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!)
In the spirit of catching up, I took Perri to her chiropractor last Wednesday. I was concerned with her behavior over the weave poles at our agility trial two weekends ago and wanted her looked over to be safe. The chiropractor zeroed in on Perri's right shoulder (the same shoulder that had been sprained in the Spring.) She showed me how resistant Perri was to having the shoulder and elbow joint manipulated. There were some other minor adjustments to the neck but mostly, the right front shoulder and elbow were proclaimed to be the issue. At this point, she felt that we should persue some physical therapy to help Perri get back on track. She recommended a vet who practices rehab medicine out of her home and suggested that we look into getting an appointment.
I was very sad. Not only can we not play agility, but Perri cannot go hiking or swimming - and that bothers me even more. The next morning I sent an e-mail to the veterinarian that our chiropractor recommended, and mentioned that I was available all day if she should happen to have an appointment. She did, at 8pm that night. I was loving the oddball hours, it is very hard for me to get to places by 6pm or early (and most places are usually closed by then.) Since this vet worked out of her home, she had a little bit more flexibility.
I explained Perri's injury in May, and that she was popping weave poles agin. And that before I consider it to be a training or "brain" issue, I wanted to rule out physical causes. I explained what our chiropractor had said. But when the vet examined Perri's right front, the range of motion was excellent. I saw that with my own eyes! She extended and flexed completely with no protest. Just another day in the life of My Favorite Martian? What to make of this. The inspection continued and Perri was all over pronounced to be good, except the "first rib", which Perri squealed when touched. The vet attempted to adjust this area and Perri was in a lot of pain, crying and snapping the air. I could have cried. We took a break and Perri received a cold laser treatment, and then more attempts at getting the rib back into place. This time I sat on the floor with Perri cradled belly up between my legs, which I stretched out. While the vet worked, Perri laid her head against my stomach and pressed in hard and nibbled me and cried. And then, I could have just died I was so miserable about the whole thing. And still no luck getting things back into place. Perri refused the offering of a peanut butter biscuit peace offering, she simply walked to the door.
We were to return this week but I was unable to keep the appointment due to staffing at my job. I have instead decided to get another opinion (yes...a third opinion!). This time we will go to a dedicated rehab facility. I feel like I don't have a lot of grasp on what is going on with Perri, and I want diagnostic resources available and sedation available if we need those things. I will not let Perri experience that much pain again. So, her next appointment will be on the 15th of October. Until then, rest rest rest. (It is hard to keep Perri from pouncing!)
Hoping to get some answers and direction from our appointment in two weeks.
I took both Perri and Molly to visit the chiropractor (DG) this evening. Perri has visited this chiro one time in the past, in May when we learned of her shoulder strain. Molly has never visited this chiro, she has visited a chiropractor one time in her agility career and that was back in 2013 before we had done much trialing at all. And that chiropractor was not nearly as dog-knowledgeable as DG. I did not take the dogs this evening due to any specific problem, but more out of the fact that Perri was so banged up at our last visit and the only indication was popping the weave poles. No limp. I want to stay on top of things better, my dogs deserve that.
Perri went first: Her jaw and neck were jammed, has she had a face plant? Actually, yes! The Sunday of the CPE trial, July 20th Perri was so fired up in Jumpers. The last tunnel of the course I remember her entering it hard and I remember a thud as well as a delay in her exiting. It was brief but I didn't like it and I remember thinking, "What if I go to her crate and she is paralyzed?!" (Why no, I'm not a worrier or anything...) Faceplant, absolutely. And it was the very next day in class when she refused the chute. Hmmmm.
Perri is in good shape besides that. When the adjustment was over DG looked at Perri and asked her, "Oh I'm not done yet?" and felt her pubic symphysis on her pelvis. It was shifted. DG asked me, "Has she been leaking urine?"
Actually, yes. Quite some time ago Perri had a problem with bed wetting overnight. We cut her water supply off at 9pm and the problem resolved. Until the last week. Two episodes of bed wetting within the last week. I blamed Vince (who stays up later than me.) for not watching her water consumption in the evening but what a surprise to be asked this!
DG also remarked that Perri's muscle tone and overall appearance has improved. The only change that I have made is to give Perri probiotic powder in her food, and it has made a definite difference.
Molly was next. And can you believe it, that dog barely had a single thing out of alignment? One old misalignment in her lumbar that DG says does not seem to be bothering her at all (truth!). She praised Molly's confirmation and said she is very robust and healthy and has a good nervous system. She is put together well. She likened Molly's crazy crashing around to a drunk driver in a car accident - they never get hurt because they are so relaxed during the crashing. That's my girl! I was relieved. I have to admit I have been afraid to have anybody put hands on Molly, so worried that she would have some horrible injury that she has been hiding.
