I’ve mentioned before that Ginko “blew out” both knees when he was 3 years old. The official name of the injury is a cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) rupture. Often dogs also tear their cartilage (or meniscus) too, which complicates things. For those who aren’t too squeamish, here are details (including photos). Fair warning. …
Either I need to transition my dog clothes over to brown, or I need a better stain-fighting formula to get the dog dirt out. Seriously, all of my dog jeans (… yes, I have jeans designated for dog activities) have a brown tinge to the thighs from Lilly putting her feet on me when I ask her to BEG (a calming strategy to get her to focus on me). I’ve tried all the usual over-the-counter stuff that’s supposed to get the stains out, but there is still a pall that looms on some of my clothes. …
Back in November Dolittler offered tips on 10 ways to save big on your pet’s Rx bill. Many, many good ideas. I started looking at those $4 prescription lists online, but sadly I NEVER found either the clomipramine or the alprazolam on any of them at the major pharmacies or big-boxes with pharmacies inside. Very discouraging. But, last week, while picking up Lilly’s latest batch of alprazolam at Walgreens, I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask. It turns out … I can save money. Here’s how! …
Lilly somehow suffered what we believe to be a hip injury sometime late Monday. We have no idea how it happened, but suddenly after dinner she could not sit or lay down without crying in pain. And, that’s saying something for my super-tough mountain girl who never whines or yipes. Even after the rattlesnake bite to the lip, she did not cry. So, this week’s update is a mishmash. …
Using a holiday gift card, I bought On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals by Turid Rugass. It’s a tiny book, full of photos, so it’s a one-sitting read.
So far, it’s been a darn-cold winter around here. We’re not getting hammered with snow, like the mountain areas on the other side of the Continental Divide, but it’s been windy and c-o-l-d. I must be losing my tough, mountain girl barrier that usually protects me enough to go outside and play with the pups a few times a day. There was, however, one day of tolerable temps, so I performed an experiment with Lilly on our walk. …
While casting about for something new to teach Lilly, I threw together a quick and easy scent discrimination training session. One word, my friends. HA! What seemed logical to me made ZERO sense to Lilly. But, first, here’s why I thought Lilly might be good at smells. …
We used our one remaining group class (advanced pet dog obedience) from a punch card purchased over the summer for an outing on New Year’s Eve. Typically, we pay $90 for 6 classes, and get one free. So, that comes to $12.86 per class instead of the $15 per class cash rate. To keep our training accounting tidy, I wanted to use up our last class I’d already purchased. Lucky for us that the weather was decent and the location was a spot where Lilly sometimes does well. Plus, the usual Wednesday classes are typically smaller than the Sunday classes …
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 …
Due to weather constraints and limited availability of dogs as training partners, much of Lilly’s work is being done in public. In a typical week, I only go to town once, so I’ve begun (again) taking Lilly with me when I run errands. We, then, take a walk on a popular trail and sometimes through downtown Golden as our training ground and as her reward for tagging along. We often have runners pass us or come up from behind. The same with bikes. We also see a fair number of dogs (both on and off leash) and many …
