Canine Good Citizen

Last night, Mumble and Chopper had their "final exam" in Obedience 2 class at the Zoom Room in Culver City. The class was all about learning the behaviors and skills necessary for the AKC's Canine Good Citizen program so that the dogs could pass the CGC test. You can read all about the AKC's CGC program, the test, and the purpose of CGC on their website, www.akc.org/events/cgc/, which provides a lot of useful training related information as well as details about how to be evaluated. I'm really grateful that the Zoom Room offers the class and test, and there are also some other programs in the LA area that have similar obedience classes.

Chopper's mom has written a good description of the test items from last night's exam on her blog, According to Chopper.

Going into the exam, I wasn't honestly sure that Mumble was ready to pass it. In fact, we had signed up for a second 6-week class of Obedience 2 at the Zoom Room, thinking that the advanced obedience training is good practice either way, and that 12 weeks would probably be better for mastering everything required for the test. Mumble is extremely smart and good at training, but he sometimes is very willful and has a mind of his own about how he wants to behave. That what you get with the combination of a Border Collie and a Bull Terrier - I always say "a smart & stubborn breed plus another smart & stubborn breed equals a crazy Mumble!" This is why its necessary to keep doing all of these training activities with Mumble - not because he hasn't already learned most of these things, but because he is a dog that requires lots of structure and practice on an ongoing basis or else he decides for himself how to act. So I was worried about a few of the items, as I thought it would all ultimately depend on how Mumble was that particular day.

One thing about the test, as opposed to training / practice, is that you cannot use treats during the test! You have to reward with praise, petting, etc. Dave said if he "saw" the treats, that was a problem, so I basically hid some in my pocket so that Mumble would smell them and I could occasionally make my fingers smell like treats in case I needed to distract Mumble. I don't know if this is technically allowed or not, but that's what we did. I'm not sure this was a good idea for Mumble. Basically, he knew I had the treats somewhere, and that he wasn't getting them, so he just stared at me and even barked / begged when he still didn't get a treat. When I would "shush" him or say "quiet," he's just do his really soft bark that he uses when he wants something. I think he thinks "quiet" means bark quieter instead of don't bark at all!

The first thing I was worried about was getting Mumble into the test area calmly. Generally, Mumble comes barging into the Zoom Room raring to go, because he is use to doing something exciting like agility when he's there. Last week, we kind of had a "practice test" for the next-to-last class. That day, I took Mumble to daycare at The Loved Dog, where he goes a couple of times a week to play with other dogs all day (herd them and boss them around, more like). He absolutely loves it there and usually comes home and goes to sleep right away. I figured he'd be pretty tired and mellow when we went to the Zoom Room that night, but I was WRONG. Instead, he seemed to be hyped up and energized. It was like he couldn't regulate himself from the freedom of playing and doing what he wanted at TLD during the day to the structure of the class and wanted to keep playing and being rambunctious instead. When we came into the Zoom Room, there were several "extra" people there - people who were observing the class to check out the Zoom Room, and people who were friends/family observing specific dogs (including Chopper's grandpa). In general, even on a good day, Mumble is suspicious of anyone new at the Zoom Room. I think he's been going there so long that sometimes his "I want to be in charge" mentality is hard for him to suppress when he's there. If we are in the middle of a class and someone comes in the door, he stops what he's doing and gives a warning bark. So when we walked in and he saw a bunch of strangers, and was already on alert and hyped up, he just immediately started barking. Dave said that would be an "automatic fail" if it were the real test.

Thus, last night I was trying my best to keep Mumble focused before we even went in the door to prevent a repeat of that situation. He did really well coming in, and during the middle of the test there actually was a real-life-situation of a disruption by someone who was not in the class. Someone who works for Dave came out of the back room - a person Mumble has barked at in the past - and actually stood about 3 feet from where Mumble was in his down-stay to talk to Dave briefly before leaving. I was working hard on "look at me" to keep Mumble focused, which worked because he did not get up or bark.

The other thing I was worried about was walking past other dogs / reaction to another dog. This was something we practiced a lot back when Mumble took his Therapy Dog class, but he was never really good at it. In real life, this is the thing we struggle with the most. Mumble's border collie instincts and behaviors are really strong / dominant. When he sees a dog or cat out on a walk that he wants to see, he goes immediately into a herding stance with intense eye gaze, kind of hunches down, and perseverates on the dog until he gets it to come to him. I can keep him going and get him refocused on me instead of the dog only if I catch the behavior in time. He knows he's not supposed to hunch down and try to herd the other dogs, so what he does instead is lay all the way down on the ground to stare at them. If he lays down, it's almost impossible to get him back up and walking unless I practically pick him up!

