Looking Back

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Jamie

Unlike many who look back on the days of their dog's youth with fond memories, I don't. All I see when I look at old photos is a scared dog. A dog whose potential was easy to overlook. . .

Most people have fond memories of their dogs in their youth. They look back at photos of fuzzy puppies with their whole lives ahead of them overflowing with potential. They remember the playfulness and joy of shaping that young life. Those early years are full of warm feelings and people love to think back on them and reminisce how much fun it was to be together.

I don’t have memories like that with Risa. That’s not to say that we didn’t have a good time together or that I loved her any less in the past. It’s simply that we didn’t have a warm and fuzzy start. She was fearful and dog reactive. I was in over my head as a first time dog owner. There was no cute puppy stage. She was an adult dog just finishing up adolescence (at 2.5). She was cute (in a funny-looking way) and active. She had potential to be something amazing but it was buried deep. Even looking at photographs of her from that first year, you can see often see the fear in her eyes.

While it’s sad that I can’t always think of our past together and smile, I’m actually okay with that. Because, to me, it means our best years together are occurring right now. We’re at a point in our lives when everything pretty much clicks. People, aside from myself, can see her potential. They can finally see the true Risa. The one hidden behind that cloud of fear. That crazy, silly goofball that makes me smile inside and out. The one who defies anyone who thinks a dog can’t do certain things simply because they’re fearful. That the old adage that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks is baloney.

The constant worry about what she was going to do or what would scare her next is now a thing of the past. My concern over her future as my performance dog is also no longer an issue. She is my sport dog even with the limitations her temperament places on it. The potential has been unlocked. We fit more like a hand in a glove than we ever did before. So I don’t look back and think about what once was and miss it like I might had I gotten Risa as a pup. Instead, I look to what the future still holds for us both. Though I know, some day, I will look back on the good times and reminisce. Especially as the grey creeps through her coat even more and she starts slowing down (not sure if that’ll ever happen!). But, for now, we’re living in the moment and enjoying every bit of it! :)

Posted in Fear, Reactivity, Thoughts, Training | Leave a comment

I’m Here for a Good Time

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Jamie

Not a bad haul for a weekend.

We attended our second APDT rally trial this weekend. Despite it being a 2-in-1 trial (two trials on the same day), there was no chance of earning a title. Just legs towards future titles. So I went in with a very no-pressure attitude. We went just to have fun (and collect more placement rosettes ;) ). I’ve been working with Risa more on freestyle lately anyway so we hadn’t really done much rally practice. Still, after reviewing the signs last weekend, I figured we’d probably be alright.

I was not disappointed in our weekend. The weather was perfect. It was great reconnecting with friends and talking to the other competitors. The whole atmosphere of APDT trials just seems much more laid back than AKC trials. Though, I will admit to having only trialed at one location for APDT. But it reminds me more of freestyle. Casual. Supportive. And low-pressure. More emphasis on the fun!

Risa was on her best behavior all day. Even in fairly close proximity to other dogs, she was composed and under control. The only times she was mildly reactive were when we were just lounging about underneath the Sportbrella. And then, the worst she did was a hard stare and/or a growl which I easily cut off simply by calling her name. Not bad at all.

I wasn’t sure how well Risa would handle going in to the ring four times. The most she’s ever done in a day was twice at our last APDT trial. But I entered her in 2 Level 1 courses and 2 Level 2. First of all, she couldn’t WAIT to get into the ring! As soon as I got her out and walked close to it, she was pulling in the direction of the entrance. Risa was ready to go!

She started off great in her first Level 1 course despite some wandering and sniffing. She managed to get a score of 202 out of a possible 210 and took third place (we had stiff competition as we were up against dogs with high-level championship titles!). Her first foray into Level 2 wasn’t as nice as I would have liked and it featured our nemesis: the off-set figure 8. She NQ’d but not due to the wandering and sniffing. She didn’t perform the jump (and I wasn’t prepared for that to place myself in a way to reset her) and that’s enough to disqualify you in APDT. We should have prepared more for jumps especially because you aren’t supposed to walk right past them like you can in AKC. You’re supposed to be 6 feet away.

Caught in the midst of catching bugs in the pond.

