Thanksgiving

I thought for Thanksgiving I'd write about what I am thankful for in my dogs. It is a given that I've loved them unquestionably. The amount of love they gave back was limitless. And oh, what they have taught me—and continue to do so!

My girl, Suzy.

Suzy was my first dog. I had moved into a carriage house, had a good job and decided it was "time." I went to the local animal shelter and saw a big, rangy Airedale cross named Duke who struck my fancy. Yet when I brought him out of his cage to play, old Dukester was a wild man. Neither commands, nor his name elicited any response. In my tiny carriage house, and being gone during the day, I could only envision the havoc he could cause. (This was way before the sensibilities of crates.)

A friend was with me and read the tag on Suzy cage. "Look at this!" she commented. "Suzy can "come," "sit," and "lay down!"" Who would argue with that resume? Plus Suzy weighed in at about 45 pounds compared to Duke's easy 70+ pounds. Indeed, outside the confines of the shelter's cage, Suzy could follow all those commands—immediately. And so began my love affair with my little German Shepard, Border Collie cross.

Suzy was perfect. She was born to mind and what she lacked in humor, she more than made up for in love. I took her through a series of obedience classes, but it wasn't my ability to train that made her so impressive. It was just what Suzy did. She was my heart. I dated or didn't date men depending on Suzy's reaction to them or theirs to her. My life was no longer joining friends for drinks after work, but dashing home to be with my dog. Weekends weren't filled with partying, but quiet hikes with my new BFF. Suzy taught me the joy of having a dog companion, of trust, responsibility and friendship with another species that far surpassed anything I'd experienced with the dogs of my childhood. I was blessed with her presence for 18 wonderful years.

Luce, the Goose.

Lucy was my second pup and another "reject" picked up at the same shelter where I'd found Suzy. The shelter listed her as an English Springer Spaniel, Australian Shepherd cross. Humor? She had it in spades. What a funny, goofy dog. Friends called her "Goose" since she was such a character. It was nice to have a pup who didn't take herself, or life, quite so seriously. Lucy knew how to enjoy herself.

On the other hand, she was a handful. Leash aggressive and bull-headed. Life with Lucy was a whole different ballgame. She lived for her nose and would follow it over everything else. Walking her anywhere was an exercise for me in full-blown alertness. I was constantly changing course on walks to avoid other dogs and I developed a "loose-dog" antenna that most have been visible.

Plus, for the last four years of her very short decade of life, Lucy was sick. Her back, her head, her cancer. All different things in which the vets performed myriads of tests on the poor girl. How she hated vet offices! Surgeries, drugs, internal investigations, MRIs, you name it.

So what did Lucy teach me? She taught me to be grateful for the times when she chose to mind, when she didn't attack another dog, when she was feeling good and wanted to be with us. Those times were such a reprieve and so wonderful.

And now we are blessed with the amazing Miss Bella. Bella isn't a shelter dog. My sister-in-law has Bellie's half-sister, a purebred Australian Shepherd. Molly is such a kind, placid jewel, that I decided that was the kind of dog I needed after Lucy. Luckily, the neighbor's lab was Johnny-on-the-spot, and voila!  A mixed litter.

The amazing Miss Bella.

Bella has Lucy's goofiness and Suzy's loyalty. I can walk anywhere with Bella without fear an ensuing dog fight. I can't tell you how grateful I am for that. The antenna I developed with Lucy has all but disappeared. Bella likes everything—people, kids, dogs, cats—you name it, she likes it! What a joy! Bella also wants to be with us. Being in our presence is something she desires. Hiking or biking with her is no problem as she won't be out of sight.

All my dogs have made me a better owner. I'm more knowledgeable than I was when Suzy came home with me and Bella is the recipient of that improved consciousness. I continue to learn from Bellie. Instead of expecting her to always understand me, I'm trying oh-so-hard to understand what she's trying to tell me.

I can't imagine being dog-less. My life is so much richer for it and for that, I am oh so grateful! As a friend said about her pound pup, "It's not so much that we rescued him, it's more like he rescued us..."

Bloat

Bloat requires immediate attention. The day we had to put Lucy to sleep, we rushed her to the vet because we thought she had bloat. This condition tends to affect large, older dogs with big chests and Lucy fit that bill. It can occur after the dog gobbles (inhales) their food. The stomach fills with gas and fluid and can twist on itself cutting off blood and oxygen supply to other organs. (See this link for more information about the condition.) Chance of survival without veterinarian intervention is nil. Even with that intervention, the odds are not in the dog's favor.

