Sunday, April 15, 2007
Peggy sent an update about Jasper, �He gets along well with Kingston. He is friendly and loves to counter surf for food. He inhales his food. He makes every step I make. Does not bark. House trained. No accidents. Will not go outside to potty unless you go with him. I think this is because he is afraid you are going to leave him outside. He is so happy to be inside ... you can just tell it in his face and his tail wagging. He just can't believe he has a warm bed, fresh water, good food and someone to pet and love on him. He loves to play "fetch" outside, but don't leave him out there!
I have not had to crate him. He has free run of the house and he does not bother anything unless it is food I have left out (even chewing gum ... !)
He could probably stand to lose a few pounds and be fine. He does not seem to need an excessive amount of exercise. He would be great with older age children ... just not toddlers ....
I know he has been neutered, but it is not documented in his Vet records. I am taking him back in a week for ear check up, and get follow up boosters.
... he is really a good dog!�
Oscar now is much less nervous with Anastasia and Tara around during training. Before, whenever Anastasia or Tara got near her, she would focus on them and would not even eat the treats. However, yesterday, when I was feeding her baby food, and Tara was pacing in front of the table, and Anastasia decided to come and watch and sat right next to Oscar (about six inches away), Oscar looked at them but still ate the baby food.
Oscar is much bolder with Tara now. Yesterday when Tara and I came home from our campus walk, Tara walked toward Oscar, but instead of walking or running away, Oscar lied down and put her paws up, attempting to slap Tara. Luckily Tara walked right past her.
Yesterday I was in the kitchen getting the baby food from the fridge to get ready for Oscar's clicker training, and Anastasia came up and was curious. I thought I would let her sniff the spoon with the baby food on it, even though I didn't expect her to like it, because she has not been very interested in human food overall. She sniffed for about five seconds, a long time (Oscar would've eaten the whole thing by then), and at first I thought, okay she only wants to sniff but doesn't want it, but then I saw her licking her lips. So I let her sniff it again to see if she would eventually lick, and she did! She took a small bit and liked it and started licking more and more, so I kept dipping the spoon into the jar. When she had three or four spoonsful, I decided maybe I could try clicker train Anastasia too, so I found the clicker and started click/treat. When Oscar and Tara heard the click, they both came near us. Maybe at first Oscar was wondering why she heard the click but she did not get the food herself, but from what I've read about clicker training, it says the animals know which click is for which animal, depending on which animal the trainer is staring at, so the animals know which of them is being trained, so the trainer wouldn't have to worry about them mixing up. Tara was sleeping in the livingroom when I started giving Anastasia the baby food; I thought she's pretty much deaf too, but the easiest way to tell is with food too. I had tried clicker training several months ago when I first received the clicker, when Tara still had some vision, however we only did "charging the clicker" and did not do much else more with it (I tried to re-train her to sit using the clicker; looking back, with what I know now, I should've tried to train her for a completely new behavior, like targeting or going to her bed on cue). Anyways, I haven't used the clicker with Tara in a long time, for several months, and she does get excited and paces around when I clicker train Oscar, and before I just thought she smelled the treats. But when I was clicker training Anastasia in the kitchen, when Tara heard the click, she immediately woke up and got up and walked toward us in the kitchen, so I now do think Tara also knows click means treats. I'm wondering if I should proceed with her clicker training too, since now she appears to be able to hear the click well and knows it means food. But since Tara's blind, I guess I would need to use a different sounding clicker for the cats, so Tara wouldn't get confused as to which animal I am clicking for, and it'll be easier for the cats to learn the new click sound than for Tara to learn. Maybe I'll get the i-click for the cats and use the regular clicker for Tara, since the regular clicker is louder anyways. The regular clicker is sold about 99 cents per clicker at most places, and the i-click is about $2.50 and it has softer click (designed for animals with sensitive hearing and owners with coordination problem). Or, I can try the newest electronic clicker, which has like five animal sounds that one can "click" for, it says to use a different sound for each animal being trained for, so it can be used up to five animals. This new clicker is about $15. We'll see.