We got back from the vet’s office and I’m happy to say that Jake is fine. The lumps were all just fat and cysts. He DID, however, manage to gain about 11 pounds in less than 3 months, so the little dude is going on a diet. This will mean no leftovers (which he doesn’t usually get anyway), no cheese (which Mommy has been having with wine once in a while so he’s been getting some too), and “Second Dinner” will have to go. Also, Bandit will have to eat all his food or I’ll have to be very quick about taking it away before Jake can get it when we go back into the room where Bandit eats. I don’t think that the loss of Jakey’s beloved “Second Dinner” will go over very well so I think I’m just going to cut both first and second dinners in half-I guess that make is first half of first dinner and second half of first dinner. That dog has me trained…..
Archive for February, 2009
Visit from the farrier/Vet appt for Jake
Well, Daisy got her feet done today so it was a kind of boring day. It was REALLY cold for some reason-even though the temperature said 26, it felt a lot colder than that in the barn. By the time all was said and done my toes were numb! I got out there, cleaned the stall, took Daisy out to be lightly lunged so she would warm up for the little contortions the farrier has her do, then brought her back in and had her trimmed. She was good as usual-she hardly moves a muscle while he’s working on her. Once she was done there, we just hung out for a while while the other horses on the schedule were done. During that time we did a lot of grooming and just hanging out-she was happy to get the attention and seemed to really enjoy it today. She isn’t always so accepting of attention, so we took full advantage of it. I might do a lesson tomorrow if it’s warm enough, but it’s actually supposed to be a high of 21. We’ll see how it feel out there tomorrow.
Jake is going in to the vet today for some shots and to have a few lumps checked out. It’s kind of routine for him to have needle biopsies every time we go in there. Sometimes Kristel finds something, but hopefully she won’t today. If she does, I don’t know what our decision is going to be. I guess I’d have the lump removed and looked at, then we’d figure it out from there-it’s just that if there IS cancer there again, it would be under 6 months since the last one and chemotherapy would probably be recommended. Since Jake is up there in age, I don’t think I’d agree to do it. Well, I’m not going to get upset about it until we know what the lumps are-9 times out of 10 they’re just fatty tumors. I’ll update you guys on what they find later…..
Daisy Play Day
Chillin with Daisy
Hanging out some more
Still Chillin
She smiled for the camera:
Smile for the camera!
Good Girl
Crazy Girl
Love that mane
My little bronco
Anything for a treat
Sticking her tongue out at me 
WHAT A MESS!!!
It’s raining like crazy here tonight. I was out at the stable for a while and everything was starting to flood pretty bad by the time I left. Any time we have bad rain, especially when the ground is frozen, the stable starts to flood-rain comes in down the aisles and through the roof. The roof is in bad need of repair-riding in the indoor arena can be almost like riding outside sometimes! I don’t really blame the owners for not putting the money into fixing the place because they rent the building and land, plus the land is for sale officially, so if it ever did sell, they would probably just tear down the building anyway. (It’s been for sale for several years now-I don’t think it’s going anywhere anytime soon.) I had to cover my saddle pads and Daisy’s extra blankets with plastic to protect them from leaks, and by the time I left, the rainwater was getting pretty close to her stall. Her stall rarely floods, but this time it was looking kind of convincing that the water might make it in there. The whole place is basically a mud pit-maybe they should rent it out for mud wresting to make money so they can fix the roof…. I have tomorrow off of work because I have to have a guy come and check out my heater (it’s been acting a little funny and it needs to be cleaned anyway), so I might head out to the stable after he leaves and try to help the clean up efforts over there.
On top of the rain, a couple of the horses were starting to aact like they might be getting colicy, too. Daisy wasn’t pooping before I left, but she was eating and she had bowel sounds on both sides so I’m pretty sure she’s ok. A few of the other horses weren’t doing as well. One of Diane’s horses, Junior, was one that was feeling a bit down. The storms were freaking him out and his tummy was bugging him. No pooping and not eating, plus he was pawing at the ground. I think they got him eating a bit before they left tonight, so he should be doing better. Poor horses-they get so bent out of shape when this sort of thing happens.
