Broken, broken dog.

About a year ago Zen came up lame while chasing a frisbee and landing in wet grass. Crate rest overnight (I was about 18hour drive from my vet), and a plane ride back home and he was mostly fine. I rested him for 3 months. I instilled a strict "no frisbee" policy. I also pretty much didn't let him do anything that involved him chasing articles at high speeds. I threw a toy and made him wait until it landed and then sent him to said toy.

He would come up with a limp every now and then after strenuous exercise etc. I'm still thinking pulled muscle at this point. Commence more rest, anti-inflammatories and leash walks. Add in some strengthening exercises and stretches and chiropractor visits. He gets better. We start competing in agility. He's doing great. Zen starts refusing weaves in trials. Never at home, just trials.

More chiropractor, more stretches, more controlled exercise (treadmill/walking/swimming), massage, extensive warm-up and cool-down routines etc. We are taking time off from trialing for the summer as it's already hitting 80 degrees and I figured we needed to go back and rehash some things anyway. I signed up for Silvia Trkman's Agility Foundations class and I'm running through it with all three dogs. (TONS of video to be posted later) So, we get to the part with weaves, and after a good weaves session I notice Zen slightly (oh, so slightly) favoring that leg again.

Vet visit. I LOVE my vet, but to tell you the truth, throughout this whole thing I was scared to find out what the problem was. I honestly though it was a soft tissue injury and was doing my best with what I had. We don't have access to MRI or laser treatment in this area and was worried my vet wouldn't be able to do much for a soft tissue injury. Vets around here aren't big advocates of rehab programs. Heck, I have probably the only agility dogs my vet has ever seen. (Aside from one friend I know of who also does agility)

So after an exam, x-rays, and a long talk with my vet we have a game plan. Zen has Luxating Patella Grade II in his left rear leg. Surgery will be done Monday and Zen will be on 6 weeks of rest. He said in most pet dogs this would never be a problem, but since Zen is so active he said the surgery would be the best route. Prognosis is good, he said since he's not a large dog (54lbs) he expects him to be able to heal and be fully functional again. His words were "I'd be disappointed if this dog didn't go back to being an athlete". He also said, looking at x-rays there was no joint effusion and no reason to believe that there was any ligament tears or anything more serious than just the luxating patella. Of course, he won't be 100% sure until Mr.Zen's knee is opened up and he can see everything.

Video Galore!

We are auditing Silvia Trkman's online Foundations Agility class. Be prepared for LOTS of video documenting our progress. I'm trying to do the class with Zen and Gus, and sometimes Rumor for fun.

Here we go.

 

 

 

 

Here is Zen's conditioning and Strengthening video as well.

More Goals and Events

Alright, alright, alright. So I figured "Operation: Calm" wouldn't last long. hehe

I DO however, have some other goals for the dogs.

Zen and I have been working out a trial routine and we are getting better. I get him out of the van, potty him, then tug a bit. Then we enter the building and start doing tricks for treats. Spins, sit up, dance, leg weaves, heeling. This all keeps him focused and moving, then we enter the ring. So far, it's been working much better. After the run he gets a couple of treats then outside to tug and fetch and walk to cool down.

Gus has been doing some clicker work at home. Also some toy play. I really want to develop his toy drive a bit more. I'm just glad he has any right now since we got him as an older (almost adult) puppy. He catches on to the clicker stuff pretty fast, but he does so many cute things I have barely any finished behaviors.

Rumor, gah, Rumor. I need to stimulate her mind and really just, *do* something with her.

I have been working all of them on the exercise ball. I finally bought a peanut and it works much better than the big round ball. I need to work them a little more often. I also want to try the Crate Games DVD again with all three dogs.

January 1, 2013

I bet this is the most popular day to make a blog post. What, with all the New Year's resolutions still going strong in the first few hours of the morning. I want to set a few goals for myself to work on throughout the year. Some of these are just continuations of what I already do, other will be completely new.

1. Fitness- continue with my gym habit, hopefully improve on my running, continue with yoga, make some gains in the lifting department. I tried a bulk at the end of the year, so I need to cut that weight and see what, if anything, I gained.
      1B- Dog Fitness- Oh yeah. Roadworking the dogs more needs to be top of the list. I'd really like to get a treadmill since the number of loose dogs we have around our house is ridiculous. Zen did the treadmill at Brenda's house a while back, but the last time I tried him on it he was all "ZOMG, IT'S KILLING ME!" Sp, It'd be a lot of work, training him and Rumor and Gus all to use the treadmill. Biking is SO much easier, damn those loose dogs! Also under the dog fitness category is the exercise ball work and whatnot. I want to get one of those peanut balls because I think it will be easier than the big round ball I have now. I was also thinking of building a weight pull/drag contraption and have the dogs pull small weights around in the yard. We will see.

