The Disappearing Act

This is going to be one of those non-stop weeks.  I, the girl who saves money compulsively, splurged big time and am going to a concert tomorrow night with Louie, and Wednesday, I start full-time at my internship, which I have yet to talk about on the blog.  Somewhere in there, I also have to finish writing an essay about an opera, which was started at 3 A.M. this morning, but has yet to be completed.

You likely won't hear from Marge and I until Thursday - please forgive us, we'll catch up, I swear!  For now, enjoy these two shots from Marge's final practice before her trial this Saturday and Sunday.

We worked on wraps, pull-throughs, outs, and some front and rear crosses.  She's really solid.  And she was this happy even after listening to the sounds of the angriest thunderstorm we've seen this summer.  Does she love this sport, or what?

Getting Ready for the Ring Again

I'm not going to be able to make it to agility class next week, so this Tuesday was our last chance to practice with instruction before our trial on September 18 and 19.

I ran two courses - one during class, one during a short lesson that I had with Marisa after class.

Course 1 (White Circle Numbers)
I led out past 2, called her and pushed her through the last two jumps of the serpentine.  Straightforward from there, 'til a rear cross over 7 to get her up the A-Frame.  Then a front cross in front of the A-Frame, dog on right through the weaves, rear cross over 12 to the table.

Led out halfway from the table and did a moving front cross between 14 and 15.  Dog on left to start the serpentine, then a front cross on the landing side of 19 and dog on right 'til the end.

Fun course.  I didn't run in to much trouble at all. Marge goofed off a bit on the hard rear cross to the table, and had a little bit of weave issues (but it's really a horrible set of poles - I almost want to stop training weave poles until my club gets a better set - preferably, a 24" set).

Course 2 (Black Circle Numbers)
 Led out past 2 and pushed out over 3.  Front cross between 4 and 5.  Rear cross over 7.  We ran in to some trouble on the teeter/A-Frame thing .. I was pushing her too far out and she took the tunnel.  She was starting to stress about doing the teeter a million times, so Marisa told me to move on from there.

Back cross to the table, dog on left in to weaves.  She took the 15 tunnel without a problem, to my surprise.  Had to push push push to get her over 16, and I'm pretty sure she stayed on my right through the end.

This was definitely a tougher course.  But, with the exception of my miscommunication with Marge at the tunnel, we did well.

Marisa says she looked great and that we really had nothing else to work on after running these two courses.  I tried to hang out with Marge while she ran her own dog, but Marge heard some noise in the distance that freaked her out, so I put her in the car and smooched on some adorable GSD puppies instead.

------------------------------------------------------

I'm excited and nervous for this upcoming trial.  I'm excited that we're finally getting back in the ring, excited that there's a very good chance that Marge will finish her OA title.  I'm nervous because it's a new trial site, that, as far as I know, has never been used for a dog show before.  It's a park near the water, so I guess my biggest concern is boats making noise or something like that.  Oh well - I guess I'll go in to it with the same mindset that I have for my last trials.  Hope for the best, pull Marge out if something doesn't seem right.  Usually, the sounds and sights and smells of the trial block out everything else, so this likely won't be any different.. at least I hope it won't.

We'll have several of our friends and former classmates either tenting with us or next to us, which is a comfort to me, and I think to Marge, too.

We're at a really good place in terms of agility, and we'll spend the next three months trialing in the cool weather.  If not for school, this would definitely be my favorite time of year.

Taken May 2010; never posted it!

Go Crazy

Something I have always wanted to do was to get a brand new squeaky toy for Marge, place it out in the yard without her knowing, and then watch her reaction to it.

I had myself a little fun this afternoon and did just that.. with a squirrel stuffy toy on a string (my makeshift flirt pole).  Can you say, INSANITY?

Marge is not particularly toy driven, but the sight of this thing wriggling across the yard erratically was enough to send her wild.  Here's a short clip of some of the action.

