A lack of planning on our part (failing to schedule a dog sitter in advance) turned into an opportunity for us to bring Daisy along on our trip to DC.
Both of the couples we visited have friendly dogs and were very happy to have Daisy come play with their pups. Lucky us!
Daisy is great with other dogs. She's instantly at ease and smiling. I figure it's easier for her to communicate with creatures who speak her language.
At our first stop, Daisy was thrilled to hang out with the more mature Malachi, who showed her the ropes. Daisy warmed up quickly, even to our friends' 14 month old daughter, who is easy-going, smart and good around dogs. Daisy didn't really know what to make of this pint-sized person at first, but after a few sniffs, she was happy.
She even braved the 'scary' stairs in our other friends' place - the stairs have no vertical back, just horizontal steps that even their outgoing dog won't try. She walked up like it was no big deal! Matt and I were high-fiving for joy!
And our walks by the waterfront in DC went really well, too. Ollie, the lab mix, loves squirrels, so Daisy would walk past all the squirrels to scare them off before Ollie had a chance to chase them down. In turn, Ollie showed Daisy that cars passing and doors closing are nothing to worry about. Glad she seemed to start getting the message.
Daisy still hasn't gotten a chance to get in the water, but she seemed interested yet not possessed by the idea of jumping in. We hope to take her to the lake this summer.
Daisy did much better in the car as well, jumping in and out more confidently.
We could still use more practice with:
doors closing
obedience on demand, in new places, around other people
comfort with people walking and talking (even other languages)
coming when called even when distracted
standing our ground when Daisy rebells (when we go out a door and she freezes)
trust and confidence outside
Overall, this trip was great. Great friends, great dogs, great times. Thanks, DC!
It was no coincidence, if you ask me, that Daisy graduated from her "Self Control" class on Monday. After all, it was graduation weekend across the country, including here at the University of Denzelvania.
While Denzel was talking about not being afraid to fail, we were hoping Daisy would try her best in class and, even if she wasn't perfect, still show signs of bravery and improvement.
After a relaxed afternoon walk down the stairs and outside, an unexpected visit from Daisy's dog walker, Sunshine, and an uneventfull ride to class, Daisy did a wonderful job in class. She stayed in a down stay for a long time, looked up at me for a whopping 10 seconds in a row and even braved the obstacle course of distractions at the very end of class!
We're so proud of our graduate!
Daisy even got a toy from her teacher as a graduation present! (It lasted a whole 15 minutes before she'd pulled all the stuffing out. Gotta love it!)
Daisy's Thundershirt arrived today! I was so excited I took it out to show all my coworkers, explaining the theory (if babies like to be swaddled, why can't dogs?).
I should explain...I've been waiting with baited breath for this to come. We've had a rough few days.
Daisy has class on Mondays; yesterday was class number 5 of 6. With her stairs fears, we've been having trouble getting her outside at all, let alone to happily jump into a car to go to class. So yesterday was a bit of a catastrophe. Let's just say, Daisy is not allowed to try to drive ever again.
Once we made it safely to class, Daisy rose to the occasion and did almost all that was asked of her. Which is all well and good, but we must sound crazy because we're trying to explain that she won't budge at home, when she's gladly doing whatever we ask in class.
Thankfully, our dog trainer coach took the time to talk with us. I get so frustrated and give up when it doesn't come easily to Daisy. I've already admitted that I am not a very patient person. Spending 45 minutes to convince Daisy to come down stairs, only for her to refuse to go potty once outside is very frustrating. To that, our dog trainer said that if it's too frustrating for her or us, we should skip it. It's not going to help either one of us. So Daisy's getting one less (redundant) potty break. And I don't pull my hair out. So be it.
Imagine my surprise when Daisy went right downstairs last night after class. It only took 20 minutes to get her down stairs, outside to potty and then to relax and gaze at me before she got to go back inside. I was floored. And then this morning, she only took 10 minutes to get down the stairs (with both of us). When Matt got home from work today, he thought to entice her with cheese (yum!), which totally worked like magic. She was down the stairs in no time.
When I got home and put the Thundershirt on, she relaxed even more.
We took her downstairs with no fuss, out the door, and she went potty and we walked a bit. She was calm, cool and collected the entire time. Took treats outside (which she'd never done previously) and paid close attention to us.
