Bits, Oddments, and Loose Ends

On Sunday, I worked Mimi in the field with our little PA system. The sound quality in the video below is kind of crappy because it was really windy (that's why I cut out all of the sound from the clips of Gracie and Cap). Still, you can tell that Mimi is flicking her ears back, standing up, and generally getting uncomfortable on the table as I'm counting down (the volume was up pretty high and I'm sure my neighbors were wondering what the hell the crazy dog lady was up to). But I was able to reinforce her on the table quite a bit and she went on to perform nicely.

I believe. . . dare I say it? . . . that she is slowly desensitizing to the PA sounds.

Enjoy the video. I shot it on Sunday morning. It was cool and breezy and all three pups enjoyed doing some work outside.

On Friday, I had my first lesson in TTouch (this link is reasonably informative). I am willing to try anything that might help my girlie and I figured TTouch could perhaps give me some tools to maintain a connection with Mimi in the gate area at trials. The idea is that with time, she will learn to associate a calm, relaxed, but focused state with my touching her and that perhaps I can recreate that state in the gate area before she becomes so stressed. My friend Denise suggested that I can also use TTouch after runs when she is also pretty worked up.

It will take a while for me to learn how to do it correctly and for her to learn to associate the touches with a calm state. Fortunately, I have an entire house full of animals who will line up to let me practice on them! I'll get a second lesson in a few weeks.

Harry is still feeling super crappy. I can hear his poor little gut rumbling and roiling. My friend Denise, a regular font of information tonight, suggested famotidine. Iz took that too. I'll get some tomorrow and see if it doesn't help Harry. I gave him some carofate tonight before dinner in the hopes that it might help him rest more comfortably tonight. He got me up twice last night to go outside with diarrhea, poor little guy. I spent many long months with Iz sleeping with the light on and one eye open. It is not a skill I am pleased to have. On the bright side, sick pups get to go to work with me and he's enjoying that special attention. I can't tell yet if his feet feel better--his GI distress is masking any change there. Today is day 5 of the nasty meds.

Lola is still fat. Maybe she's photosynthetic.

Cap went to my vet today for his "puppy wellness" exam. He has tapeworms and I wanted a course of strongid to treat him for all of the other kinds too. Puppies get worms and he's been in at least half a dozen foster homes so it's not a surprise or a big deal. Still, worms. Ew. Need to be dealt with.

The vet told me some very interesting things. Foremost of these, he said that in his experience, twice the weight of a pup at 16 weeks is about what they will weigh as an adult. The more accurate scales at the vet told us Cap now (at about 17 weeks) weighs 12.8 lbs . . . so he may only be around 24 lbs as an adult! Gracie weighs 22 lbs (but as I've said, she's a big, strapping bitch).

I already knew that Cap only has one descended testicle. The vet said the other one is up in his body but that it probably won't drop. Since Cap won't be bred, having only one testicle is not of itself a problem. But those undropped testicles often become cancerous. Now, his neuter operation requires more invasive surgery, more like a spay than the usual snip-snip. I'm glad I convinced the rescue group to wait and let me take Cap intact. I'll feel more comfortable having my own vet do this more complicated surgery.