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!

Surviving Canadian Winter

With A Little Help From Our Friends!

Gabby - showing the youngsters how it's done!

I don't know why this picture looks so over-exposed. Straight from iPhoto it looks perfect, uploaded to the blog it's completely changed - weird.

We got these pictures 3 weeks ago when Sarah & I took the dogs for a walk behind Tamsu one day and the DH (dear husband) could come along with his camera. Sarah's dad was already out back with his training buddies doing some field training with their dogs, with the usual stack of dead birds at the line and other birds laying out in the field for the dogs to find & retrieve. We were heading east, where we'd let the dogs have a good run in the open fields as we make our way across into the bush (Canadian woods) for trails not nearly as nice as Finland!

Gabby, unable to resist the bird-doggin' fun off to the north of us, veered off on a fast line disappearing out into the field, only to come running back, clearly happy as a dog can be, holding this big duck, and looking stunning in her purple coat too (!! :-) ...much to the chagrin of the "field people" I'm sure - who had been muttering just loud enough so we could hear them about ALL our dogs in coats, Hah! Clearly this grand Golden lady was showing their youngsters how it's done right!

Vince had come along to take pictures for us, but did so only as far as his long lens would allow him to follow us... :-)) But he managed to get this one of Gabby - what a perfect shot! You can double click on it to enlarge.

Below, Bungee, Guinness & I heading for the trails, with Bungee pretty interested in the "bird work" (field training) going on off to the side. I can guarantee her she doesn't want any part of what they're doing over there.



Below: Sarah, Gabby (purple coat) and her gang


Off in the distance, Gabby's gorgeous son, Cutter, doing what all good bird dogs will do, finds a spot a bird was laying (during earlier training that day) and rolls in it with exuberance!


Here's the whole gang, heading for the trails. See ya' in a few hours.



Surviving Winter - A Mental Reflection
Thank goodness for good friends, warm fires & home theatre! It's turning out to feel like a long season already. It's been 3 years since we have stayed home with no solid plans to get away and enjoy southern latitudes. We both want to but so far things just haven't been right. Clearly, I'm out of practice at this winter bit. Lately I've had a small case of the "winter doldrums", just a combination of things I suppose not the least of which was the news about Gabby, (diagnosed with lymphoma 2 weeks ago), the lack of outdoor warmth, sunshine, or the fact that some of my most favorite training camps & fun trials were going on down in the Florida sunshine without us. Though in my heart I really shouldn't feel that way as I know there are bigger and more important reasons we were meant to stay home. On that note we are both very happy that we are here for those reasons. Still, the last week especially, I've been pretty blue about this grey, blah, winter condition.

Then we had a near-blizzard and death-defying experience to drive 90 km. home in from our running clinic last night, complete with raging winds, walls of snow & white-outs. My goodness we were glad to see our house! Waking up (alive!) to this morning's peaceful landscape, even with a new layer of snow, suddenly seems pretty good!

Meanwhile, as we make our way through this winter, (at times one long day at a time) I'm LOVING the training we're doing, and Bungee's progress! Her contacts are coming along brilliantly and I'm just loving what we're producing now. Thank goodness for families, great coaches, great dogs & good friends!

Today we send out a very special prayer ~ God Bless Gabby!
We love her dearly and send her kisses & kisses & kisses & more meatballs!

Happy Training...It's About Love!

Bungee's New Coat!

Surprise! Surprise!

Here's Bungee, enjoying her new coat!


Bungee in high style!


Santa came around to see Bungee twice this year, once at Christmas and another time this week! (Even though technically it's a new year :'). This time he brought her the most beautiful coat from Finland, custom-made just for her. Made of high-tech sport fabrics for winter weather, designed in Canadian colors, complete with her name embroidered, and decorated with her national flags of Finland & Canada too! Glow in the dark safety stripes as trim and a perfect fit!

As soon as I came in from the mailbox with the parcel, Bungee came up & tried to take the package right out of my hand. Wanting to see what she would do, I let her have it and watched her carry it all around the house a time or two before I helped her open it up! Pretty sure she knew it was for her right away! She could not keep her cold little nose out of it as we opened it either! We weren't prepared to find such a beautiful gift! It's the most beautiful gift one of our dogs has ever received!



