Obedience Fun Match

Since there haven't been any other issues in regards to the stuffie-eating incident, I decided to go ahead and go to the obedience fun match tonight. Up til yesterday, I wasn't sure if I was going to do it if he was still unwell. But today was great - no vomiting, and normal bouncy Redders! It's amazing how good puking up a 10" long stuffie arm can be! *rolls eyes*

We went for a 3 mile on-leash walk into downtown today. I normally don't take Red out for a walk the day of a trial/match because I want him to have all his energy intact, but I figured since it was on-leash instead of our normal off-leash run, it would be okay. But even though it was on-leash, I think it tired us both out! LOL

Anyway, we got to the match pretty early because I wanted to simulate the longer wait before going into the ring in a real trial. The match started at 6pm, and we got there at 5pm, while most people arrive closer to 5:30pm for these matches. We were the second team in the building, and the first team hadn't even set up their crate yet! I left Red in the car while I carried in the crate, my chair, and my bag. I set everything up, paid my fee and signed up for 3rd team in line for Novice, then went back out and took Red out to the potty area. He quickly peed a few drops to satisfy me, then we went inside.

We played tug with the frisbee for a little bit, then did a few heeling exercises. After he started to calm down a tad, I put him in his crate and I sat down in the chair next to him and pulled out a magazine. People started to trickle with their dogs, and he was moving around and whining a little, but not loudly. I ignored him.

There were three rings set up - one for each Novice, Open, and Utility. You are allowed to practice in them before the match starts if you want. I thought this would be a good time to practice jumps for Advanced Rally, since I don't have a jump at home, and we will be trialing Advanced in less than a month! Red has not had much exposure to jumps AT ALL. We just started introducing him to them at the last Saturday training session we were at. But considering we can't go every Saturday, I thought this was a good opportunity.

We went into the Utility ring, took off his leash, and started with the 8" high board. At first when I would give the command for him to go "over" and I would run by, he would run around the jump, staying next to me in heel position. So I jumped over it with him a few times while giving the "over" command, and then he got it. We did a few run-bys with him just jumping over it and receiving rewards, then we stepped it up to do some Rally exercises and heeling leading up to the jump, and then making the jump, to received the reward. Then I added an 8" board for a total of a 16" high jump (the height he must jump for Advanced). He was fine - didn't hesitate at all. Then we put it all together and did exercises before the jump, sending him "over", then coming back to heel and going into another exercise. He did AWESOME always making the jump, then coming right back to heel and staying with me. He got jackpots for those (i.e. got to stick his face in the treat pouch!).

It was funny because after we were done, I went to take the 8" board that I added back off, and Red kept jumping the jump over and over to earn treats. I think he likes the jump =) I was really happy that I thought of doing this - I think that was a really productive training step and I feel MUCH more confident about the jump in Advanced Rally now.

I put his leash back on, and went back to our chair and crate. Up til now, he hasn't really liked being in his crates at trials. He hesitates going in there and is restless and somewhat whiney when he's inside it. So I decided to play a game with him - kinda like when I first crate trained him as a puppy. I sent him in, gave a treat, waited a few seconds with the door open, then let him back out. Then sent him in, gave a treat, waited, then let him out. Then I did it with the door closed, waited a few seconds, then let him back out. Then it was a fun game and he would go in there for the next treat. We played with the frisbee again for another minute or two, then I put him in his crate again. I sat down and picked up my magazine again. This time there was no fidgeting, and no whining at all.

We had a good 30 minutes til the match started, and I just sat reading my magazine and Red sat quietly in his crate while everyone arrived with their dogs, making the building noiser and noiser as time went on. After awhile, I put down my magazine and just watch people warming up their dogs. I learn a lot, just by watching more experienced handlers interact with their dogs. And that's why I'm there - to learn as much as I can to be a better handler and help my dog be the best he can.

Open did their sits/downs first, but Novice went right into it and would be doing sits/downs last. When the first Novice team went into the ring, I got Red out of the crate and played with him some more. When the second team was halfway done, we started doing some focus exercises and getting ready to go into the ring.

Then it was our turn:

On-leash heel: Horrendous. The judge said I looked like a "drunken sailor", LOL. I seriously was all over the place and didn't walk a straight line at all. Red's attention was off in la-la land and I was paying more attention to him then to where I was going. We kept bumping into each other. It wasn't pretty.

Figure 8: Better than the on-leash heel. He lagging a bit on the outside posts so I slowed down a little and urged him to keep up. I took the inside post too tightly and Red kept bumping me as we came around. The judge said to give him more room on that inside post, and bring my knee up to push him back out if necessary. I have an arm's length allowed between me and the post, and I have long arms, so I should use that room. Then sits at the halts were pretty nice and got better/quicker the longer we went.

