Rain

Rain, Rain, Go Away. Come back another day............

Im so excieted!

There is a new, new to Columbia that is, rehab vet in Columbia. Its only about 10 minutes from my house. Today is the first day she is open. She just called me and I will see her Monday at 4:30. She has an underwater treadmill and a heated pool. Plus a room for therapy with physio balls and caviletties. WooHoo!! Driving all this way has been killing me. Yesterday I drove up dropped her off and drove home. Then a couple of hours later went back up to get her. Today I just stayed because the time in between sessions was only 4 hours. I'm waiting right now at a Books-a-million. Luckily people have posted on their blogs so I have something to read.
Yesterday Miley did really well in the treadmill. They kept the water level the same but increased the speed of the treadmill. When we got home she seemed sore or maybe her muscles were really tired. I didn't see any limping, rolling of the hips or skipping. She just seem tired. I did notice that going up the steps , she 2 footed them and stead of alternating her back feet like she usually does. I told them this morning that I thought she was either tired or sore. So they weren't going to change anything in the treadmill except letting her stand in the warm water longer after the session. The love Miley. Yesterday when I picked her up, the girl at the front desk said, "Your Miley's owner. I looooooove her". Miley is being loved on there which isn't her favorite thing. I'm sure she is thinking, " You want to do something for me? Throw the damn ball."

I Forgot This.

I forgot about this. This sculpture was in front of a building that I found looking for a bookstore. It spins around in all different sections and then reforms again. Pretty weird.

Miley's first day of rehab

Today was Miley's first day in the underwater treadmill. She had two sessions today. They were about 4 hours apart. I think she did 12 minutes the first time . With a break every few minutes. Then the second time it was about 15 minutes with one break in the middle. I asked the view the second time. I think I was to distracting. She kept trying to jump on the glass or would stop and just ride the treadmill to the back. So probably the rest of the week, until Saturday, I wont watch. She didn't show any signs off loading weight in the treadmill, so that was good. A lot of times when the dog's leg is hurt and they are in the underwater treadmill you can see them off load their weight. Sometimes to the point that their leg will float up. Miley didn't show any signs of that , so that is great.

It was a long day for me too. I'm exhausted. I know, really what did I do that was so hard. I don't know but it almost killed me. Really , I think it was all the driving. I did go to the outlet mall and they had lots of great stuff that I cant find in Columbia. I could have spent a lot of money. I kept having to remind myself about the money I'm spending on Rehab. I did buy a book to read. My husband needed some jeans and I bought a light jacket for Stephanie. O'yea, I also bought and ate a Carmel apple with nuts on it. Not as good as the ones I get with my sister in Florida, but it was still good.

Veasel Watching

What is Miley doing? Trying to get the ferrets. The ferrets , we call veasels. If you ask Miley is she wants to go see the Veasels, she goes crazy. So this what we do in the evening now. Ferret watching. Its mostly waiting and hoping the ferrets will come out to play. Its a pretty calm activity , which means its easy on the legs. Plus it entertains Miley. She will sit by couch and wait for long periods of time hoping to see a ferret. Usually not. So last night she resorted to laying on her side and going under the couch to try to get them. They must have moved up inside the couch because she couldn't get them. Silly dog. That toy you see in the picture, the ferrets keep trying to pull under the couch. Every time I pull it out, they come out from under the couch, grab it by the neck and try to pull it back under. There are lots of things under the couch. If you are missing some thing. Check under the couch. Ferrets are big kleptomaniacs. They have taken remotes, shoes, cell phones, hair brushes, toys and cups are just a few items found under the couch.
Tomorrow we go for the underwater treadmill stuff. I have to leave her there for about 5 hours so she can get 2 sessions in. It will be up in Charlotte and I will have to find something to do. There is a big outlet mall up there so I figured I go there for a while. Hopefully I wont be to bored. Miley's leg has been getting better. Monday on both walks I didn't see anything. Today, a couple of times I thought I saw something. But it was gone to quick for me to figure out what it was. Maybe it was me obsessing over her gait and seeing things. What ever it was , it wasn't obvious.
I fell like I live in an infirmary. Mickey gets phenobarbital twice a day. Miley get Rimadyl twice a day plus I have added some supplements to her food. ( SynoviG3 and Trisxyn) Then Roxy gets one antibiotic once a day for her bladder. Then a different antibiotic for her bowel which is twice a day.

