Turning in the Service Dog in Training Vest

Mira has made a lot of progress in the year and a half I've had her, but it has become clear that we will probably never be able to count on her being 100% unflappable and appropriate in every situation. She just has not been able to completely get past the consequences of having lived in an abusive household before we got her, and having been trained as a guard dog previously. Although she is no longer afraid of most people and situations, it's still too unpredictable what will set off a fear or protection reaction for her.

I've had her in and out of public-access training several times, thought we had worked through things and began gradually working toward putting her back in it, only to have something else pop up and have to pull her out again.

At our last session with our trainer, my trainer and I were sitting at a table talking as people were walking by at a mall. A woman with a large shopping bag came up and was almost right in Mira's face before any of us saw her coming.

She asked if she could pet the dog.

As I said, "No. Please don't; she's in training" the woman moved in even closer toward Mira, reaching toward her. Mira got partway to her feet toward the woman, barking and growling at her. She still thinks she is a guard dog, as she had been trained to be by her previous owner. She knew I had just told the woman to stay away and was going to make sure she did.

At that point we decided that enough was enough, and it wasn't fair to Mira, me or the public to continue putting her in a position where this sort of thing could happen. No matter how careful we are and how much we train, I can't guarantee that it won't happen again with the right trigger. Mira has barked and growled and rushed at people more than once (even though when she had the chance to bite, she just stopped and looked sheepishly at the person).

I do not regret bringing Mira home, and she will still be able to help me a lot at home. She is very good at her assistance tasks and can still help me a lot on the days I stay home and need to minimize movement and exertion. But I have turned in our "service dog in training" vest and will not be doing public access training with her any more.

The good thing is that ever since I was in the double-blind placebo-controlled study through a local teaching and research university, and discovered that my neurological symptoms, balance issues, brain fog, fatigue, pain and other symptoms were hugely affected by excitotoxins in my diet, I've been feeling so much better that I really don't feel that I need a service dog for public access work any more. I am better able to predict and prevent my bad spells, and when I do have a bad spell I pretty much stay home anyway.

Almost all of the other fibromyalgia/IBS patients in the study were similarly helped--84% had more than 30% improvement in symptoms, and some even got to the point where they didn't meet the diagnostic criteria for having fibromyalgia any more after going through the study. It has been very exciting to be a part of that! The study author will be publishing the study results in scientific journals and coming out with a book on the excitotoxin-free diet soon.

So, Mira is transitioning to being an at-home helper and family pet. We're going to continue training, and are hoping to take a "Control Unleashed" class and eventually pass the Canine Good Citizen test. But we have ended one journey and are beginning a new one together.

I'm sad, and I feel that I've failed her. I keep wondering if I'd been more diligent or had done things differently, if the results would have been different. But at this point I know this was the right decision. In a way, it will make life a lot less easier for both of us and take a lot of the pressure off trying to make her fit into a role that she just didn't have the temperament and stability for, and that was constantly stressful for us both.

I am looking forward to continuing to train and learn with her.

Better

Finally, after 3 and 1/2 weeks, I seem to be getting over this cold. Everyone else in the family had it too, but they were all only sick for a couple of days or so. I've actually felt like I had a bit of energy yesterday and today.

I finally found a denist that I think is a good fit for me. Today he fixed several problem fillings that previous dentists had done poorly, and also some other issues. I was really impressed with his chairside manner, his demeanor, his knowledge about both traditional and alternative approaches to dental health, the thoroughness and goodwill with which he answered all my questions, and the good quality of his work.

My front teeth look so much better now--I'm no longer embarrassed to smile. And my back teeth in one quadrant of my mouth are fixed so that they're smooth, pain-free, and no longer have gaps and shelves under and between fillings that serve as food and floss traps. I'm very pleased.

The one bad thing was that I had to have so much anesthetic to have 4 different teeth worked on. It made my lip swell up visibly huge, and numbed my face all the way up to my eyes. Apparently the eye nerves were affected by the anesthetic, because it actually messed up my vision for a few hours. And I think there was enough of it spread through my system that it sort of made all my muscles relaxed. That made walking a bit of a challenge when I got done. :)

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After the appointment I was so dizzy, tired, weak and having trouble seeing (because of the anesthetic affecting my eyes) that I didn't feel I could safely drive. So I hung out at Trader Joe's, leaning on a cart for balance and trying to walk it off for as long as I could before I had to go get the kids from the sitter so she could pick up her daughter for school.

