Day 4 - back to my own trainer

 

A lot of Susan Garrett's material has to do with what my actions as a human should be, interacting with my dog as we play the games that are the foundation of her program

Part of this is "practice the mechanics without your dog."  That was the advice I got from other people in the program who have had success.  "I practiced with a stuffed iguana", "notice how Susan always has the treats cut up and available before she brings the dog in, so she doesn't have to fumble."

This was, in fact, part of my problem with the local training classes.  I was handed a clicker and told to "click and treat" when the dog "did it right" (whatever cue we were giving, be it sit, down, stand, touch, "middle" or a trick like "shake" or "play dead".  Susan gives step by step instructions of the mechanics of each game, multiple phases of the game, and makes you think and do homework about your individual dog's likes and preferences.  She covers the importance of understanding what "success" in dog training each cue means to us as dog handlers.  What is acceptable and livable for me and my dog?  What does a functional "sit" have to look like to earn her reward, for example?  

Consequently, I will use up the sessions with the Zoom Room that I have already paid for, including five more classes, and three more private training sessions, but then suspend using them, and focus on using the Recallers program games.  I won't sign up for those sessions until after she recovers from her surgical experience, though.

On Ember's fourth day post-op, we got a break in the weather.  It was even misting Tuesday morning!  And it stayed much cooler.  We got in two Ember walks before and after puppy nap #1.

During puppy nap #1 is when I went to work out with my own trainer.  And I decided best to return to the normal schedule!  Only one more day of her meds to go.  I did not launder the onesie on Tuesday.  Getting a bit more trusting as the days pass.

The human neighborhood cleanup is ongoing... chain saws, gutter repairs, all kinds of construction of a mostly minor to moderate degree are happening up and down the street.  On our second walk today, we went up the street and Ember decided to lay down and chew on a fallen branch.  At this point a large lab poked his head out of a construction truck, and (I'm assuming it's he) noticed Ember.  He woofed at her and was legs over the window kind of half out of the truck.  His human was running a chain saw in the back yard of the house the truck was parked beside. I took the better part of valor: reversed direction and walked another way.

Wednesday morning

Somebody is back to playing on the stairs.  This was before the morning walk.  That walk turned into longer than planned.  We kept encountering things I wanted to direct us away from, and each choice made the walk longer.

First we were avoiding sprinklers.  Then there were children who were clearly not listening to their parents' instructions.  Next it was that the downed branches that have not yet been cleared from yards or the park have been getting more and more attractive as she's been feeling better and better.  Finally it was other dogs, walking with their owners or barking from their fences or houses.

Anyway, we got home after a grand total of 0.89 miles!  I cooked my breakfast, and Ember chilled out on her towels by the door (mostly).  After I ate, I put her into her den for puppy nap #1, about 8 a.m.

Then I did something I had been dragging my feet over.  I brought the Xpen into the living room and set it up to protect my couch from the puppy!

When she gets up we shall see how well this works or doesn't.  But I had got to the point of leashing her in the house and taking her to another room, stepping on the leash so that she would not destroy the couch the way she did the wingback chair.  That chair, by the way, is still sitting in my garage.  I have hopes that one day I'll be able to bring it back in.

Meantime, training games will continue.  On our walk I played the loose leash "Mommy stops when you pull" a lot.  No words required.  When she stops pulling, she generally comes and sits at my feet and gives me that face!  I think puppies are genetically engineered to make human hearts melt.

Life is good.  Spark on!

Day 3 - chasing flies

House flies, that is.  I have determined that a lot of Ember's most inexplicable antics are related to insects.  Digging in the couch, jumping at empty space?  In some cases, it is because she saw something tiny that she determined needed to be chased.  And eradicated.  Or eaten to supplement the protein in her diet. 

Here's our recuperating patient. She made the decision when it was 91℉ out there to sun on the deck.  For about a minute is all.  She came back inside.  

I have to say this was the most stressful of the recovery days so far.  Not only do we have triple digit heat, but there was a scramble that turned out to be nothing but stressed me out.  

Carl, you see, injured himself over the weekend, and his leg was swelling Sunday evening.  They got him into the vet on a "hurry up" basis but both son and daughter in law had meetings at their respective work places that made it scary close timing.  Son called me while I was doing a grocery run.  I said yes, I could scramble to pick up Carl if the vet needed to keep him for tests or whatever that would last beyond when son had to get back to work.  But then I worried about Ember being crated longer or put back sooner, both of which add to her stress.

Turned out my son had time to settle Carl back in his own kennel and make it to his appointment.  I was able to get Ember out for a second walk while it was "only" 87 degrees.  Bonus, she got pets from two humans, one toward the start of her walk, the other toward the end.