Stand for exam: Excellent! This is the one exercise I don't worry about with him. He is spot-on every time. The judge said "nice" when he went into his straight stand, I moved out ahead, she did a pretty long and thorough exam on him - longer and more than a judge during a real trial would probably do - and he didn't budge. The only thing wrong on this exercise was that I went too far out away from him. The rules say 6 feet and I was more like 8 feet, so I'm going to have to practice how to gauge how far 6 feet is... count my steps or something. That would be a really stupid thing to lose points for!

Heel off-leash: MUCH better than the on-leash heel according to the judge, and damn near perfect. Red's attention was much better and I was able to look up ahead of me to watch that I was walking in a straight line. I feel much more comfortable for this, and so did Red, apparently, and it showed. Now I know what everyone says about the off-leash heel being better than the on-leash! You'd think it would be the other way around but its not! My only guess is that Red felt like he needed to stay with me more since he wasn't tethered to me. That's my only guess, but even his attention was better. I was very happy with this.

Recall: Red came in pretty straight. Straighter than he has done in the past, but still not the way I would like. He kind of archs around while he's running toward me - I'm not sure why he does that. I took a couple baby steps backward to line him up when I realized he wasn't going to sit straight. By then, there was only maybe a foot between my body and the fencing (though I didn't realize it until I had him finish right). He squeezed behind me into a perfect finish. The judge was impressed that he finished so nicely having no room behind me! So anyway - yeah, still gotta work on coming in straight...

Then we were done. I had my treat pouch on, but only gave treats inbetween exercises. I did talk to him somewhat during exercises, especially for the on-leash heeling when we were doing so poorly, just to get him to focus on me. I talked a little in the figure 8, to keep him from lagging and then praising when he was with me. I can't remember how much I talked during the off-leash heel, but I don't think it was much - maybe for the turns but that was it.

Since they were doing sits and downs last, we had to wait for everyone else to go. There were 11 dogs total doing Novice. I played with Red for a couple minutes, then put him back in his crate, where he spent the next hour, completely silent and only stirring when a little miniature Schnauzer came right up to his crate screen door to sniff. I still don't know how comfortable he is in there, he spent most of the time, half-sitting. But as long as he was quiet and not fidgeting too much, I was happy. I spent the time watching the other teams' runs and taking mental notes to myself about how people train their dogs and how I might incorporate some of the things into my own training. When the last team started their run, I got Red out and played with him for the remainder of that team's run. Then finally, it was time for sits/downs.

Long Sit: Ok. He didn't break position at all, but he sorta had me uneasy at the beginning. He had his ears down and was sitting like he was really thinking about going down, or picking his butt, one of the two... but he didn't. As the time went on, he looked more solid and I relaxed a little. After the judge gave the release, I quietly praised and rewarded while he stayed in position. Usually during class I really praise after that and he sorta jumps around - but that's because we do 3 minute sits in class and I'm more happy when he doesn't break position (considering we had a really hard time with this exercise at first), and this was only the 1 minute.

Long Down: Excellent! He rolled onto a hip and stayed rock solid the whole time. Kept his head up and looking forward, and ears erect. He did great! So proud of him - he got a BIG handful of treats after that one =)

Then we were done! Took him out to the car, and then went back in to pack up the crate and everything. I think that was a really productive match - not for the Novice run, but for the other stuff. The jump - we made HUGE steps on that, and the crating for long periods. That is the good thing about these matches - it simulates trial-like environments and he can get more used to being crated and everything. So all in all, a success! Now I have one tired puppy... =D

Got the stuffie arm!

Red vomited up the entire leopard print stuffy arm this morning around 7am. I had locked him in the bedroom with me overnight so he couldn't sneak off to vomit and I would hear it.

I'm so relieved! The only thing I'm not sure about is that there were squeakers in each stuffie's paw and there wasn't one in the vomit. But I had removed one of the squeakers from the toy earlier that night, so I'm not sure if it was the same arm. I can't check, because I threw the stuffie away. I should have saved it.

Anyway, he has pooped two big piles this morning - normal and formed with nothing in them. I say big poops because I gave him about 3/4 can of sweet potato last night with his dinner. That fiber really does bulk up the stool! I gave him a 1/4 can pumpkin with his breakfast this morning to keep things moving on through.

But I think we are out of the woods now. I'm so glad I was around to see him vomit so he couldn't eat that damn thing again!!

RN win photo

Taking a break from worrying about Red's stuffy-eating issues... I received our RN win photo today! I like it =)

click to enlarge


The photographer should be posting some shots of each team in the ring on her website, so I am looking forward to that!

Update

I don't know for sure, but I am wondering if he is vomiting something up and eating it again. Because he vomited yesterday while hubby was home, but he didn't find it til afterwards - just yellow/orange bile, but Red was acting like he was in trouble for something. He vomited again sometime morning between the time I left for work and the time James got out of bed. It was lighter yellow liquid this time near the previous place he vomited. And again, he acted like he was going to be in trouble when I found the spot.

But he is running around, eating and acting ok.

