Buried Treasure

I gave the pups soup bones last night – this is one of their favorite treats, and it actually takes a couple of hours for them to finish, so I get a bit of time to get things done. Everyone’s happy. Normally, I’ll put out at least three, because Reyna will choose one, then Duncan picks one, then Reyna takes Duncan’s, so Duncan gets the third one (because he wouldn’t dare take the one Reyna had been chewing), then Reyna takes Duncan’s new one, Duncan takes Reyna’s original bone, and the cycle continues. Occasionally, Duncan will take one outside and hide it first, then come in and pick one to chew, and then the swapping cycle starts. Last night, though, was a bit different.

There were three bones, and before Duncan even got close to them, Reyna put one behind the chair, one on the couch next to me (indicating she would come back to that one), and then started looking for a place to bury the third bone. She tried to bury it in the ottoman first, but figured out pretty quickly that the hole she was trying to dig wasn’t actually getting any deeper. So she went to the chair and proceeded to dig a “hole” between the seat cushion and the back of the chair. And that’s where she buried her bone. She seemed very proud of herself, too.

Thankfully, it was only in there about an hour before she decided she’d rather chew on it than one of the other ones. I can just imagine the stink if I’d forgotten about it and she’d left it in there indefinitely. After all, these bones are uncooked, and generally still have meat on them...

USECO

I don’t think I’ve ever talked about work on here before, but this deserves it. I’ve finally completed something. The four classes I took at the end of last year and start of this year were done in late February. I had a four hour exam March 14. Think SAT. A number 2 pencil, bubbles that had to be filled in completely, four sections of 50 questions and 60 minutes, with someone proctoring the whole thing. Thankfully, I was allowed to use my ITAR and EAR CFRs (books with the export regulations). But I made it through all of that, and I passed the exam. I am a certified United States Export Compliance Officer, which basically means I have something else to put on my resume, and I can put a string of initials behind my name on my business cards. And I’d darn well better get a raise out of it.

Big D, the Demo Dog

Duncan has become quite the popular fellow lately. He did a short tricks/moves demo for the German Shepherd Dog Club last month, and they asked him to demo again last night so they could take pictures of him. I think they just like laughing while he takes his time doing his sits, downs, spins, etc. It’s a good thing I didn’t name him Lightning. The club asked me last night if Duncan would be willing to do a freestyle demo for them next month. I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t Hakuna Matata for them, especially since I’ll have hot dogs.

On March 24, he demoed his routine (sort of) at a dog event in Greenville, NC. Considering it was his first public performance, and there were about 100 dogs and people watching, and there was all sorts of neat stuff on the stage, he did very well. The only real problem he had was that he kept looking back towards the room where Reyna was waiting, and as we were doing our walk-off, he bolted to Reyna. I had to take him back out on the stage for him to bow to everyone. So what did we learn? If Duncan is doing anything that requires he give me his attention, Reyna can’t be where he can see or hear her. But that’s okay. Because that’s something I can work around.

She Makes Me Feel So Old...

Its so hard to believe that Belle will be 10 years old in just a couple of weeks. I remember Sam and I talking about which kitten we wanted while I was still in England, and deciding to take the tortoiseshell tabby, because spots and stripes just sounded so cool. I also remember going to Regina’s house to look at the kittens with Jeff, and laughing at Belle’s poor brother, Earl Grey, who kept running into the closed storm door. I was sooooo tempted to take him, too. I also tossed around the idea of naming Belle Minerva, and calling her Minnie. I’m glad I went with Mirabelle.

As part of the joy that comes with old age – because yes, Belle is technically old – she had blood work done back in January, just to establish a baseline for the vet to refer to if she gets sick later and he needs to check her blood. That sounded like a great idea, up until the vet called to tell me that her white cell count was extremely low, and that that usually meant some type of nasty disease (think FIV or Feline Leukemia). So he did another round of tests, which came back negative. I took her back a month later for a follow-up test, to see if the first test had been a fluke. It wasn’t. Her white cell count wasn’t quite as low as the first time, but it was still well below the low end of the acceptable range. At that point, the options were pretty much do nothing but wait, or do a bone aspiration and run tests on her bone marrow. Because things like leukemia and bone cancer may hide from the blood tests, but can’t from the marrow tests. Of course, there was also the chance that the bone marrow test wouldn’t show anything, and then we’d be back where we started, except I’d be poorer. And Belle would be madder. The vet passed her paperwork on to a specialist to get another opinion, which was nice of him. The specialist recommended holding off on the bone aspiration, since Belle wasn’t acting sick, but to keep a close eye on her, and if she started feeling bad, to get her back to the vet. That sounded like a good plan, up until about a week ago….

