed Mar 11
I was ill yesterday and not great today, so Yoshi got a slower walk and the dogs played fetch in the yard.
I have decided. Trek is doing a Nose Work seminar in April instead of
the LA Corgi herding trial and also in April, I am going to a Suzanne
Clothier dog behavior seminar and I have volunteered Yoshi as a demo dog
which may or may not happen.
Mon Mar 9
Busy day at work but squeezed in a walk for Yoshi at noon. Funny how
you can have a massive crane hoisting a person way overhead and what
does he growl at? The dog walking across the street.
The owner of two reactive small white dogs nicely crossed the street for
us as we were walking by his house (they were on their way back from a
walk themselves.) Yoshi was fine about walking past them, but the owner was hiding them mostly behind a car.
Sun Mar 8
Dogs herding at Santa Rosa.
More and more curious. Trek has stopped being very interested in herding
ducks (or at least doing well at it), and Yoshi doesn't listen well
enough and is too hard on them, so neither dog is going to be on ducks
in LA. However out of desperation I put Yoshi back on sheep and he is
showing more competence at them (less of a whirling dervish.)
I-hate-sheep Trek even had a couple of moments of interest on sheep (she's just
figuring out that they'll move for her). Yoshi won't be ready for
Started Sheep anytime soon, but he could do yet another Pre-Trial set if
I decided to go to the trouble of taking him. There are some of us who
appear to be collecting PT legs. (You only need two, Yoshi has three,
and I know some who have five.) You can get as many as you like until
their first Started Q.
Sat Mar 7
Yoshi hike in EBMUD. I love going to the EBMUD property. Permited
access means fewer people and dogs. Dogs, in theory have to be on leash.
We saw 3 dogs right at the beginning and they called them back when I
asked and we walked past them (me carrying him) without incident. Then
we didn't see a dog at all and only 3 other all human parties. As we
were near the exit there was a visla trying to come in. Once I got the
person's attention they waited for me to carry him out. It was a lovely
day.
Trek walk. It was completely in the evening but it went fine.
Fri Mar 6
Yoshi noon walk. This time I carried him past two construction dogs.
Both friendly. The Aussie is named Kiko, and there was a blue Merle BC
named Butter. Yoshi was not impressed.
Trek PT. She's about the same as last week. Moments of brilliance but if she's not focused on her movement she'll trip.
Thu Mar 5
Yoshi noon walk. Aww, the construction Aussie started to come down the street to greet me,
but his owner called him back. Maybe I should walk by with Trek
instead. I just carried Yoshi past who was grumbling at the dog.
Trek and I drive down to the water and walked on the path from High St. To Broadway and back. Hope she's not sore tomorrow.
Wed Mar 4
Yoshi noon walk. Shorter and he just wanted to sniff anyway. I
carried him past where I knew the sweet construction Aussie was hanging
out. No issues and he was happy to see the crossing guards.
Tue Mar 3
Noon - Yoshi to the vet for a blood draw for a regular CBC and
heartgard test. Picked up some more Heartgard. Coming in had to play
avoid the Chow Chow who started to come at us when we were outside
but noticed Yoshi reacting and backed up so we could get in the door.
Evening Yoshi walk. Talked with Mark and Shelby. Four year old Shelby
was dealing with Amemia and then some issues with getting off of the
Pred and Cyclosporine. She's too young for this but feeling well enough
to bark at Yoshi. Walk otherwise went fine. Had to maneuver around
a reactive dog on Court who doesn't get enough exercise.
Trek's walking is so much better tonight she's hardly limping at all at
low speed during her walk. I'm not asking her to look at me and we went
out to the school and back.
Of course, in the house she's holding up her foot some but she seems ok.
Played with toys a little to see if I can get her to tug. She will a little.
Mon Mar 2
Yoshi morning walk. We have an additional crossing guard whose name is Colleen.
Sun Mar 1
Yoshi walk through Lincoln Park. Very busy, I carried him for part of
it. When we were walking around in the back area I talked about
frisbee/flying disc golf with one persone. Weave our way pare four dogs.
Heeled past an approaching Lab. Then we went a different way home down
Garfield where five children said hello to him which he seemed to enjoy.
They listened well about approaching slowly. Then we stopped to
way hello to Megan and her daughter Hazel. Megan has a reactive 150 lb
dog named Blue that she's slowly training.
Trek regular length walk. Seems to be walking better though with a head bob.
