datachie, Author at Smart Dog University

It’s Only Money: Life with Old Dogs

March 14, 2016

Money and old dogs go together.

We’ve got three old dogs and (one youngster who is so big it’s like having two dogs). They’re starting to have little aches and pains, a new lump every month it seems, and a series of continual little things that occasionally blossom into bigger things.

Tango’s been the star of the old dogs party lately. A bit ago, he started vomiting every time he ate. He’s always had a touchy stomach — he got sick if he had milk or raw meat, for instance. But still, this was sudden and consistent. We thought maybe he’d eaten something that had gotten sideways and was causing the trouble. However, Tango’s blood chemistry showed some anemia — hmm, that’s odd. That strange result led to more tests. (Ahem. And more money.) I’m not complaining about the money. I’d pay a gazillion dollars to make this guy happy and healthy.

They shaved his belly and looked at his insides with an ultrasound. BINGO: ulcer, and a big one at that. Ouchie! We also did chest x-rays to look for other…stuff. (Stuff = bad things like the c-word. Fingers crossed, nothing showed up.)

Our treatment plan: treat the ulcer as if it’s just an ulcer (could also be related to the c-word), and recheck his anemia in a week. If it’s just an ulcer, we should see some improvement in those numbers.

After a few more vomits, a few panicked calls, and some new meds and new food, we’ve gotten a handle on the vomiting…for now. I feel like I have to qualify it (for good juju), but it makes me feel better – a little, at least.

I’ve been analyzing every breath and fart from that dog since this whole ordeal started. I’m an only child; I feel a keen responsibility to take care of everyone and everything. Any other only’s out there? Did you ever worry that you’d hurt your mom’s feelings if you said you wanted to go to the hardware store with your dad? I was a worrier from a young age. Things haven’t changed much. I even sort of kept a running tally of which parent I spent time with last, so I was sure to give the other parent equal time. Weird? Yeah, I know.

Our daily routine used to be fairly easy and flexible. I’d do some training with each dog in the morning, then give them a Kong around 2p every afternoon [it’s my “get more work done” strategy to buy some quiet time at my desk]. Dinner happened just about any time we were ready. If it was sunny out, dinner would be later. If it was rainy and we were stuck inside a lot, dinner would happen earlier. This is our new reality. Pills! Tightly scheduled meals! Here’s a peek at our morning pill party, and it’s pretty much the same pill party in the evening.

Because of the ulcer medication, things have to be timed and scheduled. The medicine has to be given on an empty stomach and without food. What?! It’s so easy to pill a Labrador if you can just use a little bit of food! That’s so not fair! Making a slurry ensured that his throat and tummy would be coated, thereby helping to get rid of that pesky ulcer. So, I tried several times to make a slurry of his medication in about 6ml of water and then use a syringe to squirt it down his throat. Tango was irritated at me and we both wound up wearing more medication than ever got in his belly.

In an ingenious moment, I decided that letting Tango drink the medicine would be way better that shoving it down his throat, so I got some chicken broth and started using that instead of water. I simply heat up that chicken broth, plop the pill in there, let it dissolve and let him drink the delicious concoction! Easy peasy! Tango drinks his medicine three times a day, thank goodness. The other trouble with that medication is that I have to give it to him two hours before or after he eats. So that’s a 4 hour timeframe in which we can’t do training and I can’t offer him a Kong (stuffed with the canned version of his new low-residue diet).

There’s so much medication, I had to get a pill container to keep it all straight. I’ve actually ordered a new one (hello, AmazonPrime!) that has four daily compartments. It’s that crazy.

This whole getting old thing is a little sucky in more ways than one! But, as my dad would say, “It beats the alternative!”

Here’s to continued improvement and eradication of ulcers! And to old dogs!

When You Live With Dogs, A “Weekend Off” is NEVER a Weekend Off

March 8, 2016

I’m going to spare you the pictures.

I know, pictures are what make an article. Pictures speak a thousand words.

You don’t want me to speak a thousand words about poop, vomit, and blood. Nor do you want to see pictures of that. I’m not saying I didn’t take pictures, I’m just saying you don’t want to see them.

I travel a lot for work. On the weekends. A lot of weekends. So many weekends that it feels like vacation when I only have to work Monday through Friday.

I have two weekends off in a row. IN A ROW. That’s just unheard of, right? Naturally, I was looking forward to relaxing, hanging out, reading a book, taking a nap, all those good things.

