Ziggy the Cardigan Corgi: IVDD month 7

We're rapidly approaching month 7 of Ziggy's IVDD disc rupture recovery.  Ugh.  7 months.  But what can you do when you have a slow dog?

Here's the latest...

What's happening now:

• We're starting to see some real progress!
• He is getting himself up into a standing position more frequently - though his left leg still isn't cooperating enough to keep him standing, things are improving.
• He is really pushing himself along with his hind legs when he scoots around the house.  The legs have gone from dragging behind, to scooting tucked in, to (now) pushing while he scoots.
• He is much stronger on his stands, and can stand for quite a while while in his sling or when placed in a stand for physical therapy.
• He is driving with both of his hind legs much of the time that he's in his cart.  
• On his last visit to ISU, his improvement on the underwater treadmill is noticeable.  You'll see in the video below how his right hind is really driving, reaching, and active.  His left hind is doing MUCH better, but the vet student had to place a hand on him to straighten out his spine so the left hind would land properly.   His left hind likes to drift to the inside, and sometimes hits his right hind accidentally.  This happens when he's trying to stand, too, which causes him to fall down.

Ziggy on the underwater treadmill at ISU earlier this week.  

I am SO pleased with is progress.

Compare to the video from month 3 for a contrast.

What we're doing now:

• ISU Vet School:  Thanks to our travel schedule, Ziggy has spent approximately 3.5 weeks at the ISU Vet School rehab center since mid-May.  He hates being left, but all reports are that he really enjoys it once he's there.  His particular love is cruising around the vet school in his cart, which, apparently, draws lots of nice comments :)  Oh, and everyone seems to LOVE him there - they say he's a great patient, and very sweet.  Way to go, Z.
• Continuing the basic physical therapy we've been doing for months - sit to stand, standing, range of motion, etc.
• We've added some electrical muscle stimulation to get him to flex and move his hind legs on his own.  We just started doing this a week or so before his last trip to ISU, but both The Husband and I really saw some nice improvement.
• Using the cart more often:  We still don't have a great fit on the cart (if I had it to do over again I'd buy a custom cart right away), but we're able to make-do by using a towel to support one hip.  Ziggy seems to love the cart and it gives him an opportunity to see the neighborhood, etc.  He even got to go pick The Child up from his summer program, and got loved by lots of kids, which is one of Ziggy's favorite things.  We're still only using the cart about 10-15 mins at a time, but that seems enough for right now.
• Continuing with acupuncture every 2-3 weeks
• Some chiropractic - particularly on his hips and shoulders which seem to get out of whack (thanks to all the scooting, probably)

I must say that in this past month I finally believe that Ziggy will walk again.  Before this last bit of improvement, I hoped he would walk, and really wanted to believe it, and did everything I could to make it happen, but somehow I feel he's really on the path now.  (but my fingers are still crossed)

Happy 13th Birthday, Maggie (sorry I'm a little late)!

On Saturday my Best Girl, Maggie turned 13.  Even though I'm a bit late on the post, I think every birthday after 10 deserves special recognition!

Here's the Birthday Girl!

I think her grey hairs make her look wise and distnguished!

Maggie continues to be in good health and good spirits.

She still LOVES to:

• Bark at the neighbor's cattle dog (how DARE he stick his nose through the gap in the fence!)
• Eat vermin.  She can't catch them very well any more, but this spring she has eaten a baby squirrel she found in the yard and a chipmunk that Rip caught.  YUM!
• "Work" - whenever I train Rip upstairs, she waits on the other side of the baby gate wagging her tail and staring intently.  I usually bring her in to do some heeling, fronts & retrieves.  She still loves to work!

But she is getting older:

• She suddenly became "old" about six months ago.  It seems that overnight she went from a spry older lady to an old dog.  She wants her walks to be shorter, and she sleeps more.
• She is no longer the boss of the house.  Rip has taken over this role.  She sometimes doesn't back down, though, and I get to intervene to break up a "corg-fuffle."
• I think she might be becoming a bit deaf.  It's hard to tell, though, because she is also very much an old lady who no longer feels compelled to obey commands.  My dear girl who got scores in the mid-190's when earning her Open-level Obedience title suddenly doesn't know how to sit or come sometimes...   I'm not sure how much is hearing loss and how much is "no thanks!"

