A Fun Afternoon

The weather has been pretty icky this weekend, but Friday was gorgeous. I got out of class early, so I was able to take advantage of the sunny, 80 degree weather. As soon as I got home, I took the dogs out to the pond behind the house. I'm going to have to try and find a better route other than straight through the woods, because the ticks are definitely out.


Both of the dogs enjoy going to the pond, but Reyna’s the only one who actually swims. Some days, I think Duncan still believes he’ll melt if that horrible, nasty, wet stuff touches him. He has finally gotten to where he’ll actually get in the water up to his chest, but only to drink, and he still gets out pretty quickly. He certainly doesn’t splash around it in and have fun like Reyna does.


This pond isn’t huge, but it’s plenty big for swimming, and the water is pretty clean (ignoring the layer of pollen on top, of course). Reyna doesn’t swim just to swim, but she’ll go after sticks – and occasionally even bring them back. I’ve thought of taking a couple of tennis balls out there, but since she isn’t consistent on returning the items, I figure tennis balls aren’t a good idea. I’d hate for her to leave one out there, and then I have to either swim after it myself or drag the canoe down there.


On this trip, I remembered to take my digital camera and my video camera. Below is a short clip of Reyna swimming. I had a several bits where she actually brought the stick back, but all you can hear during those is the clickity-clickity-click of the digital camera. Holding the video in my left hand and the digital in my right doesn’t produce the best of either. Its hard to zoom with one hand...

On our way back, the dogs decided to play a bit, and I managed to get most of that on tape, too.

The One Place You Can Yell “Bitch” And No One Gets Upset

Various local kennel clubs held their annual dog shows at the fairgrounds this past week (Tuesday thru Sunday). The German Shepherd Dog Club that Duncan and I belong to had their specialty shows Friday and Saturday evenings. Last year, I worked one night as a Steward Trainee; this year, I worked both nights as the only Steward. Basically, that means I got to stand on a cement floor for about 6 hours each night, helping the judge and keeping all of the humans and dogs in line. The majority of the time I had a lot of fun, but I didn’t particularly appreciate being yelled at by the dog show divas (i.e., the male handlers). The worst part of both nights was the calling for the dogs. I did so much yelling, I ended up hoarse Saturday and Sunday. And, oh, how my feet and back ached afterwards. Oh, well, its only once a year. I couldn’t always tell why the judges chose one dog over another, but I did get to see some absolutely gorgeous German shepherds.

On a slightly related note, I pulled off my first tick of the season Sunday afternoon. Sigh.

Worse Than Mama’s Spit

Last night, Duncan became obsessed with licking Reyna’s lower lip. This went beyond his normal kisses – he was fixated. Made me wonder if she had a piece of kibble stuck there. At first, Reyna just sat quietly and let him lick. After a minute, she started staring at me with a mildly annoyed look on her face. I saw her upper lips start to curl, and just as I said Duncan’s name, she went for him. After she finished snapping at him, he started trying to lick her lip again! She tolerated that for an entire second and a half before expressing her displeasure. It turns out that she had a piece of dead skin stuck to her lip, and Duncan was apparently trying to remove that for her.

Various And Sundry

Per’la had another round of Nasty Eye a couple of weeks ago, and now she has a cold. Belle and Loki are fine, but Mikey and Khar both have Nasty Eye Lite. Parm, on the other paw, is dealing with Really Nasty Eye, and doesn’t quite seem to know what to do with all that extra crud. I’m having trouble convincing him that letting me scrape it all out every now and then will make his life more pleasant.

Courtesy of recent truck issues and rising gas prices, I really miss my car.

Two weeks ago, I definitely had moles (or voles – without actually seeing one of them, I have no idea how to tell the difference). I haven’t found any more tunnels under the fence, but I had several raised mounds in the yard where the critters were tunneling. Duncan did not like that, and did a very good job of digging up all the tunnels and access holes he could find. I didn’t see any new ones for the last week, and figured that the critters were either tunneling too deep to disturb the ground, or they’d decided that Duncan’s Yard just wasn’t the place to be. This morning, though, I discovered a tunnel from the fence straight to a small flower bed beside my swing. Duncan wasn’t happy to see that, and spent 20 minutes digging up the tunnel and trying to shove his nose as far in as possible. He also found an access hole near my tree that he dug up. I talked to my neighbor on that side a bit ago, and they had moles for 5 years. I guess they decided it was time to try new hunting grounds. Hopefully, Duncan will discourage there efforts...

I started another export class this week. Once again, I’m in class for six weeks. Thankfully, the assignments for export classes are a lot less intensive than for my MBA. It shouldn’t be too bad, as long as I can remember to participate five days a week.