I also was not on my game during that first run. As soon as she took off sniffing, I started to get a bit stressed. I didn’t feel stressed but I did start doing the high-pitched chirpy cues and encouragement. That doesn’t work for Risa and I think that was part of the problem. I noted it to myself and vowed to not do that on our second Level 2 run.

In the afternoon trial, I approached our Level 2 run in a much more positive light. While Risa still did some wandering and sniffing, it wasn’t as bad. She was more connected with me and didn’t blow the jump (which is good because it was the first obstacle!). She bumped a couple signs because I didn’t place her correctly (signs tend to be a bit more close together in APDT vs. AKC). Her focus during the two recalls was actually pretty good (even though she wasn’t exactly looking at me, she did come when called). I almost blew the run entirely when I walked past one of the signs. But I knew something wasn’t right, caught my error, and did the sign before NQing us by doing the next sign. After that run, I was so proud of Risa. I think it was our best of the day. Even if it wasn’t our best score-wise (we had a 201 and got 2nd place), it felt like it was the best.

We finished up the day with our final Level 1 run. It wasn’t pretty; Risa caught a scent on the wind and it was hard to get and keep her attention when we were facing that direction. But we still managed a score of 198 and took 3rd place.

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend. It was a little bittersweet as well. This was the last APDT trial to be held at that location. I’m not sure now where I stand with APDT rally either. The entire program is up for sale so it’s future is uncertain. Will my titles transfer to the new organization? I don’t know. And, unfortunately, APDT trials aren’t as local as I would like. So I’m not sure if I will ever finish another title in this venue. I remember last year, after our first APDT trial, dreaming of Risa earning the ARCH (APDT Rally Champion) title and sort of set it as a goal. Now, I feel the likelihood of achieving high-level titles in APDT rally is highly unlikely. I suppose it’s a good thing that AKC changed their rules so that I feel comfortable attempting to earn the RE title with Risa. But, I must say, I am saddened to think that APDT rally is probably over for us so soon after our journey into it began. Especially since, after trialing in APDT rally last fall, I realized that Risa did enjoy rally after all. We might have given up on rally entirely if not for APDT!

Posted in AKC, APDT, Dog Sports, Fear, Rally, Reactivity, Training | Leave a comment

Mean Mommy

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Jamie

Trust plays a huge part in how far you can push a fearful dog.

Living with a fearful dog, you never know when something might ruin your day. For the most part, the places we walk are pretty safe as far as Risa is concerned. There is one place I pretty much stopped taking her because of the continuous banging noises she could hear on the trail. We weren’t there today. We were at Risa’s favorite walking place. Not even halfway through the walk, someone nearby set off some firecrackers. Risa was terrified. Her whole body trembled. Her ears were pulled back tight against her head; her tail pulled as far between her legs as it could go. She wanted outta there NOW. Unfortunately, we were not close to the car. And I hate the long walk back when Risa is in a panic pulling on the lead as we go.

I wasn’t sure what I should do. Comforting Risa has rarely worked; she just wants to leave. I tried petting her softly as we stood there but she was simply too panicked. I picked her up and headed back towards the car but stopped at a bench. At the bench, I held onto her for a while rubbing her shoulders and chest. She made it clear she wanted none of it, though, so I let her jump off my lap.

I decided that we weren’t going back to the car. I wanted to see if Risa could work through it so that we could finish our walk. I clicked her for offering calming behaviors and asked her for some nose touches. I knew she was not super stressed because she could work and was still taking treats. Had she been extremely panicked and refused food, I would have taken her back to the car immediately. But, because she was functional, we stayed at the bench.

You really have to know how to read your own dog to know how far you can push them. Subjecting a fearful dog to a terrifying stimulus can certainly backfire if you're not careful!

After some time, she calmed down a bit. Her tail was not as tightly tucked and she was no longer trembling. So I decided to try and continue our walk. For a while, she really wanted to go back towards the car but she did not pull in that direction. She was willing to continue moving forward with me so we kept on going. I encouraged her to lock on to the squirrels and sniff the trees to help her calm down and refocus on the joy of walking. I even ran with her for a bit. As we reached the turn around point, she was much calmer. She was certainly not back to normal but she seemed less insistent about returning to the car.

I expected her to pull hard when we finally turned around but she didn’t. I did have to remind her a couple times that pulling on lead is not okay (by simply stopping or walking backwards for a couple steps). But she was clearly no longer panicked.