I went poop hunting in the yard today when I got home from work. I found one frozen pile that I'm assuming was from this morning, and a half frozen pile probably from a little earlier this afternoon. Both normal consistency and normal amounts. We went for a walk and he pooped again, a good amount but it was soft at the end. Then he had diarrhea twice when we got home.

So things are moving through, but I'm not sure about the vomiting. Both of us work full time, so I'm not sure how I'm going to catch him doing it unless I'm home...

I'm thinking I will continue to watch him for the rest of today, and I don't have to leave for work tomorrow until 1:30pm, so chances are if he's going to puke something up again, he will have to do it at some point between now and then and I will around to see it. Hopefully he continues to eat, act ok, and pass stools.

Today's stuffy-eating update

ok, so he got up with me at 6am, acting perky and normal. Ate his breakfast with the usual gusto. I'm not sure if he pooped or not - he usually runs around our 1.5 acre backyard and poops at the very back fenceline, and it was still dark. I planned on looking for the poop when I got home after work.

My mother-in-law came and checked on him from 10:30-11:00am. She called me at work to tell me he was completely normal, and there were no signs of vomiting or anything. He peed a couple times, but no stool.

James got home at 3pm. I called him from work to see how Red was, and he said he was acting completely normal. I called him back a little after 6pm and he said Red had vomited a large amount of yellow/orange bile liquid sometime between 4-5pm. But was still acting ok. He fed him dinner and he ate it normally. I got home about an hour ago, and Red was bouncy and acting fine. James left the bile spot for me to see, so I cleaned that up. There were no chunks of anything in it - no food, no stuffy or anything.

Then I bundled up to go poop-hunting outside with James' handy police spotlight. It snowed today so I wondered whether I would be able to find any poop from this morning, if there was any. Red came with me and was happily running laps around the yard like normal. After 2 circuits of the entire backyard, and not finding anything, I was getting more worried. Then I realized I didn't hear Red's jingling collar - he had stopped somewhere, which can only mean one thing. I walked over to where I saw him, and he had just laid a fresh steaming pile. Completely normal, formed stool, and a normal amount. I prodded it with a stick and found no evidence of stuffing. I came back in and fed him some more kibble mixed with sweet potato to add fiber and keep things moving along... He ate it with gusto and licked the bowl clean.

I feel a lot better now, seeing that he passed normal stool that was most likely from breakfast this morning. But I'm so confused that there wasn't any stuffing in it... What the hell happened to that arm?? I have seriously searched everything and its nowhere. And what about the bile vomit? I dunno... he's still acting normal and as long as he continues to pass stool, I guess he's fine. But I'm still very suspicious... I will feel so bad if I gave him all that peroxide for nothing!!

I work 7am-2pm tomorrow and James works 12pm-6pm, so there will only be 2 hrs of him being alone tomorrow, so we can watch him like a hawk. After tomorrow if everything is still going in and coming out ok, I will breathe again.


And thanks, to Kim for the info about shaking them up after giving the peroxide. I didn't know that and I just let him lay still. But if I ever have to do it again (and I pray to god I don't), I will remember that!

Induced vomiting

I called the emergency vet and they recommended giving him a small meal, then induce vomiting with 5mL peroxide per 20 lbs (so 20mL peroxide for my 80 lb dog), and repeat every 10 mins for 3 times if needed.

I gave him the first 20mL and he almost vomited immediately but didn't. I waited 10 mins, then did another 20mL. Still nothing. I waited and waited and nothing, no retching or gagging or anything. But he was visibly feeling really sick to his stomach, just laying next to me all pitiful. By now I'm in tears having to do this to him for my stupidity. I couldn't bring myself to do it to him a 3rd time.

I called them back and told them he didn't vomit. They offered to see him tonight, but I opted to just watch him for now. I hope to god I'm making a bigger deal out of this than it is. I did give him 2mL famotidine (Pepcid) subcutaneously because he was feeling so nauseous from the peroxide. He went outside and peed, and came back in and is now he's laying down, chewing on a bone like nothing is wrong.

I can't call into work tomorrow because they already called me in early because someone else is sick and can't work tomorrow. And James is working with the police tomorrow morning and I'm not sure if he will be able to stop by the house on his shift or not.

I hope I am being melodramatic and there isn't a problem, but I just feel so bad!!!

So stupid!!

I'm so mad at myself right now. Red appears to have eaten one of the arms off the stuffie I gave him after the rally trial (that leopard thing with the long arms). I usually don't leave him alone with stuffies since he just destroys them - but has never actually eaten them before. I took it away last night, but I got this one back out today and was playing with it with him, and forgot to take it back away when I went into the other room.

I was stitching in the other room and he walked carrying it in his mouth, but it only had 3 legs... I searched everywhere but can't find the other leg. The legs are at least 8 inches long and full of stuffing. I only found one piece of stuffing on the floor.

I am sick with worry. What if he obstructs? James and I will be at work tomorrow and no one will be home til after 3pm... and I won't be home til around 7pm. I can't believe I let this happen!!! *cries*