Old Dog Maintenance – Ginko’s Turn

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Dog Life, Dog Musings, Dog Photo, Dog Whine, Hot News | Posted on 12-04-2012

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In about a month, Ginko will be 12. He recently had a thorough exam, senior blood work, and vaccinations (3-year rabies, 1-year lepto). And, this week … he went in to have his teeth “done.” While he was conked out, they went ahead and took off two bothersome lumps — one on an eyelid and one his head.

Ginko did great, but he still isn’t feeling entirely like himself … yet.

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Celebrating 20 Years – of Marriage, Not Blogging

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Back Story, Entirely Off Topic, Hot News, Musings | Posted on 04-04-2012

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Today is my 20th wedding anniversary. Indulge me — won’t you — as I wax a little nostalgic? This girl needs to celebrate every tiny thing. And, a big one now and then too.

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Conversations of the Heart

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Adverse Vaccine Reaction - Recovery from Meningoencephalomyelitis, Back Story, Dog Brag, Dog Life | Posted on 16-03-2012

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Nearly 2 months into this adverse vaccine reaction with Lilly, I’m still a wreck. At least once a day, Lilly and I have a conversation — brain to brain, heart to heart — that goes something like this.

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Recovery from Meningoencephalomyelitis – Finally Some Good News

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Adverse Vaccine Reaction - Recovery from Meningoencephalomyelitis, Dog Brag, Dog Life, Dog Musings, Hot News | Posted on 04-02-2012

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As of 12:30 pm or so mountain time, Saturday, February 4, 2012, Lilly had been seizure free since around 4:30 pm Friday (2/3). I’m happy to report a few other pieces of good news … finally. The post includes the latest video of Lilly’s recovery from vaccine-induced meningoencephalomyelitis.

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Lilly Update from Friday, Feb 3, 2012

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Adverse Vaccine Reaction - Recovery from Meningoencephalomyelitis, Dog Life, Dog Musings, Dog Whine, Hot News | Posted on 03-02-2012

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A massive snowstorm kept us pinned on the mountain Friday. We had about 20 inches of snow when we awoke, and the local weather folks are saying we might get another 20 inches of snow before this storm is over Saturday morning. As much as it broke my heart, we did not risk making the drive down the canyon and over to the veterinary hospital. So, this update comes from phone chats with her neurology team. Not great news.

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Ocupado – Backstory Behind Champion of My Heart Absence

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Back Story, Dog Life, Dog Musings, Dog Whine, Entirely Off Topic, Hot News | Posted on 30-01-2012

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best dog blog, champion of my heart, traffic sign graphicLilly and I apologize for the sudden, unexplained absence from blogging these last two weeks. Due to a new and difficult stage in our eldercare responsibilities, we cannot promise it won’t happen again, but we’ll do our best to keep afloat and provide some entertainment.

If you’ve not yet LIKE’d our Champion of My Heart Facebook Fan Page, where we sometimes report on such life events, we’ll catch you up on the backstory behind our absence:

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Web Goes On Strike – Champion of My Heart Joins Protest

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Dog Musings | Posted on 18-01-2012

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I’ve censored the following, in protest of a bill that gives any corporation and the US government the power to censor the internet–a bill that could pass THIS WEEK. To see the uncensored text, and to stop internet censorship, visit: http://americancensorship.org/posts/38861/uncensor

███████████ █████ ██████ I ████ has ████ ████████ by █████████ ████████████ at ████ █████. For ███████, a ██████ of █████ ago a ███████ in the ███████ █████████ ████ a ████████ ███████ I █████, █████ in ████ █████ ███████, and ██████ my ████ on her ████. She did ████ me ███████████, but she did not ask nor did she PAY me for the use of my ████. I was ██████. I █████████ her. She ████ the ████ ████.

In ███████ ████████, ████ guy in the ██████ ███████ was ████████ █████ ██████ ████ ████ ████████ of My █████ and ███████ ██████████ on his ████ █████ █████████ ██████ █████. It’s ██████ ████ ████████, and it █████. ████ █████, I █████████ him and ████ a big █████. As far as I ████, he ███████ ████████ our ███████ … in ████ ███████ I ███████ █████ a ████ RSS ████.

████ ████, you’d █████ I ███████ the ████ ████ in the U.S. ██████ or the ████ ████ in the U.S. █████ of ███████████████, but I don’t. The ████████ ████ are █████ ██████, and ████ █████ ██████ ██████ in █████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ██████████ ████ ████ by ████ ████████ █████ … ██████ on the █████ of █████████ ███████████. The █████████ for █████ of █████ is ████.

So, █████, we ████ ██████ in █████ ████ in ███████.

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Newsworthy: Good Dog by Steve Dale

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in book review, Dog Book Review, Dog Life, Dog Musings, Dog Product Review, Dog Training, Dog Training Resources, Info-Share | Posted on 09-01-2012

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best dog blog, champion of my heart, Good Dog by Steve Dale book coverLongtime syndicated columnist and dog writer Steve Dale recently published a new eBook through Tribune Media Services — Good Dog. Since I don’t have a Kindle, I’ve not had the chance to read it. However, when I asked Dale about the history of dog training — going back to before I was born — he shared some interesting insights.