Lucy had lymphoma and I was feeding her a homemade, high protein diet recommended by the vet. Lucy had always been a finicky eater, but loved this food. After eating this one particular evening, she went into the back yard and started pacing. I'm not sure what made me watch her from the house, but I did and could see she was pacing which was unusual. She tried to defecate and couldn't; tried to vomit and couldn't. These are both signs of bloat. Additionally, her stomach was noticeably distended and hard. Another sign of bloat. We rushed her to the vet. In her case, it wasn't bloat, but cancer. That was our last day with our old girl.

Here is a story and video from Bark Magazine showing what symptoms of bloat looks like in a dog. Truly, this is nothing to mess with. If you suspect your dog may have bloat, drop everything and get your sweet pup to a vet immediately.

If you have a large, older dog with a big, barrel chest who inhales food, you have a dog that is more at risk. Consider getting a food bowl that inhibits or slows down gobbling. They go by a variety of names: "Brake-Fast," "Slow Eating," "Eat Slow," "Slow Feed," etc.

Stuffed Kongs

What do you mean you don't want to throw the ball now?

Besides the Chuck-It, the Kong has been the favorite, most used, dog toy/product I've purchased for Bella. We rarely see a day that doesn't have at least one Chuck-It session and any time we leave the house for an extended period of time, my Bell-Girl gets a Kong.

In fact, she has four Kongs through which she cycles. Once they are "finished," meaning she has successfully licked the insides clean, they are washed, refilled and thrown into the freezer. Licking it clean takes her all of a matter of minutes, so whatever is frozen inside, barely has time to thaw.

The Kong site has some great recipes to get you started, but I tend to serve up whatever I have available in the house. I nearly always include an organic grain (though the kibble I feed her is grain free): brown rice, millet, farro, quinoa, etc. If I plug the small opening with peanut butter, I may dribble in some chicken stock at the end through the other ingredients. If I don't add a liquid, I don't bother plugging the end.

A typical stuffing for Bella is brown rice, yogurt and banana. I may add some peanut butter mixed in with it. Often I'll dice carrots which she loves or fruit and mix that in to. Today she got her Kongs filled with brown rice, sunflower seed butter, ground flax, blueberries and diced, organic chicken hearts with a dribble of chicken stock.

What do you put in your Kongs?

Winter Weather

We've had rain and sleet and hail for days now. The wood-burning stove has been going non-stop. Soup is bubbling on the stove and though there are jobs to be done, motivating ourselves to go outside is futile. Even Bella is disinterested.

Which reminds me of our recent camping trip when the night time temps were in the low 20s and Bella's water bowl froze solidly. To keep the pup warm, we bundled her in an old, down comforter that is a mere shadow of its former self. Still, there are enough feathers left to keep a puppy warm!

Toasty dog!

Leash Work

Have you ever noticed how people manage their dog leash? I think it says a lot about the whole relationship with their dog. Are they paying attention to their dog and where their pup is walking?

Here are my completely biased observations:

• Flexi-lead walkers: I've written about flexis before and don't like them as I think owners are often oblivious to their dog. I find most either walking with a friend chatting, or on the phone—in either case, the dog wanders unobserved somewhere at the end of the lead. Pros: I have never seen a dog wrapped up in their flexi lead.
• Short leash walkers: Many have either a short lead, or a long lead that is looped enough times to make a short leash. The dog is on a tight heal. The dog? Old ones plod along looking resigned to the whole experience. Young dogs, eager to explore, usually are looking elsewhere with a gap on one side between their neck and their collar as they try to pull away. Not often do I witness an exceptionally well-trained dog healing no matter what their leash length. (This says a lot about dedication to training. I am no exception to this, unfortunately.)
• Long leash walkers: How frequently have you seen some dog at the end of their six-foot leash with the lead wrapped around a leg? These are the ones that most amaze me. Is the owner not aware of this? Don't they feel the odd pull of the leash? Hats off to the pups who just march along. What an uncomfortable walk!

I just got Bella a harness. Bella is an infrequent puller. She often walks ahead of me; I have not mandated a heal...sometimes to my regret. But on occasion, she'll spot the perfect stick in a yard and without a moment's hesitation, lunge for it. I worry about what that's doing to her neck, hence the harness. It has a chest d-ring and one on the back. A strap goes not only around her chest and across the front, but also between her front legs for stabilization. For inveterate pullers, hooking to both d-rings is supposed to give you much more control. I find the chest ring sufficient to eliminate the pull on me when that stick is spotted.

There are two things I am getting used to with this contraption. One is the feel of the leash swinging. It is a totally different sensation hooked to the front of Bella than a leash feels hooked to her collar. Two, because the leash is hooked to the front, I have to be more mindful if Bella is on my left or right. We live in an area without sidewalks, so sometimes it is necessary that she walks on my right, at others, she needs to be on my left. I'm trying to learn how to move the leash in front of her before she moves to a different side so the leash isn't over her back and pulling her in a circle away from me.