I still don't feel quite normal (wait a minute--what's normal?), but I'm sure it will have worn off completely by tomorrow. These sorts of things always affect me more and take longer to wear off than for most people.

I'm sitting on the sofa with the laptop right now, relaxing while Mira picks up all the kids' toys, the remote control and any other random objects she finds and brings them to me, hoping I'll give her a treat.

Mira is doing so well with her training. She is getting quite good at picking up shoes and toys and putting them away in their respective bins. She's learning how to turn lights on and off. If I give her something and ask her to take it to DH, she'll find him and give it to him even if he's in another part of the house. Then she'll deliver something back to me if he asks her to. She finds my phone and brings it to me when it rings. She picks up things I drop (or anything I point to) and hands them to me to save me from having to bend over. She can even pick up a dropped credit card on a hard floor--quite a feat for a dog. And, if I hand her money or a credit card she will hand it to the person I indicate, even if she has to do "paws up" on a counter to hand it to a cashier.

Yesterday I started introducing her to the electric shopping carts at a grocery store. It will take a little bit of practice to get her used to working with one, but I think that will help so much in conserving energy on shopping trips if I really need to go shopping on a day that the pain and fatigue are especially bad. Right now she thinks the cart is some strenge beast that's trying to steal me away, I think. :)

I'm working with Mira with a laser pointer, too, so that eventually I'll be able to indicate a specific item on the floor, on a shelf or across the room for her to get and bring to me. She's pretty good at telling when I'm getting toward the end of my energy or am about to have a migraine or a "crash" and alerting for me, too.

Mira loves to jog on the treadmill the SIL The Mentor and Biology Teacher BIL gave to us, and that helps a lot on the days I don't feel up to walking her much.

She has been doing marvelously well in being more comfortable around both people and other dogs, so much that I've been able to start working with her regularly in non-dog-friendly places like stores.

On another note, the kids and I are adjusting to a new homeschool schedule. We added some new subjects, and my mom helped make schedules for the layout of the day and for what the kids need to do in each subject per day. It's so helpful to have that more organized, with times built in for breaks and periods where I can relax a bit while the kids work on things they can do idependently or have recess, in between the more teacher-intensive subjects.

Even Ebee has some educational things and Montessori activities to do while the older girls are doing school. The goal is to get everything done between 9 and 2, but we're still working on that part.

DH's job is going really well, and as always he is a huge help to me. And now, I'm going to go spend some time with him while the kids are gone at AWANA. :)

Harvest Days

Thanksgiving is coming up, and it's a big holiday around here--it's when my side of the family does a big holiday gathering complete with gifts.

This week the kids and I got out the bin of Thanksgiving decorations out, and decided to have a little fun:



Happy Thanksgiving and Fall, Y'all!

More Beach Photos

I couldn't resist posting a few more photos from this weekend. I love beach photos.



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Impromptu Trip

We took a wrong turn Satuday night and ended up at the coast, so we decided to make an adventure of it. We spent a night and day at the coast, then came halfway home and stayed at Adventurous BIL and Artistic SIL's house the second night. After an afternoon exploring and playing on their acreage, we finally came home just in time to cook dinner Monday night.

It was a great adventure that the kids and I will remember for a long time.



It's a good reminder that God can take even a wrong turn and make it into a beautiful thing.

Wordless Wednesday 15 Oct 08: "He is happy who has a wonderful dog."--AJ

Mira's Pack

Here are the promised photos of Mira in her service-dog-in-training pack:










The lettering says, "SERVICE DOG in training DO NOT DISTRACT". Having such large, legible lettering helps a lot to make most people not just walk up and pet her while she's working.

Update

I'm still having a pretty bad flare-up, but we're finding ways to cope. We've been very blessed by family and friends who have offered to help out so I can get some extra rest.

I'm in bed sometimes 12-15 hours or more in a day (often most of the day on weekends or when I can be) and am still exhausted, in pain, and having trouble functioning, and seem to be having lots of migraines right now. so would appreciate everyone's prayers that I start feeling better soon. I'm looking for a doctor who will be able to offer me better help than just telling me that of course I feel bad because I have FMS/CFS and there's nothing they can do to help me.