Wed Feb 25
It's finally light enough in the evening that I can switch Yoshi's
walks to the evening. I'll keep Treks during the noon time for the time
being.
Noon Trek walk: She was mostly interested in sniffing, Then after a
couple of blocks she started limping outright. No weight on the paw at
all. I stopped and looks and took out a very tiny sticker out of her
paw. I needed to get back to work so I turned around there and she
walked back fairly well.
Yoshi evening walk. It's so nice to be out in the early evening. Ruby a
medium sized dog who lives on Court and who is reactive, calmly walked
by on the other side of the street and Yoshi was just able to sit there
are look at me and eat the occasional treat. How times have changed. Though we did hide behide a car for part of the time.
Mon Feb 23
Yoshi morning walk. Uneventful this time. He is wanting to interact with me and train some which is nice.
Trek's walking was better today just to torture me some more.
She's going to need her nails dremeled again soon.
Sun Feb 22
Herding today.
Trek did a couple of decent outruns but I was standing where I usually
stand and the ducks won't fetch to a person so they didn't move like
Trek expected them too. Then it devolved to struggling and she got
tired. She's not going to be ready in time and her limp might never go
away. I am bummed about this.
Yoshi is the same as he always is. I put him in the round pen with some
sheep and he would sniff sniff eat and then try to charge (he was on a
long line). I did get some improvement over time but not much. We could
do this every week and maybe see some improvement but I'm not sure it's
worth it.
With the ducks he likes to pin them down too much (also on a long line).
I did get the ducks out into the center and then would send him out
around them, using my wand which is a converted flag and flexible to put
him out further. Some improvement but not enough to really trust him.
He did the best with the Wilton Runner Ducks. They group well, aren't
freaky or confrontational, and are tall enough not to be able to pin
down.
I am being offered a dog to work at the Corgi Herding Trial. I'm going to try training the dog some and see.
Sat Feb 21
Yoshi to Washington Park at sunset for a walk.
Lot of people there but still plenty of room to walk around and sniff.
Didn't go very far this time but spent a lot of time on the bluffs. It
was gorgeous.
Dog encounters varied. One was walking on the path and we're about
20'-25' off to the side. This dog is bouncing at us wanting to approach
but restrained by his leash. I had given Yoshi oppertunity to look at
the dog to see what he'd do. Not surprising he started barking and
wanting to charge. I said "Stop It" and he took a breath and started
again. I said "Hey" and poked his butt and tensioned the leash and with
effort he reconnected with me and sat while the dog walked on. 30
seconds later a dog of the same medium size walked by not looking at him
at all and no reaction from Yoshi. Then we did lots of sight seeing
steering aroud an off leash dog with his people and paying no attention
to us.
I was looking back towards the parking lot where we were headed looking
for other dogs when Yoshi pulled and started barking at something behind
me (I need to get that 360 vision.) I looked around and there was a
small dog with their person walking obliquely by us. I calmly said the
obvious. "He's not friendly." and the person laughed and said "spunky"
and moved on. I guess its good that people don't see him as a real
threat to their dogs though it's probably not the most correct
observation.
Fri Feb 20
Morning walk for Yoshi. I think we are both getting a little bored of
this walk and I look forward to Summer where we have more time to go
elsewhere. It's already light till 6pm so I already have more
flexibility. Unlike yesterday, today was completely uneventful.
Thu Feb 19
Morning Yoshi walk. I was thinking that since we were out a little
earlier that we wouldn't see anyone. I couldn't have been more wrong.
Eight dogs total.
One fast walking dog nearly ran us over right at the driveway. I
retreated back while they passed and Yoshi yelled Get Off My Lawn.
Another retreating dog on Court.
One reactive one further down on Court but has a good handler who made
her dog wait until we hid behind a parked car. Yoshi handled this very
well and in years past he wouldn't of especially with a recent outburst.
Then he managed a brilliant sit and watch a dog walk by on Central with a
U-turn later for an approaching small fluffy white dog.
Plus one crossing of Gibbons
And some others.
Besides the driveway, all the other encounters went surprisingly well
even the Gibbons one where the dog was closer. He was right on the edge
of reacting, but held it together long enough for us to retreat.
If he wants to go to LA, he reactivity is under enough control to be
fine. Though he doesn't travel that well and he needs to stop on ducks
better. Or a sheep PT.
