Ugh !

I pulled Miley from the USDAA trial for this weekend. Last Friday I saw her skip 3 times on the morning walk. I didn't see anything else until yesterday. Last night I took her up to the training field. I saw her do that weird gait going down the dogwalk ramp. It wasn't as bad as the time a few months ago, but it was there. She also wouldn't turn to the right on a jump sequence. Did I not cue it right? I had to do it several times and then she finally go it. Did it hurt to jump to the right. I don't know. Dogs are hard to figure out. She jumps up and down at home when she is excited. Boing, Boing, boing! That doesn't seem to affect her. She still has a nice tight tuck sit and can go into a stand on her back legs without moving from her spot. I did have the rehab vet check her this past Monday. But of course nothing seems to be a problem. I really feel it has to do with the a-frame. My a-frame or any a-frame , I'm not sure. I built my a-frame myself, maybe there is something wrong with it. Maybe she is stubbing her toe. When watching her yesterday on the dogwalk, it really seem like a foot/toe problem.


Then of course it was raining again this morning. I tired walking the dogs but everyone was acting like it was torture so I took them back home. Then Miley pooped in the living room. Loose poop too, so I had to get the steam cleaner out to clean it up right.


I see the rehab vet again on Friday. I'll have her check Miley again. I kinda don't know what else to do about it. I wish I could figure out what the problem is or what is causing it.

O,yea here is a positive. Miley had excellent dogwalk contacts yesterday. WooHoo!

More Rehab

This video was from Friday appt., second time on the treadmill. They put a leash on her because in the morning , she was riding the treadmill to the back and stood where it wasn't moving. Sneaky huh? She did really well on Friday. Friday night at home she seem very good. I didn't seen any leg problems. Saturday I cancelled my appointment. Where were suppose to get severe weather and I didn't want to be driving in it. But we just got lots and lots of rain. It stopped for a short while and I took the dogs for a walk. I really didn't see anything specifically wrong with her gait. Just this little hop, but not with her feet it was more in her hip. It was so slight, I kept saying to my husband, "Did you see that?". "No"
I think I'm making myself crazy. I did decrease the Rimadyl to once a day on Saturday. On Sunday no walks. Its been raining a lot.

We are suppose to get snow. They are saying between 1-5 inches. So guess what? They closed school already. Its been raining all day. What if they are wrong? And I cant believe it but this school system has no emergency days built into the calender. So the last snow day they called off , I have to make up on my own time. Stay late and make up the time or take a personal day. I don't have a personal day for this type of thing. My personal days are for agility , dog or kid stuff. An now they have called school already and I will have to make up this day too. I get seven personal days for the year and they think I should use two for this. They better hope it snows!!

Has anyone used or know someone who has used Cartrophen for knee injuries?

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."

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.

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.

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 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.

Miley's foot

Something may be wrong with Miley's foot. I notice last weekend at the trial that she held her foot up twice. I was walking her on the road area where you can park RV's and cars. It was a huge area down from the trial. She did it once Saturday and once Sunday. She just held it up when walking, like she has some thing stuck to her foot. I brushed her foot off and she was fine the rest of the day. She did it again on Sunday. But there was lots of little pebbles on the road area. This time I looked more carefully at her foot, brushed if off again and kept walking. I didn't see this again until Tuesday night when walking the street at home. Same foot, all three times. Ok, some thing may be wrong. I decided I wouldn't do any training with her for a week. I havent seen her do it again. But this morning, Mickey and Miley were wrestling. Miley on the ground and Mickey on top of her. It works better this way since Mickey is so much smaller then Miley. Every thing was fine until he bit her right foot ankle area. Then she got upset and went after Mickey ( not playfully ). It made me think he hit just the wrong spot. So I will keep resting her and see what happens. If I see something next week, Ill take her to the vet. I bet that is why she dropped so many bars this weekend. The one that surprised me was the Sunday run ( video below in another post) when she came out of the weaves and then there was a jump. I remember thinking that it was weird she dropped that bar.

My sister is coming this weekend for a visit. That will be fun.