The last few months have been the worst I've felt since I got married, so I know it's possible to feel better and be more functional than this. We just need to work on getting me back to a more functional level.

DH and I have been brainstorming solutions, looking into options and finding ways to make things work. I'm so blessed to have such an understanding and self-sacrificial husband.

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The kids are definitely feeling the effects of having a sicker Mommy, but they are enjoying the extra time they've been getting to play with friends. I usually feel OK for a couple of hours or so after I sleep, so we're trying to do most of our schoolwork in the mornings before I crash.

My mom went last week and bought the schoolbooks we needed, because I haven't been well enough to drive most of the time lately. That was a huge help, and she's been helping me brainstorm about scheduling and making things work around my need for extra rest.

Mira is quite a help, alerting for me before I'm going to have a crash. She somehow knows several minutes before it happens when I'm going to start feeling worse or get dizzy, and that gives me time to get somewhere out of the way and sit or lie down before it gets too bad. She's also getting pretty dependable about bringing me things I ask her to get and delivering things I ask her to take to Mark. Today she started learning how to help strip dirty sheets off the bed and take them to the laundry room.

The kids have been as cute and sweet as ever. AJ and M&M have been drawing lots of pictures, making crafts, and enjoying their schoolwork. Ebee really has a thirst to learn, and keeps asking me what various letters and words say and how to spell things. She really enjoys her pre-K schoolwork too.

The other day Ebee fell down and hurt herself, and there was that long pause before the cry that all parents dread. When she got her breath back, she said, "I couldn't turn on my voice, Mommy!"

How far we've come in 2 weeks

We have a cleaner who comes every 2 weeks to clean the house. Last time Mira had only been here a few days and she was quite upset by the whole thing. She growled at them when they came in, and then kept barking at the noises they made. She was extremely stressed by all the scents and sights as they cleaned, and I ended up finally taking her out of the house for a little while to give her a break.

This time she let me know with a brief woof or two and running to the window that they were outside, but quieted right down when I thanked her and told her to "leave it."

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She was easily redirected to going outside, and by the time she came back in they were already in the house. She sniffed them over without a sign of a bark or growl, and then was fine with them and quite friendly. The whole time they were here she never seemed upset by the sound of the vaccuum or them banging things around moving stuff to clean.

She went over to watch with interest several times, or tried to lie down near where they were working. My only concern was keeping her from getting underfoot with her friendly interest in what they were doing. But when I called her she immediately came to me without a backward look.

When it came time to pay them, I put the check in an envelope and had Mira take it to the cleaner. He was delighted by this, and she was so proud of herself.

She knows I'm not feeling well today, so she's mostly staying right with me. She has alerted several times and wasn't happy until I laid down for a rest. You can bet I'm not going to try to drive anywhere today. I'm learning that when she acts that concerned about me, those are days I need to not try to drive so I don't end up getting stranded somewhere.

Last night she kept alerting to DH. He was really tired and in pain from an infected toe, and just dragging around and feeling generally under the weather. She kept woofing and nudging him, and licking him and pawing at him persistently. This morning when he woke up he was sick with the cold that Ebee is just getting over.

A neighbor dropped by this morning to look at a sick tree in our yard and give advice about it. He came while the cleaners were here, and I knew he was coming in time to put Mira in the back yard just before he rang the doorbell. I let her in after he was in the house. Again, not a hint of barking or growling.

It seems that if I have enough warning, this is a perfect solution to completely stop the "guard dog" behavior at the door. She is making a lot of progress even when she does answer the door, as well as with not growling at the window, but I think I'll keep having her not answer the door for a while whenever it's practical.

Cute Stuff

This afternoon Ebee decided she was going to color one of her teeth purple with a crayon so she could have a "loose tooth" too. She actually told M&M her plan before she did it, so I was able to convince her that coloring her tooth purple wouldn't make it loose, and that putting crayons in her mouth was a bad idea anyway.

AJ and M&M spent a long time after school this afternoon making journals and valentines for everyone in the family.

AJ left a lacy heart next to my bed inscribed with the words "Your secret admirer: Will you be my Valentine?" Amazingly enough, she spelled every single word correctly. Not bad for a 7-year-old just starting 2nd grade. :)

M&M made the cutest teeny-tiny heart with yellow scallops all around the edge, with the words "I love you" just the right size to put in my pocket.