Anyway, since Daisy was feeling a little icky, I needed to get her moving so we rode for a bit. She did very well-nice and collected most of the time despite the claps of thunder and periodic lightening. She had a really nice canter and nice transitions. If she can do that for the shows, we should do good this year.
In case it wasn’t enough that the horse wasn’t feeling good, one of the dogs was barfing, too-I’m not sure which one. It has to be the weather change-everyone is upset. Of course, Jake will eat ANY type of food-previously eaten or not-so he got either the same dinner twice or two dinners….. I’m not sure….. (I know-YUCK!!) That’s my boy-ya gotta love dogs.
Different Rider for Daisy Tonight
Daisy was her usual snotty self for this time of the month, so I was taking it easy on her tonight, We rode for a little while-did some decent transitions and worked on prolonging our canter a bit, then I got off early. One of the girls that used to take lessons at Windance was there and was visiting the horse she used to ride. She hadn’t been around much until lately and I asked her if she wanted to take Daisy for a ride for a little bit when I was done. She said she would, so I let her give Daisy a try. She trotted her for a while to get the hang of her. After a bit she asked for a canter and Daisy whipped her around a few times They actually did very well together-Daisy usually isn’t responsive to other people like she was tonight. Anyway, it was a light night. We’ll work a bit more tomorrow. I was planning on getting the new boots out again and trying those some more.
Bandit is acting a little sad tonight-I don’t know what happened, though. He probably was into something really bad while I was gone and he wore himself out. I just haven’t found his little “project” yet. Either that or he’s got a tummy ache or something. I’ll give him a little bit and see if he comes around…..
Another Day, Another Thing Destroyed By Bandit….
My ride went ok tonight-Daisy was in a foul mood. She’s in season again. The joke between my trainer and I is that it’s more often that she’s NOT in season than she is. So anyway, she peed in the aisle trying to impress some of the boys and she was grouchy for our ride-you know, typical female stuff I had her going pretty nice in the arena-even her canter was pretty nice. She was VERY fast, though! We flew around the ring quite a few times to get her to settle down at the canter. Even though it was fast, it’s still much improved from when I first got her. Her head was in a nice position for most of the time and she was fairly balanced despite being quick. Normally she isn’t like that-I think maybe she had a bit of the female symptoms going on so she wasn’t in a really good mood. We finished by bowing a few times and practicing our marching for the Spanish Walk so she could get some goodies. She’s starting to learn that she needs to move forward when she marches for her Spanish Walk, so we’re making some progress, but I have to admit that I’ve been concentrating more on our dressage training than on tricks right now.
So Bandit came to work with me today. We got a couple comments about how good he is and how he just relaxes and lays under my desk. When I tell people what a nut case he can be at home it can be a bit hard to convince them that he’s the dog that is the bad boy! So it turns out that Bandit can be a little master of deception-I’m on to him, though 
I bought some new boot laces for my much boots for the stable because my others are about ready to break. I put the new package of laces up on my bakers rack in the kitchen in a very inconspicuous place-they were actually very well hidden. Somehow the little animal figured out that they were in there. Without disturbing ANYTHING else on the bakers rack, he found the tiny package, took them out, and brought them back to his room. He opened the package up and took out the laces. To the standard person, you would see that the boot laces still looked fine-they were just out of the package. When you look closer, however, you would notice that there was a small grazing on one of the laces, weakening it and putting it in the perfect position for the lace to break the first time you pull it tight. I swear he plans this stuff. It looked almost skillfully done. This was especially funny because that was the ONLY thing out of place. There were things in front of the boot lace package on that bakers rack, too, that weren’t disturbed. He’s a talented pup. Maybe he will excel in search and rescue or something. Well, at least the search part…..