I’ve been taping the ACC games since Friday for my Aunt Susan. I have to say that, as much as I don’t really care who wins the games, both semi-final games yesterday were real nail-biters. Since I have to watch the games, I’m grateful that they’ve been interesting. I know its unlikely (especially since the score is 69-59 UNC, with 8:30 left in the game), but it would make me smile if Clemson beat UNC today...

Duncan's pre-agility class starts tomorrow. The first session is orientation for the people, then we have six weeks of classes with the dogs. We got the equivalent of an "incomplete" last time, because Duncan couldn't coordinate his back end well enough to handle the ramp and dog walk. Since he's older and a bit more together now, I figured we'd try it again. Paws crossed!

Happy Birthday, Reyna!

Today is Reyna’s 4th birthday. Some days its hard to believe she’s been a part of my life for that long; other days it feels like she’s always been here. Last year was a rough one for both of us, and there were times when I wasn’t sure if she’d make it to the next week, much less all the way to her next birthday. But she did. And she’s doing so well now.


She’s changed in the last year, matured, become more affectionate, and she’s actually settled down quite a bit (although she’s still insane, there’s no question about that). I look at her and I see this wonderful, gorgeous, brilliant animal, and I think of all the drama and annoyance and struggle we’ve been through together, and I know that she’s worth it. I also know there will be more drama, more annoyance, and more struggle. But that’s okay, because she’s worth that, too. And that’s enough of the sappy stuff.


Reyna had a very big day today. First, she got to go on a long truck ride. The she got to chase sheep. And then roll in a mud puddle, play in a water trough, and chase more sheep! And then she got another long truck ride, and a visit to her favorite bakery, where she got treats and lovins. Then it was play time at home, and a quick nap to recharge the batteries. And she’s finishing off her day eating CAKE! Now, really, how much better could a dog’s birthday be???

More Visitors?

As I mentioned before, Duncan is taking his hole patrol duties very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that he found two more entrances into the yard. They were covered with leaves, and I wouldn’t have seen them if he hadn’t shown them to me (and before someone pops up with the idea that he dug them himself, these holes go into tunnels, and the exits for both tunnels are about 8 inches outside the fence). The holes are almost perfectly round, with no loose dirt inside the fence. Every time we go outside, Duncan does a sniff test on each hole. I can tell that whatever odor he smells is stronger occasionally, because he’ll really fixate on a hole for several minutes. I still don’t know why the animals would bother with these tunnels and holes, since the holes are the size of the spaces in the fence and the exit holes are even smaller. I’d think it’d be easier to just pop through the fence...

Run, Sheep, Run

Saturday, the pups and I went to Pittsboro to see a trainer about instinct tests for herding for both dogs and carting for Duncan. I’d have to say that the day was a definite success; both educational and highly entertaining.

The trainer has a flock of sheep, but for testing purposes, she only uses three. She also has goats, geese, chickens, a cow, three dogs and a couple of cats. She said that, during testing, she looks for more than just interest from the dog. Too much interest in the sheep is just as bad (and potentially worse) than no interest. She also watches how the three sheep respond to the dog, as well as what the goats in the next pen do. Apparently, the goats get very agitated if the dog being tested has too much prey drive.

We worked Reyna first, then Duncan. Then we did a bit of carting with Duncan, and then worked Reyna with the sheep again, and then Duncan again. Oh, and the stick she’s carrying isn’t to whack the dogs, its to block them from going in certain directions and to keep them from getting between her and the sheep. If I understood correctly, the dog is always supposed to be on the outside, with the sheep between the dog and the handler. Or something like that. She said if I decided to do more of this, she’d have me work with her dog while I was figuring out what I was supposed to do, so that I wouldn’t frustrate my dogs. Makes sense to me.

Reyna had a bit of trouble grasping the idea at first. I think she was just too surprised by the idea that she was not only allowed to chase the sheep, but she was actually being encouraged. The sheep stayed pretty relaxed (according to the trainer) and the goats weren’t at all interested in Reyna. Although, she was very interested in them… After a few minutes, Reyna seemed to have at least a general idea of what was going on, and she seemed to be enjoying it. One thing the trainer noticed with Reyna is that she doesn’t like to change direction too much. She figured it probably hurts Reyna’s hips, because the dog is supposed to stop and rock backwards to change direction. The second time through, though, Reyna figured out she could do a quick hop to the side and change directions, without ever rocking backwards.