The physical match of the day?  The wrestling match between dog-mom, weighing in at 135, and Ember, weighing in at 55, but armed with teeth.  The prize?  Getting her back in the pink suit after it was laundered for yet the third time.  OMG.  I must have tossed a total of about a cup of "search" treats to distract her while I put one paw, or another, or her head into the suit... and tried to get a stubborn zipper to close.  Midway through the match, between rounds, I donned the cut-resistant sleeves.

Then the t-shirt she wears as an alternate, and the sleeves were both run through the wash.  Wish me luck on Tuesday, as it's a trainer day for me.

I went down and gave her "last call" to pee and poo about 7:15 p.m.  Such a good little girl, yes, even though we have been having wrestling matches.  I understand it's scary wearing clothes!

Carl's paw-rents report he seems to have an OK mood, even about being in a cone.  Hoping both pets recover fully and soon.

Ember and I have now survived Day 3, post-op for her!  Yay!

Life is good.  Spark on!

Day 2 of recovery

 

The Prisoner, helping with Sunday morning "poo patrol".  Or at least he might think he's helping.  More likely, he's trying to trip the human so he can take over the world, as we all know the felines plan to do.

Sunday morning when Ember got up, she did her business in the back yard, turned her nose up (mostly) at breakfast, and wanted her normal walk.  She did gobble down her third half-pill of pain / inflammation control medication, slathered in peanut butter.

Sunrise was 6:27 a.m.  We were out the door walking at 6:34, per RunKeeper.  It was cool and not many folks out and about.  No other dogs encountered, thank goodness, as we're still in our "onesie" suit and therefore with collar and leash (no harness).  Now that I've been educated on where the incision site is, I might consider putting a harness on over the top of the suit for some later days in recovery, as she's likely to get stronger.  Thankfully, Ember is not much of a puller, absent a strong incentive.

At one point on our walk, she picked up this gem of litter, and Mom had to convince her to drop it, give it to me, distract her from it so I could insert it in my back pocket and bring it home to discard.  Note it still has a little liquid at the bottom of the bottle!  Alcohol is not good for a dog to ingest.

I wish people took the "don't be a litterbug" campaign seriously!

But I digress... we got home, I cooked my breakfast, Ember had a couple of chew sticks, licked the milk measuring cup while I fixed my oatmeal, and I gave her a couple of blueberries.  All pretty normal after-walk activity.

About quarter of 8, she was starting to fall asleep on the couch, so I put her into her den for puppy nap #1.  

Meanwhile, across town, my son and his wife were hosting their first "respite care" foster child.  This is a little boy, age 6, who hasn't yet started kindergarten.  The photos that my DIL was able to share with the family are precious, but of course, foster care rules say they cannot publish the images on social media, and I shall respect that rule, too.  I have to admit at first I thought they might be going a bit over the top: 

• playing with Carl and the birds, of course (would be normal)
• took the kiddo grocery shopping, where he got to pick out his favorite foods (he wanted to make s'mores
• to the mall where they indulged in video and pinball games
• to a park and the pool on Sunday  

That's a lot of going and doing for a six-year-old!  It could set up some unrealistic expectations, should they have an opportunity to work with this child again on a longer-term basis.  The co-grandma (DIL's mom) and I are on a private chat with DIL, so kibbitzing a bit.  Grandpa figure (DIL's dad) offered that a group nap might be in order at some point Sunday, and they followed through with some "quiet time" for the youngster.

Looking at it in the light of Monday morning, it's probably not that over the top for a family weekend, when a six year old lives with you!  The boy was picked up in the 5 p.m. hour Sunday by his regular foster mom, and I'm thinking the "respite" foster couple will be crashing early, as it's back to work for both of them on Monday!

Back at my place:  Ember's new toy for Sunday:  an iguana that squeaks.

Ember decided to dig at the mud near the gate, and got some on her suit, so before puppy nap #2, I swapped her out to the T-Shirt and tossed it in the washer with some socks with pink or red on them.  This gave me the chance to check the incision site, and today I could see it, knowing where to look.  It appears to be healing up nicely.

I filled in her name on the suit, so if by some weird circumstance she would get lost while so garbed, it's easier to read than the little tag on her collar.

We played "ItsYerChoice" between the puppy naps, with chicken livers and with bananas, and after Puppy Nap #2 with cheese.  She did great with all three kinds of treats.  Smart, these canines!

Ember had a little melt down mid-afternoon.  In retrospect, she'd been told "no" a lot.  Between the whiskey bottle, I had just dragged her away from her mud-scratching spot outside and now I was again saying "no" to something she wanted... to dig at the couch and strip its slipcover and cushion.  She responded by putting teeth on mom.  I wondered if she was maybe feeling some pain, but at the moment my thought was to preserve my skin.  I did get a couple of minor nicks that bled.  