Trek noon walk - she's limping more and I couldn't figure it out until a
neighbor pointed out that her left foot was bleeding. Duh. I wiped up
the blood and made sure it had stopped and called the vet to discuss
possibilites. I could have brought her in for more stiptic, but that
seemed silly. I asked if I could give her something for pain and they
suggested Tramadol which I have on hand. I'm going to keep her on
Tramadol for four days to see if that helps her walking. Her walking in
the house is fine.
Wed Feb 18
Yoshi morning walk. Dog across Central. I am deliberately doing no
intervention. Yoshi looks at the dog and looks back to me for a treat.
Wow such a difference over the years. Makes me want to compete with him again, but he doesn't always listen off leash.
Noon walk for both dogs. Sadly, while Trek's walking in the house is
vastly improved her walking on walks is unchanged. I have a month to
decide on the Corgi herding trial, but things are not looking hopeful.
It's tempting to take Yoshi down to do another PT run(s) just for fun.
Tue Feb 17
Trek is having her nails done at the vet under sedation. She hasn't
been letting me do her left foot as much as it needs to be and they're
getting too long. I hate putting her under, but sedation is not full
anesthesia, but it was right after sedation when she was injured, but
correlation is not causality I have to keep reminding myself, and they
were no where near that leg when she was sedated that time.
Yoshi walk. Went smoothly.
Mon Feb 16
Yoshi walk - some dog following but no real sightings or interactions.
Noon walk with both dogs.
It went fine, but there was one moment at a house under renovation,
where one of the worker's very mellow Aussie was hiding in the shade of
the truck right by the sidewalk. I couldn't see the dog (the work has
been happening for a few days so I remember the dog), so I picked up
Yoshi as a precaution as we walked past and the dog was standing Right
There on the other other side of the vehicle. I'm really glad I was
carrying Yoshi who was looking elsewhere and didn't even see the
"threat." Trek of course paid no attention to the dog. In the future, I
should just cross the street, but didn't want to bother this time.
Sun Feb 15
Herding at Joyce's with the doggies.
Yoshi is just plain not getting that he shouldn't hold an escaping duck
down with his head but instead go around them. He has a JHD in ducks so I
don't know why he's doing this now. It migh be that these ducks don't
fetch to my feet, so I'm not right there protecting them.
Trek's limp is worse when there instead of in the back yard. I don't
know if it's the ground or stress. She didn't do very well the first run
but the second one was ok.
Sat Feb 14
We went skiing and Jan was nice enough to let the doggies out a couple of times.
Fri Feb 13
Trek water treadmill. She gets tired easy, but her walking is
decent. Starting to see a rear right deficit. Left front is doing okish.
Thu Feb 12
Using Yoshi as a Pace Car for Trek is working well. The only thing
is the depressing comparison between Yoshi's able bodied trot and Trek's
slight hobble.
Wed Feb 11
Finally some dogs appearing in the morning.
First one false alarm of an approaching one, we crossed the street and
they turned around and went down a side street and into a house.
But the medium sized white one that lives on Central was approaching us
and we turned down a side street and went one house length and waited. I
deliberately chose a distance that had been too close in times past but
seemed ok now. It was ok. No problem at all. Good boy.
Then another one later across the street with equal ease. Phew.
Trek walk. I took Yoshi along to encourage Trek to walk more. I'm always
dreading encountering other dogs when I have them both together as
Yoshi's behavior is worse when Trek is around but it's been a while and
we didn't see any dogs anyway.
Tue Feb 10
Poor Yosh got an abbreviated walk because I was chatting with a
neighbor for a bit. Highlight of the day was, of course, Tara the
crossing guard.
Trek got a full length walk. I'm considering bringing Yoshi along too as
the excitement might encourage Trek to walk better, but it's such
comedy walking them together that I usually avoid it, but it might be
fun to try.
Mon Feb 9
Another snoozer of a walk for Yoshi, but he is really wanting to do
some more training. I need to work with him out in the yard to see if I
can build his confidence in herding commands. (I should do that with
Trek too.) Get some small cones and send them out around them.
I don't remember if I mentioned that I have rewarded them enough for
saying hello to the school crossing guard that they pull me to greet
her. I had to restrain Yoshi from charging out into the street.
Trek walk. Less limping. Trying not to hope too much. Submitted her PT
sessions and Neuro consult to to VPI as insurance claims. The Herding
trial entry form is out and I need to enter her regardless if we go.