And with a clear bill of health and my robust drunk driver dog, we head into our Gold Spot in the Fenzi Academy foundation weave class, starting this Saturday. I am as tenacious as a pitbull, that my pitbull will learn to love weave poles at trials.
Perri had her visit to the chiropractor today, and it is a very good thing. We are fresh off of three days of camping, as well as a short hike before our appointment. Perri was struggling to eat her food on our trip, as she often does when we go away. We did have a really great time though, and probably logged 13-15 miles hiked between our two days there. My kind of trip!
However, when the chiro felt Perri and adjusted her, I felt nothing but concern and guilt. Right shoulder out and sprained. Multiple ribs out. "Horribly misaligned" in the thoracic spine, right in between Perri's scapulas. The chiro said it was like Perri had been t-boned. I know the problem is Molly and Perri's rough housing. Molly is very hard on Perri and things are going to have to change. Perri's body simply cannot handle rough bully play!
I will admit that I am very surprised at how normally Perri has been acting in spite of how painful her shoulder must have been. At the beginning of our session Perri was very resistant to having her shoulder and elbow gently extended and by the end of the adjustment her range of motion was increased. I may still take Perri hiking with me next weekend (not this weekend.) as I had planned. We will certainly not be working on weave poles for a few more weeks. It's hard to say "depending how she looks", because Perri has not shown any symptoms of shoulder pain. I think it is interesting that during Perri's energy massage, the troublesome area was the shoulder/thoracic area. I am very glad that I had Perri adjusted and evaluated. I already feel horrible for "pushing" her, I would feel even worse if If had not had her checked when I did.
Another thing that was discussed this evening was Perri's weight. And I have quite honestly been concerned about how thin Perri is. She has not lost any weight on the scale - she came in at an even 40 pounds tonight. But her bones are sticking out, especially her pelvis. I feel like she is losing muscle. We discussed diet, supplements, and the possibility of an absorption problem. These are things I have been concerned about. To have somebody who just met Perri for the first time share my concern was a little bit alarming for me. Perri eats more than both Ein (of course), and Molly (Molly is 25 pounds heavier!). Her poops (dog lady talk here!) are very bulky. Vince even said one time a few months ago that he wondered if she had a malabsorption issue.
My head in spinning. We are going to try probiotics and increasing the amount of food, more than likely going to a different formula for Perri. Poor Perri. I am glad she would not weave, it was the only way that she showed me that she wasn't feeling good.
Two weeks ago we went to a CPE trial close to home. Since Molly did well at her prior two trials, I had high hopes for this one. Why did I want to move up to Level 3 again?
Not only are the courses getting more challenging - but Molly was not herself that weekend. She was pulling every old Molly Trick that she had, she did not want to do the weave poles (odd - she's no weave queen but only in the past two trials has she refused them like this.) and she would be hellbent on obstacles I was trying my very hardest to keep her away from. We were quite a pair.
Friday was
Snooker Level 2 - our final Q in Level 2! We did Left Red to the 7-TunnelCombo, Middle Red to 2-Jump to Right Red, Back to 2-Jump and finished the closing sequence. Molly was really much herself on this one - happy...fast...a few bobbles but really working with me well.
Standard Level 3 - This was unfortunately typical madness followed by total unwillingness to do the weave poles. I switched sides to get her to take them, but that put her in the wrong end of the upcoming tunnel. Sigh. We NQ'd for two off courses.
Saturday was
Jackpot Level 3. I played around on the course for way too long and was nowhere near the gamble when the whistle sounded. My bad. As normal, Molly pulls off of a gamble to come check in on me after nearly every obstacles. Will she do that out on a straightforward course? NO. Ah well, this NQ was as much my fault as hers. (I know, I know. They are ALL the handler's NQ's.)
*I ran my friend's dog Luna on this course as well. Luna worked much nicer for me and our plan was going great...until she spied her momma and left the ring! Oops!
Standard Level 3. A disaster. I felt like Molly and I were not ready for this. For one thing, I had no clue if Molly could handle a three jump lead-out. (Why haven't I practiced that?! It's on my to-do lits now for sure!) That was what I wanted to do, but I chickened out. So Molly ran Jumps 1-3 and straight into the tunnel instead of the Number 4 jump. Whoops. Then out of the tunnel and over the jump and into a tunnel instead of the weave poles (she also did not do her weaves properly.) The rest of the course was okay - the pressure was off, damage done.
Fullhouse Level 3. At last, a confidence booster! If there is one thing that Molly and I can do, it's Fullhouse. We needed 23 points and earned 28, good enough. And now we are out of Level 3 of Fullhouse - onward to Level 4!
