A Better Day

Thought I better get some snow pictures up before it's all gone! (dream on lady... :-)

Guinness after a romp in a warm day's snow.


Guinness & Bungee, so why are we stopping for this?


My Progress
Happy to report I've made good progress today. Was able to sit up & walk as soon as I woke up, still a bit slow but big progress. Actually got dressed in real clothes, (not lounge clothes), and walk around the house without any extreme pain or problems. Got brave enough to try some training from the floor. Guinness & Bungee being so thankful for that! I was able to get down to the floor voluntarily and up with a bit of help from nearby chairs & tables. Fed the dogs on my own, they don't take their bowls when they're full but for this very reason, they bring them when they're empty! Next I actually got so brave I took them outside, donning my snow boots with "Wintertrax" attached (springy things that fit the bottom of your shoe and that grip in ice), as I could see some ice in the lowest spots where water pooled up, and slowly but surely, did a decent poop clean up, necessary after a BIG melt like this past weekend - still +8 today :-) Forecast the same for the most of the week ~ WoW!

Poor Bored Doggies & A Good Chew
Right now Bungee is discovering a "Himalayan Dog Chew", for the 1st time. Click on the link to check them out (pictures & story). So far she seems to handle the occasional dairy products very well. These chews are sold as being from an ancient recipe used in Nepal to provide locals with a long-lasting snack they can gnaw on and keep pieces in their mouths while they labor. The information reports a Peace Corp worker in Nepal adopted an abandoned, teething puppy. With no "pet supplies" available locally, the adopter had to improvise for this puppy, and tried one of these traditional chews. It worked out so well he went on to found this company that makes them.

So it's like a 5 - 6 inch long hard stick, that I thought smelled more like beef than cheese but really it's quite a different smell than either and not at all objectionable. Apparently the dog will have to gnaw on it a long time to soften it enough to chew small bits off the edge. Eager to find snacks like this that could provide Bungee with some good calories & a bit of preoccupation at long day's trials, I decided to try one of these at home and see how she does.

I'd love to hear comments about what some of you give your dogs at trials (if anything) in this regard.

In the 1st 15 minutes Bungee has tried to push it under her bedding on 3 different sides of her crate, but either curiosity or aroma has convinced her to hold it in her mouth while she lays down in every different position she can think of. I'm hearing some chewing noises... I'll let you know how she does with it.

Guinness, on the other hand, is in his crate with the tried & true "Tartar Busters" we get at most any local pet supply. Both of the dogs love these, but I only had one and Guinness cannot handle dairy products at all. They produce congestion and diarrhea quickly with him.

What the dogs have most often is simple marrow bones that we get free or very low price at some of our local butchers shops or any grocery. We also have a huge supply of guaranteed all-natural, organic, (guaranteed chemical & poison-free), rawhide. One big order is plain, rolled, and the other is every manner of shape & size meats made in rawhide or dried, from the states. We brought the natural rawhide back with us from Florida last year. We've been hoarding it for the the dogs and handing it out in small doses on those rare occasions when we're out of bones.

Training
A disappointing subject the last few days with me laid up! I did a little shaping with each dog today, putting a new spin on an old trick. Bungee also discovered she can put her rings on her ring toss game 2 at a time - pretty cute. She's going for distance on that game now. She's very cute the way she pounces around excitedly while she does it. Going to give contacts from the slanted travel plank a try at supper-time, but just off the living room floor.

Classes & Entries are on hold for the moment. Dangit anyway.

Goals for the week
Now I'm trying to let all the meds wear off to evaluate just where I stand. That's not to say I won't take them again this week if it's still really bad, but I need to know we're at and hopefully convince my Dr. I'm ready for a prolo treatment sooner than later. I so want to get it going and get back to my regular life!

Right now the Dr. is considering letting me have a treatment as soon as Saturday, which is also the only day my husband can take me and since I will definitely need a driver, have to live with that. The Dr. 1st started out talking about a date week's away. ACK! I want to be fixed now! On the other hand... How romantic...a prolotherapy treatment for Valentine's Day :-)) Show me the love :-)

Well I'll leave you with that (not so) love-ly thought :-))

Happy Training...It's About Love!