During the class, we walked past the other dogs while we were doing the "loose leash walking" item, walking in a circle. Dave would have us go around one way with the dogs on the outside of the circle, then the opposite way with the dogs on the inside so that they were basically passing by each other (it was a small circle). Back when we were doing the Therapy Dog class, we did this "item" in two ways - one was by approaching each other from a specified distance, stopping in the middle and shaking hands, during which time the dogs were not supposed to lung towards each other, try to play, jump on the other dog/person, etc. In the other situation, the other dogs in the class would be lined up on either side of the room and one dog and its owner would walk between them. Both the dog that was walking and the ones that were sitting on the side were supposed to show no more than a casual interest in the other dog.

Mumble has no concept of "casual" anything, certainly not of a "casual interest" in something. If he's interested, its a perseverative/obsessive kind of interest! So this was certainly not his strongest item. During the test last night, Dave had us do the second way we use to do this in Therapy Dog - all of the other dogs (there are 10 dogs in this class) formed two lines on the sides, so that there was a path down the middle, and each dog took a turn with its owner walking down the middle. The dog was to walk nicely and was not supposed to try to go to the other dogs. As soon as this item started, I felt my blood pressure go up because I feared that Mumble would think this was a great opportunity to go around and visit all the other dogs in the room.

To my pleasant surprise, Mumble actually did very well on this. He walked nicely with me the whole way, only sniffing the ground occasionally and never once trying to herd any of the other dogs towards him. There was one dog in the class he never has liked (the dog barks annoyingly almost constantly), and when we got close to that one he kind of glared at it for a second, but then kept going immediately when I said "come on." I guess that passed for "casual interest." I totally give credit to Dave for our success in this - one thing I definitely know that I have become better at with Dave's training and guidance is how to keep Mumble under control.

The item I was not worried about was "coming when called," although there was a time that Mumble would have not passed this. Here, I have to really give the credit to Tamar Geller (owner of The Loved Dog) from whom we took a obedience class (Basic Manners) when Mumble was still a puppy. The very first day in that class, Tamar started teaching us the "here" command. She took each dog in turn by the leash and walked with it to the other side of the room away from its owner. After a few minutes, (she had dropped the leash), you were supposed to call your dog and hopefully it would run back across the room to you. Every other dog at least partially did this task. Some of them started towards their owners and got distracted; some were slow at coming; but they all eventually got there. Except Mumble. He absolutely just stood there next to Tamar and could care less that I was shouting his name and clapping and doing whatever I could to try to get his attention. It wasn't until the sixth and final class that Mumble ran to me when I called his name. Every week we worked on it at home and in class. What I learned from Tamar (through tears that first day) was the importance of your relationship with your dog, and how that is just as important for training as your dog's intelligence and other factors. When I realized the meaning of this and worked on it from that angle, Mumble learned to come to his name because he wanted to come to me. Now, every time we do this at the Zoom Room, including last night during the test, Mumble watches me and waits patiently the whole time he is in his down stay, and as soon as I give him the command (which I can do in any of three ways - saying his name, saying "here," or two taps of my hands on my knees/legs) he runs really fast straight to me and immediately sits.

Mumble's grandma, of course, thought that I never should have doubted him! I guess I have to give him much more credit now that he's certified as a "good citizen!" On the other hand, Rascal (the cat) had his doubts even afterward. When we got home last night, Mumble and Rascal chased each other around, playing, and Mumble basically chewed on Rascal's whole head (which he does until Rascal kicks him in the face). Rascal gave him a look like "someone gave YOU a certificate for being good? really?"

June 2011 Deals

Here are some more great deals for pet items!

Doggyloot (as of June 13, 2011): $15 for 4 tasty rawhide bones from Sergeant's (a $28 value) - shipping included! at Sergeant's Pet Care Products

What you get: One (1) 8" Natural Rawhide Bone; Two (2) 4-packs of Chick'n Dippin' Rawhide Munchy Chews; and One (1) 6" Chick'n Dippin' Rawhide Bone.