And Ebee wrote in purple crayon all over a piece of purple paper, and gave it to me. She said she made me a purple card because it matched my clothes. (I was wearing purple today.)

Mira was antsy and wanting something to do even after our walk tonight, so I had her help the kids pick up their toys. I'd point to a toy and have her pick it up, then point to the correct bin and tell her to "put it in the bin". It only took showing her what "put it in the bin" meant 2 or 3 times before she got it, and she was so excited when she did it right.

She helped pick up a whole bunch of toys and she LOVED IT, and so did the kids.

Assistance Dog in Training

I've been having a pretty bad flare-up the last couple of weeks . . . bad enough that last week I had to call DH to come get me from Target because I wasn't able to drive home. I hate it when that happens.

Mira, though, is already showing herself to be incredibly helpful. She's getting more reliable with her alerts (or I'm getting better able to interpret them). Somehow, she seems to know a few minutes ahead of time when I'm about to reach the end of my energy, have a crash, or get a migraine.

She's also learning how to lie down along my back with just the right amount of pressure to help provide pain relief when I'm really hurting. She makes a great canine hot water bottle, and she's long enough to stretch out the full length of my back.

With the trainer/behaviorist and the paperwork I needed from my doctor lined up, she's now an official "service dog in training." She even has the service pack that says so. (The camera is missing right now, but when we find it I'll post a picture of Mira in her service-dog-in-training gear.)

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I am amazed at how much difference it makes in my pain levels just to have her carry the things in her pack that I would normally be carrying in a purse. She has all the essentials in the pack on her back, and there's even a spot to clip my keys.

Yesterday I had a much-needed chiropractor appointment, and afterwards was extremely tired and sore. I got home and decided to sit down at the computer to check e-mail quickly before we had to leave for a family gathering. But Mira wouldn't let me.

She insistently alerted until I said, "What is it? Show me."

She led me to the bedroom and stared from me to the bed and back. She's been doing this when it's bedtime.

"OK, OK, you're right. I really should lie down for a few minutes."

So I rested for a few minutes, and then felt like I could manage to go to the family gathering. I really wanted to see my aunt and uncle who were in town briefly and were leaving to head back to Indonesia today.

As we were getting ready to go, I gingerly gathered my things together, trying to move or bend as little as possible.

Then I dropped my keys.

I stood there staring at them, thinking, "Oh, no. Am I going to have to bend down to pick those up? I don't know if I can manage to get all the way down to the floor right now."

Then I remembered: Mira! I asked her to hand me the keys, and she picked them up and gave them to me perfectly. That was easy.

We had a lovely time visiting at the family gathering. After we'd been there for a while, Mira started alerting and led me to the door. I thought maybe she needed to go to the bathroom, but no. She led me to our van. So I went back in and told DH that Mira said we needed to go.

Mira helped me gather together our things, picking up her portable water dish and handing it to me to put in her pack, picking up the bag of treats (although she wasn't sure she wanted to give them up for a moment), and even helping get MM's shoes (it was the first time I'd asked her to pick up a shoe, and the task needs a bit of work, but she tried).

By the time we got out to the van, my pain levels were between a 7 and 8, getting into the van was a challenge, and I was on the verge of tears. All I wanted was to be at home and in bed. I was so glad we were already loaded up and in the van by that point rather than just starting to pack up and get ready after I'd already crashed.

Mira was right on-the-dot with her alert. And very timely. I don't know how she can tell several minutes before it happens, but somehow she knew in time to give me a chance to get my things together and go before the crash actually happened.

I'm just so amazed, over and over again, by this dog. Somehow God provided a miracle in bringing this rescue dog into our lives. Mira is definitely a fitting name.

Bring the Phone!

Mira just brought DH his blackberry. He had left it on the bathroom counter, and when it rang Mira decided to take it to him in the office.

She is also bringing us things like keys, the TV remote, etc. upon request. And, she's learning to turn the lights on and off.

If I drop anything, she'll pick it up and hand it to me--which really comes in handy on those days when I'm either in a lot of pain, having dizzy spells, or both. It appears that she will also have the potential to learn to do some balance work to help steady me when I get dizzy or disoriented with a migraine or flare-up. She is also continuing to develop her alerting behavior, and we're learning how to better interpret what she's trying to tell us.

