Happy (one-week-late) 14th Birthday, Maggie!

Lookin' good for 14 years old!

Last Sunday Maggie turned 14 years old.  We didn't have any sort of celebration for our girl, but I am saving her favorite treat - a "bullwinkie" for her.  I just need to find a time to give it to her when Rip is on a walk - to avoid Rip's frustrated barks.

Physically, Maggie is doing very well.  She sleeps a lot, but remains in pretty good shape, and doesn't seem to be in pain.  She even romps down the hall in the morning when she wakes up.

Mentally, she is definitely an old lady, and her mind is going a bit.  Some days are good.  Some days not -- she seems disconnected from the world.  We have started crating her at night -- otherwise she'll get up around 4:30-5am and just wander around the house - back and forth in the kitchen or our bedroom.  Sometimes she greets me with a wag at door when I return from work; sometimes she just wanders over as the boys run to meet me and stares at me like "hmm - there's a person."  The content and "with it" times currently outnumber the disconnected times and she isn't in pain.  We're happy to have our old lady dog still with us.

New Wheels for Me (or Dog Crates in a Honda Pilot)

Since my beloved Honda Odyssey didn't make it through the accident, we were forced, unexpectedly, into buying a new car.  

I didn't want another minivan, as Honda has redesigned the van since we bought ours, and the style is just too "mumsy" for me.  I may be deluding myself, but the old Odyssey was at least a little sporty.  The new one is not, and I'm feeling too much like middle-aged soccer mom to buy another minivan.  So what to buy?

My rental Explorer.  Loved it!

We had a Ford Explorer as our rental car, and I loved it.  Loved how it drove, loved the styling, especially loved the touch screen controls.  I thought maybe we'd just buy one of those.  Then I realized that, with the back seat up, I could barely fit 2 small crates in the back.  With my larger (24"x 36") crate - I could only fit one crate in the back.  No way.  A car that size should fit much more in the back, so the hunt was on.

We test drove and measured the behind-the-back-seat-area of:

• The Ford Flex (43" long x 40" wide)
• The Subaru Outback (42.5" long x 33" wide) - with slopey back window
• The Volvo Wagon (43" wide x 44.4" wide)

We were all set to buy a Volvo Wagon, when we found the Honda Pilot.  It combines good Consumer Reports ratings, decent gas mileage, adequate sportiness, and a dog-friendly rear storage.

Here's a picture of the one we test drove - 

on the left is a 30"x19" crate

on the right is a 24"x36" crate.

Perfect!

So here she is.  Awaiting dog hair.

Ziggy got to be the first canine passenger.

Lucky boy!

I think he likes being able to see the driver from his crate.

And here he is in the 30"x19" crate.

Plenty of room for his wheels, too.

I added pieces of 3 rubber mats under the front of the crate to keep it level.

So far we love the Pilot.  Now I need to find a dog show or clinic to attend so I can really put her cargo space to the test.

Ode to a Honda Minivan

About seven weeks ago, my minivan and motivation both took a hit.  I was driving home from work, and the traffic was stopped on the bridge.  I stopped, but the guy behind me didn't.  My van was hit from behind and thrown into the car stopped in front of me.


Unfortunately for me, my two-and-a-half-weeks-post surgery knee smashed into the dash/front console of the van on impact.  The accident set the healing of my knee back significantly - it changed (for worse) the trajectory of the healing, and put "Project Stay" on hold, as I was back to rest and ice.  So, no dog events to post.

Unfortunately for the van, it got smooshed from both ends, resulting in too much damage to make it a repair job.  So, the insurance company totaled out the van, forcing me to say goodbye to my lovely silver Honda minivan much sooner than I'd planned.

Here are some pictures of my (formerly) lovely silver van.

I miss you, silver minivan.  The whole family misses you.  

Here's a poem by The Husband titled "So Farewell Then, Silver Honda"

So, farewell silver Honda

You hauled a lot for us - dog shows

And trips to Lowes

School pick ups, the Target run

Genesis emergencies, family fun

We'll miss you silver Honda

Good luck

On your final Odyssey

Project Stay: Duration Check-in

Rip and I are now on day 5 of Duration stay work.  I must admit that I've only made my goal of twice-a-day training sessions one day so far.  But I have been working on stays every day, which is progress!

I've been increasing at 30 second increments each session - expect for 2 sessions at 2 minutes long.  He broke at around 1.5 minutes the first time we did 2 minutes, so we did not add time for the next session.  I'm not adding time unless he's successful.

We are now up to 3 minute stays in both the down and the sit.


What I've noticed:

• I need to stay a bit closer to him than I thought I would.  Most of the time I'm 3' to 4' away.  I can tell he's just learning what I want (stay in the same position, in the same place), so I find staying closer to him seems to make him more sure of what he's doing.
• Watching him closely pays off.  This way I can tell if he's making little shifts that might lead to a break in position.  When I see this, I step a little closer in to give him support.  I'm not rushing in to correct him (which would make him even more confused) - it's just a quiet step in his direction, reinforcing the position.

Something I'm trying with Rip that I didn't do with my other dogs is differentiating his downs.

For the downs needed in the non-stay exercises, I've trained Rip to do a quick "sphinx" down -- folding back into the down position.  For stays I'm training him the command "hip" (I'm saying this instead of down) and asking him to rest on his left hip in the down.

Why am I doing this?  First, this is the sort of down my dogs tend to do when they're resting on their own, so I'm assuming it's more comfortable for a longer period of time.  Second, I want him to know that with the "hip" type of down, he's going to be there for a while.  With the "down" down, I'm likely to ask him to do something else pretty quickly (e.g., recall, stand, sit).