Nothing else really exciting happened today-We did stop at the feed store on the way to work and Bandit got a new toy of his choosing. I weighed him, too-he’s up to 66 pounds! He’s finally getting close to where he should be!
A Tribute To Rocky
Last night was very uneventful-I took Daisy out briefly and let her wander for a while to let her stretch her legs before bed. Gave her the treats that she had coming and took off. It was a very quick and quiet night. Tonight should be a bit more eventful-I’m planning on riding and practicing some of our movements so we’ll se how it goes!
Since it was so uneventful, this is a good opportunity to write about Rocky-Rocky was a great dog. He wouldn’t hurt a fly! Just a big. sweet boy with a heart of gold. He started off coming to us about a year or so after Max. I told Mike that I didn’t want another dog until we got our yard fenced in, but, being a typical man, he did it anyway. I was at home with Max one night waiting on Mike to get home from work. Suddenly, Max started acting all funny-he was growling and pacing so I knew something was going on. The door that exits our house into the garage slooooowly opened and I see Mike peering around the corner with this “I’m sorry, but you can’t stay mad at me because you know I’m cute” look on his face. Another little black face slowly appeared underneath him at ground level with the same “don’t be mad at me” look. Max’s nose immeadiately went down to check out the new little furball. I just looked at Mike with the knowing look of “I TOLD you now more dogs until the fence went up, but you know I can’t help but love a puppy so you’re off the hook for now”.
Hangin with Jake on the couch
Rocky came in carefully-Max sniffed him a little then sat back to observe. Rocky was a bit older than the 8 weeks you usually expect for a puppy-I assumed that he was a leftover from the breeding program where we got Max. Honestly I could see why-he was a little awkward looking somehow. He didn’t walk exactly right and he seemed too shy to be a shepherd. Anyway, after Rocky took an initial look around, he grabbed one of Max’s bones and took it to a corner of the room behind a couch. You could see the look on Max’s face turn from curiousity to “HEY! THAT’s MINE!” He walked over to Rocky and the little pup looked up at Max and let out a little mini warning growl-LOL! Max backed off thinking there must be something pretty special about him because he was so much smaller but he was telling Max off. That was the only time I ever heard Rocky growl at anyone like that.
Handsome boy
Rocky fit right in-they played for hours on end and he was an exceptionally good dog. He wasn’t really smart He learned basic commands, but beyond that he was too confused to really learn anything else. It was ok, though, because he was so sweet. I have a picture of him, actually, where there is a baby just learning to stand against a coffee table with Cheerios on the table. Rocky is looking right at her with his paw up on the table in the shake position, begging for a Cheerio from the baby! When Jake came into the picture, Rocky became his “Mother”, cleaning him and taking care of him. Later on that would change when Jake took over as the semi-leader of the pack. Jake ended up turning the tables and being in charge of Rocky, but Rocky didn’t seem to mind being the Beta dog. He was happy no matter what.
Rocky
Rocky ended up having several things wrong with him. His hips quickly deteriorated, riddled with hip dysplasia, and he couldn’t play as hard as the other dogs. This caught up with him a lot in his later years-by the time he was 6 or 7 it was obvious that he was having trouble, but it wasn’t bad enough to get fixed. On top of that, I went on a long weekend camping once and left the dogs at home alone with a dog sitter. When I came home, Rocky was coughing and retching really strangely. It took me all of 10 minutes to realize something was wrong. I took him to the emergency vet and they diagnosed him with pneumonia. He had to stay in intensive care for several days before he came back around. From that point on, he had pneumonia on and off the rest of his life. He was about 8 at that time and he suffered from pneumonia bouts for his remaining 2 years-some a lot worse than others. He was on and off antibiotics that whole time. A few months after his first bout with pneumonia, he was caught licking himself in a strange way so I lifted his tail and there was a big hole next to his butt! I was in shock!! I brought him to the vet again and he was diagnosed with a perianal fistula. We got that under control after several months of expensive drugs-fortunately once that was gone it didn’t come back.
