Catch Up

It's been a week plus since an update!  We had a blizzard over the weekend with Lots of Snow and Lots of Shoveling to go along with it.  Ein's obedience match was cancelled this past Saturday which is very sad!

We did get to our ring rental last Thursday to practice Obedience things.   Stand for Exam continues to be solid and I am feeling very positive about Ein's ring-readiness in Novice Obedience.  I entered and got his entry confirmation for a late March trial and I just sat there and stared at the email for a little while.  Too good to be true?   AKC Obedience has been an out of reach dream for me...until now.

We also practiced adding distance to his dumbbell retrieve, which presented a new issue: mouthing.  He was panting and this caused some mouthing so we will have to work on that!  We also continued to work on adding spatial pressure form a "judge" when he has to do a retrieve and that was hard for Ein.   I threw his DB and sent him but he had to go sniff my friend first before doing his retrieve, or he would retrieve the DB and then sniff her and then come to front.  I quickly switched to treat throws and he was happy to ignore her to run out and "retrieve" the treats, so I think we will continue to practice that a lot more before mixing the DB in.  Next time I find a helper to work on this we will do the treat throws first before the DB and then alternate.

Speaking of Ein, I ordered him a fancy-pants new collar for his Christmas/best dog ever/trialing purposes from Ella's Lead.  It's their "Space Dog" collar and I just love it on him.  He has never had a collar this wide (1.25"!) but I just love how it shows up in his fur.

Here it is from their Facebook page!  It is the black and silver one.

As for the other dog's, Molly had another follow up appointment for her infected anal gland on Monday.   The left gland expressed clear, of course.  The right gland expressed...improved!  Finally!  There was still blood in the discharge but it was trace amounts of blood in normal gland fluid.  Up until now, the discharge has been pure dark blood.  I feel very happy!  It is about time that poor Molly gets some relief.

This week has also included a chiropractor visit for both girls.  Molly once again got an overall clean bill of health, with some misalignments in her cervical.  This makes sense because Molly got a new long rope toy for Christmas and her and Vince have been tugging fools ever since!  Dr G adjusted Molly and said that we will take a week's break from rope toy tug!

Perri also had an adjustment, and Dr G called attention to something I thought I had been imagining... Perri is roaching her back.  She asked if Perri's belly has been upset lately, but also said that the thoracolumbar area itself is tender so that is most likely the cause.   She lasered Perri, recommended heat and to keep an eye on it.  I wonder if Perri is sore from her recent off leash hike as well as the snowy weather.  I have not allowed her to play in the snow...so I'm not sure why she is sore in her lower back.  Sigh.  Going to focus on the heat and some paws up/stretching exercises and see where that gets us.

We are also enrolled in the FDSA class "Structure and Movement" so I am eager to learn some things about compensating for Perri's straight front end in that class!

So, that is about it for me and the pups.   Molly has her first agility trial in over a month this Saturday - just two Standard runs in CPE.   Looking forwards to that, I took enough time off of trialing that I miss it dearly! (only a month, but I'm an addict!)

This Just Stinks!

I have not posted an update in a few weeks about Molly's infected anal gland.   Things are not improving.

Molly went through two weeks of a stronger antibiotic, Clavamox.  She was rechecked two weeks after that, only to find the gland fluid to be still bloody.   The next step was to infuse the gland directly with antibiotic ointment.  I helped to hold Molly and the tech and vet did the infusion.   They actually turn out the rectum slightly so that they can gain access to the emptying duct on the anal gland and then insert a small tube right into that duct and fill the gland with the antibiotic ointment.

Tonight we returned for our re-check, with Molly still producing bloody fluid from the right gland.   The left gland looks good.   Molly was given another infusion, this time in both glands, and put on another course of oral Clavamox.   I am committing to religious daily, if not more than once a day, epsom salt soaked warm compresses to her anal area.   We've got to kick this infection!

The vet did tell me last week that it usually takes more than one infusion, so I am trying not to lose heart.  Talk about frustrating!  I also made an appointment with our chiropractor (for both girls, actually.) because I read online that spinal problems can cause anal gland issues.  You never know!  We will see what next week brings.    

DTCCC Fun Run January 2016

The "agility gods" must have seen that I needed a pick me up, because Molly and I had a really nice little day at our club's fun run today!  We did two runs and I chose to do the Masters level course (you could choose Novice, Open, Masters.)  We ran it two times, and the second time I was able to smooth over some minor handling issues that I was having!

The first run Molly was pumped, she was really fast and flying high and was apparently very fun to watch!  And somehow I managed to handle her on the course albeit with two bobbles (though not outright wrong courses or refusals, just bobbles.)   She got her weave entry and did fast weaves, and of course did all of her contacts.

The second run is on the video.   The two areas we had our bobbles in the first run was a lack of decel on my part after the teeter (we nearly had a wrong course.) and after the first tunnel I wasn't signally the next jump properly.   I was making it much harder than it had to be and a simple little push worked well enough to get the job done.  I pushed myself out of my comfort zone with front crosses on both runs and I feel really great about her ability to read them - she's watching me, and I am trying my best to be "early" enough.

I wish I had our first run on video, we were on fire!

My favorite part of today was our car ride to and from the training center.  No stress panting and shaking!!  We are clear of prednisone and Molly is back to feeling relaxed in the car.   I put her Thundershirt on for the ride to DTCCC, but the ride back she went "naked" and was happy and calm.  Day made!

