Sam- a great dog.

Sam I Am

Nov 2002 - Aug 2008

I helped Sam across the bridge today- his suffering and pain have ended and although I am filled with heartache I am comforted to know that he is no longer in pain. This last week has been very rough on him - and I know in my heart that I have made the right choice for him.

Sam and I were together only three short years- but it seems like a lifetime. He was a dog that always gave 110% and had the most amazing sense of humour.

Sam was always the life of the party- goofing around, and making people laugh. He was a dog that was rarely serious, and had a bark and a wag for everyone he met.

He had a fantastic last few days- lots of fetch, cheesburgers, new toys, and of course cuddles. I told him often how wonderful he was, and I spent every moment I could with him.

I will miss him a lot.

Thank you to all my friends (too many to mention) who have supported me in the past two years with Sam. I appreciate it more than you could ever know. Sam was a very lucky dog to have such great friends. It has been a long, and hard journey with him- but it was all worth it.

That smile could melt a room.

I miss him already more than I could have imagined.

Sarah took some candid shots of Sam at the park a few days ago.

Here are a few of my favorites.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Sarah for the wonderful photos of him. I will cherish them always.

Bully

Wicca has Always been a bully...even when she was a baby....nothing has changed in five years.

Then.... torturing the kitty, and my room-mates Chihuahua...

And now...poor Vito bears the brunt of her bulliness...he secretly likes it :o)

Belated Birthday Wishes

In the upset over Sam I haven't really had a chance to tell everyone it was Boonie's birthday on Sunday. He got to do his most favorite thing (play fetch and roll around on the couch) in the morning, and he had lots of fun destuffing his new hedgehog. We did some training in the backyard in the evening- and he got a whole extra meal at supper time. All in all Boone thought it was a pretty good day!



I never imagined I would get a Pyr Shep, and when I heard about Boone I did't imagine myself keeping him. But now- I couldn't imagine not having him. He is one of the gang now- and has a special place in my heart. Some things happen for a reason I guess. But I think I needed him more than he needed me. He has really helped me through Sam's injury-I think I would have gone crazy if not for the distraction.



This dog amazes me every day. He is just getting better and better. He has sure come a long way in a short amount of time. He loves everyone he meets- and is just become a very wonderful little dog. He has lots of heart, and a wicked sense of humour. He has decided that cuddling is an activity he enjoys and he is just a great, great dog.





Here are pictures of his progression- from scared little dog to a dog with heart and most importantly a dog who is happy...

Cheer Up.

This afternoon we all needed a break. I left Boone at home with Sam for company- and I met my dad and Kate and Drew down at Indian Battle Park.

They girls- Kate and Wicca had lots of fun playing fetch. The boys, not so much. They both waded and attempted to fetch-but didn't really have a lot of success!

I don't think I've ever blogged about Drew before but he is one of my most special dogs- he is a Rottweiler/Akita cross who is a gentle, easy going kind of guy. He is very food motivated and he knows lots of fun and silly tricks. He and Kate are best buds!

The pics aren't great- they were taken in the bright sunlight with a crappy old canon point and shoot digital...But you get the idea :o)

Ouch....

So Sam is having issues. And not just little issues. Thursday night we were watching TV in bed and all of a sudden he jumps up and is writhing in agony. I was completely freaked out and caught off guard. I thought maybe he had a bug bite, or a tummy ache- but no his back and skin was twitching and retracting. He was having major back pain.

I did what I could to make him feel better overnight- gave him a full Derramax (25mg) and was up massaging him most of the night. We got very little sleep.

Friday morning I beg my way into an appointment. She doesn't know why it is happening but we talk about giving him meds on a regular basis. Right now I give him 1/2 Derramax when he seems especially stiff or sore. We also talked about the differences between Derramax, Metacam, and Meloxicam.

Basically Metacam and Meloxicam are nice because you can break up the dosage, but Derramax is select as to what type of inflammation it helps. Typically you see stomach type side effects on long term use of any of the three but the Derramax is a little more gentle on the tummy. So off I go- More Derramax in hand for another hellish night.