You see, I knew that the dominance / punishment style of dog training that I loathe really took hold back in the 1960s. What I did NOT know is that positive reinforcement practitioners were also on the scene back then.

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Anxious Dog Update

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Dog Life, Dog Musings, Dog Training, Dog Training Resources, Dog Training Update, Dogs on Drugs | Posted on 06-01-2012

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I could use some help establishing expectations about Lilly’s ongoing struggle with anxiety. Living with a fearful dog can be a day-to-day, minute-by-minute thing, and I’m used to that. However, I’m trying to get a grip on what I can and cannot expect going forward as well as what shifts in dog behavior matter at this point.

Come May, Lilly will be 8 years old. That means we’re 7 1/2 years into her fearful dog reality as a member of our family and a good 5 years since we saw a major shift in her fearful behavior as she reached social maturity (around age 2 – 2 1/2).

In summer 2008, 8ur dog behavior modification work (combined with dog anxiety medications) got underway in earnest (after a couple of years of trying herbal and other scent-based remedies). This includes the Dog Relaxation Protocol MP3 files for which we are now famous for recording and providing FREE downloads.

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Was That You? Living With Dogs

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Dog Life, Dog Musings | Posted on 05-01-2012

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best dog blog, champion of my heart, photo of boy banging on a sauce potLiving in a relatively remote area and working from home (13 years now) means I enjoy the luxury of being with my dogs nearly 24/7. That doesn’t mean I’m mentally present for them all the time, but I am around for them. I do get to say, “Hey, buddy.” or “Who wants a snack?” throughout the day.

Granted, my questions could just as easily include:

  • What’s that noise / smell / commotion?
  • Do you really need to go out AGAIN?
  • How do you expect me to think when you keep interrupting me?

Often, the dogs aren’t at all subtle when making their needs known.

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24-Hour Dog Day Challenge

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Dog Life, Dog Musings | Posted on 04-01-2012

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best dog blog, champion of my heart, 24-hour dog day challengeAs Lilly and I began our holiday time off, we issued a challenge to our readers and fans via Facebook to spend one solid day (24 straight hours) with their dogs. Yes, in many cases, that means sleeping or cuddling a lot, but we’d love to know what else you did on your dog day.

Our dog days vary depending upon weather. For example, over the holidays a boatload of snow fell in our valley. The storms included cold temps and wind. We did indeed sled a lot one day, Alas, when the temps finally warmed up after xmas, the winds went wild with, seriously, 100 mile-per-hour gusts for several days.

We’re hearty girls around here, but not that hearty.

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Dog Training, Fearful Dogs, and Acceptance

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Back Story, Dog Life, Dog Musings, Dog Training, Dog Training Update, Dogs on Drugs | Posted on 16-12-2011

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After our one and only dog training class in public this year (over Thanksgiving), Amy from GoPetFriendly.com, pet travel made easy, asked an important question: “As long as we can navigate our daily lives without outbursts, I don’t really need to push [Buster's] boundaries. Have I just lost my motivation or gotten lazy? Have you ever felt the same way about Lilly?”

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Dog Training Update: Less Chlomipramine Outcomes

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Back Story, Dog Life, Dog Musings, Dog Training, Dog Training Update, Dog Whine, Dogs on Drugs, Hot News | Posted on 09-12-2011

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For about 6 weeks now, Lilly’s chlomipramine dose has been just 75 mg ONCE a day (in the morning). We’ve dropped the nighttime dose. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but some new behaviors have cropped up. Now, I’m having doubts about the dog behavior meds decision.

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Does Your Dog Love Dog Training This Much?

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Brag for a Friend, Dog Life, Dog Musings, Dog Photo, Dog Training, Dog Training Resources, Dog Training Update, Dog Training Video, Dog Trick Video, Dog Video, Dog Video Gallery, Dogs on Drugs, How To, Info-Share | Posted on 01-12-2011

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Taking a week “off” is relative, of course, meaning mostly not owing drafts to clients. Other demands of life continue. HOWEVER, Lilly and I ventured to Boulder for dog training class with our dog trainer Gigi Moss … for the first time this year. I’ll tell you how it went tomorrow. Today? A video showing just how much Lilly loves her dog trainer.

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Champion of My Heart New Avatar Photo and Outtakes

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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Back Story, Dog Brag, Dog Life, Dog Photo, Hot News | Posted on 30-11-2011

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It took four years and innumerable tries before we FINALLY got a new avatar photo of me and Lilly. I cannot tell you how many attempts to replace our favorite photo from December 2007 resulted in me sobbing. I’m not the most photogenic person, and I take bad photos personally. Here, then, is our new favorite picture … along with a few outtakes … because I really did NOT want to be that girl who uses a terribly outdated photo online.

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