I've decided that she is never to see this toy outside of the yard and will only get to play with it one or two times a week on the string, in order to keep it novel and exciting.

I'm also going crazy for another reason: it appears that the EVO canned food is not working for Layla.  She has the beginnings of a sore on her nose and sounds just a bit stuffed up.  She's eaten about 10 million different things over the past month, but I can't really pinpoint it to anything else.

There is a thickener in the food called Carrageenan that, supposedly, is very commonly not tolerated in animals with allergies or sensitivities.  I also thought I read somewhere that it can lead to inflammation (hence the respiratory response).

I called the vet and he was shocked; there is literally nothing in EVO.  It is 95% Duck.  Something in that other 5% is causing Layla a problem.

I tried giving her d/d canned as a replacement while we get this sorted out, but she puked it up, even after having Pepcid.  So, d/d canned is totally out. That means that she had to eat the EVO again tonight, despite the possibility that it's causing an allergic reaction.  My vet is adamant that my cat does not stop eating.

It's very likely that Layla is not going to be able to eat wet food.  Our next try is going to be Royal Canin's Duck and Green Pea, Dry veterinary formula.  I'm not impressed with the ingredients at all, but the premium foods just are not working and this is the last limited ingredient duck-based food that I know of.

Just continue to cross your fingers that we find a food that works.

There He Goes Again

I know that there is generally a lot of confusion when it comes to laws and regulations regarding Service Dogs, but I would expect the man who is "supposed" to be America's most popular (ugh) dog personality to know better than this.

There was recently an announcement posted on Cesar Millan's home page that his Pit Bull, Junior, had been certified as a Service Dog.  The page was later taken down, probably because Cesar realized how asinine it was, but here it is, courtesy of Google Cache (click to enlarge):

There are so many problems here.

For once, this US Service Dog Registry thing seems to be nothing more than a listing service.  I can even register Marge as a Service Dog with them if I'd like to - and God knows, she is not exactly Service Dog material, nor do I need a Service Dog.  (Someone just successfully registered their deceased dog to prove the problem with this web site.) And, for the low price of $50, I can obtain some sort of certificate stating it formally.  They did not assess Cesar's dog in any way. Surely, the oh-so-great Dog Whisperer can do better than this.

Next, Cesar does not mention anywhere on this page that Service Dogs must be trained to perform some kind of activity to aid their disabled handler in order to truly be Service Dogs.   They may aid their handler as a seeing eye dog, hearing ear dog, mobility dog, or may retrieve things, alert their handlers to oncoming medical issues (such as seizures, panic attacks), among many other behaviors.  But they must do SOMETHING.

"A Service Dog is defined in the Americans With Disabilities Act as "any guide dog, 
signal dog, or other animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the 
benefit of an individual with a disability." (servicedogssavelives.org)

Whether or not Cesar is disabled is none of my business, but he should NOT be giving people the wrong idea by telling them that they can go out and get their dog certified so that it can accompany them in public places.  This is extremely dangerous for true Service Dog handlers, who already have to battle with "fakers" bringing misbehaved pet dogs in to public establishments unlawfully.

I'd like to hear the thoughts of those who have Service Dogs or are more familiar with the laws.  I am glad that this unimpressive page was taken down, but I am upset that it was posted in the first place because, to me, it shows a true lack of understanding on Cesar's part as to what a Service Dog really is.  Not cool at all.  Really, it just adds more fuel to the fire of my dislike for this commercialized, unscientific, and overly negative "dog psychology" empire.

The Pigeons

Pigeons seem to have taken over my life lately.  Yes, pigeons.

The other day, we went out in to the yard and found this guy perched on our fence.

At first we thought he was a feral pigeon who was sick, injured, or lost.  It's very rare that we get feral pigeons in our yard, despite living in the city. On closer inspection, we saw that he was wearing a tag around his leg.  He's likely a show/breed or maybe racing pigeon.  There's only one pigeon keeper in my area that I know of, but I was unable to reach them by phone after a couple of attempts.