At 9:30pm I called the vet. It's not helping. Every 15 minutes or so he whines, gets up, shifts, tries to stretch, and is miserable. I do not want my dog in pain. She suggested trying a hot/cold compress. After some advice from some paramedic friends we started with the cold. He hated it.

I ended up moving to the couch- so he wasn't jumping on and off the bed every time a spasm came along.

Spoke with the vet again and now she'd like to try Tramadol for the pain- which is like Morphine. It will take the pain away and also make him a little drowsy. I am not sure how I feel about that.

Last night I called Sam's physiotherapist and she came right over to see him. She massaged him for almost an hour- it was by far the best night yet. But still he hurts.

I am picking up the Tramadol tomorrow. But I need more answers- I want to know why, and is this the "next step" in his disk disease- or is this merely a strain that will go away in a few days. Unfortunately there is no one here that can answer those questions.

Oh, and I'd also like to know why an MRI is more than $2000. And why bad things happen to very good dogs. I am very sad and stressed these days.

Motivation

Sam's Adventures

Have you ever wondered what happens when this

(the picture of innocence)

eats this (a brand new one)

Well, I can tell you that you need to buy this

Followed by these two items

Baby Pictures(of the human variety)

I am an Aunt- for the second time. My brother and his Fiance had their second child a few weeks ago. I went on the weekend and took some pictures.

I am not a huge baby person but she is pretty cute!

Raylea is just three weeks old. She wanted to sleep during my whole visit-

which made it hard to get eyes open pictures.

She is small- but looks even smaller in my brothers arms!

Tyler- is a VERY proud big brother and adores her. (For now anyway!)

He kept "Shhhhhh-ing" me so that I wouldn't wake her up.

My favorite picture of the visit wasn't of the baby at all but Tyler and his Dad :o)

Oh, and here is a token Dog shot :o) This is Tyler and his dog Aries.

We will now return to our regularly scheduled program (kid free) :o)

Training

Yesterday morning I took "the boys" out to the agility field. Neither of them have had any agility training in a few weeks. I was hoping to beat the heat but after an hour we conceded defeat and left.

But I did get a fair bit done in an hour.

Boone-
straight line jumping- "go on"
contacts
weave entries
tunnel/contact discrimination

Vito
straight line jumping
turning off a straight line
contacts
teeter
start line

I have stick in the ground poles that double as weave poles, and jumps- so will hopefully have time this week to work with them more.

Clean Cut

So today was the day....Boone was groomed. He was a mess before I left for Nationals, and as I expected he was still a mess when I got back. Not matted or anything but really, really long and just unkempt looking.

Boone doesn't have a very "nice" Pyr Shep coat- he has a wooly coat that wants to cord. I think it looks icky so brush him at least once a week. I like him to look scruffy but it was getting a little out of control...

So he got a little trim this morning. He sure looks great! He is so small under all that hair. I hadn't cut him this short before but I think I like it. I am still not sure what to do with his head, I trimmed it a bit but it still looks a bit too large for the rest of his body. I am hoping Jolene will help me....(hint, hint)

Boone felt great when he was done and we had a little play session.

He is a very happy guy these days!

Amazing Photos

The Photos from the Nationals are up- and I must admit they are some of the greatest agility shots I have ever seen.

http://www.clphotography.ca/events/08aacnationals/index.htm

Check out the "Highlights" pages- there are four pages of the best shots of the weekend. Freakin' amazing.

Wicca was in Group B- 6" Special for those of you who want to cruise through her photos. There are some pretty decent ones, but not sure if I will buy them or not.

Smallest Dog

I mentioned in my last post about all the different types of dogs I saw at Nationals. I can't believe I forgot about Ozy. Ozy is a Yorkie who is smokin' fast, and very, very cute. See for yourself.

Back Home

I am exhausted. I am still trying to process everything from the trip- we did a lot of touristy things, and of course a lot of agility.

The Province itself is quite beautiful. Very BC-ish. Green, and Wet. The ocean stunk, and I washed all of my clothes twice to get the smell out.