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Tara started licking her shoulder again. The first time she did it a couple months ago, I was completely baffled; last month, I noted down the time and the duration of the licking. Now is the third time, and I'm wondering if it has to do with the heartworm preventative medication. Her breath is not as bad, yet, because I'm giving her a lower dose this month. Maybe next month we'll skip the drug and see if she still licks her shoulder.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Tara was up this morning around 6 AM, I still did not want to get up, so she was pacing around the apartment, and when she came back, she was chewing something and I smelled her breath, yuck, I think she just raided the kitty litter box! She had never done that before, not sure what prompted her. Anyways I quickly checked the boxes to make sure, and sure enough, Oscar had pooped in her box. It didn't look like anything was disturbed, but still I'm pretty sure Tara was chewing on cat poop when she came over to sniff me.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Tara has been getting 3 capsules of glucosamine (500mg per capsule) per day for the past month or so now. The recommended dosage for her weight is 2 capsules, but I just felt she would get tired after our campus walk, so abut a month ago I decided to increase her dosage. When she's finished with the glucosamine supply we have (Drs. Foster & Smith Joint Care 2), then I'll probably get the Joint Care 3 and let her try that, maybe then we can decrease down to two per day. Anyways, she's definitely walking better with the increased dose, not dragging her paws near the end of the 2-mile walk anymore (but still tired and sleeping by the time we get home after walks).
Tara has been great with kids we've met. In the last two months, for whatever reason, we've had a surge of elementary school age kids moving in. There used to be one or two, but now I see a large group of about 10 (from different families) playing in the apartment playground everyday. Some of them would come up to pet Tara, and Tara has been very good, just standing there for them to pet. I told the kids Tara's blind, so they wouldn't poke anything around her eyes, since she can't see so she wouldn't be able to avoid hitting objects around her. Anyways, yesterday afternoon, one of the kids came up to pet Tara and said her fur is so soft. And then another kid kept asking me if Tara bites. I couldn't understand why she kept asking even though I told her repeatedly that she does not. Finally she asked me if she bit me on my finger because I had a Band-Aid on it. I had to tell her that the cat did that... Also, one kid asked me if I were a teenager. Okay, yesterday happened to be my birthday, I turned 29. Ever since I turned 25, I started feeling kind of old, but I would never hide my age since that wasn't the way I was taught (my mom has always been proud that she looks younger for her age; actually she likes to round off her age, like she told people she's 50 when she was actually 47; I'm sure she has been telling people that she's 60 in the last couple years; and when people asked her about my age, even when I was 26 or 27, she tells them I'm 30! I mean I didn't mind it when she told people I was 20 when I was 18, but since I turned 25, I like to tell my exact age, even when last year at the vet school open house, a guy came up to chat with me and asked me if I were 28, and even though it was 4 days before my 28th birthday, I corrected him and told him I was 27), but I feel old nevertheless. So when the kid asked if I were a teenager, I couldn't help but give a sad smile and replied that I am much older than a teenager. From the mouths of babes...and it was just coincidental that it was on my 29th birthday...
I went to the ESRA Garage Sale in Birmingham yesterday, was away for about 12 hours. I hired a new pet-sitter recently and yesterday was their first visit. When I got home, all three were acting normally, doing the same things as usually when I come home from school, even though yesterday I left really early in the morning and did not get home until past their usual dinner time. So I think they got some good petting from the sitter's visit.
This morning Anastasia was sleeping on the mat in front of the door, and Tara happened to walk by, and Anastasia bit Tara's paws. Tara was being very tolerant of it (and probably a little confused) and just let Anastasia bite her. But after about 10 seconds, she walked away, although I think Anastasia still wanted to play with the big fur toy.
