Moonlight in Shadow's Journal

10:48pm: Chandler "therapy" for toy poodles
I was rather surprised to hear from a friend that "Chandler has saved
another dog!" today. My first thought was "Wait...what?" It turns
out that she was speaking behaviorally, but the story is still funny.

About a month ago, we went out hiking with Kit, her sheltie who is
Chan's best friend, and Jess (a friend of Kits) who has a active 14
year old toy poodle named Babe. Babe had been attacked by a golden
retriever a few years ago, and had been afraid of dogs ever since
then. Beforehand, she'd been a very social and happy dog, but now
she'd practically try to climb up her owner's leg if she even saw a
large dog.

Chandler has always been really good with small dogs and is very
social, so we figured he'd be safe to have on the trail with Babe.
Things were going pretty well; all the dogs were offleash and Babe was
relaxing a bit when he passed her on the trail.

Then it happened. Babe was out in front with Jess a few feet behind
her. Chan had been sniffing something, and suddenly decided that he
needed to zoom up the trail and get back out in front. He passed me
at a run, and zipped right past Jess on the narrow trail-only to find
a toy poodle suddenly in his way and very little time to react.

So he jumped right over Babe.

Babe's reaction to having 60 lbs of English Shepherd fly right over
her was the canine version of "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! HELPHELPHELP!"

I felt really bad, and was afraid we'd accidentally reinforced the
fear reaction. (In retrospect, I'd do leashed walks before trying an
off-leash walk.)

But apparently since then, Babe has been back to her normal self.
She's happy and wagging out in public, doesn't panic around other
dogs, and will actually greet some of them. The only thing I can think
of is that for her, the absolutely most scary thing of having a big
dog looming over her happened...and she didn't get hurt...and the hike
went on...and the big dog still didn't hurt her.

Today she sniffed noses and rears with Chan and wagged her tail.
English shepherd fly-over therapy is not something I'd repeat, but I'm
happy to say it seems to have worked for Babe. Now all I have to do
is stop laughing...

7:57pm: Just watched my tape of Oprah's show last Friday on puppy mills. Overall, I thought it was very good, and I hope it gets the message out. I seriously want to scream at people over the subject sometimes. One of my co-workers recently bought a dachshund from a puppy store because "the store looked clean and the dogs weren't in little cages, so it must be ok." Maybe I should have told him that his dog's parents were essentially living in hell and he was financially supporting that situation. *sigh* I told him I hoped everything worked out ok.

I only wish that "throw away mentality" was addressed in the section about shelters. It left people with the impression that overpopulation was the major problem, with puppies being killed, and totally ignored the problem of people not being committed to their pets.

The only other thing to note is that I'm sad to see that the forum for that show has somewhat degenerated into a war between some of the rescues and responsible breeders. They really should be on the same side. :(

2:47pm: Kewl...
Turns out that the pup arriving soon in South Windsor is Chan's second cousin. (Or something like that.)

2:42pm: Woohoo!
Somebody is a neighboring town is getting an English Shepherd puppy!
That makes three new pups in CT this year, and this one is really close!
I can't wait to find out more about it.

11:45am: Because his lordship demands equal time...
This is my Ashke, my other cat.

12:34pm: Rowan's moment of triumph.
All the interesting stuff happens while I'm at work...
(or maybe I'm just better at managing my animals than my parents.)

My parents cooked a ham last night, and carved too many pieces, so they left two on a plate on the counter.
Somehow, Rowan managed to jump onto the counter unseen while they were eating on the kitchen table, grab the two pieces of ham, jump down, and consume most of one piece before being discovered.

I must say she is looking very self satisfied this morning.

11:22pm: I owe an apology to my cat...
for almost forgetting her birthday.
I hope she'll buy the excuse that I was very distracted by some of my friends having a crisis with their 16 year old dog. (Btw, we wish Mel a quick recovery from her attack of Vestibular Disease.)

So...
Happy birthday Rowan-kitten!
13 years of utter peskiness and cuteness!

12:16am: life and the suburban farmdog...
My suburban boy decided to chase some "big game" while I was off at work tonight.