Duncan was very interesting to watch. The sheep did not like him at first, and one of the goats was upset when Duncan was in the pen. The trainer said that it was most likely because the sheep and goat could tell that Duncan had less self-control than Reyna did. Of course, that might have had something to do with the fact that Duncan was lunging and whining for the first few minutes. The sheep and goats seemed fine for Duncan’s second run, though, probably because he’d finally calmed down a good bit. Isn’t that strange – I’d never thought I’d ever say that Duncan was more wound up than Reyna about something, or that it would take him longer to calm down… Anyway, Duncan took to chasing, er, herding the sheep pretty quickly, and seemed to think it was a wonderful game. He kept grabbing at them, and I had to explain to the trainer that Duncan has always been pretty mouthy. She said that it was pretty obvious he wasn’t trying to hurt them, and it didn’t seem to upset the sheep, so I guess its no big deal. She said the next time we go, she might have him try herding the geese. I don’t know that that’s a good idea, but they’re her geese…




The carting session went as smoothly as I figured it would. She has a very light-weight PVC cart that she uses with beginners, and Duncan was totally oblivious to the fact that he was dragging something. The next time we go, we’re going to measure Duncan and then add some length to the cart, because the only probably he really had was that he’s just too long for that particular cart. She had the shafts as far back as she could, and Duncan was still bumping the cart with his back feet half the time.

Visitors?

Something dug two holes into (or out of) the yard. I saw the holes yesterday evening, but have no idea what critter dug them. Both holes veer off to the left just after crossing the fence line. Whatever type of animal is using these holes is small enough to have just gone through the fence, so I’m not sure why they would bother with all that extra effort.

The scratch marks beside this one are Duncan’s contribution.

Duncan also added to this one, digging up a bit more dirt around the entrance.

Duncan is on hole patrol, and is taking his duties very seriously. I’ve seen him outside several times today, sniffing around the holes and looking into the woods behind the fence.

Its Official

This was waiting for me when I got home Friday. Its finally all over....

Happy Day!

Reyna is officially off the Phenobarbital! The only medication she is taking now is the Rimadyl for her hips. And she's been feeling so good that most days I can give her just a quarter of the prescribed dose. Its amazing, really. I finally have my dog back, attitude and all.

Some Exciting News

Josh and Stephanie are expecting a baby in late August/early September. Josh called Friday and said that the ultrasound showed just one baby (not the twins or triplets that I thought would be really fun). They’ll find out if it’s a boy or girl in about eight weeks. Peyton really wants a little sister, though.

Off To The Vet We Go

Last weekend, I realized that Reyna had a lump on her right rear leg, between the foot pad and the ankle. I had noticed her licking at that spot earlier, and then on Saturday afternoon, I realized she was limping a bit and she would sit in a way to keep that spot off the ground. When I examined the area, she was pretty sensitive about it, and there was a noticeable swelling. Not something easily seen, because of the fur, but definitely easy to feel.

Monday afternoon, we went to the vet’s. It was nice to realize that the last time we were there for a problem was back in November, when Reyna got caught in Duncan’s collar. We’d made it almost three whole months without an incident.

The vet took a sample of the lump and was able to tell me that there were no cancerous cells, which was a HUGE relief. He did see inflamed and infected cells, which made sense. He said it looked like an acral lick granuloma, but the problem with that theory was that dogs don’t get acral lick granulomas in that particular area. But, this is Reyna. We both agreed that, with her obsessive-compulsive personality, its entirely possible that something scratched her, she licked the spot to make it feel better, and then just couldn’t stop. I hadn’t noticed her licking the area all that much, but this pesky job thing does keep me out of the house a good bit.

So, for the last week, we’ve been treating the area like an acral lick, and I’m to call the vet tomorrow and update him. Thankfully, the swelling does seem to have gone down over the last few days. Unfortunately, since we started messing with that spot, Reyna’s been licking it more than ever, so I’ve had to really keep on her about that. She has this funny habit of licking really fast as soon as I tell her to stop, almost as if she knows I’m going to make her stop and she has to get in as many licks as possible before I get to her. It would be cute, if it weren’t so darn annoying.

Buffalo Bones

As we’re all aware (and if we weren’t, we are now), Reyna is mildly allergic to beef. Because of this, buying beef soup bones for the dogs is pretty much out of the question. So, a couple of weeks ago, I bought three bison bones, instead. They were each about 8 inches long, and still had chunks of meat on them. I had to get three, because Reyna and Duncan each get a bone, and there’s a spare. Because Reyna will take Duncan’s bone, and Duncan takes the spare. And then Reyna takes Duncan’s bone, and Duncan takes the spare. This usually goes on until the bones have been eaten. If there are just two bones, Reyna takes Duncan’s, and Duncan looks pathetic until I give him Reyna’s old bone. And then Reyna takes Duncan’s, and Duncan looks pathetic. Its just something they do.

