Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Check In

By

I recently finished reading, “Bonding with Your Dog: A Trainer’s Secrets for Building a Better Relationship” by Victoria Schade.

I’ve been feeling like Delilah and I are not bonded, hence her tendency to ignore me on off-leash hikes.  As with any thought I have, it could of course be wrong.  But I’m going with it for the sake of this post.

This book was suggested to me by Pamela, at Something Wagging in one of my comments a while back.  I downloaded the book on my Kindle and then took my time reading it.

Why?  Well two reasons really.

1) When I read a training book, I want to take notes.  I want to highlight areas of interest and I find that I don’t do that with my Kindle.

My bad.

Yes I know it’s easily rectified with the highlighting option on the Kindle, but then there’s the pesky matter of trying to find it.

2) Most dog training books I’ve read give LOTS of stories, emphasizing the lesson.

I want the lesson.

Quick and dirty.  Give me the story later.  I’m trying to bond with my dog here. :-0

Don’t get me wrong, it was a good book, BUT I got so caught up in the stories that I sometimes forgot the lesson.

Ok, maybe it’s just me and my menopausal mind.

ANYHOOO, I’m not going to give you all her tips here (that would spoil the book for you) but I will say one of her suggestions was talking to your dog while walking.  After reading the book I realized, I already do that and quite frequently.

I also realized I could be sending Delilah mixed messages.

Delilah’s command for returning to me is HERE.   Sampson’s is COME.  Don’t ask me why because I couldn’t tell you if I had to.

Since I talk to them while we’re walking I noticed I say Come on, Over Here,  and This Way when we’re walking.  So how is Delilah supposed to know when I say Here that it means, get your butt back pronto?

As humans we are capable of understanding how words are used in different contexts, but dogs aren’t.  They haven’t as yet developed that skill….notice my use of the word yet.  (I have high hopes for my dogs.)

I started working on a new command with Delilah.  When we’re walking and I see her turn and look at me, or she starts running toward me I sing (and yes, it really sounds like I’m singing) Check In.  As soon as she reaches me I give her a treat and tell her good check in.

Once she’s checked in, I can very easily (and sometimes do) give her another command, or play a quick game of kibble catch.

For Delilah the only thing Check In means is she is getting a treat.  That’s it.

So many times with our dogs we will call them to us, and clip a leash on them or something else that in their eyes equates to my fun is done.  Why would a dog like Delilah want to return to someone who’s putting the kibash on her fun?

Yeah, I don’t know either.

Oh, you just want to give me a treat? Sure I’ll take it.

Another Year Gone By – Part 2

By

What I should have tried to incorporate in the original post was how I went into my vet’s office.

I’m a worry wart, I worry about everything.  If I hear/see/read about it, I’m worried about it.  I went in armed with a list of questions for my vet.

You know all of the scary things I’ve heard about on other blogs, the news or from different people.

Vaccine Induced Meningoencephalomyelitis/meningoencephalitis 

In the State of Connecticut, Rabies is a three-year vaccine.  Once the puppy has completed the initial series, the vaccine is given at three-year intervals.  Both Sampson and Delilah had their rabies booster last year, so neither one is due until 2014.

If you are a dog lover, you probably follow Roxanne Hawn and her dog Lilly over at Champion of my Heart, if you do, you know they have been going through hell in the last six months due to Vaccine Induced Meningoencephalomyelitis/meningoencephalitis.  I cry every time I read this blog and what they are going through.

I had to ask my vet about it. She told me, it’s rare, extremely rare.  Which makes me feel slightly better. But not much.

I said, “I just worry.”

She said, “I know.”

Laryngeal Paralysis in Dogs

My friend Ann lost her lab to this not very long ago.  I had never heard of it.  (Honestly, why didn’t I find all this out BEFORE I got dogs.  Jiminy Cricket, it’s as bad as having kids!)  The first sign of this disease is a change in bark.  Since I once rushed Sampson to the emergency clinic on Sunday for what turned out to be a scab, I’m pretty sure this would be diagnosed fairly quickly.

Siriusly, I will notice a change in bark.

My vet assured me the condition is manageable, it is not necessarily a death sentence for the dog.

I said, “I just worry.”

She said, “I know.”

Bloat

This is a scary disease, in most cases if it is caught early the dog can be saved.   Sadly, a lot of people are not aware there is something wrong until it’s too late.  I know of three people who have lost dogs to bloat.

The only dog I know of that has survived bloat is Thunder from the 2BrownDawgs blog, his owners weren’t entirely sure that Thunder was bloating but they erred on the side of caution, and he got the help he needed.

I am so freaked out about bloat that I printed off the symptoms and keep them in the notebook with Sampson’s medical records.

