Family cuddles

Switching crate to x-pen

Terra's crate has been tight for a few weeks. I was finally able to retrieve her large, heavy duty x-pen from where I'd left it on the agility field. She's confused about the change, but she has room to stretch out now.

Here's the most recent picture of her growth. She weighed 96 pounds last week.

And a couple bonus pictures of her sleeping:

 

Potty training update

I've mostly stopped putting Terra in her crate at night or when I leave. She has had a few accidents but they only happened when 1) I was sick and slept in way later than I should have, or 2) I was getting the car serviced and it took longer than I'd been expecting.

She always pees on top of her bed when she does need to go, but thankfully it has a truly waterproof liner, so I just wash the cover and liner and it's good to go.

It's still a bummer to clean up a tsunami of Wolfhound urine, though.

01/03/18: feeling better

Terra still slept through most of the day, but she had short bouts of bored energy.

We did two super short nose work sessions. She did some good problem solving with containers 8-12" off the floor.

12/26/17-01/02/18: pneumonia and ICU

In the week before Christmas, one of my regular boarding dogs arrived with a cough that had just started that morning. Terra developed nasal congestion on 12/25 and a mild cough on 12/27. On the evening of 12/30, she became lethargic and unresponsive to me talking to her and cajoling her to eat her dinner or go outside to potty. I took her to UC Davis. We had to take the scary elevator because she didn't have enough energy to climb the stairs. (Side note: who the fuck decided to put the emergency clinic on the second floor?) They found that she had a fever of 104.8 and pneumonia, and was not getting enough oxygen on her own. They started her on antibiotics. She spent the 31st on supplemental oxygen and an IV in the ICU. When I visited, she gave me a little tail wag but mostly kept her head down on the floor.

On the morning of January 1st, after 24 hours on antibiotics, she was doing much better. The supplemental oxygen was removed. She started eating the meatballs, cottage cheese, and rice that the staff offered her. (Though she did lose a little weight during her stay.) I was able to take her for a walk when I visited. She was moved from the ICU to an intermediate care ward.

They re-ran blood tests on the morning of January 2nd and confirmed that she was well enough to come home. She will be on antibiotics for at least 2 weeks and has an appointment to get a chest x-ray at our regular vet's on 1/12. No physical exertion (including running or playing) for 2 weeks. I guess we'll be doing a lot more nose work practice.

She ate her dinner with gusto but has spent all day sleeping, with a few half-hearted attempts at squeaking a toy or chewing on an old bone. Chimera was happy to see her and tried to get her to play, but she turned him down. She welcomed a thorough brushing and cuddle instead.

They told me that she had a fan club, which was no surprise. She's so mild mannered and cuddly that she makes friends everywhere she goes (note that all the staff, techs, and vets were women).

12/23/17-12/26/17: White Christmas

We spent the past few days up in Truckee. Snow had recently fallen and the dogs got to go on morning and afternoon off leash walks in the woods. Terra didn't hesitate at all about walking in snow, even though she had never seen it before. She did really well both in the condo and walking outside. She frequently played with my sister's little dog, Frankie. I brought her crate and was diligent about potty training, so we didn't have any accidents, thank goodness! At first she held her bladder as long as she could because she wasn't relaxed enough outside. That also got better as the days went on. The only negative was that she's still scared of my dad, but she's getting better every time they're together. We had a few reactive barks at noises early on, and on the last day at a little girl with a snow shovel playing outside the back patio.

Here are my favorite pictures from the trip. Click on any photo to see it come up larger.

Trying to be a lap dog on the couch.

She enjoyed tearing up the tag on her Christmas present.

Beautiful view.

Playing with Frankie.

Besties.

She liked to lie down against the L-shaped couch and rest her head in the coffee table.

12/22/17: Recent pictures, CVS

Terra weighs 91 pounds today. After getting her weight at the vet's, we went next door to CVS. Terra walked down the aisles with me to pick up a new toothbrush, then waited in line to pick up medication. We've been in this CVS twice before, and she was relaxed the entire time. She was still impatient while we waited and while I paid, but she repeatedly offered a sit. I was happy with her demeanor.

Resting with her Malinois friend.

Raw food prepped for Christmas vacation.

If Cai is in the crate first, he won't let Terra in. But if she's there first, he feels free to join her.

Growth update

Day 100 (12/15/17): chiropractic appointment

It's a milestone day; Terra has been with me for 100 days! And a few days ago, she turned six months old. She weighs 88 lbs. Her fur has lightened considerably since puppyhood and she's big and strong and beautiful.