Rocky an Tabasco were good buddies-here they sit down the hall from me-Basco right in front of Rocky! They would sleep together too
On and off, my poor guy was sick. It got worse and worse every time, especially towards the end. He was on antibiotics about once a month, actually. At the very end he was on a drug to help him breathe because the repeated pneumonia had taken its toll on his lungs-prednisone and theophylline- plus 2 antibiotics. I came home from the stable on the 4th of July last year and he was breathing funny again, making that familiar retching sound. I brought him to the emergency vet and called my brother who was supposed to be coming over to my house that day for a little barbeque. I told him that I didn’t think Rocky was going to be coming home with me-I was right. Rocky had a temp of 104 and was very uncomfortable. Being on several antibiotics and other drugs for his upset tummy and breathing probems, we had to put him down. I learned a lot from this experience-he taught me a lot about veterinary medicine and that helps me all the time with my other animals.
He was definitely a good dog-like I said, he wouldn’t hurt a fly! He loved people and other animals. He let the little girl next door, 6 years old at the time, hug him through the fence all the time. We always cuddled on the couch, especially towards the end when he had trouble playing. That was his way of being told he was loved and that he loved me too. He was just a little lover and a good friend and he’s very missed!! Miss you Rocky! You and Max have fun up there with Mike!!
Good Boy, Rocky!
Another Bandit Breakthrough
Last night I had my friend Becky come over to watch the Academy Awards and have wine and cheese It was a good time-as all our visits go, the conversation quickly turned to horses and we talked about how our training is going, did some internet searches on products we want to get for the horses, and we even did a comparison of saddle pads-I showed her my show pads and she showed me a few of her favorites that she had in her car. We put them on the couch while we watched the awards and Jake promptly fell asleep on her pads. Within moments he was farting like a madman. Every time I have people over and he starts farting, I worry that the other person is going to think it’s me. It’s pretty cliche to say “it was the dog”. That makes blaming it on the dog a little hard to believe sometimes. The only reason it’s good that he KEEPS farting is that it makes it more believable to the other person-if a person accidently eeks one out, they usually don’t keep doing it. Jake, on the other hand, is almost proud of himself.
Actually-on a tangent here-Aggie, my iguana, is the one with the worst farts. When he goes to relieve himself, he emits a larger than life noise. It’s so loud, in fact, that when he does it, the dogs both stop what they were doing to sniff their OWN butts as if to say, “was that ME?”
Anyway, back to Bandit-He was shy at first, but he stayed downstairs. He laid on the couch next to me. Once the awards were getting towards the end and we were done looking up horse stuff online (and the wine was starting to kick in a bit), Becky started trying to get Bandit’s attention. Jake was playing, too-he thought it must be time for “second dinner”, a regular meal for him, so he was super excited. I started playing how Bandit likes to play-a little rough, slapping on the couch with my hand and he pounces on my hand. Becky started doing it too since Bandit was playing with me and seemed a bit relaxed. He looked at her like “well I don’t know you, but since we’re playing THAT game, I guess it’s ok.” HE started pouncing on her a little and playing lightly-he was still nervous, but he was doing it! She made a lot of eye contact with him, usually a mistake for any dog you don’t know, but I knew he wouldn’t react in a mean way since that’s not his style, and he stared right back nervously. I think he could tell that she was a little nervous around him, too-after all, he is a big dog. Before I knew it, he was trying to lick her face! He was kissing her hands and she was petting him just like a normal dog-on his head, his body, etc. He did very well. At the end of the night, she was leaving and he was outside. When he came back in, I think he was looking for her! Pretty cool! I’m very proud of him-he’s really come a long way. Still a long way to go, but lots of progress in just the past few weeks!
Hopefully my Mom will come over one of these days, too-she has a lot of experience with dogs and she will be good to work with him. I think he gets more nervous if you coddle him at all, though, so we’ll have to try to make things as natural as possible. The more he sees people one-by-one, the better he’ll be with 2 people, then 3, and so on. It’s a long journey, but it’s worth it. He’s a REALLY good boy and a little lover.