Weird

You know what I noticed. The more I have restricted Miley's activity the worse she is getting. Ill be glad to get her into the underwater treadmill on Wednesday. I'm feeling sad today. I guess its because everything I had planned this week isn't happening. I was really looking forward to going to camp. I love agility camps. You probably think I'm weird but I think they are great. And so much fun. I was also looking forward to not going to work. Seeing 60 sick kids a day isn't fun. Most of them aren't really sick but some are. I was also looking forward to warm sunny Florida weather. Now none of that is happening. I called the lady who was going to work for me this week and told her I had a change of plans. She is still going to work for me on Wed and Thur but she cant Friday. So now I will have to see if I can find someone else. The other thing that is bothering me is what if Miley doesn't get better. I feel like Ive made her love something and now I'm taking it away. It makes me feel bad that Ive done that. I know she is wondering what the heck is happening. She doesn't have to be crate rested per the vet. She can go on short leash walks too. So at least it isn't crate rest. Very hard to do, unless maybe your dog is really old and doesn't care.

Miley's injury

I just got back from the rehab vet. She did see the little skip I saw the other day when she had me walk her up and down the hall. She still had some reaction to the toe but not as much as last time. She felt like her right knee had a little more laxity in it than the left knee. And after she was done messing with it and I put Miley on the ground, she off loaded weight off her right leg. Although she didn't show any signs of discomfort like the toe. First she wanted me to bring Miley back to sedate her and retest the knee for laxity. And do x-rays. I asked if we could just do the x-rays now. So we did. Then the whole time I'm praying , "Please don't let there be any effusion in the joint". Well the x-rays, she felt, showed a tiny amt of effusion. She tried to show it to me. It must have been very suddle (sp) because I kept looking at the left and then the right and couldn't see the difference, even with her showing me what she was seeing. She did say is was very slight. So these were my choices.( 1) See a surgeon, but she didn't think they would do anything because everything is so slight. (2) Have her rest and Rimadyl. (3) sedation and manipulation. (4) strength training. I picked 2 and 4. So she will rest and do Rimadyl for 4 days. Then Wednesday - Saturday I will bring her back for underwater treadmill to strengthen her quads. Then it will decrease to probably twice a week and she how she does.
So I guess that isn't the most horrible news but not the best either. She also took an x-ray of the hips, they looked good. I called and canceled my camp in Florida.
Roxy seems to be up and down. One day she seems fine, they next day she isn't. I guess that's just life.

Things arent much better

Roxy seemed better yesterday. No problems what so ever. The vet wanted me to use a different antibiotic. I had to go pick it up at a compounding pharmacy. Roxy is so little that they didn't have the medicine for her weight so it had to be made. I started it last night. Then this afternoon when I came home from work, she had vomited twice. All her breakfast. The other problem has been her peeing all over the house. So when I took her in, I asked that a urine sample be taken to see if she has a UTI. But they said they couldn't get one. So that is the other reason she needed the antibiotic. Just in case she does have a bladder infection. So of course she had made more pee spots in new places today. Even when I'm home and the back door is open.
Then there is Miley. Even though she hasn't been doing anything except walks her legs seems worse. Yesterday I saw her do this little skip thing 3 times. And her gait seemed off. Kinda rolling her back hips if that makes any sense. Then today she went to sit up for a treat and couldn't do it. So , me being me, Im thinking maybe she has hip dysplasia. I made an appt . at the rehab vet for Saturday morning. I hope I'm wrong and Im just being a worry wart. If she is broken, I'm done. I cant get anymore dogs. Its just to hard.
O,yea and to top it off. There is a peeping tom in the neighborhood.

All I needed was some benadryl

Now 2 hours after benadryl she is so much better. The benadryl seems to have fixed all her symptoms.

It get worse

Roxy must have had an allergy to the amoxicillin. Her face was swollen 2 hours after I gave the dose. Ugh!!!

Now Roxy

Well now Roxy's sick. Bloody diarrhea and vomiting. I have to at work by 7am and the vet doesn't open until 8am. Luckily a neighbor said she would drop Roxy off for me. They didn't do much. Gave me antibiotics and dog food. Shes been home for about 30 minutes and she has been straining the whole time. Just a little bit of blood comes out. She vomited a large amt at the vet. I look like this stupid bone I gave her Sunday night. It was made by pedigree and said it was natural with vegetables and beef. I think that's what made her sick. That was Sunday night and just this afternoon she vomited pieces of it up. They are little tiny piece of carrots. I don't feed her carrots so I know its the bone. Why did I give her that. I never feed my dog pedigree stuff. What possessed me to buy that stupid thing. I could kick myself. Now Roxy is miserable. She is hiding under the bed, wont eat or drink. She loves food so this is worrisome. She wont come to me. So either she feels that bad or she is mad at me. I think its the first one. O,yea and they shaved her butt. Ok, I can see shaving a sheltie's butt, but a chihuahua.