Once inside, she relaxed immediately, even when our neighbor came home and Matt went downstairs to chat with him. Rather than barking or huffing, she nearly fell asleep. When I offered the option for her to go downstairs, she opted to go down and see Matt and our neighbor, rather than run into the other room. I went downstairs too, and she hung out with all of us for a good 15 minutes. Good thing she decided to join us - our neighbor gave her a delectable treat to nosh on. She ran up to one of the landings on the stairs and just laid down and settled in, like it was no big deal.
Consider me relieved. We have a glimmer of hope. The combination of all the games we're playing in the stairs, the Thundershirt and a lot of patience are starting to show signs of progress. Let's hope we keep moving in the right direction. Or else I'm going to need my own Thundershirt to keep me calm!
Daisy has been spooked by something and is refusing to go outside regularly. She shuts down, sitting or laying in protest. Once we get outside, she just goes potty and wants to come right back inside. Whatever it was that spooked her is going to take a while to overcome.
We're trying a few different ideas:
1. Minimize stimulation. We ordered a thundershirt, which claims to ease anxious dogs by applying a swaddling-like squeeze to reduce their overstimulation. It's based on Temple Grandin's work, in cattle, dogs and autistic humans (like herself)...I ordered it Thursday, so I hope it comes soon! She's so overstimulated with all the sounds, smells and sensations (wind on her skin) outside, that she freaks out. I can understand why she panics - she's overwhelmed, unprepared to cope and not sure she can completely trust us.
2. Make it fun. The Fearful Dog Blog calls this "encouraging naughty," in a reverse dominance kind of way. Rather than trying to keep her perfectly controlled at all times, we're playing a lot of games to encourage her that things can be safe and fun. For instance, her food gets split up into three bowls, and since she's spooked by the stairs, she gets one bowl on each landing...making a yummy game out of something she was unsure of has improved her confidence quickly. Also, instead of greeting her inside our apartment door, when one of us gets home from work, we leave the apartment door open so she can race downstairs and greet us in the foyer. So far, so good!
3. Expect less, get more. Our dog trainer from Self Control class has been teaching us all sorts of methods to try and get Daisy focusing on us instead of whatever noise, smell, sight is distracting her. That's fine inside, but outside, I don't want to force it. She'll look at me if she feels safe to look away from the distraction. But by me forcing her to look away, she freaks out. When I don't expect her to look and she does, she gets a big reward...eithertreats, running to the park, running up the stairs or lots of TLC.
4. Be patient. Patience is not my virtue. But with Daisy, if it takes her 45 minutes to work up the courage to progressively come down the 4 flights of stairs to our lobby, or 30 minutes of sitting on the outside steps for her to relax enough to where she wants to go to the park across the street, that's ok. If she's brave enough to try it, we'll be there to catch her when she takes the leap. We're also trying to keep her in her comfort zone for a bit. No long walks or runs. Since we don't know what spooked her last week (other than a trip to the coffee shop), we're just keeping it simple until she shows us that she's very comfortable in a familiar environment again. Then we can progressively try new things.
5. Keep calm and carry on. I read Turid Rugaas' book about Calming Signals before Daisy got spooked. We're continuing to positively reinforce any calm behaviors from Daisy - a yawn, sitting when she's uncomfortable, etc. And Matt and I yawn, stretch and sit a lot when we're working with her outside. Yesterday I even started to do ballet on the front steps. She came right down the stairs to me!
We rescued a puppy (she turned 10 months on April 29) who had been bounced from shelter to shelter for her first 7 months, never getting exposure to all the sounds, sights and smells of the country, let alone a city. And now that the excitement of her new home and injury have worn off (her leg is back at 100%, btw), I think she's realizing that this is where she will stay. And we have some adjustments to make sure she's as comfortable, calm and confident as possible.
In the words of my favorite George Harrison song, "it's going to take patience and time...to do it right." I loved "I got my mind set on you" as a kid (this was the first casette tape I ever bought!), but don't think I ever saw the video. There's a frightened dog at the beginning...reminds me of Daisy!
Do you have a fearful dog? What's worked for you?! Let us know if you have any ideas...we're willing to try almost anything positive!
After lots of anticipation (more on my part than Daisy's), we had our visit with the Orthopaedic Surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary Hospital today.
So, after getting Daisy an ID bracelet for her collar and weighing her in, they examined her. All our practice with the "lay down, on your side" (i.e. "play dead") trick really helped. She was a trooper.
Here are her lovely x-rays from her first ED visit. Matt likes how her tail looks in the first one. They are some of the most expensive photos we've paid for, so enjoy.
After our vet reviewed the x-rays, sedated Daisy and did the drawer test again, she said that there is NO CCL TEAR and that her injury is a soft tissue injury. No surgery tomorrow! Yay!