Chandler apparently spotted a large perched redtailed hawk at the edge of the woods before my father did, and silently launched himself at it in full charge.
The hawk quickly decided to leave in a low swoop across the yard, and Chan changed direction to chase it.
Then of course, the fun ended as he hit the end of the 28 foot flexi lead. (Poor boy.)

This has me a bit curious. He hasn't been taught or encouraged to chase perched birds, but other members of his breed reportedly do keep birds of prey from swooping down on the chickens and guinea hens. I'm wondering if this an innate English Shepherd behavior of some type, either driven by prey drive, or farmdog sense of "things that should not be here."

Given the difficulty of figuring out what a dog is thinking, I'll probably never know.

2:50pm: where does my subconscious come up with these?
Last night's dream:

I was traveling cross country in a car with camping equipment, and somehow ended up at this house with lots of stairways. In the house, Voldemort was turning people into pink ducks.

Maybe I should not have had that piece of multi-meat pizza last night at work. :)

11:11pm: To those of you suffering from the respiratory virus from hell...
...like me and my family:
If you feel like you are getting better and then suddenly your temperature spikes up,
see a Doctor fast, because it may be a sign you have caught pneumonia.

(Mom went to the family Dr, and was notified that some people were catching pneumonia after getting this virus, and that the temperature spike would be a sign we should look for.)

1:31pm: Raisin toxicity in dogs
I'm passing this on in case people are not aware of the problem-

Written
by:
Laurinda Morris, DVM
Danville Veterinary Clinic
Danville , < st1:State w:st='on'> Ohio

This week I had the first case in history of raisin toxicity ever seen
at MedVet. My patient was a 56-pound, 5 yr old male neutered lab mix
that ate half a canister of raisins sometime between 7:30 AM and 4:30 PM
on Tuesday. He started with vomiting, diarrhea and shaking about 1AM on
Wednesday but the owner didn't call my emergency service until 7AM .

I had heard somewhere about raisins AND grapes causing acute Renal
failure but hadn't seen any formal paper on the subject. We had her
bring the dog in immediately. In the meantime , I called the ER service
at MedVet, and the doctor there was like me - had heard something about
it, but.... Anyway, we contacted the ASPCA National Animal Poison
Control Center and they said to give IV fluids at 1 1/2 times
maintenance and watch the kidney values for the next 48-72 hours.

The dog's BUN (blood urea nitro gen level) was already at 32 (normal
less than 27) and creatinine! Over 5 ( 1.9 is the high end of normal).
Both are monitors of kidney function in the bloodstream. We placed an IV
catheter and started the fluids. Rechecked the renal values a t 5 PM and
the BUN was over 40 and creatinine over 7 with no urine production after
a liter of fluids. At the point I felt the dog was in acute renal
failure and sent him on to MedVet for a urinary catheter to monitor
urine output overnight as well as overnight care.

He started vomiting again overnight at MedVet and his renal values have
continued to increase daily. He produced urine when given lasix as a
diuretic. He was on 3 different anti-vomiting medications and they still
couldn't control his vomiting. Today his urine output decreased again,
his BUN was over 120, his creatinine was at 10, his phosphorus was very
elevated and his blood pressure, which had been staying around 150,
skyrocketed to 220.. He continued to vomit and the owners elected to
Euthanize.

This is a very sad case - great dog, great owners who had no idea
raisins could be a toxin. Please alert everyone you know who has a dog
of this very serious risk. Poison control said as few as 7 raisins or
grapes could be toxic. Many people I know give their dogs grapes or
raisins as treats including our ex-handler's. Any exposure should give
rise to immediate concern.

Onions, chocolate, cocoa and macadamia nuts can be fatal, too.

Even if you don't have a dog, you might have friends who do. This is
worth passing on to them.
Confirmation from Snopes about the above...
<http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/raisins.asp>
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/raisins.asp

9:31pm: I am such a geek....
So we have to do a biographical report for class, due the 11th.

I of course, have decided to do my report on the only librarian that has her own ACTION FIGURE!

http://www.mcphee.com/laf/

...I mean really, was there any other possible choice?
*grin*


(Overall, she sounds like a very cool person, who I admire a lot even after just doing some basic research.)

3:47pm: *sneeze*
Home sick, resting.
I have unhappy sinuses.
Trying to get some homework done,
but I think I'm going to try and nap.
Need to get my application finalized tonight.