On this particular day, I put all three buffalo bones on the living room floor after thawing them (Reyna doesn’t like her bones to be icy). Reyna checked them out and then ignored them (she doesn’t actually like them colder than room temp… she’s a bit picky about that). Duncan just stared at the bones, almost as if he couldn’t believe his luck. After about 15 minutes, Reyna picked up one of the bones and took it outside. I usually don’t encourage that because of the ants, but its cold enough that ants aren’t an issue. I didn’t pay too much attention to what was happening until I heard a lot of leaf rustling. When I stepped out on the deck, Duncan was standing at the corner, looking underneath. Reyna was burying the bone in the pile of leaves under the deck. When she was finished, she came inside and laid down. Duncan came in and sat by the chair, and just watched Reyna.

10 minutes later, Reyna hopped up, grabbed the second bone, and headed outside. This time, I grabbed my camera as I followed her out. While Duncan and I watched, Reyna buried the bone next to the tree in the back yard. And by bury, I mean she dug a hole about 3 inches deep, dropped the bone, and then pushed a bit of dirt and a few leaves on top of it.

Not exactly the most effective burial, but she seemed happy with it. She also seemed rather surprised when she looked up and realized that Duncan and I were both watching her.

She came back inside and laid down, like nothing had happened. I could tell that Duncan wasn’t too sure if he wanted to come back in, or if he wanted to go check out the bone. But he came back in the house and sat down, watching Reyna. A few minutes later, Reyna got up and went outside, but stopped on the deck when she realized Duncan and I were following her (notice the streak of dirt across her nose). Instead of going with her original plan, she just went back in the house and laid down.

About 10 minutes after that, though, she hopped up, grabbed the third bone, and trotted outside. This one, she decided to bury next to the fence, using the same method of shallow hole, a little dirt, and some leaves.

I’m not sure if she was so absorbed in what she was doing that she wasn’t paying attention, but once again, she seemed very surprised to realize that Duncan and I were watching her.

When she was finished, she went back in the house and laid down. Duncan went in right behind her, sat down, and looked pretty confused about the whole thing. Not too long after that, Duncan went outside and headed straight for the tree. Before he could do too much, though, Reyna popped out of the house to see what was going on. Duncan didn’t seem happy with the audience, so he went back inside.

About 20 minutes went by, and Duncan decided to go outside again. This time, he went for the fence. He actually had the bone uncovered before he realized we were watching him.

Later that afternoon, Duncan went outside and got the bone that was under the deck. He took it to the middle of the yard and laid down with it. Didn’t actually chew on it, just laid next to it for about 20 minutes, and then came back in the house.

The next day, the bone buried by the tree was in the yard. It was another two days before the bone buried by the fence was brought out. Only once (that I know of) has one of the bones been brought back into the house. Reyna brought one in last Friday afternoon, and wandered around the living room and hall, looking for a good place to bury it. She tried digging a hole in her bed, but apparently didn’t like the results. She seemed to consider the idea of burying it her chair, but, surprisingly, dismissed that location. After about 5 minutes of looking around for the right spot, she took the bone back outside.

Each morning and every evening after work, the bones are all in different places in the yard. I can tell they’ve been working on them, digging out some of the marrow. I’m glad they’re enjoying them, but I really didn’t expect the bones to generate so much entertainment. I guess I’ll have to get smaller bones next time, because once the weather warms up, I won’t let them keep bones with meat and marrow out in the yard. I have a real issue with how much the ants seem to love those bones.

Playtime

Playtime at our house can get a bit rough, not to mention a bit noisy. The roughhousing is all in good fun, though, no matter how it might actually look or sound. I took loads of pictures of the dogs playing this past weekend, and decided to share some of my favorites. I thought about putting them in some sort of order that might make sense if these were the only images seen, as opposed to the order in which they were actually taken. But I’m too lazy to do that. So keep in mind that these pictures are from different play times during the day.

Here’s Reyna doing her typical run at Duncan, to see how fast she can make him hit the ground. Notice the curled lip and shiny teeth.

Duncan is always braver when Reyna’s back is turned.

Duncan just realized that Reyna slowed down...

And Duncan decides to try for a quick getaway.

Duncan has a habit of loving on Reyna right before he tries to instigate something.

This is one of those moments where everyone freezes for a few seconds. Then, at some mysterious signal, both dogs explode into action at the same time.

Here’s one of Duncan stomping on the brakes.

Most of the time, Reyna chases Duncan. She lets him chase her when she’s in a really playful mood.

I just really like this picture...

Another shot of Duncan trying to get Reyna to play.

This tree is their favorite place for chasing. They will make laps around the tree, changing directions in a split second.

It always makes me laugh, the way Reyna so easily rolls Duncan over. He has never intentionally knocked her down.

Another neat moment in time...

They love each other.

They really do.

Well, maybe not.