Many thanks to Auntie Helena, Uncle Ville & brother One for the fabulous coat! Bungee will be decked out in great winter style from now on!





Happy Training....It's About Love!

Let's Get Wet!

Bungee, Guinness & Grip go to Dr. Leslie's

First, Bungee shows how she hops through the cavalettis, but as Kathy wants her to walk, we have to do it a few times.



Next, Bungee gets checked & measured. She is 1 cm. larger above the stifle on the left rear leg than the right. Pretty normal we're told. She's also getting stronger & stronger.


Into the treadmill for her workout, ready, here comes the water~~

It seems Bungee is the 1st dog at Paws4Dogs (click on the link to visit them) to get the treadmill settings as high as she has. Since we're only conditioning and she has never been injured, they do give her quite a workout. She actually panted a tiny bit at the end this time but the water temperature was also up, I think they said 92 degrees.

Here's what the whole underwater treadmill looks like. Dr. Leslie checks in with us between patients. Kathy, the rehab tech is always with us at the treadmill making regular adjustments too. This time it was a family affair as we were all there and friends too!


The water is just above her knees here.


Almost finished now, water going out.



Now the Fun Begins!

It was really hard for to get good pictures (or any pictures!!) with the water that was flying! Good thing since this was my turn to fall in! It may have been karma (:~))) last time Grip's mom got soaked! That's where the karma part comes in - we had a little fun (OK a lot) teasing her!

Below is our friend Grip, who modeled the latest in K9 pool fashion for us with her hot pink swim suit. She wore it for the photographer for the 1st few swims, before Guinness & Bungee joined in.

Grip is an AMAZING dog with AMAZING speed! She does Flyball, Agility and is extremely fast! She also does Dock Diving and Disc Dog. Best of all she's one sweetie pie of a girl who loves everyone.


Let's all get wet!

Guinness coming around the deck in the life jacket for another dive in off the side, Grip is raring to go again. Bungee's swimming against the jets. Everyone's in and going in big circles down & back. Wait, mom's in the water too...oooops! (missed that shot :-)) Guinness's life jacket has a nice handle! Not a dry spot to be found, including on me.

15 min. into the swim I no longer need to try to stay dry! (Immediate evidence in 3rd picture up :-) The cameraman was laughing too hard to get the dunk- thank goodness!


Grip - below - always the well-dressed girlie! Isn't she cute? Here she is with her very cozy, custom-made, terry cloth robe telling us it's time to go.

Canine Multidrug Sensitivity

Bungee - MDR1 GENE: normal


A New DNA Test for Dogs
I'm going a bit out of the norm on this one to share about a new DNA test that could save a dog's life.

Our vet told us in mid-December this new test for multi-drug sensitivity in dogs had just been released and was available to Canadians. We were thrilled to hear this news.

We had Bungee promptly tested, her result was normal, registered with the HealthGene DNA Bank, and a Certificate of Registration issued.

What this is about is some dog breeds are more sensitive to certain drugs than other breeds. Drugs such as some types of anesthesia, Ivermectin (heartworm medication), to name only two from the list, are dangerous for affected dogs. Unfortunately, the consequences are often fatal.

A simple blood test can tell if your dog is at risk or not. Our cost for the testing was about $75.00, (prices listed on HG website), and the results were returned to our vet in about a week.

Collie-type breeds and dogs with white in their coats have long been suspect, and so it has always been a bit of a gamble to give certain drugs to these dogs.

My own vet, told me when we were drawing blood on Bungee that they recently had one affected dog in hospital, without white in it's coat, in no way typical to the "collie-type" breed. The dog did not survive and was tested post-mortem. It was found to have been carrying the mutated gene, with cause of death, drug sensitivity. It was unheard of in that breed, but the lesson is clear, genes do "get around".

Border Collies are not yet listed on their list of "official" breeds which some find odd. However the test is new.

To learn more click on the name: HealthGene.
I will also keep HealthGene listed in my links section.
They offer many other DNA tests.

~In loving memory of the marvelous "Eddie" Hastings~ ~Forever in our hearts.~


I am not affiliated with HealthGene in any way. I share this information strictly on behalf of the dogs and the people who love & share their lives with them.