I went to the ESRA garage sale in Birmingham on Saturday and was away for 10 hours, so I had the pet-sitter come during the middle of the day to take Tara out potty. After the garage sale, I went to Costco in Birmingham to look around. I bought some veggies and fruits, thought about buying a really cute but cheap doggie couch for Tara, but then thought she already has two doggie beds and she doesn�t use them a lot, so I didn�t buy it. After I got out of the warehouse, I then felt bad that I didn�t get the doggie couch, so I stopped by the pet supply store nearby and got some food and a bully stick for Tara, even though I was only planning to stop by one store when I was in Birmingham. O well. In the picture is Tara enjoying the bully stick.
About a week ago, Liana emailed and said O�Malley stopped eating, yet his bloodwork showed his liver and kidneys were functioning normally. The vet didn�t know what was wrong. Liana had to force feed him to prevent fatty liver syndrome, but later the vet out the cause of O�Malley�s anorexia was from a huge hairball in his intestine! So the vet opened him up to remove it, however, the situation was complicated by intestinal rupture that had already taken place. Then today, I received this email from Liana, �Believe it or not... O'Malley appears to have made a full recovery!! After the intestine resection, he just wasn't recuperating well. Extremely lethargic, vomitting, etc. The vet gave him barium and took an xray the next day - turns out he was blocked at the sight of the surgery. My only options were more surgery, euthanasia, or a steroid shot in the abdomen. The last option was one that the vet was very tentative about. She said that the decrease in white blood cells would highly increase his rate of infection, and he was already at a high risk of infection due to the ruptured intestines. As I would not subject him to more surgery, the steroid was my only real choice - it was a last resort, and I fully expected to have to put him to sleep the next day. However, the next day's xrays showed that the barium finally moved! Since then he has been doing great. He's now back home, and acting like nothing ever happened. He's skinnier, and a little slower, but all that is changing every day. We really are quite dumbfounded that he is still here. During this whole ordeal, we were close to euthanasia at least twice. He's used quite a few of his nine lives! What a trooper!�
This morning I took Tara to the vet for the intraocular pressure test to get a baseline value. She stayed still and was very good during the test. She tested 6 in one eye and 7 in the other. The vet said that's kind of low, at first he couldn't believe it so he test each eye twice. He also said her eyes are a little red (possible uveitis, but no extra drainage; extra drainage from an uveitis can cause low eye pressure), so he's giving us a bottle of prednisolone drops, to give twice a day, for two weeks. He said he'll call the ophthalmologist in Birmingham and ask her if that would be her recommendation too. Also he said he would ask her if she had heard of any case of PRA directly causing low eye pressure, he doesn't think so, but he thought he would ask. He said Anastasia's Herpes test result has not come back yet.
Glory�s dad helped Carol, the ESRA Atlanta events coordinator, make some more posters. Here�s one about adopting senior dogs, photos used on the poster were provided by Carol, and David did a great job putting it all together. �I don't let Glory swim in (Lake) Lanier (they live right next to the lake) - or anywhere else come to that. My last Springer saw a seagull floating about 200 yards off shore in the Atlantic and she decided she wanted it. As she approached the seagull flew off and Holly saw another one 200 yards further out. That one flew off too, and Holly decided to follow it. The next landfall was Norway, and I could see Holly getting lower and lower in the water. She was picked up by a passing fishing boat and returned to the beach. Since then my dogs don't swim unless they are on a long line or preferably wearing a doggie lifejacket. Also. Lanier water is yuck.�
I haven�t heard from Curtis since she got Mattie a few days ago, so I thought everything was alright (but Angie did tell me at the garage sale that Curtis does not intend to adopt him, because she really wants another Springer, not a Cocker). However, today I received a forwarded email from Angie, of Curtis having trouble with Mattie (whom she renamed Mackie) going potty in front of her indoor planter and pooping all over the house. So I emailed back two long emails about putting him on a potty schedule and also to supervise him closely while he�s not in the crate. Angie then emailed and said Mackie has not been crated, because when he stayed overnight at a volunteer�s house after they got him out of the shelter, the volunteer told her that he barked in the crate. We are not sure if Mackie was ever housetrained, because he stayed in the kennel at the Atlanta shelter for six months (!) before being turned over to ESRA. Anyways, I then told Angie and Curtis that unless Mackie has severe separation anxiety, I think he should be crate trained too, and that should help a lot with house training (I have no idea how Curtis was dealing with it before, because I know she doesn�t have a baby gate, and she did not mention about tethering him either; basically just letting him have the run of the house and allowed to eliminate all over her house?). I also told her that since he�s picking one spot to mark/pee, I suggested feeding him at that spot, because dogs are usually very clean animals, they don�t like to eat where they eliminate.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
I washed Tara's belly with Selsun Blue last night, she has some spots that looked like fungal infection. I didn't really want to put her on oral or topical antifungal meds, so I looked online and the holistic way is to wash her with Selsun Blue, which has some antifungal activities. She was very good during the bath as always.