Mumble has never had one of these rawhides or chews, so I checked out the website to find out more about it. The 8" rawhide is the "compressed bone" type, and says it is for the most "aggressive chewers." The Chick'n Dippin chews look like skinny sticks, and it says it is rawhide on the inside and chicken on the outside. The Chick'n Dippin bone is another compressed rawhide bone, which again says it is rawhide on the inside and chicken on the outside. Mumble is definitely and "aggressive chewer" and generally likes (and tolerates) rawhides. Without looking at the actual ingredients, I'm unsure about whether these ones will be OK for him, but for such a good deal I'm willing to try them out (Mumble has lots of doggie friends he can give these to if it turns out he can't enjoy them himself!).

Check it out at: http://www.doggyloot.com/deals/four-rawhide-bones-from-sergeants/r/5536

Another Doggyloot deal (still available on June 13, 2011): $12 for 6 Doggy Greeting Cards from BarkiCards (a $24 value) - shipping included! at BarkiCards.

This one is for 6 adorable greeting cards - to use when you want to send a note from your dog himself! - from Barki Cards for $12, which is a 50% discount. As a bonus, BarkiCards gives a portion of the proceeds to the Arizona Humane Society!

Check it out at: http://www.doggyloot.com/deals/six-doggy-greeting-cards-from-barkicards/r/5536

Freebies and Samples:

Rachael Ray's Nutrish dog food or treats: www.switchtonutrish.com/index.php

Free Pet Exam at Banfield (the vet inside Petsmart): www.banfield.com/exclusiveoffer

Sales:

BioSpot Flea and Tick Treatment, 50% off at Drs. Foster and Smith: www.drsfostersmith.com

Health Update

One week ago today was the start of Mumble's recent illness. He spent that day at daycare, and apparently spent much of the day just lying around and also threw up once while he was there. That night and into the next morning, he was vomiting almost constantly, not even holding down water, and we rushed to the vet on Tuesday.

Since then, he's been doing much better. The injections and medications the vet used to calm down his upset stomach and reduce the nausea really seemed to work well, as he was showing signs of improvement almost immediately. For several days following that, he was on a totally "bland" diet made up of cooked chicken and rice, which he ate in several small meals throughout the day instead of two regular sized meals. This meant he has been coming to work with me every day, so that I could monitor his health, give him all of his doses of medications, and feed him on his frequent-meal schedule. He, of course, has loved coming to the office and getting all of the attention from everyone here!

As of today, he's doing so much better I'm almost willing to say he's back to normal. "Almost" because he still has been having a little bit of digestive issues, although there has been absolutely no vomiting since we went to the vet last Tuesday. With Mumble, it is so hard to tell what is really going on with these types of things. Any change in his food whatsoever, even change to a "bland" diet, typically makes him a little bit sick because he has such a sensitive digestive system. So when he was getting better and better, but still having some diarrhea, it was hard to tell if that was still related to whatever was going on last week or if it is just because the chicken and rice is "different" than his normal diet.

I like to have answers. I tend to overthink things, read everything I can about any topic I need to know anything about, ask millions of questions whether in a meeting for a client or a doctor's appointment for myself, and try to decipher logical explanations for any and everything. There were no definite answers for why Mumble was sick (although I am grateful that there was a clear answer for what to do about it). The X-Rays taken by the vet showed a blurred appearance that she said was sometimes present as an indicator of pancreatitis. This seemed to have really surprised her though (indicating that other signs of such a serious condition weren't there?) because she said that she had them repeat the X-Ray just to be sure that he was actually lying perfectly still.

All of this lead to me going home and reading everything I could on canine pancreatitis. I tend to utilize a few different books whenever I have health-related questions about my pets. One is the Dog Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook, by Debra M. Eldredge DVM, the second is the Veterinarians' Guide to Your Dog Symptoms, by Michael S. Garvey DVM, and the third is the Natural Health Bible for Dogs and Cats, by Shawn Messonnier DVM, each of which I have on my Kindle. So I went home and consulted them to find out about this pancreatitis thing. What I read was pretty scary, but it seemed unlikely that this is what Mumble has. Although not uncommon, pancreatitis can apparently be life-threatening, and certainly some of the symptoms matched what Mumble was presenting with - vomiting up water, for example. It seemed like all of the descriptions I found, however, were of much more severe symptoms, like of dogs being so lethargic they were almost non-responsive, in so much abdominal pain that they wouldn't want to lie down, or showing signs of shock. So either Mumble only had a mild form of this, and I got him to the vet so quickly that these signs didn't show up yet, or it was not truly pancreatitis at all. Another thing that made me doubt that this could be what was wrong was that pancreatitis is most commonly seen in dogs that eat a lot of fatty foods or table scraps. Mumble is certainly not one of those dogs, given how limited his diet has to be because of all of his existing allergies and digestive issues. Also, pancreatitis is more common in middle-aged to older dogs, and according to some sources, more common in females. Again, all not characteristics of Mumble.