I made an appointment for Terra right after Chimera's monthly chiropractic appointment. Dr Wallace is amazing and I knew that having her feel Terra over would help her stay healthy as she goes through her enormous growth spurts. Dr Wallace could see that yes, Terra was slightly favoring her back right leg; the stride was shorter on that side. (We had recently gone to our regular vet about this.) It was subtle enough at this point that I hadn't been seeing it at home. She felt her up and found that her pelvis was slightly tilted, which could be causing the problem. She noted that Terra was uncomfortable having her back toes handled, and found a fungal overgrowth there. She told me to soak the feet in a strong green tea for 5-10 minutes, for 1-2 weeks. The tea is astringent and will get rid of the fungus.

I was skeptical about being able to do the soak for so long, but once again Terra has proven to be amazingly mellow and tolerant. Of course, I do it when she's sleepy and less likely to fidget.

We still sometimes made a mess.

Day 99 (12/14/17): park trip, craft night at Rachel's

I took Terra to craft night again. On the way we stopped by Alan Witt Park to run around. I had her on a long line just in case, but she stayed close to me. We literally ran in circles and played. After a few minutes I realized that my phone had bounced out of my pocket. I walked back and forth across the grass. Terra still wanted to play and kept bouncing up and down beside me and running around in circles. It was quickly getting dark and I knew that my phone had fallen out within a certain small area, but I just couldn't find it, and for some reason the Tile was not connecting and making it ring for me. Fortunately there was a family playing nearby and they had a couple of flash lights. With six pairs of eyes, the phone was located within a minute. Terra shied away from the strangers but wanted to play again as soon as they left.

She peed in Rachel's back yard as soon as we arrived, which was a relief as it meant that I could let her hang out off leash. She was tired out from the park and was perfectly behaved. I let her up on the couches and she did her best to be a lap dog with Eli.

Day 98 (12/13/17): Pet Food Express, Office Max, conformation class

Terra has been stuck indoors the past couple of days, so today I gave her a few outings. First we went to Pet Food Express in Davis. I had the leash clipped to the back of her Freedom harness, signalling that she was free to wander this way and that. She's big enough now that I sometimes have to brace myself to bring her to a stop. It's not that she actively pulls against the leash; the problem is that she has so much momentum that it takes a solid effort to halt her. I may need to switch to using the front clip or using collar only. I'm still working on desensitizing her to a head halter, so that I have that as an option, but we don't practice it every day and it's slow going.

Terra is always perfectly behaved around the bins of treats and chews because she's too inhibited to grab something. She wagged her tail at the women we passed and gave a wary stare at a man. We spent some time cuddling in the aisles. She was impatient at the register, as usual, but she was more willing to stand between me and the counter. I like that position because I can still keep an eye on her and no one can sneak up on us.

I dropped off our shopping in the car, switched Terra to her "service dog in training" harness, and clipped the leash to her collar. She is already walking and acting differently between the two types of equipment, however I have the feeling that she's cuing off the short leash on her collar more than the harnesses. We went to Office Max. This was her second time in this store and she strolled through it without a problem. We had to wait in line and this time, instead of trying to wander around me in a circle, she sat down and leaned against my left side. Perfect. She was still antsy at the register but decided to sit down, got up, and sat down again.

In the evening we went to a conformation drop in class at Solano DTC. Only two other people came, and one of them was Grace, the Wolfhound we'd met at a Fast CAT event in October. Her owner was happy to see us again and gave me information about some upcoming Wolfhound Club gatherings.

Terra did well at the class. It was a great example of using a structured protocol to ease her into the new activity and give her confidence.

1. I put her mat in a corner of the room and paid for class before I got her out of the car.
2. Terra balked at the doorway, but I let her take as much time as she needed, and even back out of the building if she wanted to (twice).
3. We went straight to the mat and I kneeled next to her as she looked around. I didn't let anyone come closer than she could handle. The other two dog owners got started with gaiting around the ring.
4. When I saw that Terra had relaxed and was interested in what the other dogs were doing, we joined in the gaiting, though I let her look and sniff around rather than worrying about how she moved or whether she was on the correct side.
5. We went back to the mat after one round to give her time to process.
6. When she wanted to return, we did another round of gaiting, this time keeping her on my left side and on a shorter leash. I was still using her regular walking leash and collar.
7. I talked to the judge but she didn't touch Terra. She let Terra sniff her hand.
8. On our second turn in front of the judge, Terra wanted to say hello. On each turn, she was more affiliative, and was leaning against the judge by the end. Terra was comfortable with petting around her head, neck, and back. No real exam.
9. After the third trip around the room, I switched to our show slip lead.
10. At the end of class, when Terra was totally relaxed and comfortable, I practiced hand stacking her.

This was the last class the club is holding for 2017. We'll be back in the new year.