I went outside and left her in for a Mommy time out.  Not for very long, it's blasted hot out there!  I came back in, washed off, applied Band-Aids, etc.  When I came back in gave me the appeasement face.  Then she laid down on the floor and fell asleep.  While she slept, I calmly reassembled the couch, down to the coverings, and when she later woke, she left it alone.

I put her supper dish out, and she got her second half pill about 4:15 p.m. before going into her den while mom had her own supper and went into pre-bedtime routines for herself.  I went down for the eye drops at 6:15 p.m., but she was not stirring, so I went back upstairs worked on the blog, and deferred "last call" until after 8, hoping it would cool down a bit more.

Congratulate me!  I survived day 2 of spay recovery!  Life is good.  Spark on!

First full day of recovery

 Early morning Saturday, keeping watch over the open door.

I got Ember up about 5 a.m., fed her the first "half pill" for pain management, and our day began.

She did get the suit wet.  I'm pretty sure it was from sitting or lying on the dewy grass, but I wanted to check the incision site, as instructed anyway, so I took it off her before puppy nap #1 and washed it.

I could not tell exactly where the incision site was (not a vet, here... where exactly on the shaved area would the cut be?)  However, the fact that I couldn't tell says it's not puffy, swollen or overly red!

While her suit was being washed, she wore one of my t-shirts, which made her look chunky from the rear!  She did not care, she had a chew stick.

She napped in the t-shirt in the crate from 8:30 to after 10 a.m.  She proved that the digestive system was working end to end by both eating and eliminating.

Keeping her from putting her paws up on the counter?  Doing my best, with partial success. 

Fortunately, she isn't out running around... yet.  Being a sedate, good girl, and catching up on her naps, playing with her toys in between outings.  It's still a hot Summer outside, heating up by 10 a.m. and at its worst in the late afternoon.

We went on about a half the normal distance morning walk.  Ember ate about half a normal breakfast, and played both the Collar Grab game and the ItsYerChoice game with mom, over the course of the day.  

She also worked her food/treat muffin tin/toy puzzle, back in the body suit before puppy nap #2.

She gave signals of hunger (chewing on stuff) around 3 p.m., and I put down her dish with leftover breakfast kibble in it.  Gobbled right up.  I refilled her food puzzle.  

She was satisfied and came to nap to the Olympics as part of a puppy pile with mommy!  Mommy loves it when she's a quiet "lap puppy" even if not much of her fits on a lap.

After a "test" trip outside a bit after 4 p.m., Mommy made her own supper, putting Ember down until "last call" in her crate.  

Last call came a little early so Ember could get her next half pill for pain management at 6:20 p.m.

We survived the first full day of recovery!

Life is good.  Spark on!

The patient comes home

 

They had Ember ready and gave me the aftercare walk through at 3:30 on Friday as promised. Her little body suit has a label on it (but they did not fill in her name). It's OK, you can't see the label in most of the shots I took of her. 

At the vet's office, the tech helped me load her into the car, thankfully. He just picked her up in a way that would not disturb the surgical site, and schlepped her in. I clipped on her seatbelt and home we headed.

Once home, we had the "puh-lease don't let my friends see me in this thing" pose.  Or you could call it the deer in the headlights... I had just called her name to get her to look at the camera.

I don't think the look changes much between the cone and suit, except the suit doesn't interfere with her normal ability to walk, eat, enter/exit her "den" etc.

The rear view might look a little rude, but it does show the engineering of the suit, such that she can still "do her business" and not have to take off the suit.

She ate what kibble I put down, a few treats for various "normal" times, including her peanut butter bone bedtime snack, topped with whipped cream, and went in for the night.  She also got a chew stick, which helped her calm and chill as she adjusted to her day.  

We have pills twice a day for the next five days, starting Saturday morning, for pain management.  The suit is to stay on for 14 days, and I'm to check the incision site at least once a day.  If she manages to soil the suit, she can wear a human t-shirt while I wash her suit.  All very practical after-care instructions.

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

The morning after the morning after

 

When I got back from dropping Ember off at the vet's office, I started cleaning like a madwoman.  Empty house, lots of dog-detritus lying about, and no dog underfoot to freak out when mom is cleaning, right?

I went out on the deck to shake out the dustmop of about half a ton of dog hair and looked across the street.  I missed this one yesterday!  Wow!

Speaking of the dog hair and the dust mop, I could not resist taking a photo of this shortish-coated dog's fur filling up the mop like the hair on the floor of a beauty salon.

Before the "let's go for a ride in the car" moment, I dragged my feet getting Ember up.  It was quarter of six by the time I did, so we'd have less time at home before going.  Classical conditioning reared its head.  Ember has learned (without my trying to teach her) that if she nibbles on her mommy, mommy will feed her.  Ember was hungry this morning.  Mommy did not feed her.