He definitely seemed interested in us, periodically shining his beady little orange eyes in our direction.

And Marge and Layla were extremely interested in him.  At one point, he flew up to the railing on my back stairs.. Marge started leaping up and down, and Layla's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

Marge says, "Bird bird bird bird bird"

Layla says, "Lunch lunch lunch lunch" 

(she's pretty much the same today, by the way.. 

no vomit, thanks to the meds, and an improved appetite.)

Kidding aside, I felt really bad for the poor guy when it became apparent that he was lost.  He clucked at me a few times.. at first, I thought he was being aggressive or warning me to back away, but I think he was just scared and was asking for help.

He flew off before we could take any further action.  The pigeon keeper I know only lives a few blocks away, so perhaps he found his way back home if, indeed, he is a part of their flock.

------------------------------

Today, I got to meet a couple of the laboratory pigeons who I'll be working with this semester through school in my Learning & Behavior Experimental Psychology class.  I didn't even know we had pigeons.  Apparently, they're mostly retired breeders birds (pigeons are bred for their meat - who would have thunk it?) who lived in not-so-great conditions and otherwise would have been killed.  These lab birds live twice as long as feral pigeons because of the top-of-the-line care that they get, some making it in to their mid twenties.

(I know that laboratory animals hit a soft spot with some people, but I assure you that I wouldn't be participating in the class if there was any reason to believe that these birds were mistreated.  There are actually a handful of animal lovers in the class, which is nice.)

Psychological testing is performed on them, but only positive reinforcement is utilized - absolutely no aversives at all (my professor is adamant about this!).  They are not shocked, startled, etc.  Testing mostly consists of putting them in to a Skinner Box for short periods of time and feeding them pellets as a reward/reinforcer/consequence for different things, depending on what kind of project is being worked on. In fact, they are so comfortable with testing that when they are given some time off (when they can free feed, mingle with other birds, and fly around a big open room), many become unhappy that they are not working in the lab.

I'm going to be assigned my own personal bird for the semester.  One of the labs in the course is a shaping lab, in which we can shape the bird to perform any (reasonable) behavior that we want.  Having never used learning theory practices on anything other than dogs, I think that this will be exciting.

I'm excited to meet "my" pigeon next Tuesday. Really, I'm excited about the course itself.  My professor knows about my work with dogs and said that I've "come to the right place" if I wish to learn more stuff related to that kind of thing.

Useless Thumbs and Medical Drama

Forgive me for not getting around to everyone's blogs this week; I played catch-up earlier in the week, but, as you'll soon find out if you read this post, I've kind of had my hands full here.

We turn our attention back now to Layla, who has been in the midst of some bad tummy troubles thanks to an unwelcome change in the formula of Hill's Prescription Diet cat food.

The new d/d Dry formula never wound up working out; Layla was still vomiting and I didn't want things to get worse.  So, per my vet's advice, I switched her on to Natural Balance Duck and Green Pea, which was the food most comparable to Layla's original d/d Duck and Green Pea.  Things went okay for a few days, but the puking began again after some time passed.

I then added in d/d Duck and Green Pea CANNED food. The ingredients in this food haven't changed and aren't supposed to change, so I thought that perhaps 1 or 2 small meals of canned food every day would help Layla out in the digestive department.

It, too, seemed to help for a bit, maybe 5 or 6 days.  Then, the throwing up began again.

Yesterday, it got to the point where she had vomited on back-to-back days.  Her stool didn't look normal, and I found some sort of bloody-mucous-like-substance in her litter box (still not sure if it was vomit or stool, as gross as that is).  To top things off, she stopped eating.  She vomited twice in the presence of the d/d Canned food, as if merely smelling it was enough to send her delicate system out of whack.