Sun Feb 8
Pouring raining. They'd get excited and wanting to go out charge out pee and come right back in.
Sat Feb 7
Yoshi walk - went to through Lincoln Park and we played the similar
poles of a magnet game where we let the presence of a dog repel us.
Steered around 4 or 5 dogs this way. He did great.
Trek went with us to Mountain View Cemetery to take photos of requested
grave markers. She got tired of the wandering around but she had a good
stop and start type walk but she got tired over time and I put her back
in the car.
Fri Feb 6
Nearly ran smack into 2 small dogs at a corner, but we stopped in time
and U-turned back just over a house width away (about 50' for us), and
let them walk by. NO reaction from Yoshi. I hope he's feeling ok. He
seems to be.
Very brief out and back walk for Trek.
Trek water treadmill PT. she's doing better than she did all last week.
She's not over lifting her rear legs, and her front foot is moving well.
Thu Feb 5
Completely uneventful walk with Yoshi, though he again offered nice Rally heeling.
Trek walk. Didn't have to drag her as much. Did the full length. She started walking better part way through.
I am entering Trek into the herding trial. Wonder if I should just go ahead and enter Yoshi as a donation.
Wed Feb 4
Quiet Yoshi walk. He is offering some very nice heeling work. It's
tempting to compete with him again to see if he would tolerate it. Also
right now he's not going to LA in April but I might change my mind as it
might be his last chance. Depends on how well he does it training. Trek
is ready but she needs to be able to walk.
Trek walk. She didn't want to go anywhere except to sniff. I was short on time, so we did a quick out and back.
Tue Feb 3
Yoshi walk. He did great.
Stopped to talk to Mark and his Corgi Shelby. Four year old Shelby has
been fighting a blood amemia issue, but is doing better, but is sporting
a shaved leg from a bone marrow sample. Having gone through Histocytic
Sarcoma with Cali, I am relieved.
But Mark stood about a car width into the street (it was early morning
on a quiet street) and Yoshi was ok, though he's usual fine around girl
Corgis. Yoshi has been so well behaved these past couple of days that
I'm a little worried about him. He's due for blood work anyway.
On Central, right we'd walked by someone let their (obviously female)
dog (black Lab) out the front door to pee. I can only hope they looked
out the window to see if no one was standing out there first.
Trek noon walk
After
doing really well last week, this week Trek is struggling more with
walking. My hopes keep crashing up and down. She did get better today
after about 3 blocks of walking but that was because she was on her way
home and she speeds up then. This is such a bummer as she could do
really well at the Corgi herding trial.
I'm going to enter her regardless if we go or not. Yoshi doesn't travel
well so unless he starts doing much better in his training, he's not
going.
Yoshi is due for a blood test at Park Centre. I think I also want him to have a chest X-Ray.
Sun
Long Washington Park walk for Yoshi. We went all the way out to the point at Crab Cove. It was nice and peaceful.
Dash around the long block for Trek as the Sun was setting. She's really moving along now.
Fri
All this agonizing about what to do and this week she's been getting better.
I though her to raise her right paw which makes her use her left paw and
she can do it on command and she even bugs me to do it so that is now a
part of her PT as I have her do around ten of them a day.
[fill in]
Tue Jan 27
Neuro consult for Trek by James Lavely at Animal Care Center in Rohnert Park.
He spent an hour with us. He did a regular neuro exam of Trek and then
we talked about details for the rest of the time. I recorded it since
there was a lot of information. Lots to think about. We have basically
done every test except for a spinal tap and a full body MRI. There are
several causes of Trek's issues and he said that as a profession they
were not yet that good at diagnosing something that can't be lab tested
for. The likelyhood of us turning up something are low to mixed, and
then what to do with the information is another thing too. I asked
it we couldn't just try her on Prednason and he said we could though
there was a muscle atrophy risk. That's the last thing I want to risk as
her muscle atrophy happened right after a week on Pred though muscle
atrophy usually wouldn't happen after a week and that was just as
possible to be from denervation.
Lots to think about
Mon Jan 26
The crossing guard now runs across the street to say hello to Yoshi. He likes it because I give her a treat to give to him.
Trek didn't want to go on a walk today but just wanted to sniff, I think
because her nails are too long and it hurts to walk on the concrete. I
need to remember to do them before her appt tomorrow.
Sun Jan 25
Washington Park for Yoshi. I've resolved to not overly protect him.