Unfortunately for Risa, there isn’t always an easy escape from the scary things. Today, I tried to help her learn to cope with the sudden scariness that life sometimes brings. I don’t expect her to never startle or to overcome her sound phobias entirely. But I hope, after today, she will feel a bit less panicked the next time a scary sound attempts to ruin our day. :)

Posted in Fear | 1 Comment

Making the Switch

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Jamie

It doesn't matter to me what I'm eating. Just as long as I'm healthy!

I’ve been home cooking for Risa for almost a month now. I’ve only been doing it properly for about 2-3 weeks, though. ;) I did some research in the Whole Dog Journal, had a friend send me a pamphlet and a book on home-prepared diets (I still need to read the book), and consulted with several online friends and websites to get an idea of what I needed to do.

As much as I complained at first, it’s really not so bad. Risa’s poops were horrible at first not because of the home cooked food. They were bad because of the kibble I had been feeding as well. Even just using the kibbles as training treats didn’t work for Risa at all. There was no way she was going to tolerate kibble as an entire meal (2.5 cups) when 20-some-odd pieces were causing such huge, smelly poops!! Although I was able to find a kibble without ingredients that would bother her, it just didn’t work out. (So, along with a freezer-full of raw food she can’t eat, I also have a bag of kibble. . .)

It hasn’t been as difficult to balance as I originally thought it would be. My main concerns were calcium, of course, and a source of omega 3s. The calcium I covered originally with ground eggshells but I eventually got some bone meal to use instead. I started off using flaxseed for the omega 3s but I was concerned that dogs might not actually be able to utilize a plant-based source of O3. With Risa’s issues with poultry, I wasn’t sure I would be able to use eggs so I took it slow. She never had an issue with the eggs which was a huge load off my mind! I’m still continuing to give the flax as well (it’s supposed to help with urinary incontinence issues which Risa has on rare occasion).

The biggest pain about home cooking is the preparation time. Granted, raw feeding takes a lot of prep time too. You have to portion out meals in advance and, if you buy in bulk, you can spend a good part of the weekend cutting it up! But it doesn’t hold a candle to home cooked time. Not only am I spending a lot of time around the stove cooking meat and veggies and cutting up food; it’s taking a long time just to get each meal ready for Risa. I have to add in her supplements along with mixing everything together. Rather than simply tossing her a chicken quarter (which I haven’t done in 2 years since she developed an aversion to poultry) and watching her chow down.

Still, she’s doing great on it. Her poops have been picture perfect. She’s gaining back the weight she lost. On top of that, she really seems to enjoy it.

Still well-muscled and shiny even with the change in diet.

I’ve found out that home cooking isn’t exactly all I expected it to be. I expected her poops to be much worse than they were on raw (they’re not quite as small and smell a bit more but not bad). I anticipated this would be a heck of a lot more work. I thought that home cooked diets were heavy on veggies but they’re really not. Probably 10-25% of Risa’s diet is veggie mush. The majority is meat which it should be. I was actually surprised to see how little fibrous veggie mush she needed to have nice, formed poops. Risa always needed a lot of bone in her diet to have good poos on raw. I figured it would be the same with home cooking–but I was wrong! I have yet to do the math to see how much more expensive this is than raw feeding was but, considering she was eating premade mixes for the past 2 years (which are more costly), it’s probably not as pricey as I think it is.

The formula I use for making her meals is pretty simple and based off the sample diet given on Home Made Cooked Diets for Dogs.

Meat – I’m using mainly beef as Risa does best on it. She’s tolerating pork okay (her poops are okay on it but I wonder if it’s not still bothering her) and has also enjoyed some buffalo and lamb. I want to have some variety but I’m planning on having beef being the staple of the diet due to her intolerance to certain protein sources. Poultry is out.
Veggie mush – I started using what our TCVM vet had me make as a cooling additive to Risa’s raw diet and built on it to create the veggie mush. It’s base is squash (though I’m going to have to switch to canned pumpkin now that squash is out of season again). I’ve added carrots, celery, kale, and/or green beans. I don’t give them all at the same time and, yes, it is a lot of variety to start with. However, the only ingredient I wasn’t sure if she’d tolerate was kale. Everything else she’d had before.
Eggs – Organic eggs high in omega 3s. She’s getting between 1-1.5 eggs daily either hard boiled or scrambled.
Organs – So far, it’s just beef liver. I’m giving about a spoonful daily. I am hoping to add in beef kidney in the future.
Ground flaxseed – As I mentioned above, it’s for omega 3s and to help with incontinence issues.
Black pepper – Just a shake or two to the veggie mix.
Garlic – I occasionally add a bit to her meat when I’m cooking it.
Fruits – In moderation. I will either add some dates to her veggie mush when I cook it or give her several frozen blueberries along with her meal.