The vet determined that the best course of action was to immediately (and thoroughly) treat Mumble's symptoms, and that if he showed any signs of getting worse in the subsequent 48 hours or if he did not improve, then she would run some blood work to determine if indeed he had pancreatitis. Ultimately, we did not go that route because he was immediately so much better, so I guess we'll never know what the blood work would have shown, but the point was for him to get better, and he did.

What we did know is that Mumble did not have an obstruction in his bowels, he did not have bloat (thank God!), and he had not eaten anything poisonous. And what was suspected was that he did not have pancreatitis. That leaves more questions that answers, and not wanting him to go through this ever again, it leaves a huge "unknown" as to how to prevent it. I'm all about preventative treatment. Mumble is on every supplement and herbal remedy that has been suggested for him and eats organic dog food because these things are supposed to prevent his allergies from acting up, his joints from becoming arthritic, etc. So I want something we can do to stop this from happening too!

One thing that the vet mentioned is that all of this could have been related to his existing allergies. Mumble definitely suffers from seasonal allergies, and he is much more itchy, sneezy, runny, etc during this time of year. Generally, he goes through at least one time period in the spring or early summer where he just doesn't seem to feel 100% because of allergies.

Another thing that is possible is that his existing digestive issues flared up and caused this more extreme reaction. I've always suspected that Mumble could possibly have inflammatory bowel disease or irritable bowel syndrome. It doesn't seem like we need to put him through any tests or anything like that for this though, as all of the possibly-related issues are very well managed with a carefully planned diet and supplements. I've also always thought that he has excessive amounts of stomach acids. Whereas most dogs benefit from "fasting" when they have any kind of stomach illness, this has only ever made Mumble worse. If he has an empty stomach, he retches and vomits. I learned that early on with him, and in the countless times he's had an upset tummy, I never fast him like many people do with their dogs. I may reduce his food or give him rice or something else bland, but I know that an empty stomach will just make him worse.

You know how when you were a kid and you didn't feel well and your mom would say "if you'd just eat something, you'd feel better." And even if you felt like you'd throw up if you ate something, you'd trust her and eat a few crackers or some bread or something else really bland, and it WOULD make you feel a little better. Well, there's no way to reason with a dog in that way. No matter what I did, I couldn't get Mumble to eat that day when he was so sick. So my suspicion, not being a vet but just an overly-vigilant pet mom, is that Mumble was feeling ill because of allergies or because his tummy was just a little upset, and then he didn't want to eat because of that, and after skipping just a few meals, we found ourselves in the situation of him being really sick. It's like a bad cycle - he doesn't feel well, so he doesn't eat... he doesn't eat so he has an empty stomach and throws up... this makes him not feel well, so he continues to not eat.

Maybe this explains why the medicines worked so well. One was basically Pepcid, so it definitely would have reduced the stomach acids. Once those were in his system, he finally wanted to eat food and then he was on the way to recovery. I guess I'll never know for sure what caused all of this, but I'm grateful it didn't become anything more serious, and I'm beyond grateful for the thorough and expert care he got at Shane Veterinary Medical Center. And now if he ever DOES have pancreatitis, I guess I'll know what it looks like!

Chopper turns 5

Happy 5th Birthday
to Mumble's very best friend - Chopper!

Urgent Trip to the Vet

Anyone who's read this blog before knows I tend to assume the worst when anything is wrong with Mumble. Today was a day to push me right over the edge , from worry to panic.

All day yesterday, Mumble refused to eat any food. Despite his history of gastro-intestinal issues, Mumble has never been one to turn down a meal, even when he feels sick. Not only did this fact make his lack of an appetite a concern, but I also know from history that if he does skip a meal, he tends to get nausea because he has too much acid in his stomach. The usual remedy for an upset stomach of fasting a dog for a certain amount of time never worked for him.