I am just happy to have such a wonderful girl in my life.  Here's to many more years, My Best Girl!

I'm sorry, Amy the House-Sitter. PLEASE come back!!

As many of you may know, we are lucky enough to have a house-sitter who comes to stay with the pack when we're out of town.  She is a lovely, responsible young lady and  we never have to worry when she's here.

I don't know what to do without her, and I don't know why she keeps coming back.  I've apologized to her on this blog before.  Once when our house cleaners skipped a week before we skipped town.  And another time when I realized all of the things she has to deal with when she stays here.

Apologizing to my house-sitter has become a frequent occurence.   Why am I apologizing this time?  For all of the pet hair.  

We left for our trip to the UK on a Thursday afternoon.  After working in the morning, I decided to vacuum the house before we left.  It is shedding season here, and all 3 corgis were losing their fur in a big way.  Add 2 cats to the mix - including an old cat who sheds in big clumps - and you can imagine how much hair there was.  Despite the fact that we had vacuumed only a couple of days before, some parts of the carpet were fully coated in pet hair.

But I planned ahead.  I had time to vacuum.  What could go wrong?  Let me explain using photos.

This is our main vacuum.  

A Dyson Animal.  

We've had this vacuum for around 5 years, and it does a great job.  Well, I should say that it DID a great job, because it suddenly decided to stop working just as I needed to vacuum less than an hour before leaving to the airport.  

Well, technically it was working a little, but it started to making a noise so loud it could drown out the tornado siren.  Easily.

No problem, we have a vacuum that lives in the basement.  So I went to get it.

This is the basement vacuum.  

It picks up cat litter and pet hair nearly every day.

Unfortunately, the basement vacuum wouldn't work either.  Apparently it only works on hard surfaces now.  It didn't even work on our very short nap carpet upstairs.  Sigh.

But wait, don't we have an old Dyson lurking in the basement, too?  Indeed we do.  I'll go get that one.

Here it is!  Our original Dyson Animal.

I brought it upstairs and tried to start it up.  Then I remembered why we put it in the basement.  It doesn't even work on hard floors anymore.  "Never loses suction!"  Perhaps not.  It now lives in the garage.  Some day we'll get rid of it.

But we have 2 more vacuums.  What about them?

Ronnie the Roomba to the rescue?

Nope.  It wasn't plugged in, so it was out of charge, and probably couldn't handle the layers of pet hair anyway.

How about the hand-held Dyson?

It IS still working, but by the time I got to this option it was too late for me to take the time to use it.  So the house was awash in pet hair when we left for vacation, and there was no way to remedy the situation.

So let me say it one more time.

I am REALLY SORRY for all the pet hair, Amy the House-Sitter.  It won't happen again (well, probably not), because look what we have now:

Another vacuum!

Rated very well by Consumer Reports!

Even though Amy the House-Sitter doesn't know I have a blog, I hope she reads this and forgives me.
I left her a message to see if she can stay later this month and she didn't return my call.  Now I'm worried.  Was this the last straw?

Ziggy the Cardigan Corgi IVDD: Month 6

 I realize that I haven't posted an update on Ziggy for a while, so here goes.

Ziggy's favorite bed is close to all the action.

Z is out of his crate pretty much all the time we're home now--

it makes all of us happier.

No "big" progress over the past month or so.  We feel like there continues to be progress, but it's really slow.

• He continues to try and stand.  He often is able to push himself up on his right hind, but his left hind offers no support, so it all ends in a flop.
• He is pushing off more with his right leg when he's in his sling and when he's just scooting around the house.

Ziggy continues to be very lazy with his physical therapy.  Food works to a point, but when the dog decides he's done and wants to sit, there's not much that can be done.

Right now, while we're out of town on vacation, Ziggy is at ISU for rehab.  As you may remember, last time he was there, the rehab therapist didn't see much progress.  This led us to wonder if anything abnormal was going on, so we took him in for an MRI.  

This time the notes from ISU are better.  The rehab therapist notices progress in his right-hind-leg's mobility and improvements in his muscle tone.  This is very encouraging for us, as I've got to admit that I haven't noticed much progress.