I remembered Curtis telling me before that they go to Maine for the summer and autumn, so I also asked Angie at the garage sale, when Curtis was going to Maine. Angie did not know Curtis was going to Maine, but she said Curtis was going on vacation in May. I wasn�t sure if Mackie would get adopted before she went on vacation or was she planning to take him to Maine with her, then finally today I received group email from Angie, asking for temporary foster care for two weeks for Mackie, when Curtis goes on vacation for two weeks. I thought two weeks might be long for somebody to take him for two weeks, so I told Angie that I would take him for a week, so that I can split it with another foster parent, maybe that would encourage another volunteer to take him for the other week. Or, since Cutis� husband, Alan, was coming back a week early, if Mackie stays at my place for a week and gets potty trained, maybe Alan could take him when he comes back. In the mean time, I also asked Angie to tell me more about Mackie, like if he�s okay with cats and if he barks a lot (since I live in an apartment) and if he has any behavioral problems like aggression. I told Angie that if Mackie stays me, then he would have to stay at day boarding while I�m at school, so I wouldn�t have to worry about him barking. Angie emailed back and said when Mackie stayed overnight in Atlanta, he did chase the volunteer�s cat to under the bed, however he came when called off. Then Curtis emailed back and said she�s still working on potty training, and she really does not think Mackie will be completely potty trained in a week, and she said Alan really cannot and does not want to deal with the clean up during potty training. The next email I got was from Patty (in Mobile), saying that she would be willing to take Mackie for the entire two weeks. I was very happy to hear about that, but then I got an email from Curtis, saying when she introduced Mackie to Bo (her own newly adopted Springer), at first Bo tried to act like the alpha, then Mackie got aggressive and tried to be the alpha and chased Bo away, so she thinks Mackie has some dog-dog aggression issues as well, but very sweet with humans. Then she added that she would ask a local trainer about taking Mackie (not sure if she meant for training or for the two weeks). Since she did not ask my opinion about the aggression issue, I did not offer it, but rather just told her to not to fight violence with violence, but to find a trainer who would be willing to work on counterconditioning and desensitization with Mackie, rather than somebody who thinks �the dog needs to be shown who�s the boss�, and I included Patty in my reply, because I think if she were to take Mackie for two weeks, she should know his personalities and training and behaviors too. Besides, I don�t think Patty has a lot of experience with aggressive dogs, so maybe she would start to think a plan to separate Mackie from her own Springer, Lucy, if needed.
Email from Glory�s dad, David, �When I took delivery of Glory, she came with a set of Kennel Club registration papers that had never been sent to the Kennel Club. I contacted the Kennel Club asking if I completed the papers and sent the appropriate fee, could she then be registered. No reply. I called them and they said that provided I had the appropriate transfer of ownership certificates, then it could be done.