About a month ago, Khar’pern caught a cold, and had sneezing fits and runny eyes for a bit over a week. Then Per’la started sneezing, and a few days later, Khar was fine. So Per’la had sneezing fits and runny eyes for several days. I didn’t even bother considering a trip to the vet, since there’s really nothing he could have done but tell me she had a cold, and I already knew that. But then Belle started sneezing. And a few days later, Per’la was fine. Belle’s been sneezing for a couple of weeks now, and isn’t showing signs of getting better. Parm started sneezing last week, but he got over it in a couple of days, but Belle defied the pattern and stayed sick. I talked to the vet about it Monday (when we were discussing Reyna’s current conditions), and told him I was only mentioning it because of the low white cell count. Unfortunately, he agreed that it could be a problem. Most of these colds are supposed to run 7-10 days, and then be gone. But there’s the possibility that Belle’s low white count means she can’t fight it off like the others can. So, I’ll keep an eye on her for a few more days, and then call the vet back next Monday if she isn’t better. The poor girl, she’ll sneeze 10 times in a row, and her eyes look like she’s crying almost constantly. And she’s permanently pissed right now. If one of the other cats even looks at her funny, much less dares to walk near her, she starts hissing and growling. I hate it when my baby doesn’t feel good and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Party Girl

Reyna celebrated her third birthday on Saturday. She got to have a cake from Gourmutt’s Bakery – which she very generously shared with Duncan.

Cadaver Dirt Smells Yummy!

Reyna and I are back in Search and Rescue training with Donny, the same guy we originally trained with when Reyna was a pup. The last time we signed up for this, I hurt my back the day before the first session. Thankfully, that did not happen this time. Donny calls us his two cripples and his walking wounded, so he’s making a point of keeping our searches physically easier than they used to be. In fact, Reyna now only gets one standard search during each practice. I hate to admit it, but its probably a good thing. Reyna is still having some trouble with her hips, even with the new pain meds. And I feel it in my back every time we run a track.

Since we’re not letting Reyna work as much physically, we’ve decided to work that scary-smart brain of hers instead. She started training for cadaver searches a couple of weeks ago. Donny gave me a bottle with some cadaver dirt (yes, that’s dirt taken from around/underneath a dead and decomposed person) so that we can practice at home. Its teaching Reyna the scent she’s supposed to be hunting, since I can’t exactly give her a scent article that smells like a cadaver every time we start working. Basically, I just hide the open bottle, run her through the area telling her to “seek”, and when she finds the bottle, she gets heaps of praise. She hasn’t quite decided that looking for cadaver dirt is as exciting as looking for a live person, since the live person also gives her loads of praise, and the bottle just sits there. So I have to be really goofy about it, and make it as fun and rewarding as possible. She did better yesterday than she’s done recently, so I think its starting to click for her. Thankfully, cadaver work doesn’t exclude her from being able to look from live people, since that’s a different command. We “find” live people, but we “seek” for the dead. A simple distinction, but all-important in doggy vocabulary.

There is one drawback to being goofy...Reyna nailed me right below my nose with the top of her head yesterday. Now every time I blow my nose (which is a lot, thanks to this stupid cold), the sore spot makes itself known. Of course, I’m lucky she didn’t hit me any higher...she could easily have broken my nose, as hard as she hit it.

The Price of Freedom

My most recent class ended 2/21, and my next class doesn’t start until 3/20. That’s four whole weeks of freedom. Four weeks to finish everything that didn’t get done in the previous six weeks, and to accomplish everything that won’t get done in the next six weeks. It won’t happen. I’m shooting for getting a few things cleared off my to-do list, hoping that everything doesn’t just fall apart this year. I also promised Reyna I wouldn’t open the laptop until class starts again, which really doesn’t bother me any...

During these four weeks, I am updating my blog (hence the large number of new posts after weeks of silence), taking two business trips, filming routines for MDSA and WCFO, taking a four-hour certification exam for work, doing as much yard work and planting as possible, and dealing with whatever small chores pop up. One trip is done, and I’ll return from CA the day my next class starts. We’ve filmed for MDSA, and the plan is to film for WCFO March 17th. The certification exam will be during work hours, which helps. I tackled yard work this Saturday, and I am so paying for it. My back started hurting about halfway through the planting. Something about digging holes and moving stones doesn’t make it happy. Oh, well. I was going to rake all the leaves out yesterday, but between the wind and my cold, I just couldn’t see the point. I might try doing it one evening this week, once I can breathe through my nose again. This weekend, I’m planning to aerate, lime, fertilize, and reseed the back yard, in hopes that I can cut down on the amount of dirt that finds its way into my kitchen and living room. I’ve also got some more planting to do in front of the house, but I’m hoping it’ll rain again soon, so the ground will be soft. I don’t think its supposed to rain this week, so we’ll just have to wait and see. For several reasons, I need to get it done by the 16th. The time change is early this year, so that’ll help. There’s only two weeks of freedom left, and it looks like those are going to be busy, busy. Not that busy, busy is an unusual state for me...