The flight was a little nerve racking. But okay. I had never flown before but it wasn't that bad- and I was only a little nauseous on the decent. Wicca did great- and seemed to be just fine when we landed.

The Nationals were amazing. The club that hosted it did a great job and it was very friendly- not at all like I thought it would be. Everyone was nice and I met lots of nice people.

I tried Lobster. It was gross. An aquired taste I guess.

The weather was great- if not a little damp. It kept the temperatures down though and the major rain held off until right after the steeplechase finals.

There were some pretty amazing runs- I saw lots of really great dogs- Susan Garret's Encore, and the McCann dogs- Slyce and Ping Pong. There were some unusual breeds as well. Of course there were loads of border collies, and an equal amount of Shelties but there was the odd Wheaten, Cocker, and Vizsla. There was also a cute little Welsh Springer Spaniel, a Giant Schnauzer and a few Bouviers.

My own dog did great. We had some pretty amazing runs- both standards were very nice, and I did a good job of handling them. On the first standard Wicca slipped off the side of the teeter and earned a refusal. Otherwise it was perfect. The second standard was perfect and was one of those runs that take your breath away. The Gamblers were okay. The first Gamble she only got one mini- and pulled in to me over a jump on the gamble. It was a jump gamble- one similar to regionals actually. The second Gamble the opening was beautiful- we got both minis and earned a ton of points- (52) I thought the gamble was a sure thing but Wicca took an off course jump.
The Jumpers rounds were awful and were what caused us to place last. Both of them we had an off course (or two) and a bar (or two)

The steeplechase runs were great. We were clean and very fast in Round 1- In Round 2 I had a bar and STILL came in third place. We squeaked into the finals and I had a blast. It was very intimidating though- a huge crowd, and lots of "pros" watching. We did good though- she bobbled her weave pole entry, and I didn't support a far away jump and we had a bark'n'spin but otherwise it was good. I was pretty happy with her. We placed 2nd in the 6" division.

Overall we placed 10th. Our of 10. Our aggregate score was less than the Regional score. We had moments of brilliance and moments of disaster. But overall I am very impressed with us as a team. I didn't go to win though and although I was a little dissapointed to come in 10th overall I wasn't dissapointed in my dog at all. Our training has really paid off and I know (and have known) where our weak spots are. Agility is a work in progress and we have lots to do yet!

Nationals Update

The girls and the boy, originally uploaded by sarah ....

Check out the go dog go blog for all of our updates!

It has been pretty amazing so far!

http://godoggoagility.blogspot.com

Herding

Yesterday morning Sarah and I took the girls Herding. It was fun, until Wicca hurt herself. And then I almost had a heart attack. Thankfully she is okay- I think she just stung herself a bit. You see, she was chasing and trying to bite the sheep...which made them all spooky which in turn made Wicca want them more....she dove in to bite them and the sheep turned at the same time- resulting in an instant limp. Nice.

After a few minutes of walking it off she seemed to be better, a nice massage last night and this morning and she's back to normal.

We are trying to teach Wicca to move away from the sheep a bit more- and are working on her directions...she is doing pretty good- minus the retardo moments!

Gyppie is doing awesome- she acts like a real border collie now and is hugging the fence in an effort to be farther away from the sheep.

No pictures- maybe some crappy video later though!

Nationals

So I am officially feeling a little nervous. We leave Monday morning for Calgary, and then fly to Halifax. Sarah is bringing along her laptop and cameras- and we have set up a Go Dog Go Blog where we will be posting results etc. all week. It will be easier and I think more fun to have it all on one blog- rather than on both of them.

I have been telling Wicca all week that she's going to go on a big plane...

(this is her suspicious face)

When you have multiple dogs it is always a little complicated when you go away. Thankfully I have great friends who are willing to watch the beastie boys! Sam and Boone are going to Wendy's where they will get to come to daycare every day and hang out with Coulee and Lacey...I am sure Wendy will blog about them once or twice while she has them so check out her blog for updates.. and Vito gets to go to Sandy's where he will be allowed to do whatever he wants (stay up late and watch tv etc.) He'll get to be like one of Sandy's dogs all week...which may or may not be a good thing!