We went to the vet today, where the plan WAS to get blood work done on her (we need to rule out things like hyperthyroid and kidney disease).  Well, she was having none of that.  Two technicians were holding her, trying to draw blood, and I was petting her..

..and she nailed me.  HARD.  On both hands.  On my left hand, I've go two punctures at the base of my thumb, and on my right hand, the nail is partially crushed and it's just a bloody and painful mess.

Definitely the most painful animal bite I've ever experienced.  I don't blame her, she was scared and angry and freaked out.. but OUCH.

I got all light headed from the pain, the blood, etc and had to leave the room and drink some water.  A few minutes later, the vet came out and said that there was NO way they could draw blood from her.  Wrapped up in a towel and restrained by three people was simply not enough to keep her still.  My guess is that he didn't want to sedate her because she hadn't eaten anything.

They did manage to give her subcutaneous fluids, which was a good thing.  They also gave her a shot of something (honestly can't remember what) to stop the nausea, and sent me home with pills to give her for a week to see if the nausea/vomiting clears up.  They also want a urine sample (which Layla is not being cooperative about, as she absolutely doesn't want to pee in an empty box).

The vet basically told me that she needs to eat SOMETHING, no matter what that something may be and even if it meant feeding her crummy foods. Turns out that Layla actually is extremely hungry despite her refusal of food (she ate treats heartily this afternoon), so I picked her up a can of EVO 95% Duck and she ate a few spoonfuls of it in a hurry.  I'm glad for this, because I really wasn't too keen on opening up a can of grocery store cat food. I will give her more in the morning, once I make sure that she doesn't have a skin reaction to the food (as she did back in June with the Wellness CORE).

She's acting pretty much normal now, probably because the anti-nausea drugs are working.  I can't know for sure yet whether or not she can eat the EVO long-term, since the medication might be blocking a digestive reaction, but I have no problem feeding her this food (or ANY food) exclusively, as long as she holds it down and it keeps her healthy.  I'll take anything at this point.

Te vet and I are going to touch base tomorrow to figure out where we're going from here.  I would really like to get bloodwork done on her, for starters.  Though I'm hoping this is all due to allergies, there is a possibility that other things are going on and making things worse.

How terribly frustrating.  My cat's got to suffer through yet another dietary dilemma, and me?.. well, quite frankly, my thumbs hurt.

Heat Wave Agility

We had a rather hot agility class last night.  The summer wouldn't let us escape without one more heat wave.  Even at 8:30 at night, the heat and humidity were still affecting us substantially.  There were only three of us in class, so we got to do two short courses each.

Light Circles (course starting with Dog Walk)


Tough little course!  Started out with Marge on my left, rear crossed between 2 and 3 so she was on my right for the pinwheel.

Had to push out to the tunnel (which, of course, took me a few tries, since I much preferred watching Marge hop over 5 and 6 rather than leaving her back there and moving diagonally forward!  The weave entrance was tough, but she got it.

Did the "backy-uppy" thing between 9 and 10, and front crossed to the table.  Marge on my left up to the tire, then I front crossed to get her over the last jump.

Dark Circles (starting with Jump - Tire)


Louie came along tonight, so for the first time in a long time, I have some video.




We ran this course once before this video was taken (with the bars accidentally at 24", too.. and she didn't knock a single one). She (and I) was pretty tired, but we squeezed out another speedy little run.

I muted the sound because I am just so amazed at how terrible my front cross is after the table.  We practiced a few times, and each time I think I got a tiny bit better. Watching it without the sound really is telling.. body cues are everything.  My arm is not coming up soon enough at all, and Marge doesn't know where to go!  It's definitely my biggest handling issue.

We had a good night, agility wise, but it was kind of a weird night for me, personally.  My handling in my first two runs was really poor, and I almost felt like I wasn't enjoying it.  I think it was a combination of the heat and the stress and fatigue from going back to school.  I also think I'm anxious to start trialing again...