Partly because of this, I encouraged her into the car earlier than the drive would justify. I drove us around the neighborhood, parts where we normally would walk, and beyond those parts.  This gave me a chance to see more of the storm damage that was Mother Nature's Wednesday gift to the city.

Facebook informed me that last night one of my niece's had to borrow a "cold bed" from a friend, as she was still without power, and the heat was really bothering her.  She took up her friend's offer and hoped that today she'll get power back.  I wonder how Alicia's daughter is faring, as last I heard, she, too, was still without power.  

I mention my other niece (my son's dad's sister's daughter) in particular because she has a 13-year-old labrador retriever with her.  I messaged her that if she still doesn't have power today (Friday), talk to me, let's see if there's another option for the two of you.  I didn't know how that might fit in with Ember's surgery and recovery, but sheesh, she's family, and I have power!

Heard from her just now:  power is back at her house!  Yay!  Alicia's blog informed me that the initial outage covered about 10% of the city.  It was down to 1% by the 10 p.m. news.

I had an errand to run, and stopped by the grocery where I bought the rabbit toy that the receipt said was a beaver.  There I found the beaver that it probably got confused with the UPC for the receipt! 

No, I did not buy it, but I did buy another new stuffed toy for Ember's welcome home late this afternoon.  Post surgery she'll have to recover with a 7-to-10-day period of "on leash only" outings, and my attempts to limit her activity.  Wish me luck!

I did purchase a couple packages of the chew sticks she likes.  The last two kinds I tried out on her, she turned up her nose on. The remaining ones of those rejected sorts I took to the humane society, as long as I was out and about.

The call came from the vet.  Ember was awake and starting to look around.  I could pick her up any time between 1:30 and 7 p.m.  I picked 3:30 p.m. to give me a little more time to have the house ready for her arrival home.  She's coming home with anti-inflammatory meds, and instructions.  Nursemaid to a recovering pooch hat being prepared.

Whew!  It's now 1:25 p.m. and I'm sitting down to my lunch.  I could almost have made the original 1:30 p.m. time.  I vacuumed, dusted, swept and dust mopped, did two loads of cat and dog fur laundry.  I added adhesive "rug grippers" to a muddy mat that Ember has been over time destroying.  I have nothing to lose by doing this, and it might just keep her from flipping it up and chewing on it.  

I had already cleaned up the mess of car sick in the back seat of the car, since Ember needs to come home in that same car.  I also washed the nose prints off the car windows.  Funny how when you have a dog you get used to looking through or around nose prints.

I'm ready, Little One.  You can come home to Mommy!

Life is good!  Spark on!

The morning after the storm

 

These photos are a little bit out of order.  The first two are from Ember's first morning walk.  We went a little later than we normally do, for a couple of reasons.  

The big one is of course, the after-effects of the storm itself.  We're assessing how much clearing has been done and still needs doing.  But a secondary reason is to try to shift the morning schedule just a tad to make her pre-drop off procedure Friday morning a little easier for me.

We only found the sidewalk blocked in two places.  But branches down all over the place.

After we got home from our walk, I cooked my own breakfast, as normal, then went out to try to clear off the branches from my neighbor to the North's tree, that fell into my yard.  

What I found were members of the homeowners' association that she lives in, who had already taken off the two biggest branches.  I continued to clean up as much as I could of smaller ones.  Thank goodness tomorrow is garbage day.

This photo is the entrance to the park.  I was very proud of Ember.  She did not try to drag off any branches that were "too big to carry", and she did not dawdle chewing on them, either.

Here we have another angle of the park entrance, showing that the runoff channel is actually full of water (most of the time it is dry or nearly so).

This photo shows that the puddle had drained/dried up by morning!  I had to sneak out of the house to take it before our walk.  Ember had not eaten enough of her breakfast to satisfy my own little rule.

My surprise August lilies survived with just one stalk of them being beaten down.

That's it for the photo spread!  

Other storm-related news:  traffic lights were out in major parts of town, making my son and his wife's separate commutes (from two different directions) feel to them like they had survived "a hurricane".  DIL nearly got blown over / taken out by a falling branch, but didn't have much chance but to continue to her car because of how the windows and doors are positioned in her work building.

A roof was reported blown off in a place that I know my son would likely drive right by!

Alicia reported their power out early in the evening.  She reported this morning that they got it back about midnight.

I got a text message from my trainer that he was still without power, so no workout this morning.  I was relieved, in a way.  With the unusual circumstances and my desire to have Ember have a good day Thursday before her spay scheduled for Friday.

While I was picking up fallen twigs, the phone rang.  It was the call from the vet's office confirming the drop off at 7 a.m. and the "fast" for her from 10 p.m. on, but she can have water.  

And I found the message from Alicia saying the indoor water use could resume, with a 60% restoration of the power to the well heads up the road. 

Wish us luck!

Life is good.  Spark on!