Saw a bull terrier - no issue at first, but when the dog walked by,
Yoshi charge to the end of his leash - no outburst which is kinda more
scary. But later we were able to walk past the dog park with no issues.
Trek Lincoln Park
Practiced herding and rally commands. She likes being off leash and did well.
Sat Jan 24
I went on a snow trip and the dogs spent the day on the sofa according to Terri.
Fri Jan 23
Trek water treadmill.
Thu Jan 22
Yoshi isn't reacting to dogs he sees across the street anymore and
even if I stop to let a dog cross the street he's fine, so I'm going to
worry about him less. Now it's usually around this time he throws a
tantrum but what the heck. He really liked saying hello to the crossing
guards because he gets treats for it.
Trek walk. I stopped twice to talk to neighbors, so I'm sure she was fabulously bored.
Wed Jan 21
Yoshi walk. No real issues save for nearly walking into a dog on
Central. Did a quick U-Turn and walked back a couple of houses but doggy
then went in his house. Yoshi didn't seem to mind at all, though he did
walk much faster for a block or two.
Trek has an appt in Rohnert Park next Tues morning at 10:30 with James Lavely a neurologist.
Her walk was ok, but she is still starting out very stiffly but improves after a block or so.
Tue Jan 20
Yoshi walk in the fog, no drama at all. He's even ok with roller bags now.
Trek walk. She did not want to go, (major limping) but I dragged her
along. Once she got going she was relatively ok. She didn't get a walk
yesterday and I can't skip days with her.
Mon Jan 19
Nothing dramatic fortunately. Yoshi did growl at Max the max
size pem (who is very friendly and doesn't understand what Yoshi's
problem is). I picked Yoshi up so I could walk closer. I was standing on
our driveway so I guess I can't fault Yoshi too much for being grouchy.
But what agrump.
Sun Jan 18
Yoshi bike-run in Lincoln Park. He didn't drag me around as much as he used to, but he seemed to have a nice time.
Sat Jan 17
Yoshi walk. He's dragging me down the street. I ran with him some, but he clearly needs a bike-run so he can go faster than me.
Trek walk - seems to be improving.
Fri Jan 16
Less eventful walk this morning for the Yosh-dude.
Took Trek on a noontime walk which was probably a mistake as she has water treadmill therapy this afternoon.
She did nicely which was surprising though she did get tired in the last two minutes.
10 min at 2 mph in 6" of water.
Thu Jan 15
Nearly got run over by a running Golden. Fortunately we turned around
and I just dragged him a house lenth away before he even had a chance to
think about reacting. Later one we saw the dog again and tried to sit
to watch them go by and that definietly didn't work as the Golden wanted
to charge over to us (in play I assume).
In between watched a medium sized white dog walk by - no issue.
Noon Trek walk. Did the same type of out and back walk. She is walking
better. Same deal. Takes her a while to get going, but once she's going,
she does well.
Wed Jan 14
Yoshi morning walk went smoothly, lots of traffic this morning oddly enough.
Trek noon walk. Her walking improves the longer she can go on smooth
surfaces so this time what we did was go out to Central where she walks
great and then at the point where we would turn for home, we turned
around and went back the way we came which doubles the amount of time on
Central. Trek loves turning around as she knows she's going home, but
hasn't yet clued into the fact that she's actually walking further this
way.
Dog weights
Trek: 21.8 - normal
Yoshi: 21.6 - half a pound over
Yoshi gets fed less and is higher strung yet he still gains weight more easily.
Guess it's back to carrots for treats for him.
Tue Jan 13
Yoshi morning walk. Today it was let's bark at Corgi Shelby which is silly and I wound up carrying him a short ways.
Foggy this morning so we had something of a wet cautious walk. It went
save for being rude to Shelby who only wanted to say hi to me.
Regular noontime walk for Trek. I hope this more dramatic limp is just a
phase, though it does get better the more she uses her foot. Good thing
I scratched her out of the Rally trial.
Mon Jan 12
Nagged Trek to walk the usual length walk
It's finally light enough to walk at the end of the day so raced Yoshi down the street and back.
Sun Jan 11
Trek did ok at herding today, our trainer said that as a judge
she would have to excuse her even if she knew as a just what was going
on.
Yoshi did ok today also. I kept him on a line.
[fill in duck details]
Sat Jan 10
Trek Hydrotherapy PT in Walnut Creek. It went great. She is walking
better, but we've been noticing that when she limps it looks Terrible.