We met with a trainer/behaviorist today who helped us work with her on a few things and showed us how to correct her when she growls. She is now only growling at people near our house or car, and not when we're out somewhere else in neutral territory. The trainer said that "she's all bark" and he thinks we can break her of the barking/growling behavior at the door, too.

It seems to be very much a situation where she's just doing a job she had previously been taught to do, and as she realizes that we neither expect nor want her to protect us, our house or our car (and that, in our "pack" it's our job to protect Mira rather than the other way around), she will stop doing it. She's made a lot of progress already over the past week.

The kids had their first AWANA meeting of the year this week, and they enjoyed it. Ebee, especially, is excited that she gets to be in Cubbies and get her own AWANA vest and book this year.

We did a few days of light schoolwork this week, and plan to work our way into full swing in the coming week. We're studying France this next week or two, which should be fun.

Gearing Up

We're getting ready to go full-bore into fall now. We'll be starting our homeschooling this week, and AWANA also begins.

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Yesterday I went and got the kids registered for classes at our homeschool co-op. It looks like I'll be helping teach a crocheting/knitting class and helping in a web design class this term, which will be fun.

Ebee will be in the 3-year-olds' preschool class, and AJ and M&M will be taking the same classes for two sessions and be in different classes for the last session. They're taking "Simple Crafts for Girls" the first session and "The 7 C's of History" the second session. The third session M&M will be in "Adding Up the Giggles" (a math class) and AJ is taking Origami.

The girls really wanted to take a science class too, but by the time my number was called to register there weren't many choices left. I think the girls will enjoy all their classes, and of course the other 4 days a week and in the afternoons on co-op days we'll be covering other subjects at home too.

Baby is now named Mira, pronouced like the word miracle. She is picking up on it quickly, and seems to like it fine. I'm enjoying calling her by a name we chose and like; it makes her seem more truly our own dog.

A couple of days ago, as she really got comfortable in our home and with our family, her growling and barking issues escalated significantly. She wasn't barking and growling at us, but basically at any strange person or car she saw through the window or out on a walk.

I contacted the old owner to ask if this was a new behavior for the dog or not, and discovered that Mira had basically been encouraged to act like a guard dog--not biting, but barking and growling at anyone who came near the previous owner or her home. Not good from our perspective.

Thankfully, I have some good resources available to me in the form of newsgroups and a dog trainer.

The trainer had placed an ad saying that he would like to donate some time to helping a shelter, a rescue, or an individual dog from a shelter or rescue. When I contacted him, I found that he uses and trains dogs for seizure alerting and other assistance tasks, as well as teaching basic obedience and rehabilitating aggressive dogs.

He's been incredibly helpful to me already in learning how to refine Mira's alerting behavior, work with her on basic obedience, and deal with the growling. DH and I and the kids are going to meet with him this coming week so he can show us some techniques for handling Mira, but meanwhile he's been giving me a lot of tremendously helpful advice over the phone and e-mail.

Even after just a couple of days of using the techniques we've learned for correcting the growling and barking, Mira is showing huge improvement already. We had our home group Bible study meeting after church this afternoon. I did have to correct Mira for barking and growling at the first person who came in the door, but after that she was perfectly friendly to him and everyone else who came in. She wagged her tail, let everyone pet her, and loved all the extra attention.

She behaved so very well during our meeting. She really wanted to go out and play with all the kids, but since she is still so new to us, I didn't let her go out. She is, after all, a herding dog. With a large group of small children running around the yard shrieking and playing, I wasn't sure if she would try to herd them or not.

I told her to "halt," which is the word I've been teaching her that means she is not to go through a doorway until I give her permission. She stayed inside even when one of the kids would go through the door and leave it open. I only had to correct her and make her come inside once when she misunderstood another command I gave her and thought I told her she could go outside. I was so proud of her.

She never once tried to jump on any of the kids or get overexuberant with them even when they came running through the house or rushed at her to hug her. Several people commented how unusually calm and well-behaved she is for a young 2-year-old dog.

We've been working on commands like "heel" and "leave it" too, and she is doing very well with those--well enough to ignore another dog barking at her, people we meet on our walks, a squirrel, and a car alarm going off right next to her. She started to look at them (and really wanted to chase the squirrel), but when I told her to leave them alone she did.

The whole family is really enjoying her. The one thing we're still really struggling with at the moment is kennel training (teaching her to be OK with being put into the kennel and left alone), but we'll keep working on that and I'm sure she'll get it eventually.