What did I do?

I cleaned up poop from our old girl, Lily, who sometimes has no idea that what’s happening is actually happening. I mopped up what looked like a violent crime scene when Schooner tore the toenail off his quick. And I cleaned up so many puddles (piles?) of Tango’s vomit that I’ve lost count.

Isn’t that a fun weekend? You envy me, I can tell.

The good news? Everything is now cleaned [if you really need to clean your house, just make sure some biological material gets placed on the floor — there’s no getting around that without a mop and some water].

Schooner’s quick has stopped bleeding. But it looks SO gross, it makes my stomach both flop and squeeze tight when I see that naked quick, still.

Tango’s vomit has slowed to a slow trickle. That sounds even grosser. What I mean is that he’s producing it at a reduced rate. There’s still something going on with the poor boy as it hasn’t completely stopped (and it should have by now). The veterinarians are on the case and more data collection comes tomorrow with an ultrasound. Wish us luck for a boring, ho-hum ultrasound, please.

So. I’m hoping I do get to nap, watch tv, and read a little bit next weekend. Or better yet, maybe I can work outside prepping my flowerbeds for spring’s imminent arrival?

Ryan and Matt Do Clicker Expo Reno

March 2, 2016

Clicker Expo Reno

What do Matt Damon and Ryan Gosling have in common (aside from being good looking celebrities, I mean)? They both showed up at ClickerExpo – Reno 2016. Matt Damon helped Susan Friedman drive home the point for one of her talks, while Ryan Gosling helped Hannah Branigan and I explain and motivate dog trainers to use Triple Planning to build better dog training classes.

Clicker Expo, Triple Planning, Laurie Luck, Hannah Branigan, dog trainer

Work, work, work.

There was much running around, rehearsing presentations [or as I like to call it finishing the damn presentation], meeting up with friends seen only once each year at Expo, and shopping. There was also lots of learning. It’s always been hard to choose between talks at Expo, but it seemed almost impossible to get to everything I wanted to see this year. I needed another two or three me’s if I really wanted to cover every talk that appealed to me.

Clicker Expo, Hannah Branigan, Laurie Luck

Speakers

Ken Ramirez kicked off Expo talking about training butterflies and spiders. I’ll stick to man’s best friend, thankyouverymuch. Although, if I could train the spiders to stay outside, I guess that might be a worthwhile effort. Hannah Branigan’s talk in which she painted dogs was fascinating. If anyone can examine something to the degree of a gnat’s eyebrow, it’s Hannah.

Susan Friedman talked about a million fascinating things. I would listen to that woman read the phone book, honestly. Her voice is calm and soothing, I feel like everything’s going to be alright when she’s talking. She covered the stuff that really makes you think, like Functional Analysis: The Sexy Side of ABC. And she included Matt Damon in her talk. Can anyone ask for more?

I talked about a lot of business-ey things because that’s what I love — making a living teaching dogs and their people. There was a quick session describing why niche marketing might be something to help R+ dog trainers get more clients who are (1) willing to use the clicker right out of the gate and (2) understand the value of your services.

Two seconds after that talk was over, I was on stage with Hannah Branigan (and Ryan Gosling, naturally) talking about Triple Planning. It was my first co-presenting gig. It could’ve been way worse, but thank goodness Ryan was there to make everything alright. We had a good turnout (but we know Ryan was the star, not us) and hopefully enough Ryan’s went home with the attendees that they’re already making a difference with their new Triple Plans.

triple planning, clicker expo, reno, hannah branigan, Laurie Luck

Family and fun. (A little R + R)

I brought my dad along with me to Reno. He spent most of the days playing the card tables while I was getting my geek on in the conference sessions. My dog training life overlapped with my family life a little when my dad declared he’d like to come hear one of my talks. It was a bit odd looking out from my percha as a dog trainer/speaker and seeing family there, but it was reassuring all at the same time. Apparently one talk was all he could handle, though, as he spirited off as soon as I finished my talk. He did give me a thumbs up, but hey, he’s my dad. He had to say that.

The west is beautiful country. Here’s the sunrise from the hotel one morning.

My dad and I took off on a day adventure to Virginia City. It was incredible! On the way up, we left this (that’s Reno in the valley)

And went through this on our way up the mountain.

We arrived in Virginia City and I immediately wanted to take this mule home with me.

All kinds of places to visit in an old mining town like Virginia City.

It’s an authentic (touristy) old west town complete with saloons and “front street.”