Putting His Kid Through School

I love my vet, I really do. Duncan likes him, Reyna adores him, and Belle tolerates him. It just doesn’t get much better than that. I’ve only ever had one problem with him, and that was when he didn’t believe me about Reyna’s hips. Granted, every time he saw her, she was bouncing and jumping like nothing was wrong, but that certainly wasn’t her everyday behavior. But still, one problem in nearly four years is pretty darn good. Lately, though, we’re seeing him way too much.

Reyna’s tail finally cleared up, so she’s off the puppy prozac. Until she chews up her tail again, anyway. Because of the cold weather, she started having a lot of trouble with her hips, and the aspirin just wasn’t touching the pain. It was bad enough that if Duncan bumped into her, she would scream. She wouldn’t even snap at him, because she was too busy shaking off the sudden pain and trying to get to me for comfort. It was really pitiful. The vet put her on Rimadyl twice a day, which has helped a lot. As the weather gets warmer, I’m hoping to cut her dose in half on the days I work, since she’s not as active those days. She has to have blood work done every six months or so, just to make sure there’s no damage to her kidneys or liver. She had her first check-up just before I went to AZ. She’d only been on the Rimadyl two weeks, but the vet said that if a dog is going to have an adverse reaction, it’ll happen that quick. The tests came back fine, so she was cleared to keep taking the meds.

And speaking of blood work... I took Belle, Loki, and Mikey in for their yearlies January 27. Mikey was the one I was actually concerned about, and he came out as the healthiest of the three. Go figure. The vet wanted to do blood work on Belle, since she’ll be 10 in April. That would give him a baseline for her, in case he has to run it as a diagnostic sometime in the future. Of course, she had to be difficult. Her white cell count was very low, which indicated the possibility of one of the four big viruses. She’d not been in contact with a strange cat in years, but these viruses can sit in their systems for 9 years without any indications. So, we had to run another series of tests, which meant I had to wait another few days for those results. I had the option of doing nothing, but I think we all know that was a ridiculous suggestion. Thankfully, her second set of tests came back okay. I took her back up this Saturday for a re-test. If the white cell count is still low, he’ll just note that as her normal level. If its back in what they consider normal, then he’ll just toss out the first test as a fluke. Either way is fine, as long as she’s not harboring some disease that’ll kill off all the cats.

Loki also caused some trouble this time around. I told the vet about his projectile vomiting skills, and the fact that he is demonstrating those with increasing frequency these days. He ended up having to have an ultrasound done, to check for IBS or pancreatic issues. He’s slowly growing the hair back on his bald belly, although I’m sure he was a bit chilled for a few days. The vet said that the ultrasound showed a cyst next to Loki’s pancreas, but he doesn’t think its anything serious. He said there was also some damage to the pancreas, indicating that Loki had probably had minor bouts of pancreatitis at some point. He said that the way things looked, he’d just let it go, and see if dosing Loki with laxatives would help the vomiting. I had the option of letting him do exploratory surgery, but neither the vet nor I really thought that was the best way to go. So, Loki gets his Laxaire every day, and we’ll just keep watching. The frequency seems to have eased up, but the distance is still rather impressive.

MDSA Filming

The deadline for the Musical Dog Sport Association (MDSA) Film Festival was March 1st. We managed to get our routines filmed on 2/24, so I was able to send them in before I left for AZ.

Duncan danced to “Hakuna Matata” and Reyna danced to “Tale Spin”.

Thanks to Jeff for taking the photos!

Where I Will Never Stay Again

I was in Tucson, AZ, the first part of this week for a work conference. My company insists that all business travel be booked through their online travel system, which usually isn’t a problem. For the AZ trip, I booked a room at the Best Western Las Brisas Hotel, as they are one of the company’s preferred hotels (read: we get a discount). Unfortunately, the information the travel site had wasn’t quite up to date, so I blame both the company and the hotel for the annoyances I had to tolerate.