One of Reyna’s favorite tricks is to go for Duncan’s ankles. He ends up doing a funny hopping maneuver, and he has the worst time getting back at her when she’s that low.

The standard dominance pose, where Reyna puts her head on Duncan’s shoulders. He does it to her, too, usually when he’s trying to start something.

Reyna’s a happy girl, running after Duncan.

The look on Duncan’s face is pure joy. He loves to run. He doesn’t care if he’s running because Reyna is chasing him, if he’s running after the ball, if he’s running after a dog at the dog park, or if he’s running just for the fun of running. For a dog who is normally laid back and slow, he has some speed, and he loves to let it out.

On Becoming A Man

Duncan turned 2 and a half last month, and he’s finally coming into his own. Over the last few months, his personality has changed in several small, almost unnoticeable ways. He’s started being more assertive with other dogs and standing up for himself (except with Reyna, of course, because he’s not stupid). At our last club meeting, he actually snarled at two different dogs who got in his space, instead of just backing away. I was actually rather proud of him. It seems as though a switch has flipped somewhere in his brain, because he’s suddenly responding to certain commands, when 4 months ago he would have given me a blank stare. Or a spin, his favorite response to any command he doesn’t know or doesn’t want to do. He’s also responding faster and moving faster, something I never would have expected. I’m even thinking about entering him in a Rally trial in July, because I think we might be able to get through the course in 4 minutes. And to top it all off, he actually jumped into the truck three times Saturday, all by himself. My little boy is growing up.

The Joy Of Multiples

When one kid gets a cold, they all get a cold. Or in our case, when one cat gets an eye problem, all the cats get it. But they takes turns. First, Per’la got it. Which is pretty normal, actually. Then Khar’pern got it. Then Loki got it. Per’la got rid of it. Loki still had it. Khar got rid of it. Belle got it. Loki still had it. Per’la got it again. Mikey got it. Loki still had it. Belle got rid of it. Per’la got rid of it. Mikey got rid of it. And yep, Loki still has it. And there’s really nothing to do for it except wait it out.

And Its Only Tuesday

This is just going to be one of those weeks. I’m in class all week, which means everything is a bit off, anyway, which doesn’t help.

Yesterday, I tried to find a bag of kibble for Reyna. Because of her allergies, she’s a bit limited in what she can eat (no lamb, beef, or chicken), and there aren’t many allergy formula kibbles out there. Nutro started making a venison and rice kibble a few months ago, and Reyna does really well with that. The problem is that PetSmart and Petco can’t keep it in stock. I checked with Nutro, and apparently their sales staff is horrible at forecasting – they didn’t think the venison kibble would do well, so they don’t have the supplies to keep making it. They won’t be distributing any more of the kibble until late March. So I spent about 3 hours on the phone and computer last night, trying to find an allergy kibble that is reasonably priced, easy to find in the area, and that Reyna might actually like. That’s not an easy combination. I’ve found a kibble that isn’t hideously expensive but does cost more than the Nutro, and I should be able to get it easily on a regular basis, but I’m not sure Reyna really likes it. I got samples of another type of kibble that she does like, but that is ridiculously expensive. So, we’ll start with the lower cost kibble and work our way up until we find something we can both agree on. Finding kibble just shouldn’t be this hard.

I don’t often think about it, but every now and then, it really bugs me that John managed to wreck my car. My poor little truck just wasn’t meant to be my primary vehicle. As if the crappy A/C and wonky heat aren’t enough, yesterday afternoon I started the truck and it was not happy. It was jumpy, ran rough, and did not want to go. After a few minutes of on and off, it went back to normal. This afternoon, it did the same thing. I called my mechanic and popped by his place to have some gas-drying stuff put in my tank. His initial thought is that I got a bad batch of gas last time I filled up. As I was leaving his shop, the truck started acting up again, and the check engine light came on. Not that I like that, but I do appreciate that it happened where the mechanic could immediately check it. Turns out one of the cylinders isn’t firing. Since I have to be in Cary the rest of the week, I’ll drop it off on Monday for him to fix.

I also finally got confirmation that my insurance is all screwed up. I changed this year from an FSA to a high-deductible plan with an HSA. Our HR guy told us in October that we wouldn’t be getting the grace period on our FSA this year, so contributions should have been going to my HSA since the first paycheck of the year. But it wasn’t, for some reason. Benefits finally managed to tell me that we are, indeed, getting the grace period for the FSA, and that I can’t start contributing to the HSA until April 1, regardless of when my FSA runs out. The company could have allowed us to roll our FSA into our HSA as of January 1, but they didn’t. Too much paperwork, apparently. This wouldn’t be a huge issue, except for that pesky nerve test and epidural I had last month. The HSA was supposed to cover my deductible for the year, but I won’t have access to it until April, and I can’t use it to pay for any thing that happens before April 1. Which means my portion of the test and epidural will come out of my pocket. That’s the kind of news I can really do without.