The only negative thing of the day was that when I expressed Molly's anal glands this evening, the left one was empty but the right one had fluid in and it was dark red.   So, still infection and blood in there.  She is on a stronger antibiotic since Monday night...hopefully it needs a little more time.  It is good to be off of agility trials while we are getting this infection straightened out.  I also need to be more faithful with warm compresses to the hind end for Molly, maybe that will help the drugs with healing this infection once and for all!

A First Time For Everything

Molly finished her antibiotics and prednisone on Thursday, so thankful!   Unfortunately the very next morning she was licking her butt again.  Saturday, same thing.   Both times she had some leakage.  Not good.  I decided that I was going to express Molly's anal glands myself, and that was final!

I've tried many times to express Molly's anal glands.   Externally and internally.  I've had groomers show me, I've had a vet show me, I've watched videos on YouTube.  Molly's layout "back there" is more difficult than a normal dog's, apparently.   One vet said "she has a lady's rear end."  Our most recent vet, who is treating Molly's infected anal gland, was in complete disbelief that Molly's glands are ever able to express on her own, ever.  That might be a stretch, but still!   Things aren't easy back there.  

The right gland is the infected gland.   On Molly's progress check last Saturday, the fluid was clear and she was showing progress.  But something was up with that licking.  I got Molly into the tub, put some gloves on and "went in".  It was definitely hard to feel anything.  I remembered that the right gland is supposed to be at "5 o'clock" and I remembered our vet saying that Molly's gland is "deeper" than a normal dogs.  I knew when I found it because Molly turned into Super!Wiggle Worm instead of a dog mildly annoyed to have a finger inserted in her rectum.  Even then, it wasn't easy.  Molly was understandably trying to escape the entire situation, the gland didn't seem to respond the way I wanted it to...a learning process all around.

Finally after more attempts than either of us would like, I found the gland and "massaged" it a bit and was surprised to at last see some fluid come out.  I gasped and Molly escaped and tried to climb out of the tub.  I "went back in" this time very sure of what I was doing and expressed the rest of the fluid.  It was blood.  The infection is not cleared up.  I am so very, very sad.

I do feel empowered that I was able to express an anal gland.  I have been avoiding this for six years now and at last, I have conquered it!  We will return to the vet tomorrow to find out what happens next - I'm assuming a stronger course of antibiotics but we will find out for sure soon enough.

Thank you, Molly, for teaching me more than I ever wanted to know about the insides of dog rectums.  Only you, stripey dog.

She's Come Undone.

You learn a new thing every day.   I learned some new things this weekend, specifically concerning my dog Molly taking Prednisone for her anal gland infection.  The vet said, "She might be hungrier or thirstier, those are normal side effects."

Ein has taken a couple rounds of pred in his life and was predictably immune to any side effects.  He's just that kind of guy.

I thought Molly might be like that to, and she was.   Until Saturday.  She started becoming needy and restless.  She started drinking and having to go outside to pee a lot.  When we were sitting in the waiting room on Saturday for Molly's recheck, she was brimming with anxiety and actually chattering her teeth.   The calmness and lack of reactive dog melt downs that I was proud of on Monday night was gone.  She was whiney and vocal at best, and finally had a full on screaming melt down at a very sick and sad looking rottweiler who lumbered into the door minding his very own sad business.  On the ride home she was shuddering in her crate and chattering her teeth.  

Sunday she went "off the rails".   I took Molly and Perri for a hike, we were out for probably two hours total.  Molly's car anxiety was back with a vengeance (we had been enjoying some improvement in that area.)   She was shaking so badly and panting so hard I thought she would stroke out.   Her ears and the skin surrounding her eyes, her lips and her nose were bright red.  If she stopped panting at all, her teeth chattered violently.   When we got home I thought she would surely be exhausted.

She couldn't stop pacing.  She followed Vince or I wherever we went.  She didn't want to play tug.   She would settle down and chew on her nylabone like a maniac, there were literally little pieces of nylabone shavings falling to the floor.  She would then lay over with her eyes wide open, not resting at all.   Molly is typically dead to the world after even a one hour hike, and especially after a stressful episode in the car.  But she could not sleep.   She was a mess all night.   I had to let her out to pee at least four times and each time she was back up and unable to calm down and rest.  All I could think about was the title of my favorite Wally Lamb book - "She's Come Undone."

I started chatting with a few of my close dog friends about how scared I was for Molly.   This was it, she needed to go on medication for her anxiety.   Or, surely there was a physical pain causing this much anxiety?  Laying out all of the symptoms with feedback from other dog-experienced people helped me think....could it be the prednisone?   The vet had not mentioned anxiety as a side effect.

Oh, but it is a side effect of pred.   "Personality and behavior changes." "Anxiety".  Not as common a side effect as the thirst and hunger but definitely a place to blame Molly's insane behavior.  I talked to my coworkers at the hospital about it the next day and everyone seemed to know but me! "Oh yes, Prednisone can make you crazy.  Poor Molly!"  I called the vet office to see when is the soonest that Molly could come off the pred (she is done with it on Thursday), and they said to half her daily dose to start with.  Whew.

Molly was much calmer tonight, though still clingy and needy.   In better news, Molly's infected anal gland expressed easily and free of blood on Saturday.   Some good news!

Our next car ride will be Wednesday, to the vet for another recheck.  We will be thundershirt-ing and riding with a bully stick and hoping that Molly can remain calm on the 20 minute ride to the vet.  Every time her car anxiety seems to be improving, it comes back.   Even though we have a "reason" this time, it still really stinks.