I'm not sure if it will work, but it's something I've been considering for a while, so Rip gets to be my test dog ;)

Rip demonstrates the "hip" down 

that we're using for our stays

Compared to

The "down" (aka sphinx) down

that we use for the other exercises

Project Stay - Yes, I'm Finally Training the Wild Dog to Stay...

Stay is boring!  Rip likes to run!

Ok, I'm a little ashamed that I have a nearly-3-year-old dog who really does not  understand the concept of "Stay."  Since I want to get Rip into the Rally & Obedience rings in the near future, this is a *bit* of a problem.

So, finally, I've decided to really work on "Stay" with Rip.

Coincidently last week I was in a managerial effectiveness class, and we had to work with another person and coach them through developing a plan to tackle a non-work project.  I chose to think through training the stay.  After helping me through the plan, my work colleague said, "and that is why I don't train my dogs."  Fair enough.


The goal:
At the end of Project Stay Rip will be able to hold a 5 minute sit stay and a 7 minute down stay in "public" with me 40' away.


The plan:
Take on the 3 "D's" of the Stay.  Duration, Distraction & Distance.  I've chosen to break it down this way based on what I learned from a Laura Romanik seminar I attended a couple years ago.


I'm taking on Duration first:

• This work will be done at home, or outside in our yard - places that Rip is really comfortable with.
• We will start with 1 minute sit and 1 minute down.
• We will work up to 7 minutes in sit, and 7 minutes in down.
• I will stay within 6' of Rip at all times.
• Plan to work on duration for 7-10 days.  2 sessions per day.

Next is Distraction:

• I'm breaking distraction down into "new places" and "what is mom doing?"
• Rip and I will go to at least 4 new places to work on stays.  The distraction part is all the new stuff that will be going on around us.
• We'll also work with distractions at home.  I'll introduce new things and use things that normally distract Rip to test his resolve.  We'll do at least 9 sessions of these "what is mom doing" distractions.
• All distraction work will be on leash, with me no more than 6' away from Rip.
• Plan to work on distraction for 7-10 days.  2 sessions per day.

Then we'll get to Distance: 

• Work will be done mainly at home, and at the club building where we normally train.
• Work at home will be off-leash.  Work away from home will be on-leash.
• Every session I'll move 1-2' feet further away.
• Goal is to be able to do out-of-sight stays at home.
• I'll work on distance for 7-10 days.  2 sessions per day.

Finally, we'll put it all together:

• In reality, this will continue as long as Rip is doing obedience, but we'll continue the stay focus for a final 7 days.
• We'll go to 4 new places and work on distance (on a long line).  
• The goal here is to get 50' away from Rip, and be able to hold the sit stay for 5 minutes, and the down stay for 7 minutes.

To keep myself honest, I'll post quick updates on the blog at least twice a week, and a summary of each phase as we graduate to the next.

Ziggy the Cardigan Corgi IVDD: Month 15

I realize I haven't done a Ziggy post for a while.  Progress seems really slow.  Wait, that's because progress IS really slow.


Here's what's happening now:

• Ziggy continues to use his legs vigorously in when he's in the cart and in the harness.
• He is really trying to stand up more on his own, and is often able to get into a crouch position.
• We've started to take him to the local rehab vet again.  She is now working her clinic full time, and is willing to have Z stop by for the day.
• At rehab, he gets electro-stim acupuncture once a week, a chiropractic adjustment once a week (on different days), gets a couple of PT sessions each day, and gets to hang out in his cart or an ex-pen the rest of the day.

The Laziness continues:

Ziggy continues to be very lazy about his rehab.  He just doesn't seem like he really cares about walking or standing.  It's a lot of work, you know...  We've been putting him outside in cart, allowing him time on his own to perambulate around the yard.  Unless there's a squirrel to chase, he normally just stands in one place.  And saying that he stands is generous.  He often stands on his front legs and just lets his hind end hand in the sling on the cart.  Sigh.

I can't help but think that progress is slower because of Z's laziness.  The positive side of the laziness is that mentally he doesn't seem to mind his life as a couch potato at all ;)

Ziggy getting acupuncture last week.

It's just too hard for a corgi to stand up for that long.

A Day in the Life of the Old Man Cat

Today is the 19th Birthday of our old man cat, Duncan.

Duncan is an indoor cat, 

but always enjoys a supervised wander around the yard.

It's wonderful to wish Duncan a Happy Birthday - especially since he's lived 4 years since the vet gave him one year to live (bad kidneys).

Wonder what life is like for a 19 year old cat?  
Here's a day in the life of Duncan (in descending order of time spent on each activity):

15 hours => lay on heated cat bed next to heater vent

7 hours => sleep on bed at night with humans

1 hour => wait in bathroom for someone to turn on the bath tap to get a drink

40 minutes =>  look for a place to puke.  do this multiple times per day - deciding whether to make it easy on the humans and puke where the dogs will clean it up OR puke where the dogs can't get it so the humans must clean it up.

10 minutes => eat cat food to puke up later

8 minutes => pee just outside of litter box

2 minutes => run wildly around around the house - preferably where the humans can't see you

We love our snuggly old man cat.  Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Snuggled up with Maggie on one of our 

cross-country trips.

Duncan is a good car cat.  

He loved to sit in the back window of my Honda.

Always the helper cat.

...in his younger days.

Always the helper cat.

...today.

Happy 19th Birthday, Duncan!