She explained that puppy ligaments are longer to account for bone growth and for added support while bones and muscles are developing. Her movement ("puppy drawer") mimics the typical injury movement ("cranial drawer" - The type of movement they feel when moving the tibia and femur: feels like opening and closing a drawer if the ligament is torn and isn't holding the bones together correctly). The movement was the same on both sides, and while her right joint hurts, the left doesn't hurt at all.
Since she's been getting better with rest and restricted exercise, we're going to do that and see how she progresses. She'll be on Rimadyl and restricted movement for the next two weeks - no running or jumping, but slow walks are ok, increasing stairs gradually. In two weeks, we'll check back in with the orthovet and see what's next.
We're relieved, to say the least. Personally, I'm shocked. I really thought she was having surgery tomorrow. I mean, we came out of the ED with a confirmed CCL tear last week, and we walked out of our follow-up with the opposite diagnosis.
We all had a great time at the vet - while Daisy was getting sedated for her exam, Matt was buying us goodies from the vending machines for our "vet date" and we got a bunch of work done together. And when Daisy led the veterinarian and the medical student assisting her back into the room with smiles on their faces, we were elated.
Matt has taken the optimistic role throughout, and I've been in hypochondriac - or as I thought Matt said, "health combat" - mode this last week and a half. He's been great at letting me be busy (putting the new carpet down in the kitchen, writing four pages of questions for the vet about surgery, my emails to colleagues and support groups looking for info, baking treats, teaching new tricks, etc.). He was right!
Daisy has gotten used to us carrying her up and down the stairs, so much so that we're a bit worried that she'll never want to climb them again herself! Matt gets a kick out of Daisy's latest habit: holding onto the railing. We caught her on video. Enjoy!
It may be a side effect of the pain meds or a result of the physical inactivity, but Daisy has been hyPER today. Someone on Orthodogs said that one of meds she's on can increase anxiety and hyperactivity. We may only give it to her once a day because she's not limping as much, so lowering her meds is worth a shot. I just don't want to hurt herself by getting too excited.
It's better to know now than after surgery, right?
Our Orthovet consult is Thursday. Can hardly wait.
I never thought I'd say this, but I started making Daisy some treats today. Don't get me wrong, when Rufus was sick, I'd make him some ground turkey and rice mixed with cottage cheese, but that didn't involve recipes.
But with surgery this week(TBD), I wanted to get a jump start and make some of the recipes I found on the Orthodog website.
Applesauce treats: Super easy. You just put the to-go cups of applesauce in the freezer. Done. When they are frozen, we can peel off the lid and give it to Daisy. The longer it takes her to eat her food and treats, the less time she wants to be up and playing. ;)
Frozen peanut butter yogurt treats: Easy. Just melted a cup of peanut butter in the microwave, mixed it with 32 oz of vanilla yogurt. Drop the mixture into baking cups and set the muffin tin in the freezer. Cool.
Here's my little helper testing the mixture. And last but not least: sweet potato chews.I washed and sliced sweet potatoes, then put them in the oven at 250, rotating every hour for three hours or until they are dehydrated and really chewy.
I'm hoping to get some pumpkin puree (we found pie filling, but it's too sweet apparently) and make some pumpkin biscuits. Apparently her post-op meds will constipate her (opioids are notorious for that), so natural laxatives should hopefully help.
I always said I'd love to be a nurse or a vet. Looks like I'll get my chance to try!
Thursday night, "the princess and the pea," as we sometimes call her, couldn't get her bed just right. We found her proudly standing under her bed before we convinced her to lay down. Silly girl! See her caught in the act:
I just made her this new bed last weekend because she chewed through the old one out of boredom one night. Wish I'd taken a photo of her with all the stuffing surrounding her. Until I could make something new, she was just sleeping on old blankets and towels, which didn't seem super comfy but was easy to clean if she had an accident. But with the injury, she needs some extra cushion. So, I made an easy to clean, accident proof, comfy dog bed, using:
A crate pad with padded borders ($14.99 at Target)
Duck cloth canvas (~$8 with coupon at JoAnns)
A baby crib waterproof cover ($10 at Target)
An old stained fluffy down filled blanket
I tailored the waterproof crib cover to fit over the crate pad, then sewed a pillow sham-style cover out of the duck cloth. From top to bottom, it's duck cloth canvas, waterproof crib cover, crate pad, down blanket. Everything except the down blanket is machine washable. Sweet.