What to do with GREAT Pictures....

that are just slightly out of focus......

Simply pop them into PSE, and pick an art option!

It's Fun Too!

Vestibular Syndrome - WTH!!

(Kruz - Taken 1/10/2012)

Wednesday, December 28th wasn't any different than any other work day, but it turned out to be a day I'll never forget.  Maybe not the date exactly, but the event, ABSOLUTELY!!

I always arrive home from work first, and let the dogs out.  The 3 of them do their 'business', and then rip around the yard for a bit.  I let them back in, and they were of course happy to have someone home.  This generally results in some celebratory toy collecting, and running back and forth from the living room to the kitchen.  Occasionally, Kruz will get bumped into hard enough to cause him to slip on the kitchen flooring, and I thought that might be what happened.  Seeker, the usual suspect in such events, was with me in the living room however, and Kruz was on a rug.  He was also NOT getting up! 

So, I rushed to the kitchen and his head was moving side to side at a rather fast speed.  Even more scary were his eyes, they were also rapidly moving side to side.  Rapidly, is probably an understatement, it was frightening. Of course, I'm thinking stroke!

I sat down on the floor with him and held his front end in my lap, covering his head and eyes with my arm.  Within 20 minutes or so, the behavior subsided a great deal.  While wobbly, he was able to get around, ate his supper and relaxed on the bed.  That evening he had two more episodes, each about 4 hours after the other, the last involved some vomiting.  

We were able to get him into the vet's office first thing Thursday morning, and learned about Vestibular Syndrome.  Thankfully, not a stroke.  As Dr. W told Bill, it's like being on a Roller Coaster that you just can't get off of and you develop motion sickness.  Since I happen to love Roller Coasters, I prefer to use the Silly Silo as an example.  I found out about 8 years ago, I can no longer tolerate that.  Either way, the feeling is miserable!  For many dogs, it's not something that just disappears, so imagine feeling like that for several days. 

The treatment was some motion sickness medication for a couple days and a quite dark place.  Kruz was not very mobile, and we had to carry him outside and back in as he couldn't climb the stairs.  You start second guessing the causes, diet, exercise, etc....but in truth the cause/trigger isn't really known. 

Of course I had an agility trial that weekend, so we discussed Bill staying home with Kruz.  The weather was going to be nice, so we knew he could stay in the van in a larger crate that was covered.  We opted to do that, and I'm glad we did.  I found a couple people that had been through it with their older dogs.  Both 13-14 years old.  Kruz will be 14 in March.  Both thought it was a stroke, and their dogs recovered after several weeks.  That gave us a lot of home. 

After 2 weeks he'll tug gently with Nettle, 

and pick up some toys.
1/10/2012

 (It was gently!  HONEST)

Almost 4 weeks later, Kruz is doing better.  He's walking better, although still can't master the stairs.  We support him with a harness to be sure he doesn't fall.  His head still tilts, and I think he's having some low back issues.  He has a chiro appointment in a couple days that I hope will help.

I also got some great exercise ideas from Dr Laura on Saturday to strengthen his rear end, so we've started doing those.  He's very happy to be doing some 'trick' training of sorts, right along with Seeker and Nettle.

Unfortunately, for right now he's not able to sleep on the bed.  I feel really bad about that.  My fear is that he will get up during the night and fall off.  Not that he's ever done that in the past, gotten up in the middle of the night that is, but it's just not worth the risk.  Hopefully in another few weeks or months, we'll get it figured out. 

If not, that's okay too, we'll just be sure to have a lot of cuddle time in the evening. 

This weekend on Saturday and Sunday at the Quad Cities, we'll let him watch a little agility.  It will be limited however, as we don't want him to have a 'relapse', although those sound rare I guess. 

This was a good reminder for us, don't take health and life for granted.  Of course, everyone does!  G  You can't live worrying about every little thing, but be sure to remember to enjoy the moment as well.  

Hug your dogs!!

Dr Laurie is....well....TOPS!!

Seeker and I attended a seminar on Saturday offered by the Canine Activity Center of Muscatine (CACM), it's located in Muscatine, Iowa.  It is a beautiful facility.  Bill Fridrych invited Dr. Laurie McCauley, and her assistant, Kim.  The topic - How to prevent/minimize injuries through exercise and conditioning.

The Agenda:

*  Importance of warm up and cool down - Prevent injuries

*  Stretching (when and how often)

*  Simple  strengthening exercises

*  Gait analysis/looking for problems

*  Common injuries

*  Hands on Massage

To say this was 8 hours of an amazing amount of information, is an understatement.  There was so much information provided on the above list, that I'm thankful for the power point handouts provided.  This allowed people to focus on the 'hands on' presentation, vs. frantically writing notes.  