I contacted the breeder who replied to say that the Kennel Club had told her that if the dog had been through the hands of a rescue organisation, then the animal could no longer be registered. Do you know if this is correct? If it is then I think it atrocious that a dog should lose its birthright just because someone is unable to keep it and someone who cares takes the dog on to find it a new home. There is NO owner designated on the form although I have completed the reverse of the form on the assumption that I could get her registered. The transfer form is signed by the breeder on 7.20.2002. Hopefully she will soon become September Moon's Crescent Glory.�
Then Judy in Ohio, who has a lot of contacts with AKC and the English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Association, replied, �(Glory�s breeder) is a known puppy miller we have in Ohio. I do know who she is. She really doesn't know or care what she is doing so she has no clue about AKC regulations. There is no reason for further contact with her since the registration is blank except for her signature. All you have to do is put the name you want the dog registered and fill in yourself as the owner and send it in to the AKC. Now here is the clincher....Any dogs registered after 24 months from the time of the litter registration; the fee is $85.00. It depends on you if you want to pay that price just to get her registered.�
David told me that, �When I emailed the breeder the reply was very curt and I got the
impression it was my fault that Glory had been passed to a rescue organisation. Lets
just say I wasn't very impressed by her response. There's a reason for the name. I met my wife in September; we called the house September Moon; crescent because a waning crescent moon symbolises Holly's leaving us, and a waxing crescent moon symbolises Glory's arrival. And Glory because she's Glory.� Sounds very romantic and what a loving tribute!
Friday, May 4, 2007
I just it would be funny to mention that, Oscar's belly flaps when she runs, especially when she runs to greet me at the door when I come home everyday. Anastasia comes to greet me occasionally, maybe once a week, and Tara tries to find me when she smells my scent, but Oscar's the one does it everyday, just like a dog!
Sunday, May 6, 2007
I caught Tara eating cat poop this morning! Before I just had a suspicion, but this morning, after I woke up and went to the bathroom, I saw that Oscar's litter box had been used, but I didn't smell anything so I didn't know if she pooped or peed, so I thought I would check after I got out of the bathroom. Well, I then saw Tara walking back there and I immediately knew there's poop there and that she could smell it (Tara has a very strong scent ability), so I yelled her name, but she completely ignored me, and when I ran up to her, she was swallowing and smacking her lips.
Monday, May 7, 2007
I didn�t hear more about Mackie�s temporary foster care situation over the weekend, but I assumed that Patty was going take him for the two weeks, then return him to Curtis when she comes back from vacation, although I�m not sure what they are going to do when Curtis goes to Maine for several months. Then this morning, I got email from Nita, the ESRA Georgia and Alabama transport coordinator, asking me if I could help transport Mackie to Hurb, the new ESRA Georgia coordinator, this weekend, because he�s going to take over fostering Mackie. Because of Mackie�s dog-dog aggression issue, they decided to have Hurb train him, since Hurb is a part-time professional dog trainer (uses positive reward based methods) and has fostered many dogs before, rather than transport Mackie back and forth with Curtis� upcoming vacation and Maine trip. So I thought that�s a much better idea, and I replied to Nita and said I would be able to help with transport this week. Nita also asked if I would be willing to keep Mackie overnight for a day or two, and I told her that if he stays over two nights, then during the day, he would have to be at day boarding. Angie said she would be willing to pay for that.
An update from Liana about O�Malley, �He actually now seems to be back pretty much 100% same as before. Truly amazing! His appetite wasn't as robust as I liked initially, but over the last few days he seems to be back eating well. He needs to gain a pound or two back, but otherwise he's doing great. All the xrays did detect some arthritis in his back legs, so I now also have him on Cosequin supplements. Of course, it'll take about a month to see differences, but I am hoping it will help improve his long term quality of life.
Astro has been doing relatively well, too. We're starting with a new trainer tomorrow night. This lady was recommended by our behaviorist, and it turns out that Heather knew her from her Atlanta days. Heather speaks highly of her, too. I'll let you know how that goes.
Oreo had a big day yesterday - she went to her first Braves game. I'll be sending out photos later today! She was so well behaved all day - even jumped up on a stadium seat and hung out there for most of the game.