My plane was about 2 hours late getting in, so I was already tired and grumpy. When I got to the hotel, I found out that, not only did they not have room service (which I live on during business trips), they didn’t even have a restaurant on site. This is where the outdated information comes in to play, because I never book a hotel that doesn’t at least have a restaurant. Turns out they’d been doing some remodeling recently, and their restaurant wasn’t quite done yet. After finding this out, I asked for the menus and phone numbers of some places that would deliver to the hotel. Turns out they don’t keep any of that handy, although they were able to give me the names of two Chinese places and a couple of pizza places that deliver. Neither Chinese place had a menu in the phonebook or online. By the time I’d done all that, it was well past my bedtime on the east coast, so I just ate some crackers I had with me and went to bed. The next night, though, I ordered pizza from Papa John’s (and was fed very well for breakfast and lunch at the company site).

The food thing was bad enough, but there were a lot of little annoyances that bothered me. And they probably wouldn’t have so much, if I weren’t already annoyed about the food thing. Gotta love those vicious circles... The only accessible power outlet was in the bathroom. Not exactly close enough to the bed to plug my laptop in, so I ended up having to pull the bed away from the wall to get to the plug behind it. There was no desk or table to sit at while working. Of the 10 available channels, I could actually see 5 of them well enough to be entertained. The ironing board didn’t open all the way. Again, just little annoyances.

The kicker was Tuesday afternoon, when I got back to the hotel from my meeting. I always put my “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door when I’m on business trips. Sometimes I have messages from housekeeping telling me they couldn’t change the towels because I had the sign up. That’s fine, it’s there to keep housekeeping out. And yet, on Tuesday, that’s not what happened. I walked into my room to discover that housekeeping had come in, done their thing, and MOVED MY PERSONAL BELONGINGS. I find that very annoying. I called the front desk to tell them what had happened, and to politely express my displeasure. The guy I spoke to acted like it was no big deal, and told me that since a lot of flight crew stay in that building – and apparently forget to take the DND sign off the door - the housekeeping policy is to just go on in anyway, assuming it’s a crew member’s room. I informed him that: A) I thought that was a stupid policy; B) housekeeping should be informed as to which rooms are being used by paying guests; and C) as soon as they saw my belongings, they should have immediately turned around and left. He told me again that it was really no big deal, and besides, now I had fresh towels for the next morning. Sooooo the wrong thing to say. Prior to leaving the next morning, I filed a complaint with the hotel manager about both the housekeeping incident and the desk employee. I’ve also filed a complaint with their corporate office, and sent a message through the company travel site informing them that they needed to update their information. Never mind that scorned crap; Hell hath no fury like a hungry woman with low blood sugar who has to move furniture to get to power outlets, can’t watch the shows she likes because the channels aren’t available, and finds out that strangers have been messing with her stuff...

Happy Birthday!

Reyna is 3 years old today. My little girl is all grown up... Happy birthday, sweet girl!

Spring Has Sprung...For Today, Anyway

I took a few extra minutes in bed to enjoy the morning. Belle was cuddled against my left side, with her head on my arm. Loki was pressed against my head, trying to decide if he wanted to paw me or lick me. The windows were open and a wonderful, cool breeze was blowing. I could faintly hear the chimes on my porch. I could hear the chirping of the birds, and the Death Chatters of Mikey and the kittens. I could also hear the dogs shuffling around a bit in the living room, awake, but clearly not ready to start their day. The sun was shining in my windows, but not so brightly that I was forced into total wakefulness. I thought of the things I would do today - put my plants outside for some fresh air, open all the windows and air out the house, finish a few small projects, take the dogs for a romp in the woods. It was an absolutely perfect Spring morning - just a little ahead of schedule.

Reyna's Seizures (Update)

I don't think I've mentioned this here (although I'm sure I've told some of you), and I know its a bit delayed, but then again, so are most of my posts... This has been on my mind a good bit the last few days for some reason, so I figured I'd toss it out. Reyna started having seizures back in September. The vet thought she was having partial seizures (as opposed to Grand Mal), but had no idea why they'd started. Then, in early November, they went away. The vet thinks that the stress of all my business traveling was what set them off. Since my last trip was in late October, he figures it just took her a bit to believe I was staying home and for her stress level to go down. Granted, I traveled a lot between April and September, but usually no more than 3 or 4 days a month. In September, I was gone for an entire week, and then October was freakishly insane. Even though Uncle John was staying over - which I thought would be less stressful (not to mention less expensive) than boarding - its not the same as having Mom at home. And Reyna has always been a Mama's Girl. So, periodically, I think of all this and feel like a horrible person. After all, how many people can say they gave their dog seizures? And I find that, as I contemplate various options for my future, I'm factoring that in to my decision-making process. Maybe I shouldn't, I don't know. But I do know I would have a very hard time taking a position that comes with a lot of traveling built in, knowing that it could easily cause my baby girl significant health problems.