Hopefully she will feel well soon and be back to getting in the ferret cage. She is trying to figure out how to get food. Don't worry, I didnt put her in there. She does it all on her own.

O boy!

I haven't been working Miley very much because of her foot. So today I decided to do some stuff on the flat. She broke her start line stay repeatedly. Hmmmmm. Wonder what that is all about. More work. I also worked on rear crosses on the flat. She was just to excited outside and kept being wild. So I took a jump inside the house and worked her there. Ive been watching videos of people who I think run their dogs well. I'm trying to see what kind of cues they give their dog for a rear cross. I wish I could slow them down to really see what they are doing. I'm still working on what Meagan showed me. Dog is on your left. With your left hand your kinda run your dog across your feet in front of you and then with your right hand, flip them over the jump. It looks better and easier than it sounds. It still feels very awkward. I'm use to just using my left hand and doing a flip over the jump.
Today I finally painted the vaulted wall in the den. Its had spackling on it for about 2 years. We had a leak in the roof and had it repaired. A friend came over and spackled the wall over the fireplace and then I asked if they would do the other wall too. It has this weird corner to it that had peeled up. So he did. Like I said that was 2 years ago.Now it finally looks finished and nicely painted. The only thing with painting is then you start seeing all the other walls that need painting too. One thing leads to another and then another. Luckily I had to take Guiness to his freestyle class, so I had to stop painting. I had to laugh. My daughter asked me if we were moving. I guess she figured why else would would we be finishing the wall.
Guiness's class was nice. We reviewed things we have done in the past and added a few more tricks. I'm still working on getting him to just respond to the verbal without any hand cue. Its slow going. He will back up , sit, lie down, sit up and weave around my legs just on a verbal but that is about it. There are many more he needs to learn. We have one more session of classes and then they stop until next fall. The next session I can only attend 3 of the 6 classes because of agility stuff. The teacher is very nice and said I only had to pay for the 3 classes that I'm coming to. I don't know if I said this already but in freestyle you can video tape your dance and then you send it in to the judges to be reviewed. Isn't that great. So if you live where there aren't any shows you can still participate.

Not much of anything

Its been a boring week. Ive been really tired and I'm not sure why. There have been lots of sick kids at school. The flu is here! I think yesterday, in about a 4 hour block of time, I saw 50 kids. I hope I'm not coming down with what any of them have. Ugh!! This weekend I was suppose to go to Savannah for a trial but as you know that isn't happening. It would have been a nice trial too. Only about 200 dogs a day. I would have been the first fast group to run and then the next open group to run. No waiting 6 hours for a run. Well, now I don't have to wait at all. Miley seems about the same. No real change. I have been giving her Traumeel twice a day. Its a homeopathic drug that has different things in it. One thing that helps bones heal , something for pain and a bunch of other stuff.
I finally put some pictures in some frames. Guieness's picture is about 3 years old and it finally got put out. What happened is ,while I was sleeping my daughter took a bunch of my pictures down. She took the pictures that were in the frames out and put her own pictures in. ( Aren't kids wonderful) They were pictures of when the kids were little. She put her own NYC pictures in the frame and hung them up in her bathroom. Man was I mad!! So I bought a box of new frames from Kohl's. And finally got some of the dog pictures up. It turned out cute. I also put a picture of Stephanie that had been sitting out for a couple of years into a frame. So that's the picture above. Hopefully you cant see all the dust and the dog hair. LOL.
Christmas came early here. We had a new air conditioner installed today. The upstairs unit hadn't been working right since summer. It couldn't cool upstairs. This summer the repair people came out and gave us an estimate of 7000.oo to replace the unit. We decided we would wait. Then they came this winter to do the winter service. Again they said the upstairs unit needed to be replaced. This time they quoted 5000.00. I told my husband we better get that changed before summer because they really jack up the price in the summer. (It was the same company) Well its been very warm this week, in the 70's. Yesterday it was very warm upstairs, above 80. My husband called and guess what. They could come today and install the new unit. They must not be to busy. So there you have it, our Christmas present for the year. Well, really Christmas for about 5 years. O well, what can you do.

