While Coulee was off fetching (and doing her neurotic sniffing), I broke out my mini tennis ball for Lacey.
They did this on their own, with absolutely no coaxing from me. (Lacey looks like a giant in this picture, trust me she isn't as big as this makes her appear)
Lacey likes the little one, just as much as the big one.
Coulee's limp is really more like a hitch. That is, if it even exists! Sometimes I think I see it and then seconds later I don't. I'm not sure if I am imagining things or if her gait was never as smooth as I think it was. It just seems off... sometimes. Sigh.
I can see her leash walks are starting to not work. And by work, I mean enough exercise to keep the edge off her. We just got back from one and she is all over Lacey. When she is in this mood, it isn't so much play as bullying. It is usually the sign I use to get off my butt and give them a run. When I don't work in the mornings, I can usually last until about 9 a.m. before the bad behaviour starts.
But technically she's already had that run already, it just wasn't actually a run.
Thanks for all your suggestions! I looked at her toenails - great idea! They are all perfect. :( I'm not sure about a disease from ticks. Where we live, Lyme's isn't an issue but I know the ticks are carriers in the mountains and we did go into these areas a few times this summer. I never saw a single tick on either the girls or us this summer. But that doesn't mean there wasn't one. I'll definitely look into this.
I am most worried that it is a strain or sprain. (Well that is not true, I'm most worried that it is bone cancer but I think that is over reacting.... but I still can't stop thinking about it). If it is a strain or sprain, there isn't any point in going to the vet because I know what they are going to say. Rest it. And I'm doing that - to the best of my ability. My sanity needs some relief though, so we are still going out walking.
I'm going to give it another week and see what the reduced activity and glucosamine does and then go from there.
Boone really enjoyed his off leash run yesterday. He figured out a system to make sure that he was always the one to get the toy.
Coulee has been randomly, and sporadically limping or hitching on and off now for a few weeks. I'm not sure what it is. We've found her worrying at one of her paws, but can't find anything there. At one point she yelped, held up her paw and wouldn't put it down for a few hours but then she was instantly fine again. A week or so went by before we saw any hint or soreness again.
So I'm trying two things.
First up - the dreaded leash walks.
I hate leash walks. Hate, hate, hate them. I find them mind-numbingly boring. Coulee and Lacey both feed off each other and become lunging, barking maniacs at everything they see, so I have to walk them separately which doubles my boredom. While together they are a nightmare, alone they are pretty decent on the leash. Although I did have a mini-meltdown on Lacey today.
I must have told her 50 times in 5 minutes to stop pulling on the leash and every 3 seconds she would be out at the end again. She isn't stupid. She knows what I want. It only takes a "uh uh" or "ehem" to get her back in place. But I had to "ehem" 50 times in 5 minutes. If I kept up a verbal diarrhea of "good girl, what a good girl, that's it" she wouldn't pull, but the moment I stopped talking she be out in front again. Oh and I was rewarding the good behaviour with cookies too. She couldn't hold a heel for 5 seconds, never mind 5 minutes. Hell, I would have settled for 20 seconds! I'm not sure what she wasn't getting - or maybe it was me that wasn't getting it. I finally gave her a stern jerk on the leash. She came running for a hug, which I dropped to the ground to receive, and we were fine from then on in. Apparently she didn't think I really meant it until then and I didn't know what else to do aside from unclipping the leash and letting her just walk sweetly behind me like she does at the dog park. Seriously, she has the best off leash heel ever - without even asking, she just falls in place behind us on the path and putters along in our wake. I've never had her do this while wearing a leash.
Coulee was good today. She also has a habit of walking at the end of the leash with just a slight tug the entire time. Seriously drives me batty. She isn't going any faster way out in front than she is at my side, yet she insists on doing it, even though the nose harness can't be comfortable. A couple of sudden halts were all that were needed to get her to loosen up the leash a bit though. That and cookies every time she came back to heel without me asking.
My other complaint about leash walks is that the girls are still feeling rambunctious! 30 minutes on a leash at a brisk pace is a far cry from 45+ minutes of full out running (well Coulee is running, Lacey is usually just puttering) at the dog park.
My goal is to do leash walks for two weeks before heading back to the park. I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it. I'm only at day 2. On the bright side, I'm walking faster and farther than I normally do! It is amazing how much a camera slows you down.
My other limping "fix" is to get Coulee started on Glucosamine. It can't hurt and for some dogs it seems to do wonders. Hopefully we'll see some improvements. It will be hard to tell though as she might just be in between limping episodes. That and I don't know what, if anything is actually wrong.
I took this yesterday with my phone of the girls wrestling in the backyard.
I love it when they have relatively balanced play. I thought it was funny that at the end when I said "Alright" to get Coulee to stop sniffing Lacey, they both took that as a sign that play should end and they both came running over to see what we were going to do instead.
There were peals of laughter coming from the living room all weekend. And in the center of it all was Dad. As you can tell, he likes being a Grandpa.