Duncan, of course, was totally oblivious to the fact that I was gone.

This Is What Frightens My Dog

The other morning, I let the dogs out the front to walk to the mailbox. Reyna was all the way to the edge of the yard before she saw The Scary Things. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her skid to a halt like that…. Reyna had her hackles up and was barking at the bags before Duncan even realized something was wrong. As soon as he did, though, his hackles were up and he was barking, too. They spent about five minutes sniffing and running around the bags. When we went out this morning, the bags were still there, so Reyna immediately ran over to check them out. Hackles up the whole time, of course. And Duncan decided he really would rather just walk with Mom....

Picture Time

This is one of the portraits John and I had taken right before Thanksgiving. These are the first professional pictures of the two of us since I was a year old.

She Who Runs With Sharp Objects

Reyna has once again proven that she is, indeed, my child. This morning, she cut her nose on her soccer ball. Yes, she was cut by a round object. The ball has a few holes in it, courtesy of her obsession with the ball, and it stayed outside all night. Apparently, frost makes soccer ball edges very sharp. We were outside playing for a few minutes before work this morning, and I saw blood on the ball the second time she brought it back. I figured she’d bitten her tongue, because she’s done that before. But, no. She’d actually managed to slice the top of her nose open with the edge of the hole. Only Reyna...

It's Totally Totaled

John and I spent most of the day before Thanksgiving dealing with our little fender-bender and trying to get back home. Oddly enough, the fender is the only part of my car currently in my garage, and that will last only until I get my check. The adjuster called last Thursday to tell me they’ve decided to total the car. Thankfully. So, if the bank ever cooperates (apparently, they’re being grumpy for some reason), the insurance company will pay off the remaining loan and then send me what’s left of the money. And there’s enough that I am quite happy they’re totaling the car. Once I get the money, I’ll turn in my tag, cancel the insurance, and call it a day. I still have the pup-wagon, so I’m not going to stress over getting another vehicle any time soon.

He's a Ruff 'n' Tuff Pup

I’m so proud of my boy...he showed his protective side in the last preagility class. There’s a crazy border collie (is that redundant?) in class, and he was taking his turn going through a series of obstacles. He ran out of the chute towards another dog, who fiercely protected her toy. That growl sent him veering away from her, straight toward me. To my great surprise, Duncan popped up like somebody’d poked him in the butt and lunged at the border collie. If I’d not grabbed his scruff - and if the border collie hadn’t shown some intelligence and immediately turned the other direction - Duncan might actually have made contact. The official response, of course, is “Bad dog. We don’t do that.” But the real response is “Good boy! Mommy’s so proud of you for protecting her! That’s my good Dunkin-punkin!”

Duncan's First Routine

Duncan performed his first canine freestyle routine last night - it was required for him to pass the class. And he did a wonderful job. He did so well, in fact, that we're entering the WCFO video competition later in December. We'll clean the routine up a bit, find appropriate clothes for me, and submit an entry. I'm so proud of him!

A Sign That I Definitely Need Some Time Off....

Last night, I got home from work about an hour and a half late, which usually isn’t too bad, but it was dark and cold and I was grumpy. So I put on my usual after-work attire – sweats and slippers. I’ve been really sleepy lately, and I think its because my Tegratol (John calls them my “Death Meds”) dose has been doubled, and these are extended release, which is probably why I’m feeling it more in the afternoon and early evening. I didn’t doze on the couch last night, but I did come close to it. I realized about 8:45 that Reyna has managed to lick another hole in her tail, so I made a point of staying awake so I could keep her from messing with it.

But on to why I need time off... When I was getting ready for bed last night, I wanted my slippers next to the bed, because those Pergo floors are freaking cold in the morning (no rugs yet, because I keep picturing the cats horking up all over them and can’t bring myself to spend the money) and I like to put on my slippers before my poor feet hit those nasty cold floors. The last place I remembered seeing them was by the foot of the bed, so I looked around the bed, under the afghan, and then got down on the floor and looked under the bed. No slippers. I looked in the closet. Twice. No slippers. I was getting really annoyed, asking the cats what they’d done with my slippers. I even checked the bathroom. No slippers. As I was headed back to the closet to check one more time, I head a noise that made me look down. Lo and behold, I found my slippers! ON MY FEET. Sigh.