It was good to hear that some of the things I've already been doing for conditioning are good.  It was also good for me to hear that I've been slacking off on my 'BALL' work, and need to get back to it.  That's such an easy thing to do, and it does really help keeping his bars up.  

There was a nice blend of 'lecture/instruction' time and then working with your own dog while Dr. Laurie and Kim came around to assist you with the exercise.

At first I think Seeker was a bit disappointed when we walked in and.....um...'Where's the EQUIPMENT!', and "Why is it OUTSIDE THE RING!".....but he soon found he could actually relaxed and enjoyed being stretched and massaged.

Seeker was extremely lucky to be the 'demo' dog for many of the massage presentations.  As we left for the evening, I'm pretty sure he was looking for her vehicle in the parking lot.  He would have happily went home with her!  

For more information - Check out TOPS at:

www.tops-vet-rehab.com

Happy 80th Birthday Meg!!

We Celebrated Meg's 80th Birthday at 

the Spam-O-Lious Party last Friday.

The Cake Reads - 

Meg is older than Spam

But Much better!!! 

Happy Birthday Meg!!

Snoopy Just CAN'T be WRONG!!

(Click on it to make it bigger)

Thanks Marsha!! (':

Snow-Fun

 Nettle had her first experience with snow on Thursday. 

To say she 'LIKED IT' is an understatement!

SHE LOVES IT!! 

Unfortunately, it clings to her like burrs, 

so she needs to hit the tub when we come in.

Yesterday we took the dogs for a run in the fields, 

and she had an unbelievable amount of snow attached to her.

 

It was a mess!!

She had a lot of fun anyway. 

I don't think she understood why Seeker was

running just as fast as ever, when she wasn't.

Of course, she was probably carrying an extra

10 lbs of weight by the time we got home. 

Although we only got a few inches of snow, 

we had high winds which conveniently blew it 

into our normal walking area.  

Our walk consisted of just a dusting of snow, 

to drifts upwards of 6'.  It was fun watching Nettle

try to run up those drifts, only to find out she was stuck.

They were nice and tired by the time we got home.

 

Spam-O-Lious Party!

Yes, we had a Spam-O-Lious Party!

I debated on putting this on the agility blog, but since the party did actually result from a conversation at an agility trial, I thought it fit the necessary requirements.  It's amazing the things you talk about while you're waiting for your class to begin.  There are times you have several hours of down time, and with our group, NOTHING is off limits.  

At the DMOTC Trial in October, the discussion somehow turned to SPAM.  No, not the e-mail variety...but the 'food' variety.  (If you can call SPAM food that is)  I believe Marsha's parents, Linda and Harry, started it.  Then Liz jumped in and pretty soon we were talking about having a SPAM party.  

I can honestly say I'd never eaten SPAM before last night, nor do I ever plan on eating it again.  The joke last night was that we were eating a product we would NEVER consider feeding to our dogs.  

But I digress!

It's amazing how many SPAM Recipes are available, and the group did not disappoint.  

I tried to get pictures of most of the items.....some Non-SPAM foods as well, before the vultures (that would be us humans) swooped in for the 'kill'. 

Missing is Rilda's SPAM dip, which didn't sound like it had much SPAM in it, 

but was still able to have that classic pink SPAM color.! 

Also, Meg's beans and SPAM!!

Very YUMMY!!

(SPAM Pizza!  Totally eatable!) 

(SPAM Quiche - not bad! Ham next time!)

SPAM-chiladas! 

(Impostor Cheese-chiladas in foil)

Sauce was a GOOD thing for SPAM!

 (SPAM bacon wraps)

Tasted like BACON!

(AKA - SPAM on a stick!)

 Liz's favorite - Fried SPAM!!

SPAM Puffs

The recipe claimed they won her

first place in a SPAM cook off.

Very Scary!!

 

The 'non SPAM' table

 

The Fruit Kabobs were AWESOME!

(Non-SPAM)

A loaded PLATE!!

It all looks good enough to eat!

 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/spam-puffs/detail.aspx

If you're every in a SPAM bake off, 

I've listed the recipe above.......

Here are the ingredients needed.

SPAM shreds very easily!!

Add cheese and baking mix. 

 Bake for 12-15 minutes at 350.

They look ALMOST the same going in the oven,

as coming out.  I found that a little disturbing!

 

More SPAM-O-Lious Fun coming on 1/19/2012!!

STAY TUNED!!