The real problems, however, started last night. A little while after going to bed, I heard Mumble get up and vomit. Mumble's had a lot of upset tummies, but his issues tend to be on the other end, so vomiting is not usual for him. Still, one time of vomiting would not be that big of a deal. All night vomiting, however, was.

Throughout the night, this was Mumble's continuous cycle: sleep anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours; get up and whine or bark at me; go to the water bowl and drink down absolutely all of the water; run over to the door and whine again; vomit all of the water he just drank. By the morning we were both exhausted and I was in tears.

About 5:30am I decided that since I wasn't sleeping anyway, I might as well get up. I got out some chicken and boiled it, hoping that Mumble would be enticed to eat. When it was time for his breakfast, however, no amount of coaxing or attempts to hand-feed would convince him to eat any of the chicken.

After Mumble threw up more water during the morning, I decided I had to get him to the vet.

Mumble has a great vet. She's extremely thorough, has a very holistic approach, and is always willing to put up with my obsessive questions and even my over-the-top worrying. There are other vets in her office, but I never see them because I'm always worried no one else will be as good as her. Today, however, I had no choice, as she wasn't going to be there.

Before going to the vet, I made a call to Mumble's doggie daycare provider. He had been there all day yesterday, so I wanted to know if there was anything they had noticed that I should tell the vet. When they consulted yesterday's log, they told me that Mumble had thrown up once and "was not himself." They explained that he mostly laid around all day, and that he hardly barked the whole day. Mumble loves running around and barking and herding the other dogs. Every time I pick him up, he runs across the room barking when he sees me there. When they said he was quiet and still all day, I think that's the moment I realized something really was wrong, and it wasn't just my exaggerated worrying.

Ultimately, I had to call a friend to cone along to the vet too. All I could think of was how my Padfoot had been sick and had one day gone into shock and no one could save him. I was terrified of something being seriously wrong like that with Mumble.

So we went and we saw a vet I'd never met before. She listened intently to my description of symptoms, checked Mumble's heartbeat, felt his tummy, and asked questions. She wanted to do X-Rays, and when she explained that after the X-Rays, either way (whether they revealed something seriously wrong or not) we'd come up with a plan - I felt relief for the first time. That would probably be the moment most people panicked, when something like X-Rays were recommended, but for me, it was when I knew that this time, I was not too late. This time, we'd do everything we could to make Mumble well.

The X-Rays were done, and there was "nothing big and scary" as the vet put it. No obstruction or anything like that in his bowels, no bloat. She pointed out lots of pockets of air though, indicating a lot of gas. She also pointed out what she referred to as a "slightly blurry spot" and explained that she'd had the techs repeat the X-Ray multiple times to be sure it wasn't due to wiggling on Mumble's part. And then it got a little scary again - apparently this "blurry spot" is something that could sometimes indicate pancreatitis.

The new vet then told us her plan: (1) She would give Mumble two injections to help with nausea and reducing acid; (2) I would take home two medications to give Mumble over the next several days (oral form of the two medications in the injections); (3) Mumble would be on carefully controlled portions of food consisting of only rice and boiled chicken, starting with an extremely small amount and working up. The idea of this plan is to treat the symptoms, with the hope that if the medications reduce the feeling of nausea, Mumble will begin to eat again and to feel better. We'll call this Plan A. Crucial to Plan A is careful monitoring to see if it is working and to watch for any sign that Mumble is getting worse.

Because this vet is thorough, there is of course a Plan B, which is a possibility because of that "blurry spot" on the X-Ray. If over the next 48 hours Plan A is not working; if Mumble is lethargic, still bot eating, continuing to vomit, then comes Plan B - we go back to the vet for more tests, this time blood work to determine if Mumble has pancreatitis and how we should treat it.

So here we are at home, and so far Mumble is at least finally keeping down some water. I was beginning to really be concerned that he'd become dehydrated. I've been giving him only a little bit at a time, because he still wants to drink as much as I put into the bowl all at once, and I'm afraid that will make it come right back up. He still won't eat though. He just looks at the chicken and rice mixture that I made him, and then gives me a sad look. (the cat, however, is very interested in this food). He's sleeping, probably exhausted from being up all night and day from this sickness. He sleeps, and I pray for him to get better. He sleeps, and I try to work and think about something else. Worst of all, while he sleeps I'm here reading dog health books and articles about pancreatitis. There is a such thing as too much avsilable information, especially for a worrier like me.