Teeter-Totter Training Update – Dog Agility
It took a while to find a used dog agility teeter-totter to buy, but we finally did just before Clover's third birthday. It's going to take some time to fix Clover's teeter-totter worries that have…
Category Archives: Dog Training
Never Mind – A Tale of Dog Agility Woe
Remember me saying that Clover and I had plans to take a big step in her dog agility training? Yeah. Never mind. We're not ready, at all. True story. Our first-ever agility seminar turned into…
Start of Clover’s Dog Agility Career (maybe)
When Clover was around 7 months old, I put her on a waiting list to get into a dog agility foundations class with a trainer my experienced agility friends recommended. A full SEVEN MONTHS LATER…
Canine Car Sickness An Update
When a puppy gets car sick, many tell you that the puppy will outgrow it. And, you hope. Then, reality sets in. With Tori's second birthday coming up in July, we've renewed our pursuit of…
Loose Leash Boot Camp for Dogs
Over the holidays, I went back to walking Clover and Tori separately. Since cold temps and icy roads kept us home, we mostly worked on our own driveway -- with some short stints up to…
Strength and Flexibility Therapy for an Agility Dog
In the last 9 months or so, we've seen a couple things in Clover's body that we wanted to address right away. We're doing physical therapy or canine rehabilitation (under the direction of our rehab…
Challenges of Walking Two Dogs at Once
A long time ago, I gave up walking two dogs at once. I stopped even trying after our (late) Penelope Grace and our (late) Cody got their leashes so tangled up around my legs that…
Happy Gotcha Day, Clover
Today, we celebrate the second anniversary of Clover’s adoption — Happy Gotcha Day! It’s hard to believe we’ve been Best Friends for 2 whole years.
Herding Instinct Test
Over the holiday weekend, I drove Clover 195 miles round-trip to do another herding instinct test. We tested her the first time in June 2015, just after she turned 1. This time -- maybe thanks…
Where We Are Now in Raising and Training the Puppy-Girls
Everything is a bit of a blur when you're raising two puppies at the same time, especially two border collie puppies who are just 13 months apart. In the ideal world, I would have had…
Border Collie Herding Instinct Test — Clover Meets Goats
A couple of weeks ago, I drove Clover out to Valdemar Farm for her herding instinct test with our herding instructor Cathy Balliu. You can see the video highlights (and bloopers) below, but let's just…
Dog Book Review: Bark and Lunge by Kari Neumeyer
Bark and Lunge: Saving My Dog from Training Mistakes is a memoir by Kari Neumeyer, who is a fellow freelance / independent writer. It tells the story of a German Shepherd Dog named Isis (bought…
Lilly Video Update – Feeling Better
We threw together a quick 90-second video, showing how Lilly is doing 2 weeks since her most recent setback and 5 days since the ER run to find out why she was feeling so lethargic.…
500 Days and Counting – Adverse Rabies Vaccine Reaction
Friday, June 7, 2013, marks 500 days since Lilly received the ill-fated rabies vaccine that has forever changed all of our lives. Her widespread brain and spinal cord inflammation remains and requires numerous daily medications…
Canine Acupuncture, Physical Therapy, and Underwater Treadmills: Oh, My
It has been a ridiculous week in Lilly Town. Here is a quick recap of our efforts to help Lilly recover from a terrible bladder infection. It stems from her symptoms and treatment for rabies…
Dog Behavior Update – On Not Asking for Much
When Lilly became so dangerously ill nearly a year ago, we abandoned her anxiety meds because of their dampening effect on her now troubled brain. And, we essentially stopped working on dog training issues. These…
Adverse Vaccine Reaction Relapse Recovery – Sept 2012
You have our apologies for the lack of blog posts this week. Just too-too-too much going on with Lilly, with work, with my mom (who is terminally ill). Here is a little VIDEO recap of…
Dog Behavior Changes, Adverse Vaccine Reaction
Deep inside Lilly remains Lilly — despite the brain and nervous system trauma caused by her adverse reaction to a rabies vaccine earlier this year. Her emergency treatment and ongoing treatment for meningoencephalomyelitis / meningoencephalitis,…
Adverse Vaccine Reactions – Dog With Butter Butt Syndrome
Next up in our gallery of changes since Lilly developed meningoencephalomyelitis / meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain and lining of the brain and spinal cord) after an adverse vaccine reaction to a rabies vaccine is…
Lilly’s Brain Injury and Agility Outtakes
Monday, we showed you some agility highlights as Lilly recovers from her neurological troubles. Today, we prove that it isn't always pretty.
Lilly’s Brain Injury and Exaggerated Agility Style
At our last veterinary neurology appointment, Lilly got the OK to do agility and other more strenuous tasks so that her brain can start figuring out how to rewire certain movements. I convinced myself that…
Adapting the House for Dog With Mobility Issues
When Lilly's brain and spinal cord went kerplewy with inflammation, it greatly affected her ability to move her once-agile body. Her cognitive responses to things like verbal dog training cues are also impaired (for now),…
Cavalcade of Side-Effects – Recovery from Vaccine-Induced Meningoencephalomyelitis
For the last 24 hours, Lilly has dramatic tummy troubles every 2-3 hours like clockwork. The diarrhea came on quickly Tuesday (2/7) afternoon and got worse overnight, despite the piles of rice I fed her…
Wish List: No Seizures, Full Recovery, and SLEEP
All of us at Chez Champion of My Heart remain in awe of the outpouring of love, support, and prayers in the wake of Lilly's near-death experience with meningoencephalomyelitis. We have one more request ...…
Dog Product Review: ThunderShirt, Part One
Rather than write a single comprehensive dog product review of the ThunderShirt, I'm going to write a series of reports over time so that, together, we can work through the ups and downs for our…