The only really good thing that’s happened this week is that I finally got my reimbursement back from University of Phoenix. It only took them two months to decide they should send me a check for my money. Just in time to pay for kibble and the truck...

My Delicate Flowers

As I was making supper Saturday evening, I happened to look over at the dogs. They were both sitting quietly off to the side, waiting to see if they were going to get any of the nummy cheese or hamburger. Just as I turned to look at them, Duncan opened his mouth and gave a nice loud burp. Behind him, Reyna was smiling as a trail of drool disconnected from her mouth and hit the floor. Some days, the beauty and intelligence of my dogs amazes me. Other days, I wonder when I became the parent of two teenagers.

Rally-O

Saturday’s Rally Obedience trial went very well. We didn’t qualify on our first run, because Reyna really didn’t want to sit, and she decided that her best defense against that was to ignore me as much as possible. She ended up doing everything I told her to, but she made me tell her repeatedly, which lost us lots of points.

Our second run went much better. She was tired and moving a bit stiffly, but she responded on the first command most of the time. There were a couple of spots where she had to sit several times in quick succession, and she delayed those a bit, but I can’t really blame her for that since I’m sure it hurts her to keep popping up and down. I lost her on one of the turns when she decided to sit down and have a really good scratch. Thankfully, we’d been granted extra time because of her hips, so the delay didn’t cause any problems.

Here’s a picture of Reyna ignoring me during one of the many sit exercises.



And here she’s paying close attention, because she’s waiting to see if she’s going to get the cookie that’s in my pocket (she did).



After we finished the bonus, Reyna knew she’d done a great job.



And here we are, with our qualifying ribbon and our Level 1 title ribbon.



Her official name is now Vereyna, CGC, RL1, but she’ll still be Reyna to her friends and family.

Nothin’ Says Lovin’ Like A Bunny In The Oven

Well, its was really just a couple of cans of Reyna’s rabbit and potato food, but still... I spent a couple of hours last night baking the canned food and shaping it into small balls for treats. It’s a good way to use the last of the food, and she seems to really like it. I’m hoping these treats will be strong enough to keep her attention at least somewhat focused on me tomorrow during the Rally trial. The smell was certainly strong enough in the house last night. Not a horrible odor, but not one I’d like to smell on a regular basis.

Cross Your Paws!

I’d like everyone to cross their paws for me and Reyna this Saturday afternoon. We have a Rally trial, and if we’re having a good day (no major hip pain, Reyna actually pays some attention to me, I remember that I can’t touch her to get her attention, and I can keep my rights and lefts straight) we might earn the last Leg we need to get our Level 1 title. We’re doing two runs, and I figure the first one is probably a lost cause, but if we can qualify on the second run, we’ll have our title.

Let’s Not Do This Again, Shall We?

Yesterday afternoon I went to the Carolina Back Institute for a nerve test and epidural. I’ve been having trouble with my back for over a year, and its gotten worse in the last 6 months or so. Two spots have been hurting for a very long time, and my GP’s suggestion was to leave those spots alone for at least six weeks. Unfortunately, every chair I sit in rubs on those spots, so that idea wasn’t exactly feasible. Over the last several months, I’ve been having numbness and nerve pain in my left leg, muscle spasms in my lower back, and sitting for more than 20 minutes has become excruciating. Fun, huh? So, just after Christmas, I went to CBI for an initial exam, and the nice doctor says she thinks there’s trouble with my S1 nerve, probably because the disc that I ruptured back in Feb 06 is bulging and pressing on the nerve. The two specific spots she thinks are problems with the sacroiliac joint, between my spine and pelvis. The spasms and general back pain are most likely referred pain and/or caused by trying to compensate for the nerve and joint pain. All of which makes sense.

The nerve test is something that I hope I never, ever, have to repeat. The first part is done by sending electrical jolts into various parts of the leg from ankle to the back of the knee, finding the nerve, measuring it and the response to the shocks. The first couple weren’t so bad. And then she turned up the juice. She was testing my left leg, but my right leg did most of the flailing. Which was probably for the best, since a couple of times she had to repeat a jolt because my left leg jerked the wrong direction at the wrong time, or something like that. After a few minutes, I was so well-conditioned that I started flinching when she typed on the computer keyboard (jolting was usually immediately preceded by typing). The second part of the test is done by sticking a needle into various muscles and sending a low-level current into the muscle. She would also rotate my leg each time she moved the needle, and I could hear a different response on the computer, depending on the leg position. Unfortunately, rotating the leg usually made it hurt a lot more than just sticking in the needle. I’m hoping she got some useful information out of that, and wasn’t just doing it to torture me. I tell you, I was worn out after the test, and it only lasted about 20 minutes. She said it takes a few days to get the results back, and I guess she was mostly right.