I didn’t find any spare gold or silver lying around.

Virginia City, Comstock Lode, ClickerExpo

A week away was a long, long time. I wrote this on the airplane en route to Baltimore, MD. It was another 36 hours before I made it home, but I’m thrilled to announce that we managed to outfox the Reno Plague (Noro virus) and were one of the few lucky escapees who made it out vomit-free.

In a few weeks, I’m headed out to Cincinnati for the second Clicker Expo. Will I see you there?

Walk Your Dog Day!

February 22, 2016

Today is Walk Your Dog Day!

Good thing I took our two Labradors out! I’d have feel like a heel missing Walk Your Dog Day, for heavens sake.

Walk Your Dog Day, labrador, yellow lab, black lab, old dog, dog training, dog walking, clicker, Smart Dog University, Frederick, Mt. Airy — She’s always in my way. – Tango

The old dogs love their walks.

Today, finally, we had enough sunshine, warmth, and snow melt that I could get these guys out where they could sniff to their heart’s delight. They seem to be especially interested in the smells where the ginormous mounds of snow were pushed. I’m guessing there’s a concentrated pool of scent there that was pushed and dropped into one single spot.

We walked for almost 30 minutes (a record for Tango, who has arthritis in his feet, elbow, and shoulder [and possibly his spine, too]) and it took us just about as many minutes. We were walking a whopping 1 mile an hour! I had to chuckle — this was no exercise walk for me, that’s for sure, but the dogs devoured those scents and really spent some time getting their noses as deep into the mud as they could.

sniffing, walk your dog day, labrador, yellow lab, black lab, old dog, senior dog, clicker, dog training, Frederick, Mt. Airy, Smart Dog — Reading tree mail.

If you wish your dog would walk better on a leash, check out this article (and video).

Did you get your dog out for National Walk Your Dog Day? Add a picture to the comments!

Spent Grain Homemade Dog Treats

February 16, 2016

Spent grain? Huh? Homemade dog treats? Explain…

My husband is a hobby brewer (beer) and last weekend was a Brewing Weekend. I’m not going to pretend to understand it all (I’m only really interested in the final product), but during the brewing process (which looks a lot like the “double, double, toil and trouble” witches-around-a-cauldron scene from Shakespeare’s Macbeth), he winds up with some soggy “spent” grains. In the past, he’s thrown them in the yard (don’t get me started…) and we’ve noticed that the dogs love to eat the spent grain. Here’s what spent grain looks like:

dog treats, homemade, spent grain, dog treats, dog training, dog obedience, clicker, Frederick, Mt. Airy — Spent grain. Isn’t it pretty?

Because I was home and not working (for once) on a weekend, I got a bee in my bonnet and decided to make spent grain homemade dog treats.

I surfed around a bit (thanks, Google) and found a great recipe on Deschutes Brewing (great beer, btw). You gotta love a brewery who takes the time to add a dog treat recipe to their website. Anyway, it’s about as simple as it gets — four basic ingredients: peanut butter, eggs, spent grain, and flour.

You just mix it all together with your hands (always fun to roll up my sleeves and get right into the mix with my hands), roll it out, and then use whatever cookie cutters you have. I used hearts (it was just Valentines Day, y’know), dog bones, and of course a Labrador!

Those are the raw cookies. Wanna hear a secret? I tasted the dough. Raw. With eggs. And I didn’t get salmonella. I know, I know. It can happen. I live life on the edge. I’m a risk-taker like that.

That cookie dough wasn’t bad. If I was really going to dig in, I’d need some sugar, but the dogs don’t have the same sweet tooth we humans do so they’re just fine without it.

So those are the finished spent grain homemade dog treats! The dogs said they loved them. SOMEONE ate half a plate from the counter. There are only two dogs who can actually reach that high [::cough Nemo:: ::cough Schooner::], but there isn’t any incriminating evidence upon which to convict. So I guess they’re all innocent. Yeah, right.

Spent grain, by the way, can be acquired fairly easily if you live near a brewery or if you know some home brewers. Do not give the dogs hops in any form — that’s a big ol’ no-no.

Old Dogs + Young Dogs: Living (Together) Happily Ever After

February 3, 2016

It’s important that your older dog lives a full and happy life – especially if she’s living with younger, more rambunctious dogs.

