A Tail's Tale

I should have known things were going too well with Reyna. She hadn't had anything significant wrong since the bump on her rump back in January. Which was a good thing, since pretty much all of my energy was taken up with Dad, Mikey, Per'la, Duncan and Loki.

Last Friday, I was testing out the theory that Ben-Gay might keep Reyna from chewing on her tail. I was drying off her tail and I noticed little streaks of blood on the paper towel. Sigh. I checked her tail and finally found this:

It doesn't look too bad, right? Of course, this being Reyna, I took some photos and sent a couple off to Dr. L so he would be aware of it. His recommendation was to monitor for a week or so and see how it progressed. By Sunday, the red bump was gone. My guess is that Reyna managed to snag it with her paw during on of her many fits of chase-the-tail. It was raw, but not awful. By Monday evening, Reyna was obsessing over the spot and had created a second sore. By Tuesday evening, we had ickiness (I'll spare you that image. But trust me, it was icky). Wednesday morning, Reyna was on her way to the vet. They shaved it and put her on antibiotics for two weeks, hoping we can get ahead of the infection. I also have to hot-pack it and clean it with betadine twice a day. Reyna's very tolerant of that, thankfully, although she's already fighting me on the antibiotics. Here's what it looks like as of Thursday evening:

The top area is the result of the initial mass. The bottom spot is what Reyna contributed. Paws crossed it doesn't get any worse.

Oh, and it turns out that Ben-Gay *will* keep Reyna from chewing her tail. But she doesn't seem to realize its on there until she gets a big mouthful of it. Silly girl.

Drafting Dog

I'm exhausted, sun-burnt, and my foot is killing me, but it was SOOO worth it! Duncan and I attended a drafting workshop near Charlottesville, VA, yesterday. We left the house at 5:15am, got home at 7:30pm, and were passed out on the couch by 8:30pm. It was a long day but so much fun. The Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Central Virginia hosted the workshop and allowed all breeds to attend. Duncan was the only GSD, but we also saw a Siberian husky, a poodle, two corgis and a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. The workshop was geared primarily towards new dogs and handlers, but there were several advanced handlers there to both help and show their skills. Duncan and I were assisted by Jerry, a fellow who's had drafting dogs for many years - several of them with Master Draft Dog titles.

After taking Duncan through the basic steps of pulling a drag, a sled, and walking with shafts near his face, Jerry quickly realized Duncan was ready to be hitched to a wagon. Duncan definitely liked this wagon a lot more than the cart that was made for him a couple of years ago. This one was much, much lighter and very nicely balanced. Before the morning was over, Duncan was handling bumpy terrain and making turns like he'd been doing it for ages. After lunch, we put Duncan through the paces of a Novice Draft Dog test (without the additional 20lbs he'd have to pull). He did everything just fine, including the weave poles, the narrows, and even backing the cart up. There's a two day Draft Dog test at the end of September near DC - I really hope Duncan and I can get there.

Happy Birthday, Reyna!

Thursday was my sweet girl's 8th birthday and Saturday was party day.

Aunt Mary gave Reyna a brand new basketball! Reyna wasn't too sure about it at first, but after a bit of shaking and gnawing, she decided it was A Good Thing.

And then it was time for cake! As always, the cake from Gourmutt's Bakery received the Pup Seal of Approval.

Happy birthday, Baby Girl! May you have many, many more.

Something Good!

Kodiak graduated from his Pre-Agility class last week! It was a real struggle for him because he worries so much about the equipment, people, dogs and environment. Thankfully, the instructor realized that he should do much better in a regular agility ring than in a small room (but to get to a regular agility class, he HAD to pass this one). Its funny how he stresses so much over something like the table - notice how his tail is pulled in - but he's perfectly comfortable going through the chute tunnel. He's such a weird pup.

Per'la, 4/16/05 - 2/19/12

After Mikey died last week, Per'la stopped eating. She also had an outbreak of herpes, which she's had since she was a kitten. Tuesday, she started having trouble walking. Wednesday, we started syringe feeding as frequently as possible. She never showed any signs of improvement and got worse Friday and Saturday. I woke up this morning about 4:45 and heard her yowling. When I checked on her, I could tell her time was near. I held her in my lap and petted her until she passed at 5:30am. I'll miss her but I know she's happier now that she's back with Mikey, the one she loved best in all the world.

I love you, Per'la.

Mycroft, 8/4/00 - 2/10/12

Wednesday night, Mikey walked over to where I was sitting and looked up at me. I picked him up and put him on my lap. He stood there, purring, for a couple of minutes, and then he laid down. Belle and Loki, who raised Mikey from a four-month-old kitten, came over and sat at my feet. They looked at Mikey and started purring. Loki raised up, put his paws on my knee, licked Mikey's head twice and then sat back down. The three of them looked at each other and purred. I knew it was Mikey's time. At 8:30 this morning, Mikey went to sleep in my arms.

I love you, Mikey.

The Family

Here we are, almost the entire family. We're missing a couple of cousins who couldn't make it to the memorial service and Gee-pop, who passed in October of 2007. And Dad. We're missing Dad.

Doggy Drama

Last Wednesday, courtesy of Kodiak’s very intense interest, I found a mass on Reyna’s rear, just under her tail. Yes, Reyna has a mass on her ass. Or, if you prefer, a bump on her rump. Dr. Lapham thinks its an infected anal gland and it should be better after 10 days of antibiotics, hot packing and cleaning. Paws crossed he’s right, because he’s concerned about the fact that its on the same side of her body as the masses on her belly a few short months ago. If this thing isn’t dramatically improved within the 10 days, we have to consider the possibility that its connected to whatever caused the other masses. Which would be very much not good. Poor Reyna, she’s got an infection, she’s taking antibiotics that make her feel ooky, and her mom is messing with her butt twice a day. Its no wonder she’s not a happy pup these days. And naturally, this all occurred two days after I told WakeMed that Reyna was ready to go back to work…

Duncan apparently decided I didn’t have enough stress in my life and he had a grand mal seizure Thursday night. I awoke to a loud thump and then took a few seconds to realize the noise I was hearing wasn’t the pups roughhousing. I talked to Dr. Lapham Friday morning and we agreed to hold off on medicating Duncan. His first grand mals were last June, and his last seizure was December 22, which put him just a bit outside the 30 day window of concern. I decided to go home early to check on Duncan and get Reyna ready for her appointment. I’m glad I did, because I found significant evidence that Duncan had another grand mal during the 4 or so hours I was gone. Another call to Dr. Lapham resulted in “bring him in, its time for meds.” So now my poor puppy is on a (relatively) low dose of Phenobarbital. With luck, that will be enough to control the seizures but not cause too many side effects. I still have nightmares about all the side effects Reyna went through when she was on it several years ago. Since its Dr. Lapham and not the vet school handling the case, we’ll have more flexibility with the dose. So far, I’ve only noticed a slight increase in Duncan’s lack of coordination. Of course, its Duncan, so a lack of coordination is something of a given… No grand mal seizures since Friday morning, thank goodness. We’ll just have to keep our paws crossed and see how things go.

On the good side of things, the mass Kodiak got from his rabies vaccination is still there, but it is significantly smaller than it was. It should continue to shrink with time.

Daddy's Little Girl