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…
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,…
Monday, we showed you some agility highlights as Lilly recovers from her neurological troubles. Today, we prove that it isn't always pretty.
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…
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),…
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…
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…
The whole New Year thing bugs me. I'm not big on resolutions because the truth is that every day could be considered an important threshold -- not just December 31. So, this little reflection takes…
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…
Almost immediately after putting Lilly back on a full dose of her dog anxiety medications, we saw a dramatic change in her behavior.
Our decision to return Lilly to the full dose of her anxiety medications came in part from her escalated treatment of Ginko. Lately, she has been acting like Gandolf.
Earlier, I shared some new dog behaviors that cropped up after we dropped Lilly's evening dose of chlomipramine. Others of more concern began to worsen as the levels of meds in her system dropped for…
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…
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…
My silly schedule in 2011 precluded Lilly going to dog training classes with our dog trainer in Boulder, Gigi Moss. Since I took last week "off" for Thanksgiving, we finally had time to attend a…
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…
The day after Thanksgiving, when many still have pots and pans soaking, is a good time to share this video of Lilly putting away her dog toys. You'll notice that she holds them down with…
Happy Thanksgiving. To celebrate this festive occasion, we have two videos to share. The first shows Lilly howling on cue. The second shows Lilly "laughing." This noise has been isolated by researchers and deemed dog…
In today's backstory video, Lilly -- our intrepid dog -- learns to SIT-STAY atop a small sled while being pulled along in the snow of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Clearly, she finds it very, very…
As a special Thanksgiving week event, we'll be posting a few of our favorite videos of Lilly, our canine heroine, each day. Whether you're seeing them for the first time (welcome, new readers) or get…
It started out as a necessity. Swamped with deadlines and a work trip on the docket, I didn't realize Lilly was getting low on her medicine. To stretch it a bit longer, I skipped her…
The fact that Lilly lets me trim all of her toenails in a single sitting each week remains one of my greatest dog training victories. We call it Turkey for Toenails, but these days we…
A couple Sundays ago, I took Lilly with me to visit my mom, who remains in the rehabilitation section, after the heart scare in August. Lilly did struggle with a few things, but one nice…
Lilly got her staples out a week ago Wednesday. That part went fine, but Lilly had a little trouble in the parking lot and in the reception area before taking refuge in our own exam…
Maybe letting Lilly sleep in "the big bed" with us Tuesday night telegraphed that something was up. Maybe my ability to keep my worries to myself failed ... because Lilly shook so hard with fear…