In our household, we’ve got a 165 pound, three year old Great Dane living with our 55 pound, 14 year old Labrador. Size difference alone is enough to give any owner pause, but when the 55 pound dog is ancient in dog years, the concern escalates. This month’s newsletter focuses on what you should be looking for if you’ve got an significant age discrepancy in your household, as well as some easy changes you can make to ensure that both the older and younger dogs’ needs are being met.

Regardless of size differences, there are some big differences between young dogs and old dogs.

older dog, younger dog, dog training, dog obedience, clicker, Frederick, Mt. Airy, Smart Dog University — Schooner thinks this is fun. Nemo doesn’t.

Physical health

Older dogs, just like older people, frequently suffer from generalized aches and pains that their younger counterparts know nothing about. Sore backs, necks (I can identify with that), and hips mean that the older dogs might not be so fond of physically rough play such as body slamming, hip checking, and paws to the face and back. When the older dog snarls at the younger one, she’s not just being grumpy – she’s in pain and grumpy because of that pain.

Endurance + persistence

Young dogs wake up ready to go, go, go! And they can GO! all day. When we were raising service puppies, I could barely get up from my office chair before the young dog was up, tail wagging, ready for the next adventure – even if it meant we just went to the bathroom. Older dogs generally have less endurance than the younger ones – they often don’t like to play as hard or for as long. The fabulous game of “chase me, I have your favorite toy!” is fun for five minutes to the older dog, not the 45 minutes that it is to the younger dog.

Idea of “what’s fun”

Older dogs can often be happy with strolls around the neighborhood, whereas young dogs often find even 3+ walks a day just absolutely boring! The younger dogs may need 3-hour adventures through the woods, or a 3 mile cross country run. Some older dogs still like to engage in play, but it’s often a different version of play than that of a younger dog. Older dogs sometimes enjoy a low-key version of the “chase and be chased” games, while some younger dogs like a more physical game like “run and jump on heads.”

What to look for

If you’ve got older and younger dogs living together, it’s important to keep your eyes open for the signs that indicate your older dog isn’t happy. Here are some of the more common signs of discomfort or stress:

Avoidance – the older dog gets up and moves when the younger dog comes into the room. Another sign that your senior dog is avoiding the younger is the subtle head turn. This looks very similar to what people do when they are ignoring another person. The head turns away, the eyes are averted, and there isn’t any acknowledgement that the other is there.
Withdrawal – the older dog lets go of a toy as soon as the younger dog shows even a slight interest.
Pain – the older dog yips or whines if the younger dog plays too roughly.
Snarling, growling – sometimes if the younger dog isn’t getting the message that the older dog wants some space, the older dog must resort to stronger language. That’s usually when we hear the snarling, barking, or growling.

What to do

Provide relief — If your younger dog just won’t leave the older dog alone, set up a baby gate to separate the two dogs. Your older dog needs rest and deserves an undisturbed place to sleep comfortably. A crate works well, too, to contain the younger dog (or the older dog if she’s comfortable in a crate). Another alternative is to keep the younger dog on a leash so you can control his access to the senior. If he can’t reach the senior, he can’t cause her any worry or distress. Do give the younger dogs something to do – a food stuffed toy, playing fetch or tug with you, or even some good manners training will do!
Protect the older dog — If your senior has any vision or hearing loss, it will be important for you to keep her safe from the younger dog that is growling or showing his teeth. Old dogs can often miss those signals due to hearing or vision loss. I have to gate Schooner in another room when we’re feeding the dogs because Lily likes to check everyone’s bowls after she’s done her dinner. She can’t hear Schooner’s polite, but serious warning growl because she’s losing her hearing.
No bullying — It’s unfair to the older dog to expect them to “put the younger dog in his place.” Many dogs will suffer in silence instead of correcting the younger, out-of-line dog. Would you expect your great-grandmother to put your grandkids “in their place” or would you instead speak to the kids and modify their behavior so they didn’t bug poor great-grandma? Hopefully, you’d get a handle on the kids fairly quickly so great-grandma could enjoy her time with them instead of counting the minutes until they were gone. If your older dog won’t stand up for herself, the responsibility is on your shoulders to curtail the younger dog’s actions and access to the older dog.

I think having multiple dogs is the greatest thing about living with dogs. I cherish every minute I have with my oldsters and I love the levity and laughter that the young dog brings to the household. I am always aware, though, of the happiness quotient over the old guys and girls. They’ve lived long, good lives – the old dogs deserve to spend their senior lives comfortable and happy.

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