The doctor that gave me the epidural a bit later was able to tell me that the nerve test showed that the S1 nerve was definitely being pinched on the left side, but he couldn’t tell me much else. Although, really, I have no idea if there’s anything else to know. Guess I’ll find out when I do my follow-up in a couple of weeks. I had an epi done back in March 06, and I’ve apparently blocked most of that, because all I remember from that one is lying on my stomach, and then going home, with a stop to pick up lunch. I remember some pain during the car ride, but no numbness, and no real pain the next day. Of course, I could have blocked that out, too, I guess. Or I might have been lucky that time. I hope I manage to block out most of this epi, too. The doctor was very nice and talked to distract me, which I appreciated even though it didn’t really work. Even with the local anesthetic, the shot was miserable. Thankfully, he works fast. Afterwards, it got kind of interesting. I didn’t have anyone to drive me home (like they say you need), but I figured any numbness would be in the left leg, and my truck doesn’t have a clutch, so it’d be okay. And driving home from Angel’s with the dogs when I first ruptured the disc taught me that driving is possible, even when you don’t necessarily think it is.

My leg had a bit of numbness right after the shot, but the first thing to go was my butt. I swear, I didn’t actually feel it again until this morning. The back of my thigh was numb most of the afternoon and evening, and my calf and heel had a few moments, but I was always able to feel my toes. I figure that’s a good thing. The worst was the minor spasms and that I couldn’t stretch backwards, because where the shot was done, well, lets just say that was pretty stinking sore. Still is, actually. Apparently, this time I get to be in the “small group of patients who may experience a mild increase in pain for one to seven days immediately following the injection.” Lucky me. If I’m really lucky, though, this will ease up the problem in my leg and back, and maybe fix it enough that I don’t dread the idea of getting on a plane for an hour. Fingers crossed.

If Its Not One Thing, Its Another

Poor Reyna. The pups are boarding this week while I’m in Delaware. I dropped them off Sunday mid-morning, and on Monday morning, the hotel called. Reyna had a tapeworm, so they had to pull her from camp, take her over to Banfield for treatment, and keep her out of camp for 24 hours. They did some individual play time with her, and I told them to have Duncan join them during those sessions. Monday evening, I checked on her, and she’d had a relatively quiet day. Unfortunately, the meds made her sick, and she had an upset tummy. Tuesday morning, though, she ate all of her breakfast and they let her go back to camp.

Tuesday evening, I received the results of Reyna’s allergy test. She is mildly allergic to Vernal grass, Sage, Curvularia fungus and horse hair. She is severely allergic to the following:

Grass:
Bermuda
Redtop
Timothy
Johnson

Weeds:
Ragweed
Pigweed
Lamb’s Quarters
Waterhemp

Trees:
Box Elder/Maple
Walnut
Mulberry
Birch

Fungi:
Alternaria
Cladosporium
Penicillium
Pullularia

Other Things:
Housedust/mites
Wool
Tobacco Smoke
Cockroaches

Now, some of these things, I don’t even know what they are. But some are going to be an issue. Anyone who has been to my house knows that dust is a massive problem. On the upside, her allergies are a good reason to make sure no one smokes in the house, as well as just another reason to make sure we never have cockroaches. I’ll be talking to the vet on Saturday to go over all of this. I’ve already sent him an email asking him to check and see why fleas, ticks and spiders weren’t on the list of tested items (I don’t know that she’s allergic to fleas, but its definitely a concern, and I already know spiders are a problem). I know he’ll want me to consider doing an allergy vaccine for Reyna, but that’s just not going to happen. I’ll just make sure she has plenty of Benadryl during high pollen days.

Me? Worry? Maybe Just A Little...

I’m a worrier. This doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone, does it? I may not worry out loud about everything to everyone, but I do worry. And not about a lot of things, necessarily, but about certain specific things. For instance, I don’t worry about whether or not I’ll make it to work tomorrow, but I do worry about whether or not my truck will have working AC come summer. I think my two biggest worries are my kids and money. Of course, the money worry covers a lot of issues. The kids, though, I worry about them a lot. And last night, I realized that I worry about them all differently. I’ve never really thought about it before, but I guess it makes sense. I’m sure that parents worry more about their sick or “special needs” kids more than they do the healthy or “normal” ones. Not that they don’t love them all, just that some kids have more problems, so there’s more to worry about.