Terri is guessing that her foot might be getting better and starting to
get more feeling in it.
Fri Jan 9
So steering around objects didn't help much today.
Went around a car to avoid a small white fluffy dog, worked for a moment
but he looked underneath the car and spied the dog moving on the other
side. Bark, Bark.
Then for a larger dog I tried just hanging out on the other side of a
shrub and he was able to see through that too. Neither reaction was
severe but he's been so good for so long. Maybe I'm taking too much for
granted.
Thu Jan 8
Today's Yoshi walk was (again) all about distance to a trigger. He
sat and watched and then brilliantly heeled past a dog across the
street. Then we nearly walked into to a small white fluffy dog (30
feet away). U-turned and went the other way and had NO issue at all.
But then we got to where the crossing guards were and increased traffic.
There are usually just kids, but this time there was a dog and a person
coming at us. I figured I'd just pick him up and only backed off half a
house (maybe 20' if that). Just as I was picking him up he spotted the
moving dog sort of near him and started barking and barking and
growling. Getting him up in the air made no difference in his out burst,
but he was out of harm's way that way and he calmed down the second the
dog was no longer walking towards him. I do wonder how he would have
been if he had been in my arms when he first saw the dog. Don't know as
motion towards him is a trigger. If a dog is not moving much I can walk
right past a dog with Yoshi in my arms.
Wed Jan 7
Yoshi morning walk shorter because I was late. I had workers on the
property finishing up the sewer lateral work and he did NOT like that,
but was ok when we got back.
Trek noon walk. She's very slow to start but once I get her going she's
fine. I have to remember this. Don't believe her, make her work through
the stiffness.
Called holistic vet care in Oakland for swimming. They want to do a $225
initial eval appt even though she's already in PT. Argh. So she's
going to be going to Pacifica when I have time.
Thur we're going to do another rule out test for Valley Fever.
Tue Jan 6
Today we had the house's sewer lateral replaced. Both dogs went to
work after Yoshi had a walk then went to work, and Trek got dragged up
and down the street just before I met with the workers. Yoshi then got
to spend the day in a crate in Terri's office though she walked him at
lunch too. Trek went with me to check in at noon and it was quiet enough
that she stayed home for the afternoon, though the activity would have
driven Yoshi nuts.
Sun Jan 4
Trek to Redwood park Dunn gate. We walked along the ridge of the
Serpentine Prairie trail and then back along the lower trail. Probably
less than a mile. It took her a while to get going but once I got her
off lead, she seemed happy enough to bounce along.
Yoshi walk. Took a longer route. There was a guy playing with his young
lab puppy off leash. We crossed the street and I decided that would give
me enough time to pick Yoshi up if the Lab broke away to come say hi.
(We could have turned around and gone a different way, but I figured
this would be ok.) Sure enough, we had just reached the corner to start
heading away from them when I heard "Come!" I didn't even bother to look
up, but paused and picked Yoshi up who started growling right then.
When I stood up, Dad was right there doing the same thing. I told him my
dog wasn't friendly and he, looking abashed, said that he thought it
was time for a leash for his dog. I said I was glad he was training his
dog and we walked off (I put Yoshi down again.) The whole point about
all this is to have a plan for when things go wrong. Then you don't even
stress about it. This was so much less stressful than when a small dog
(Pappillon I think) slipped his leash to run across the street over to
Yoshi. Then I tackled Yoshi and had to hang on to him tight while a
clueless small dog bounced happily off my shoulder until his owner
grabbed him.
Some less exciting dog sightings followed.
Sat Jan 3
Trek PT Water Treadmill. This session was with Shereen. Trek got
tired much quicker this time Her back end seems to wander more though
her front looked good. I don't know if it's doing her any good though
it's later in the day and she seems fine. Maybe this is what she needs.
That or swimming.
Yoshi and I went to the base for a nice long walk.
Thu Jan 1
Trek went to Lincoln Park. She was limping pretty seriously right at
the beginning by the fence in the back of the park (we drove there).
All she wanted to do was sniff along the fect and then go back to the
car. then I started giving her treats and took her off lead and she
started doing really well. Not having a leash on seemed to help. We did
some long recalls and various herding and rally exercises.
Yoshi went to Bay Farm for a long walk. It was beautiful. We worked on Stop while I continued walking. Needs a lot of work.
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