ISU is also putting him in his cart every day.  They've adjusted how he sits in the cart by using a rolled up hand towel by his hip.  This allows him to have both legs placed evenly on the ground.  I'm interested to see their solution in action as we have not been able to get him sitting in the cart very well.  

Apparently, Z LOVES perambulating around the vet school in his cart.  They say he's using his right hind quite a lot to propel himself along, and sometimes he uses his left hind.  We're going to have to get him in his cart more often, as it seems to be good for both his spirit and his muscle tone.

Of course, any bed near the action attracts other Cardis, too.

Here is a rare moment of peace with the pack.

Rip's Training Diary #2: We love J & J dog supplies!!

Training a new dog new things is an excuse for me to visit one of my favorite online stores, J&J Dog.  They sell many, many fun things for  "performance" people.  The best thing (for me) about J&J is that they're located in a city about 45 minutes from my house, and they pack and ship quickly so my UPS ground orders sometimes arrive the next day!

My order this time consisted of 2 ring gates with stantions,  2 REAL fleece octopus tug toys, and one stuffing-less beaver toy whose belly can be loaded with treats.

So what have I done with all of this?  We've played much tug as a reward for working, and Rip has become a stantion-pawing fool.

The past week we've been working on:

• Touching the stantion with our paw.  Rip is an over-achiever here, and sometimes when I say "hit it" he'll paw the stantion with both paws, nearly knocking it over.  I've had to start clicking for less rather than more, which is a bit odd for me after years of encouraging more effort in Ziggy.
• Retrieving the dumbbell.  I'm using the clicker here, too, making him hold it for longer each time.  I've even started to throw the dumbbell (I have to hold his collar, as the dumbbell is FUN and Rip still has little self-control) - then I call him back to me and have him climb on my lap to deliver it.
• We've also been working on holding the leather and metal articles.  I'm using the clicker here again.  We're just beginning so I'm rewarding for the pick-up and a very short hold.
• Heeling games - he's getting better/quicker at circling by my side and goes between my legs when walking with only a very slight hand cue now.
• Down, and backing up while in down.  I'm trying a new training technique here, as the way I had been working on it was not really producing great results.  Now I'm using a target stick instead of my hand to get him to back up, and throwing the treat behind him when he's correct, to encourage him to move away from me.  Even though his backing while down isn't great yet, his already fast down has become even faster!
• We've also been playing a bit at finishes, but not as much work here.  He offered an around finish the other day when he wanted my attention, though, which I found encouraging.

Next week I'll continue to work on our current list of obedience games, and hope to add in a bit of agility training a couple of days.   I'll let you know how it goes!

Rip's Training Diary #1: Rip meets Bridget

I realize that my blog has been very Ziggy-focused lately.  Mainly, that's because my dog life has been very Ziggy-focused lately.  But Z isn't the only dog in the house, and I realized a few weeks ago that Rip will be 2 years old at the end of May.  Hmm, maybe I need to get more serious about his training?

While I train Rip a decent amount, our training thus far has been a little haphazard.  We've done a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  He knows a few things all the way, and lots of things half-way.  I am finding it hard to chart a path for Rip, so I just work on things as the feeling strikes me.  I need help.  I need structure.  Rip has the potential to be a GREAT performance dog, and I don't want to mess it up!

A few weeks ago, I went to another training seminar by Bridget Carlsen.  I went to one of her seminars 2 years ago, and used some of her training ideas on Ziggy.  This latest seminar was even better than the first (and I really liked the first) - I learned a lot, and I really like her motivational training style.

Then it occurred to me.  Bridget only lives two hours away.  Why not have her help Rip and I?  No reason why not to, other than the inertia of my own laziness and lack of planning.  So I did it - I contacted Bridget and set up a lesson time.

On Friday morning, I loaded Rip into the car for the trip to the Chicago exurbs.

The lesson was great!  We worked on a little bit of everything we know so Bridget could get a feel for who are and what we can do.  I say "we" because this is absolutely about training me, too - Rip just does what I ask (most of the time).

