Thursday, March 8, 2007

When it rains.....

Obviously in hind sight I should have known that a week beginning with a root canal might not be a great one. Yesterday Dash managed to break off one of his nails. I don't even have any idea how it happened. In 15 years of dogs I have never had to deal with this particular emergency so I scooped him up and we went straight to the vet. (DS was drafted to hold him for the ride) They had to keep him overnight because treatment included sedating him to deal with the nail so he wouldn't be in pain.


Here he is all bandaged up. Instructions are to keep it on him and dry until tuesday. (What is that saying? We plan, God laughs.) This may be my biggest test yet as a trainer. :-) It doesn't seem to bother him at all though and he still gets around just fine. It does sound abit weird on the floors. Like someone is walking around wearing cellophane.
Part deux

Then last night (after the vet is closed) I notice blood all over one side of Missys face. Whhaaa????? Turns out she has scratched herself bloody and raw.
So first thing this morning I called and got her an appointment to be seen. Now I have two dogs home on meds. To top it off I have a sore throat from hell. Due to everything happening at once and feeling lousy as well I had to re-schedule a client, something I HATE to do. Better that then spreading my germs around I suppose.

It could always be worse. For that I shall be grateful.

5 comments:

Hannah said...

Poor Dash! Did he rip it all the way out? I've had dogs split and break nails pretty deeply, but never so badly that a trip to the vet was warranted.

Poor you, too. I hope you feel better.

I should probably mention that this is Hannah out on Vinalhaven, too. I just realized that my Gmail account was set up with my ferrets' names for their blog, so I'm coming up as Riley.

Apollo isn't lucky enough to have his own blog, but I have a photo album here for him that I update pretty regularly, if you'd like to see. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Hannah! Glad you found me. :-)

Wow he got big! He is so handsome. How are things going with him?

Hannah said...

Dude, I know! He's over seventy pounds!

Things are going a lot better than they used to be, that's for sure. I switched to walking him on a Gentle Leader a few months ago (like you suggested from the beginning) and the difference is astounding. He's MUCH less reactive and walks a ton better. The prong went in the trash. I cannot even begin to walk him on a flat collar unless it's just for a boring old potty break, but I'll settle for having him on a Gentle Leader always now that I see how calm, secure, and obedient it makes him. :)

Ignoring his barking wasn't working for us, though, so when he starts to "huff" (grumble like a grumpy old man under his breath... it's usually a precursor to the actual barking) I just give a tug on the leash and an "ah ah" and he stops. You were right about the Gentle Leader helping with that, too; he can't bark at people over there when he's looking at me. :)

The only hard part for me is that despite daily socialization, he still recoils when someone goes to pet him. We're still working on it and I get him out and about almost every day (this weather makes it hard). I really don't think it's fear, as ridiculous as that sounds, because he always acted terrified of my father but if my dad has a treat, Apollo is his BEST friend in the whole world. When the treat is gone, Apollo no longer wants to be petted... so maybe his personality is just the non-touchy-feely type?

With me, though, he has to be touching me at all times. He's pressed up against me as I type this. :)

I always ramble on longer than I mean to when talking to you, haha. I just wanted to update you! Apollo is far from perfect but I continue to dream of him getting his CGC... maybe someday. When I compare him now to when I first contacted you back in October, he's so much better, so that's progress. :)

Anonymous said...

I got a new book recently with some counterconditioning behavior protocols in it. I'll send you the one on being comfortable around strangers. (I'll call if I don't have your mailing address.)

Hannah said...

Thank you so much! I'd love to read it. :) I'll send along that pit bull DVD I told you about: "Off The Chain."