Miley's toe

We went to the rehab vet yesterday. She felt Miley and I feel did a very nice job really going over everything. After feeling somethings I showed her the video of the dogwalk and I also had one of the a-frame. I also showed her the video of going down the stairs at the park. She watched the videos and had me slow them down even more. Then she felt Miley several more times. She got a reaction when touching Miley's 1st toe on the right foot. She did it three different times. Then she took an x-ray of both Mileys feet. It looks like she has a hairline fracture of her toe. She stated she would feel more confident in her diagnosis if it was a jagged fracture line. She told me in 2-3 weeks it should be fine. She is ok to walk and run but don't let her do anything where she might stub her toe. Uh, have you met my dog? Crazy, spinning and jumping maniac. So I will still keep her restricted that she cant run all over the backyard. Try to keep her off the furniture. She did say it would be ok to go to the camp. I told her I could just not do the dogwalk and a-frame stuff. She said I could test her why I'm there and have someone watch her for any signs that she is hurting. So we will wait and see. I probably just not do any dogwalk or a-frame stuff. Most camps are really about handling anyway.

More on Miley's leg

I hadn't seen any problems with her leg for a week. So today I decided to take her to the training field and have my husband tape her. He was just to keep the camera on her to see if I could see any problems. I had her do a couple of 4 jump sequences. I looked at the tape in slow motion. I didn't see any problems. She used both legs just alike as she took the jumps and went over. I didn't see anything between the jumps. Then I ran her over the dogwalk. The first time I didn't see anything, but the second time coming down the ramp to a stop I saw something. She had a weird gait coming down. I don't know if you can see it or not. Its more visible when I have it larger on the computer screen.
So at least I have something tangible to show the vet. I was feeling really depressed about this. I feel like its Guiness's problem all over again. He had just started going to trials. I didn't stay to pick up a winning 1st place ribbon in a open standard class. I think 35 dogs ran and only 2 Q'ed. I was tired and wanted to go home. Well , the last trial Miley was at I didn't stay to pick up her ribbon. It was a little different because I didn't know she placed. I just knew she Q'ed. Also I had signed Guiness up for an agility camp and had to eat that money. Well, I'm signed up for a camp with Miley Feb. 22nd. Ill probably have to eat that money too. I felt like crying most of the day. I know there are so many worse things in life than this. Ive taken care of kids that have died. That's something to cry about, not this. So after taking Guiness to his freestyle class, I came home and looked at the tapes again. It doesn't look as bad as it did in my head. I moved some fencing in the yard so the dogs have about 10 feet of yard to use the bathroom but they cant run around. I put stuff on the furniture so she cant jump on and off. Ive been carrying her up and down the stairs. Well, we see how tomorrow goes. One other note. Im thinking of going back to a running contact. Just think, the dog is running full out and we ask them to stop. That a set up for injury if you ask me. I dont know, it just something going thur my head.

Miley

Miley is much better. No more bloody diarrhea . I'm still feeding her chicken and rice. I did add a little dog food to her meal this morning. I'm not sure why but the vet cut a lot of her hair off her butt. I had just washed her the night before so she couldn't have been that messed up back there. Its not really noticeable unless her tail is up , but it looks funny. I haven't seen anymore limping or strange movement on her rear leg. The rehab vet called me yesterday and she can see us Monday. So that is good. I will feel much better after someone who understands movement and leg injuries checks her.
Ive been doing a little training with Miley. The 2o/2o, she just doesn't understand her job. It didn't have anything to do with the treats. So I'm planning on taking the plank a bunch of different places and working on it. That shouldn't be hard on her leg. Ive also been doing Susan Garretts one jump DVD. ( Just the front and rear cross on the flat stuff). The one exercise ( for a rear cross), you put the dog in a sit. You step back and away from the dog maybe 4-5 feet. Then you turn and walk behind your dog. As soon as you cross behind your dog, the dogs head should flip the other direction. When that happens you release the dog and give them a treat to come to you. Treat with the arm closest to the dog. ( I hope this make sense) Your dog should not flip its head as soon as you turn your shoulders. They should wait until you cross behind them. Well, Miley is turning her head as soon as my shoulders turn. At first I didn't know what to do. But then after much thought I figured out what to do. We just worked on a very slight shoulder turn. If she didn't flip her head, I gave her a treat. I gradually worked up to a complete shoulder turn without her flipping her head. And then to crossing behind her , head flip, release and treat. I guess we have a lot of work to do. After watching the video, I can now see why my arm movement and things have been confusing her with the crosses.