Doggy Smiles

She was so much more relaxed and playful today. And she smiled!



The girls are loving her, and DH likes her a lot too. All three of the girls keep saying things like, "She's the best dog I've ever seen in my life. She's the best dog in the whole world. I love her. I'm so glad she's ours. Isn't she just the greatest dog ever?"



I agree.

Interesting Coincidence?

The cleaner we have come every 2 weeks came today, and that was kind of stressful for Baby what with all the noises and having strangers (the cleaner and his assistant) carry things in and out of the house.

She did bark and growl at them a bit when they first got here with their loads of vaccuums and cleaning supplies. But I had them give her treats and she decided they were OK.

They didn't seem at all phased by it. The cleaner has a dog of his own, and really liked Baby and was friendly to her. I think it's so helpful for her to get that kind of socialization and realize that all these "mean scary strangers" can really be her friends if she will just give them a chance.

She was a bit stressed out by the vaccuums and the smell of the cleaning supplies and everything, so the kids and I did take her out to wander a few blocks this afternoon to give her a little break from that.

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She does pretty well with heeling, but she does have a tendency to want to keep just a slight pressure on the leash--not really pulling, but keeping tension on it. So I changed directions and stopped often to help her learn to pay attention and keep the leash loose.

I was really feeling unwell (the cleaner coming tires ME out too, plus it's been a really crazy week with getting Baby and everything), so that was part of the reason we kept the walk really short. Actually, just a few yards from our house I told the kids I didn't feel well and thought we should go back, but their pleas to go "just a little bit farther" got the best of my better judgement.

Just as we got to the end of the street, Baby suddenly got very agitated and went quickly through all her alert stages. Soon she was whining, barking, and standing up to put her paws on me repeatedly. Eventually she grabbed me with both paws and gave me a "hug"--all of this gently, but she persisted even though I was turning away from her and saying "no, off".

About a minute later I crashed in earnest. I was dizzy, completely drained, in pain and couldn't see straight. I had to sit down for a while before we could go back home, and then I wasn't sure I was going to make it home. I had to lie down before I could get the kids a drink of water and get them settled for quiet time, and then after a few minutes of rest I was able to drag myself up just long enough to take care of their needs and then lie down again.

I think it's likely that Baby was excited by something else. I thought it was that she wanted blackberries from the bushes we were standing near, but giving her some didn't settle her down.

It seems impossible that she could have been alerting to my fatigue levels and impending crash this early in the game. Especially since it was only about the second time she'd seen me have a real crash, and the first time she'd seen one that bad. Definitely an interesting coincidence, though.

If she really can learn to alert me when I'm about to crash, that would be so incredibly wonderful.

Seriously, I can be so bullheaded or foggy-brained sometimes that if she IS going to alert to that sort of thing, the paws-up extreme alert might be what it takes to get through to me. I'm wondering now if I really want to break her of that or just refine it so it's more useful.

Home from the Vet

Baby is home from the vet. They were able to retrieve several foxtail seeds out of her feet and clean the wounds while she was sedated. Between that and the antibiotics, her feet already look much better.

The stool test only showed up one kind of parasites, so she had a dose of roundworm medicine tonight. Now we just have to finish the 3 weeks of ear mite treatments, get her shots updated, and she should be good.

Name?

I finally got some pictures of the dog that turned out halfway decent today.









We really need to figure out a new name for her. It doesn't need to sound like "Baby"--in fact, it might be better if it didn't. It can't be the same name as any person or dog among our family and friends, so any common human names are probably taken.

Ideas are welcome!

Vet and Fetching

Baby started bringing me things today. This morning she stood up and took the bag of treats off my dressertop. They were open, but she didn't try to take any out and eat them. She brought me the bag. I gave her a treat because I was so pleased that she asked me for one instead of just gobbling out of the bag. Was that bad? She had also taken down a package of bath stuff that was in her way to get to the treats, and set it on the floor. I asked her to hand it to me so I could put it back, and she did.

She will pick up and bring to me anything I point to and ask her to bring me, including my car keys. I only tried it a couple of times because I didn't want to work her too much right away, but I did want to see if she would do it after the thing with the treats. She would, and did!

I was able to get her in to see a vet this afternoon. Baby does have very infected feet and a severe case of earmites in both ears. So she needed antibiotics, ear wash and ear mite medicine, plus the flea drops (Advantage). Wow, that all adds up fast.