Anyway. Last night, I got home from work around 6:30. The dogs weren’t at the kitchen window, but that’s not too unusual for that time of night. By the time I got my mail and went inside, Duncan was bouncing around the front door. But Reyna wasn’t. And that’s very unusual. So, instant worry. Where’s Reyna? Is she okay? Did she have an allergic reaction or a seizure? Is she outside in the cold; is she sick, unconscious, dead? Poor Duncan probably couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t all excited to see him, why I kept asking him where his sister was. I got my stuff put down and was getting ready to head outside when Reyna came flying through the dog door, perfectly fine. She’d probably just been taking a potty break. But it struck me that, when she isn’t where I expect her to be, or if she doesn’t act the way I expect her to, I instantly assume the worst. When Duncan doesn’t greet me at the door, I just wonder what the goofy boy is out doing. If he skips a meal, I just put his food away. Now, if he skips two meals in a row, I start worrying. But one? No problem. Reyna skips a meal? I spend the next 10-12 hours stressing, wondering if she’s okay, if she’s going to eat her next meal, or if I need to call the vet and let him know we’re on our way.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized I’m like that with the cats, too, but to a lesser extent. I don’t worry about the three younger ones at all, except when Per’la’s eye gets really nasty, and even then there’s nothing I can do to treat it so we just wait it out. The older ones, though, I worry about a bit more, but not in the same way. I worry about Mikey when he seems bummed, or when he’s so deeply asleep that it takes several minutes to wake him up (but that’s only because I thought I’d smothered him a few years ago when I rolled over on him one night and he didn’t even twitch). Loki, I don’t worry about so much. Belle, though, I do worry about. She’ll be 11 in April, which is fairly old for a cat. When her mood seems off, or when I don’t think she’s eating, I watch her more closely.

Rationally, I know that the odds that Reyna has collapsed outside are much, much lower than the odds that she’s just out pottying. But knowing that doesn’t keep me from worrying when she doesn’t meet me at the door. Last night’s episode, from opening the front door to Reyna running inside, took maybe 30 seconds. But that was still plenty of time for my emotions to veer from happy to be home, to minor concern, to panic mode, to overwhelming relief. Because you know what? The odds may be low, but there’s still that possibility...

Random Things

So, a new year has started, and while it doesn’t seem as though anything has changed from last year, a few things actually have. Some big events last year were Sam and Cary’s wedding, moving to the Engineering department at work, Reyna’s epilepsy diagnosis, the birth of Baby Dexter, Gee-pop’s death, Ganna’s 90th birthday, and completing my Master’s program. Niko joined the family in November, Reyna’s seizures stopped in October, and just last week we lowered her dose of Phenobarb again. While 2007 wasn’t a perfect year, I have to say that the good out-weighed the bad. And that works for me.

Now, on to the randomness...

After nearly three very long and painful years, I finally completed my Master’s program on Christmas Eve. Yes, Christmas Eve. I don’t know what idiot decided that December 24th was a good last day of class, but I guess it worked out to be a good Christmas present to myself. Of course, I could have done without the stress of the last week of class being the week before Christmas, but it was better than starting a week or two later and having the class finish in mid-January.

As part of the Christmas preparations, the dogs went to the PetsHotel on the 23rd. This meant that the cats had the run of the house for a couple of days. Late the 23rd, Mikey finally noticed Niko, but didn’t do anything other than stare at him. In fact, none of the cats seemed particularly interested in Niko, except when he would go off on one of his chirping tangents. And then they would all stare intensely. The morning of the 24th, though, Mikey got bold and decided to investigate. I had tied the doors to Niko’s cage shut, so I wasn’t too worried about him. Mikey was very gentle, though, and he and Niko seemed to hit it off.



As usual, the animals did very well for themselves this year. Everyone, including Niko, got treats and toys. Being the strict Mommy that I am, I’m doling out the toys and treats on a limited basis, so that they last more than a week or so. The cats have been playing with some mice they got from Uncle Jeff, and Niko has been dancing under the disco ball he received from Uncle Jeff. The dogs enjoyed a stuffed toy they got from their Grandma and Paw-Paw, up until tonight, when Reyna enjoyed it so much that she ripped it apart for the squeaky. I’m amazed it lasted this long, really.


Shortly before Christmas, Duncan brought in his red bouncy ball that he got from Dante and Mia when he was just a young pup and showed off some of his fancy ball-handling skills.


My company shuts down for the last week of the year (which I love), and so I wrote out a list of things that I needed to get done during the break. A lot of stuff around the house has been on hold while I was in school, particularly the last 18 weeks. I didn’t get nearly as much done as I should have, but I did accomplish more than I actually expected. I can live with that. After all, if something has already waited nearly half a year, another week or two shouldn’t make a difference.