As far as supplements and add-ons go, it’s pretty basic. Most of these I was giving when she was eating raw or 50/50 raw/home cooked.

Chinese herbs – I’m still giving her the herbs to balance her gut twice daily.
Cosequin – She’s getting one tablet daily
Bone meal – For calcium. I’m splitting it between her two meals so about 1/2 tsp twice a day.
Probiotic powder – Given daily with her nighttime meal.
L-glutamine – This is good for gut health especially with dogs with IBD. I give it when I remember to. ;)

I do need to sit down and analyze her diet and check for any major deficiencies but this seems to cover all the bases for now. I’m planning on giving as much variety as I can which, of course, isn’t all that easy with her food intolerences. But we’ll make due. I think it’ll be a lot easier when I have the freezer space back again. I won’t have to cook for her every week. I’m still bummed I had to ‘give up’ on raw. But Risa’s body was telling me it wasn’t working anymore. So I did what I had to do. And Risa’s quite happy about it. :)

Posted in Dog Food, Homecooked, Raw Feeding, Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine, Veterinarian | 1 Comment

Homecookin’

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Jamie

Looks good enough to eat!

Let’s add another thing to the ever-growing list of “things I had no anticipation of learning more about when I adopted Risa.” First raw-feeding (before I adopted her, actually). Then learning about rehabilitating a fearful dog, clicker training, dog body language, dog-dog reactivity, canine sports, GI issues, back problems/chiropractic care, traditional Chinese veterinary medicine, tick-borne diseases, and now homecooked food. Apparently, not growing up with dogs, I must need to catch up and learn all these things with a single dog! ;)

As much as I’m a raw-feeding advocate, it’s pretty clear that Risa can no longer tolerate raw food. My experiment with homecooking went well and then I tried giving her raw food only for a meal. Next day’s poop was horrible and so I decided to switch Risa to a homecooked diet. (I bought a bag of kibble to try that too but it doesn’t seem to be agreeing with her either. Even when I only give it in small quantities.)

"It doesn't matter to me whether my food is raw or homecooked. I'm ravenous anyway!"

I never wanted to do a homecooked diet with my dog. It’s a lot more difficult to balance than a raw diet. (Granted, raw feeding isn’t easy either. Unless you’re willing to do the research and learn how to feed properly, you’re better off sticking with kibble which IS easy.) There’s no raw, meaty bones to supply your dog with calcium. You can either grind up eggshells (my fingers are sore from crushing them with a spoon), give bone meal, or use a calcium supplement. You still need to feed organ meats like you do with a raw diet. You need to add omega 3s which, for Risa, is extremely difficult with her intolerance of fish. I’ve been using ground flaxseed (though there is debate as to whether or not dogs can use plant-based omega 3s) and am hoping she can tolerate eggs which are also a good source. You need to use a source of fiber as well; it can’t be all meat. So I’m cooking the hell out of veggies for her rather than using grains. I already know there are several grains she can’t tolerate and I feel dogs have no need for grains in their diets. However, I feel I may have to start using them on occasion to make this diet more cost-effective.

Already, it seems like Risa has to eat a lot more food with homecooking than she did on raw. And she ate a lot on raw too. She lost a couple pounds while I was figuring things out and she hasn’t gained any back since I switched her. So I’ve got to up the quantity even more to get her back to normal. And, speaking of quantity, oh how I miss the tiny raw-fed dog poops. :(

I’m only just beginning on this homecooked journey. I know, as time goes on and I get used to it, it’ll be less difficult. It’ll still be a lot of work and preparation but it’ll be worth it. It’s like I always say: “You have to do what works best for your dog.” Unfortunately for us both, raw is no longer the answer.

Posted in Dog Food, GI Issues, Homecooked, Raw Feeding, Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine | Leave a comment