Poor Miley

Miley has been having stomach problems since Sunday evening. She was having loose stools only about twice a day. But then last night she a loose stool with a bloody mucusy clot in it. Yuk! Then she vomited her dinner all over the floor . Then had another loose stool before bed. Ok, she must be sick. But then she slept all night with no vomiting or diarrhea. Maybe she's not. But at 5am she had bloody diarrhea again. I had to be a work early , so I had my kids drop her off at the vet to be checked. I was hoping my kids didn't fight in the waiting room. They each think the know better. I had written a note stating I agree for treatment and will pay all cost. But that wasn't good enough. They made my son, who is 18, sign for treatment.

So I picked Miley up this evening. They said she was fine all day. No vomiting and no diarrhea. They did say they had to clean her up a bit, she had blood on her back end. Hmmmm. Her CBC was normal. She ate, she drank and was merry. ( as merry as Miley can be with strangers) So they gave me antibiotics and said she might have some colitis. Feed her chicken and rice. They forgot to check her leg. So I had them check it. They didn't feel anything wrong. At least no luxating patellas.

Home again.

Big Birds nest

This is a "sculpture" that is at the park. When I first saw it, I thought it looked like Big Bird's Nest. Its kinda a weird sculpture but who am I to say what art is.

I took the dogs to walk at the park. I still haven't seen Miley hold her foot up but I'm still having her take it easy. Most evenings are spent in the bonus room watching the ferrets. That's one of Miley's favorite things. At least she isn't running around being crazy. Most of the time the ferrets just hide from her. She doesn't play very gentle so the ferrets just run as fast as they can to different spots to hide. Ive been having a hard time finding a vet to see her about her foot. The rehab vet I go to is out of town this week and then I cant get an appt. until the 18th. I asked that they call me if someone cancels. I could go to my regular vet but they aren't to much into evaluating gaits. I'm not saying they aren't good, its just not their thing.

I took Guiness to his freestyle class on Sunday. I missed last week because of the agility trial. Things I'm doing wrong. Ive been saying the verbal command and using a hand signal at the same time. You cant use hand signals in the ring. Every command has to be on verbals. So I need to practice saying the verbal, wait a few seconds. Then if he doesnt respond , give the hand signal. We also learned a new trick. You have your dog spin and then back through your legs. I have a lot of work to do on that one. O, yea, doing things wrong. I would say "yes" as my marker word. So if I did multiple tricks together I would say "yes" after each correct one. She said that was wrong. If "yes" is my marker word, then saying "yes" means a treat is coming next. She said I could praise Guiness every time he does a trick with, "good boy" ect. but don't say "yes" until the very end. What do you think? Of course for the rest of the class I kept messing it up. O well.

My sister and I had a very nice visit . Her younger daughter was sick on the way down. So Friday night we spent 4 hours at the urgent care. She had bilateral ear infections. Saturday we went shopping and out eat. Sunday morning she had to leave but we ate an early lunch at "Red Robin". I like that place.

Some things that you think about when you are with your family. My sister and I were talking about how my parents didn't take us out to eat much as kids. This will give you an idea of how our family thought of food. We thought the college cafeteria was the greatest thing ever. Soda!! We never had soda at home. The food tasted great to us. My sister told me when she got out of Virginia Tech and had her first job. She thought "Denny's " was a classy place. We were really laughing about that. Now she is corporate big wig and flies in private jets all over the country, Then I told her the story of when my brother and I went to breakfast with my grandfather. I guess we must have been 10 and 12 years old. My brother ordered pancakes. My grandfather was in the bathroom when the food came to the table. On the side of the plate was a small ice cream scoop of whitish-yellow food next to the pancakes. My brother asked me what it was. I said, "I don't know, it looks like ice cream". My brother took a spoon and ate a big bite of it. My brother's face said it all. " It's butter". Now I think, how could we not know what that was. I guess it all depends on what you are exposed to . Every time I think of that story, it cracks me up.

More on Mileys leg/foot

I haven't seen her holding her foot up anymore. The only thing I have seen is a weird gait down the steps at the park. The park steps are wider which must put stress on what ever is wrong. I don't see this at home when she goes down the steps. The first two video's is her going down the steps. You can see her right leg is kinda weird.

This is her going up. I don't see anything when she goes up.

I'm going to make an appt. with a vet and see what they think. If they say she needs rest, I'm probably going to have to board her. I'm terrible at resting my dog. I always let them do to much.