FOOTNOTE: I just switched her leash to the back d-ring. Much better! No wild swinging and she can walk on either side without an issue. Because Bella is not a dynamic puller, the extra control I might get from the chest d-ring isn't necessary. Easy schmeasy!

Clicker Training

I attended a make-up class this past weekend for a rally class I missed on our trip. We had a new instructor and the class was the first one for this particular session: Advanced Competitive Rally. They were kind enough to allow me to attend as I am not competitive and as a team, Bella and I are way below advanced.

The instructor, however, did nothing with rally, but worked us for an hour on how to use the clicker. For those of you who use a clicker regularly, you probably scratch your head at those of us who complain of being "clicker disabled." I have to admit, I am. Totally. Clicker disabled. I click at the wrong time, I click and don't treat, I treat and don't click, I treat when I shouldn't. It's an embarrassment.

But this class was great! Initially all she requested of us was to click when our dogs reacted with a box. She didn't care what they did, how they did it or whether it was the same reaction over and over again. Sniff, look, paw, back away, step on it—anything deserved a click and treat. We did that for two minutes, than stopped and let the dogs rest. Repeat.

For a new spin on it, she asked us to click at any new behavior. If they looked at the box, click and treat. But if they looked at it again, don't click and treat—wait until they offered a new behavior. Bella knew looking at the box got a treat, so she was confused that repeated glancing at the box didn't bring a reward. You could see the wheels spinning! Finally she pawed the box. Bingo! Click and treat! She nosed the box. Click and treat!

We did this exercise a number of times also. Always a duration of two minutes with a nice break between exercises.

The next exercise required us to use a hog pan. The pan was turned over with the bottom facing up. (The bottom was also covered with non-skid tape.) For this exercise, the instructor asked us to decide on what we wanted our dog to do with the pan. A student had brought her own bucket and she wanted her dog to knock it over. The rest of us used the hog pans.

One owner was only looking for her dog to put her front paws on it. Another wanted their dog's front paws on it and for the dog, keeping his paws on the pan, to rotate around the pan. Yet another owner wanted her dog's front paws on it and the dog to stand still. For me, I initially wanted Bella to put her front feet on it and eventually her back feet too. From there, I wanted her to sit. Ta-da! She did it! Smart puppy!

Yet another break. The final clicker exercise was for the dog to shake paws. However, we were to get close enough so when the dog's paw came down it would touch our knee. When there was contact: click and treat. Eventually the idea was that we would walk backward as the dog walked towards us tapping our knees with their paw, left paw to right knee, right to left. Bella was pooped. She could barely figure out how to shake and luckily the teacher recognized it before I did. She told me to just let Bellie rest.

Our final exercise was a five minute down with us wandering around and greeting each other. Bella almost made it. She was good until someone greeted me with a squeaky voice. That's okay. She'd worked hard in class and squeaking is so enticing. She went back down and stayed there for the remainder. All in all, a great class for the both of us. Seattle Agility and their instructors rock!

Have You Brought Your Dog to Baja?

This has turned into an ever-changing target and is making me edgy. We're bringing Bella with us to Baja this year and we'll be in Mexico (southern Baja) for a couple of months. Not only do I have a concern about how she'll manage in the heat and with cactus, but with other dogs (native and gringo), poisonous fish and a totally foreign environment. To top that off, the criteria to get her back into the United States seems to be elusive.

Having crossed the border heading south several times before, I know having up-to-date vet records for her is a priority, but not always requested.. She is current on shots and she's healthy, so I don't see that being the problem. I'll have her on flea, tick and heart worm meds, so that takes care of that concern. I have booties for the cactus for her feet, but will have to deal with them if they get elsewhere. I have a muzzle that I'm training her to that should help (but not eliminate) the fish issue. It's getting back across the border into the US that has me guessing.

Some folks say that the same certificates that get us into Mexico will get us home. Others have said I need a certificate signed by a Mexican vet stating that she's healthy and it must be issued no more than seven days before we cross the border. Yesterday, I found a site the said I needed an International Health Certificate (#77-043) and another form called APHIS-7001.

My vet is knowledgeable about crossing the border into Canada, but not about crossing the border into Mexico. Today I called the state vet office (the person I spoke with was pleasant, but knew nothing) who faxed forms to my vet, but said I needed to talk with the federal office (under the FDA). I'm still waiting to hear from them.

Of course, my nightmare is returning home to find a glitch at the border. ...That I'm missing that form. ...That Bella will have to be quarantined. ...That....

Have any of you experienced a border crossing south to north? What has been your experience. Don't be shy; let me know—please!