So what did I learn?  
Rip has some nice heeling, but he gets bored easily, so I need to keep fun with lots of tricks & games.  Rip really toned down during the lesson - most likely because he was unsure in a new place.  This means I need to work on ways to quickly re-engage him and put him into drive when things are new.  Rip only has 1/2 hour of on task work in him -- meaning next time we'll  split the lesson in 2 parts with an hour rest in between, or we'll just do 1/2 hour.  Oh, and Bridget thought Rip was really cute -- especially when he started to offer random "how about this one" behaviors while clicker training the stantion touch.

And what's our homework?
We left with a long list of tins to work on, including:  dumbbell hold, getting Rip to move his whole body laterally, twist & spin, building value in a target, heeling with tricks, touching a stantion with with his paw, going out to and sitting in a box, driving more in our finish right, and a more reliable kick-back stand.  Oh, and I also want to teach him to bark on command.

Do you think we have enough to work on?

My plan is to keep a weekly or bi-weekly training diary on this blog to help keep me on task...

This is what happens when Rip really has to think and work.

He slept the whole way home.

Ziggy the Cardigan Corgi IVDD: Ziggy's MRI

I published a couple of posts last week regarding an MRI.  We decided to go ahead with MRI, so we would be better educated about how to proceed with the Z.

Last Wednesday morning I left early, stopped by Starbucks, and hit the road for a 9am appointment in Ames at the ISU vet school.

The Day

When we arrived at the school, Ziggy happily marched is way into the building (walking in his sling), and started to head back to the rehab center.  This made me feel better about the time he spends at rehab, as he didn't seem upset about where we were going.  He was confused, though, when we went to the waiting room instead of heading right back to rehab.

We saw the neurologist and vet student around 9:30.  They did a neuro exam, then explained the MRI to me, confirming that we still wanted to have it done.  We then discussed what to do if they found something that required surgical intervention.  The options were to go right from MRI to surgery, or consult with me first.  I opted for the "consult with me first" option, as I really wanted to understand what was going on.

With that, they took Z back to wait for anesthesia and the MRI.  This was shortly before 10am.  They figured they would have some news in 2 hours.  I found out where the nearest Starbucks was, and went to have a coffee and read a book (not such a bad way to spend a day off).  I stayed at Starby's for an hour or so, then decided to go have some lunch.  I found a Panera, and ate lunch and read my book my book for another hour or so. Still no call from ISU.  So I went to Best Buy and wandered around.

Still no word, so I went back to the vet school.  The vet student came out and explained that things were backed up because of emergencies, but it should be any time.  It was a nice spring day, so I decided to go for a walk.  I walked for an hour or so.  Still no word.  So I sat in my car for a while and did some work email.  I went back inside when they finally called to tell me Z was headed into his MRI (around 3:30pm).

The MRI plus analysis took about an hour and half (I read more of my book).

Finally, they called me back to discuss results.

The Results

The MRI found nothing that would indicate surgical intervention.  No new disc material was found in the spinal cord, and they didn't find anything else that would be causing compression on the spinal cord.

What they found, basically, was a healing spinal cord.  They did not see any signs of permanent spinal cord damage.  Well, there's always some damage when a disc ruptures, but nothing out of the ordinary was found.  They did find that many areas of the spinal cord were still healing.  The neurologist explained that some dogs just heal more slowly than others, and Ziggy is definitely on the slow end.  Nothing was found, though, that would change the prognosis for him walking eventually.

I was relieved that things seem to be normal, but slow.  I would really prefer normal but fast, or normal and normal, but there you go.

It's funny, though, because the neurologist expressed his regrets (almost apologized, really) a few times that Ziggy didn't need surgery.  I can see where he's coming from in that no surgery means no "easy" fix, but I'm ok with that.

So What Now?

The neurologist's recommendation was that we continue with acupuncture and physical therapy.  He did suggest upping the amount of PT Ziggy gets.  The longer a dog isn't walking, the more chance that their body won't stay in good enough condition (strength and flexibility) to walk.  He's seen cases where the spinal cord and nerves finally heal enough to allow the dog to walk, but the dog is physically no longer able to walk.  He also suggested we get Ziggy out in the cart more often, and allow him to move quickly enough that he starts to pump with is hind legs.

So now The Husband and are I trying to make the "more PT" thing happen.  Ziggy is a funny dog, and after 5-10 minutes of physical therapy, he just quits.  Sits down and (if he's on the floor) scoots himself away.  How do you push a dog to give you just a few more reps??