A day in the life of Jake and Bandit
My dogs may be slightly retarded…. They’re pretty funny, though Bandit loves to hunt rabbits through the slats in the deck-he cries until I get him out then he sniffs for hours at the deck from different angles and chases the bunnies from place to place under the deck. I’m kind of surprised I haven’t had to remove any splinters from his nose, honestly, but whatever floats his boat….
Be Vewy Vewy Quiet.........I'm hunting WABBITS!He does this for hours every day.
Here’s another Bandit Shot:
Where did he go???
Here’s a place Bandit dug down to the slats so he could sniff through them:
STILL hunting wabbits....
Jake is smarter than that-he just watches Bandit and rolls his eyes.
Wink wink nudge nudge-know what I mean?
WTF Is this thing???I call it something that I can't say on my blog because I like to keep things G-Rated.....But seriously.... WTF is it????
A close up of Jake's "Toy"
Great Lesson Today!
Daisy has done it again-she amazes me sometimes with her great performance! It’s pretty hard work to get her to do it, but when she goes good, it’s really nice.
We started our lesson as usual-Daisy didn’t feel like doing squat so it was WORK WORK WORK until she started going forward for me with less resistance. Once she was going forward a little more willingly, Diane started having us so things we haven’t done before. I’ve done flying changes on Daisy before, but we were just messing around-she takes it pretty well and she likes the challenge. I really think that Daisy doens’t like being bored-that’s our main problem-we have to practice by going in circles and she thinks that’s about the STUPIDEST thing ever. She starts to get this attitude like “we were just over on this side of the arena-if you wanted to come here, we should have just stayed when we were here before.” When we do jumps, she thinks, “You know, if we just walked AROUND that thing it would make life a lot easier.” And when we do any kind of side pass or leg yield, she gets all like, “If we just TURN and walk over there it would make a lot more sense.” Once she gets praised for doing the stupid things that humans want her to do for no apparent reason, she is happier. When she realizes that it’s sort of a trick and a challenge, then she REALLY starts to have fun.
Diane had me do a circle at one end of the ring at a trot, pick up a canter and do another cirlce, come down to a trot, change direction and do a circle at the other end of the arena, pick up the canter and circle that way again, then do it over again. Daisy is VERY smart and anticipates what we’re going to do, so when she thinks it’s time to canter, she speeds up to help herself get into it. That’s bad because she falls on her forehand then and it doesn’t looka s pretty. It was a challenge to get her to listen. Once she understood again, though, she did it pretty well. I’ll have to do that on my own a few times so we can be better for our next lesson. After that, Diane had me run through Training Level Test 1. For the first time in HISTORY, she gave more compliments than corrections!! I tried to take everything I had been working on-sitting quietly, legs forward, weight in the ball of my foot, back straight but supple, and arms relaxed but constantly moving with Daisy’s head so she would relax too. When she raised her head, I was on it-I would offer the correction softly and she came right down as if to say, “OK, Mommy, whatever you want. (I STILL think this is stupid, though.)” We got a lot of “excellent!” and “very good!” out of Diane-she still had a few corrections, though “keep your eyes ahead”, “keep your rythm”, etc. When we finished, Daine actually said to me, “That was the BEST circle I’ve ever seen Daisy do!”
This is a far cry from when we first started-Daisy was fat, out of shape, lazy, and unbalanced. I called her a cow, which turned into Sea Cow-we would say things to tease like “I wonder what a sea cow sounds like?” then make a noise that a manatee might make-it echoes very well in the arena, by the way. When my legs were much more stiff and unforgiving, Diane would tell me to flap them like a pengiun-this quickly became a joke that I was to ride like a penguin on a manatee. Daisy is still the butt of a lot of jokes, but man, she’s looking GOOD! Move over Brentina!! LOL! :)