(Apologies for the somewhat incoherent stream of consciousness.)

6:57pm: *sneeze*
Well, I seem to have caught some cold at work last week; it has been hanging around all weekend,
playing havoc with my schedule. I know its the real deal because I actually flattened out for a two hour nap this afternoon, when I had gotten decent sleep last night.

So...poor Chan didn't get his second walk today, I'm behind in my homework, between the weather and me being sick-Chan's obedience practice hasn't been getting done, and I still have to write my application essay.

I'm almost hoping Chan's obedience class gets snowed out tuesday morning. Hopefully then I'll have time to practice.

I'm going to try to do the essay tonight, and am hoping my muse will show up. However, I fear she may be avoiding my germs; given the incoherence of this post *laf*

3:59am: better late than never.
Happy Bday Ashke kitty! 13 years. :)

(Sorry it is a day late due to my insane schedule and job.)

11:21am: Highspeed...
The cable guy came two days early, and we now have highspeed internet.

It looks like I'm going to have the day to enjoy it, because I managed to catch a nasty cold over the weekend, and I'll be calling off work. (Ok, I'll enjoy it if I don't pass out in a dizzy spell.)

It is just as well in some ways, because I still have work to finish up for my class. I was going to do that this morning, but managing Chandler (Mr Protective) around the cable guy is a bit of an involved job.

4:52pm: To our friends in northern Virginia...
"Our" in this case being Chandler and I.

I don't know if you are aware of it, but a mandatory spay and neuter bill just got introduced to your legislature. I don't like these things for many reasons, including there is evidence that they DO NOT WORK, they tend to make things difficult for the responsible hobby breeders, there are medical consequences to early spay and neuter, and they tend to end up threatening working dog breeds, like Chandler's.

This thing might get passed in a month. If you agree with what is said under my lj cut, and live in Virginia, please contact your representative, and cross-post to get the word out.

Now, since somebody else has already said it better...

( Read more )

2:32pm: Cut my hair...
I got sick of the long stuff getting into everything and dealing with split ends.
So now I've got a short bob...I think it looks pretty good.

2:25pm: whee...
Ashke seems to have recovered.
Rowan now seems to have caught what he had.
Argh.

2:22pm: not liking 2008 so far...
I spoke too soon. Ashke is still sick, which resulted in much wash being done to clean up "accidents", and his confinement in "Alcatraz" with blankets and a litterbox. He is complaining mightily.

Chandler also managed to scrape on of the "stopper pads" on his right wrist this morning. It's bleeding a bit so he's wearing a sock. I swear the dog is danger prone...

I feel like I really need to work on a better attitude, but there always seems to be so much getting me down. *sigh*

11:52pm: Ashke update
Ash seems to be feeling better...
he's walking around, wanted to play, and just ate 1/4 can of kitty food.
Gads...I hate it when he has these "sick" episodes.

2:22pm: Stuff.
The person I was filling in for at work is back. YAY! No more leaving at 3 am or later.

Had a good time at Jen's yesterday, except Nixie bit Chan again (no damage done except psychological).
I'm feeling kinda sorry for Nixie-she's been beat up too many times by strange dogs, and was a stress case the entire little bit of time she was out of the living room. Unfortunately, she now has an "I'm gonna get them first" attitude, which is hard on poor Chan, who was being just a bit TOO friendly.

Ashke is not feeling well today- diarrhea, no appetite and just lying around. No idea what threw him off. I'm hoping it is just a one day thing. However, it is a reminder that he's been losing weight this last year, and he is going to be 13. *sigh* I think he actually gained a pound in the last month too.

2:35am: changes... (Incoherent 2 am ramblings)
Hit midnight at work...and today.
And realized yesterday had become Kit's bday...
because I had forgotten it was also C's.

Not sure how I feel about this.
Maybe I'm too worried about life and some of my friends' problems.

12:10pm: GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
Two police dogs may be euthanized b/c of a union dispute.
Stupid waste.
Read the petition.
Sigh it, and pass it on if you wish.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-these-2-beautiful-police-dogs-who-have-saved-others

12:36pm: wheeeeeeeeeee.
Any time I spend at work today is overtime...