2. Photography- My skills need help. hah. My goal is to try shooting in manual/RAW all year. This could get interesting. I feel so overwhelmed with this that I have yet to pick up my camera in the couple of weeks I made this decision.

3. Training/Trialing- I really want to set some concrete goals this year. Get a routine for our trialing, go to the ring connected and focused. This is harder than it sounds for us. Zen gets very keyed up watching dogs run. I've tried tugging with him, which at this point only his attention marginally. This is interesting to me because he is a toy NUT at home, and often at trials he is a toy nut until he sees the dog in the ring. I've tried having him lay down, which only results in him barking relentlessly (annoying to me and others). My other strategy is tricks and heeling using food. This is currently working, but my goal is to reward for that calm focused behavior in the presence of running dogs and hopefully, eventually, it will result in us being connected and focused on each other before the run.

I want to do more training at home. Motivate myself to get out there and work with the dogs. I need to improve each dog's mat behavior so I can work with all three of them in the room at the same time.

4. Hiking- DO MORE HIKING. More outdoor time is needed! :) Oh, I think I'll stop here. I have more goals, but this seems like a lot already. :)

Pshhh.. Calm. HAH!

Day two I didn't do too much. I was regularly tossing treats down for laying calmly, standing and not whining, sitting calmly, etc. All while just sitting at the laptop. It helps. A little. Day three. I tried a session tonight with Zen. Not sure if I want to look at the footage or just delete it. It was 40 minutes long. The first 10-15 consisted of him barking, whining, offering behaviors, and pacing. There were moments where he would offer a calming signal, or appear to be ignoring me, but each time I treated he started offering behaviors again. This will be a long road. I'm hoping I'm on the right track and that was some extinguishment burst or something. In order to get anything other than demanding behavior, I tried petting him and lots of rewarding of calming signals. (lip licking, soft eyes, etc) It didn't help that Rumor was right outside the bedroom door whining the WHOLE time. Then my husband came looking for me, so that stirred Zen up again. At least I got him to put Rumor outside for the rest of the session. I ended with a rub-down/massage and I feel like Zen needs to go back to the chiropractor. It's been a few weeks and a couple of agility trials and I think his back is tight again. I got the best results just rubbing his neck and shoulder area. Any lower and he was wiggly and restless. Tomorrow I'm going to Houston for a few days and Zen gets to come with. Hopefully I'll have some time to just bond and do some calm walks and possibly a session in my brother's house where I know it will be quiet and distraction free.

Project: Calm Day 1

I promised video. :)

New Dog, New Management, Frustrating Times

We adopted a new dog. Gus, a black-brown mutt-dog of unknown origin. He's as sweet as can be, but three medium sized dogs in a small sized house is a lot.

Zen is a pacer, Rumor is a guarder. Until now we have just managed them, or ignored the bad behavior with no real ill effects. Now I'm on a mission. I may fizzle out because I think these dogs have more willpower than I do, but I want to try. I dream of a life with dogs just lounging around on the floor. hah.

Last night I tried for the first time to reward "calm" in Zen. I basically layed on the floor for 30 minutes and ignored all his attempts to get me to give him treats. He whined, he paced, he ignored me, he layed down "at the ready". We got some good behavior in there, which was rewarded, which sent him into another few minutes of trying to figure out what he did to earn the treat. This will be a long, trying journey, but it will make him a better pet in the long run. If it doesn't kill me first.

I figure, if I document this it might keep me interested, at least it'll keep me honest. Heck, through my trials and tribulations I may help someone else.

My goal is to do one calming session per day. I'll be going back through all of my reactive dog books to get some tips and tricks that may be beneficial, but most of this will be winging it. Both Rumor and Zen have a "mat" behaviour as described in Leslie McDevitt's book "Control Unleashed". Our mat behavious is too demanding for me at this point. They are not relaxing on the mat. So I'm going to try getting a relax without the mat, and slowly transferring it.

Going to go do session one for the day. Depending on how long/boring the video is I may post a little.

Gus, 12-11-12