I asked the vet, does having them on raw food make a difference?  She said, not necessarily.  It can happen with any food and generally happens because the dog has gotten a lot of air in its stomach.

I said, “I just worry.”

She said, “I know.”

Parvo

Certain areas of the country have had bad outbreaks of Parvo.  I asked if she thought the dogs should be boostered for Parvo and she said,  as long as the puppy completes the initial series, and the dog is not being boarded she feels they do not need the additional booster.  The same goes for Distemper.

I said, “I just worry.”

She said, “I know.

Water Gulping

Delilah has a tendency right before and right after she eats dinner, of hogging the water bowl.  I asked my vet about it and she suggested removing the bowl or keeping smaller amounts of water in it.

To my way of thinking if she is gulping water, she is also gulping air.  I have been keeping smaller amounts of water in her bowl and picking it up if she’s a little too interested.

I said, “I just worry.”

She said, “I know.”

I told you I went armed with a list of questions.

Are you a worrier like me?  Do you go to your vet armed with a list of questions? Or do you just roll with the flow?

Post script, we use Interceptor for our heartworm prevention.  Unfortunately Interceptor is on back order indefinitely, so we had to go with the traditional Heart Guard.   If you follow me on facebook, you will know I put a link to a blogpost up there about Proheart 6, which is a new shot that is given instead of the monthly tablet.   Please take 5 minutes to read this post, if you are even considering using this protocol.  It could be the difference between life and death.

Another Year Gone By

By

Last night was Delilah’s yearly exam.  As is the case with most vet visits we bring both dogs.  We like to says it’s for moral support but really we hate to leave one home alone.

We also like the opportunity to pop the dogs on the scale, to see how their diet and exercise routine is going.  Our vet’s office will let us pop in anytime and put them on the scale but we are usually too busy, so we do it on the formal appointments.

At Sampson’s last check-up in October he weighed 86.5 pounds while Delilah weighed 72.4, when they hopped on the scale Sampson had gained six pounds and Delilah has gained 1.6.

I’m slightly puzzled by the weight gain, especially in Sampson.  He runs a lot when he is off leash on our walks and he gets minimal treats.  Delilah on the other hand is on leash so she doesn’t get a lot of running in, plus she gets LOTS of treats.

For breakfast they get chicken necks.  The number of necks vary depending upon their size.  Delilah usually gets one more than Sampson.  I give them a couple squirts of Salmon Oil on the necks for the Omega 3’s.  After their necks, they get about a 1/4 cup of pumpkin, which is low in fat, high in fiber and it helps them feel full.

I had increased their raw food at their evening meal slightly and by that I mean Sampson is supposed to get 12.8 and I usually give him 13.50 and Delilah is supposed to get 10.6 and she usually gets 11.30.  They get a small drizzle of olive oil on the food, because sometimes their poop is very dry and I worry it will be too hard for them to pass.  They also get about a quarter cup of non/low-fat yogurt after their raw food, to help keep good bacteria in their intestines.

Sandy our food guru said that since Delilah had really gotten down to her ideal weight, I should add a little bit more to see how she would maintain it, which is why she gets one more neck than Sampson.

Today I went back to our original measurements, and I cut back that extra neck for Delilah.

The dilemma is really their treats.  Before the great Chinese Chicken debacle, I used to use the little dried disks of chicken, which I think work great for the raw diet.  While I do try to buy grain free treats, most of the treats I’m buying do have some type of flour in them.  Which is where I think the problem lies. If I could cut out some of the carbs, I think it would really help.  My goals are to get Sampson down to 80 – 82 pounds and Delilah down to about 70.

I am now in the market for some good protein treats, any suggestions?

Oh and the rest of her check up went well.  They drew blood to check her thyroid and to check for heartworm, I remembered to bring in a stool sample so they checked that.  I got a call from the vet today that the thyroid was perfect and the stool sample was negative.  Now we are just waiting for the results of the heartworm/tick borne test.

She wasn’t due for rabies, and my vet doesn’t feel she needs Parvo or Distemper, so the only vaccine she got was Leptospirosis.

Our vet said probably in the next year or two she will need a teeth cleaning, she has a little tartar on the back teeth but it hasn’t gotten down to the gum line.  She suggested large bully sticks for chewing which should help and brushing her teeth.  That should be interesting because we’ve never gotten into a routine of brushing.

Our vet was very pleased with her over-all appearance and demeanor, and keeps complimenting us how the work we’ve done to get them in shape.

Tomorrow is follow-up Friday, but Saturday I am planning (unless something unforeseen happens) to do a post on the command I’ve been teaching Delilah on our walks.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions for low-fat/low carb treats that would work good for training, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

Have a wonderful evening.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...