The vet said it was the worst case of foxtail feet she's ever seen (foxtails aren't common around here). They will have to sedate her and explore the wounds tomorrow to see if there are still foxtail seeds in them. She suggested that I go ahead and get the teeth cleaning done while she is sedated, and they will do the blood draw, microchip, urine sample and fecal sample while she is sedated also.

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The vet said we should wait at least 6 weeks to spay her, both because of her recently having had puppies and because of the infection in her feet. She also said they don't like to do dental work and spaying at the same time because bacteria from the mouth will get into the bloodstream and can contaminate the surgery site.

She also said we should wait for the infection in her feet to improve before we give the vaccinations. I fully agree with that. It's not usually a good idea to vaccinate a sick animal (or person, for that matter).

Baby weighed 50 lbs. The vet is guessing that she needs to gain 10-15 lbs. But since her milk also adds weight at the moment, she may really only gain 5-10 lbs. to be a healthy weight as her milk dries up.

Everyone at the clinic that I met today seemed friendly and competent. Baby growled at the vet when she walked in, but the vet was nice and gentle with her, and Baby was fine letting the vet handle her.

The growling thing is wierd. Some people/animals she growls at, and others she doesn't. Usually it's just a very momentary, soft sound and then she is fine. I don't know how she decides who is scary and who is not. But I walked her around PetsMart and had several strangers give her treats and pet her. She liked that, but was really nervous and stressed out, and was SO glad when we left the store and went back to the van. I'm hoping that once she's in less pain and less stressed out, she'll relax a bit and be more social.

Alerts

Baby is making really good progress with bringing me the Kong to ask for food. I still think I'm going to have her do that, just so I can eliminate one thing she's communicating that I can't figure out. :) But I will make sure that I only feed her at what I decide are mealtimes (which will be after our meals).

I just fed her after I ate breakfast, and without her asking to be fed. I am handing her the Kong and saying "take it" as she opens her mouth to take it. Hopefully that will begin to teach her what "take it" means. She brought me the Kong after she finished, and I filled it up again for her. Now she has finished it and is trying to tell me something else.

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A few minutes ago she came to tell me there was a cat in the front yard, but I can't figure out what she wants this time. It wasn't potty, and she didn't settle down when I told her that we weren't going for a walk or eating any more food right now.

I can see this girl is going to keep me on my toes. I'm going to have to figure out how to tell her that I don't need her to alert me to every single squirrel or cat that comes into the yard. And, I am definitely going to have to keep her busy. I think that once she's feeling better she's going to be easily bored and want to be doing something constantly.

As I was writing this she was very clearly trying to tell me something, and I kept getting up trying to figure out what it was. Finally she led me to the room where DH is sleeping. We often sleep in separate rooms because of his snoring/tossing/turning issues. Apparently she thought something was wrong because he was sleeping somewhere other than my bed. Now that I have acknowledged her alert and told her that DH was fine and it was OK for him to be sleeping there, she has calmed down. DH said that she came into the room and tried to get him up just before she started alerting me.

She settled down after that, until all the kids got up and both M&M and Ebee had been in here with me for a while. Suddenly the dog seemed to realize that one was missing and tried to get me to go find AJ. Once she saw that AJ was up and fine, she settled down again and now is lying peacefully on the floor.

With this dog it's not a matter of teaching her to alert, apparently. It's going to be the task of figuring out what she's alerting to, and then teaching her what things do and don't require an alert (for instance, I don't need her to alert me to squirrels and cats, unless they're actually inside the house).

So far, she doesn't seem to continue insisting on something once I figure out what she's telling me and I acknowledge it, even if I then tell her no. She will become more and more insistent until I figure out what she is telling me, but once she knows I understand and have said no or not now, she's fine. For a minute, anyway, until she decides to try to tell me something else.

She seems to be settling in very well here. Ever since we got home she's wanted nothing to do with any of the things we brought from her previous home, but has been happy to use and play with her new things. She seems to already be getting over the separation anxiety, and is OK with us being in a separate part of the house or going where she can't see us now. She slept all night on her bed in the master bathroom and didn't wake me until 7AM when she barked to tell me she needed to go out. She's making good progress on the kennel training.

I'm going to start carrying treats on our walks and having strangers give them to her, so that she'll learn that even strangers can be friends.