Colors Level 3 This was giving me fits. Have a look at the map and you will see why. I wanted to do the square course. I had to lead out and trust her to take the tunnel (she did) and then get her over the next jump and then the one diagonal to that jump NOT the one in front. Sure. We'll do that. So Molly of course just did a straight blast. My brain short circuited and I thought, "I have to do the circle course!" I had not even walked it!! (it confuses me to walk both.) Somehow we ran that whole circle course clean and nicely. She did the weave poles and all. I think she was making fun of me. However, we were NOT on the right course. We had actually started the circle course, so we received off course faults for every square-course obstacle taken. 155 Faults! I was told that this was the most faults any dog has earned in the history of 3D Dog Training's trial history.
Great. Just great. Paul, the judge, told me "you did something weird. You got all those faults, but you did it so quickly that you didn't get No Timed. Usually when people make that big of a string of mistakes they are out there for so long that they get No Timed and then it all goes away." NOT US. WE ARE FAST ENOUGH TO RACK UP AS MANY FAULTS AS POSSIBLE UNDER THE STANDARD COURSE TIME.
I saved the Sticker with our run details and will keep it forever. It makes me smile.
Jumpers Level 3. This was a Q and our last Level 3 Jumpers. This means we earned our CL3-F title, whoah! This course was goofy. I went out around the right side of the 3-Tunnel and was SO mad at myself for doing it. (I did NOT walk it that way!) It messed us up for the rest of the course. We collided with each other and then Molly was frustrated with me and not working nicely from there on out. She refused a few jumps and also tunnel and needed extra encouragement for many obstacles. It was a Q with 0 faults but it was clunky and not a run that I loved.
Sunday
Jumpers Level 4 was first. It looked like a super fun course. I wouldn't know. Molly took the first two jumps and then ran out of the ring to go say hi to the dog that had just been there. I felt absolutely awful and confused about it. My first reaction was, "I should NOT have taken her out there while another dog was in the ring." But as I look at other videos of Molly, I see her looking at other dogs when they leave the ring. She has not done this before. (other than her sheer joy in and out ring departure at the recent USDAA trial.)
Very disappointing. Worrisome.
Colors Level 3 next.
I chose to do the square course. All was going well, but when Molly came out of the number 6 tunnel she headed straight for the Aframe and Don't You Try And Stop Me! So we got an off course and an NQ for our efforts.
Wildcard Level 2 next. I really really wanted this Q because it meant the completion of Level 2! (WHY do I want to move up again?!) Molly must have known, because we had a really nice run together, Q'd and finished Level 2.
And our trial ends there. We scratched before Standard and Jackpot.
When I pulled Molly out of her crate to potty her before Standard, she was lame on the left foreleg. Groan. Not again!
Her Jumpers run last night was weird. The ring run-out was weird. I had a "did I imagine a limp?" moment before her Wildcard run. I have to wonder if her neck had started bothering her on Saturday evening.
We went home and I gave Molly an asprin. She let my husband rub her neck, but when he hit a certain spot she grunted and moved away from him. Something hurt in there. When Perri pounced on her on the couch, Molly gave a warning snap.
We went to our regular vet and got much of the same advice as last time: rest her. Recurrent neck strain injury. Give her asprin. I was told that she could have an anti inflammatory, but maybe it is a good thing for her to feel some discomfort so that she takes it easy. Agreed. No x-ray, the vet felt it would not show anything.
I want for answers that I am not getting.
On Saturday, we visited the chiropractor that gave the presentation at the corgi picnic. Of course by then the limp was long gone. When I opened the door to the office, Molly thought she died and went to heaven. A cramped waiting room with four people sitting in it! She was body wagging ecstasy. We were taken to a room in the back and waited for Dr Burak. When he came in the room Molly charged him looking for kisses, and he admitted that she gave him a bit of a scare!
Dr Burak felt Molly's shoulders and neck all over but said that he felt nothing to laser, but he would of course give her an adjustment. That was fine with me. I did not make the appointment so much as a diagnostic effort, more the fact that I think such a hard hitting dog should have her spine straightened out. He did mention that it would be helpful to get a video of Molly when she goes lame, and I don't know why I didn't think of that.
Dr Burak let Molly sniff the tool that he would be using to adjust her back. She walked away, lip licking and giving us little tail wags, "Thank you but no thanks." I coaxed her back over and we sweet talked her into it. Before long, Molly went from sitting uncomfortably and wanting no parts of the chiropractor to standing right next to him. She abandoned me! It was over before she knew it.
So, we watch and wait. Molly handled four days of camping and swimming just fine, with no limp. I will be excited to get her back to agility class this Monday. Hopefully she stays sound.
