Longtime readers know I’m not big on New Year’s Resolutions. Yet, 2008, I think will stand as a turning point. You very well may have witnessed the year I gave up the dream of ever truly doing agility with Lilly. I’m not sure, since I tend to be terribly persistent with a cautious optimism, but I do kinda feel like the dream is dead. …
News reports tout the Prevent Injury and Enhance Performance (PEP) warm-up program that researchers tested on women soccer players. This routine, which takes about 20 minutes 3 times per week, greatly reduced ACL injuries in these women athletes. While an agility run with your dog takes less time than a soccer game, I suspect the routine makes sense canine agility handlers too. In fact, it seems quite similar to the Human Agility Training classes that Lori Hansen teaches. Her DVD is available from Clean Run and on Amazon. Lori focuses on running …
After Lilly and I walked up to the road to get our mail Saturday, we realized that our pals — Belle and Clyde — from down the valley had meandered their way into a neighbor’s back pasture and seemed a bit stuck. So, once again, I became happy, food lady to the rescue. …
According to the American Kennel Club, here are the top 20 male and female dog names in the U.S. right now. So for most of us … it’s a list of names to AVOID. While I’m dancing in victory over choosing Ginko for my big boy, I’m consoling myself that Lilly is at least NOT in the top 10. I did not mean to be SUCH a cliche.
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It took more than a month, but indeed Lilly’s pet insurance covers and assisted in paying a piece of her sizable veterinary bill stemming from her rattlesnake bite to the face Labor Day weekend (as chronicled here, here, and here). The mathematics behind the processed claim intrigue me. …
Fair warning … if you are at all squeamish, stop reading now. But, if a little gross humor sounds like fun, pull up a bale of hay and listen to a story about Lilly, The Larva Rancher. …
If I had to guess, I’d say Lilly hovers around 20% of normal after Saturday night’s rattlesnake bite and ensuing medical intervention. It’s hard to say how much of her lagging energy comes from the injury itself and how much comes from all the medicines she’s taking. She’s allowed very limited freedom outside a few minutes at a time, and even that tires her out. So, I know she does not feel well at all. …
The hospital released Lilly last night around 6 pm. She came home and promptly sacked out. We can tell that she still does not feel great, but she looks much better —- just a bit of swelling in her lip, along with her puffy, sagging neck. They sent her home with Rimadyl (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory), Tramadol (pain control), and Cephalexin (antibiotic). So, along with her anxiety meds, she’s taking 5 different medicines twice a day. Poor sweetie.
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Lilly may not be feeling a whole lot better after the rattlesnake bite, but she looked much better when we visited her this morning. Here’s the latest: …
Saturday afternoon (8/30) around 4:30 – 5:00 pm, it seems Lilly got a rattlesnake bite right in the face. Tom and I were both outside most of the day. We did not see anything. We did not hear anything – no rattling, no barking, no cries of pain, no urgent need for comfort. Just all of a sudden she seemed to have a fat lip. We assumed it was a bee sting, until an hour later when the swelling had spread to nearly the whole side of her head. Here are more details and some photos. …
