Gathering my Thoughts

We met with the vet today to discuss Coulee's x-rays on her spine and neck.  She has 5 discs in total that look like they are squishing out as well as areas of Spondylosis.

I'm not sure what I feel. Helpless for one.  There doesn't seem to be anything we can do to make it better.  It was a "here are the facts" type visit, not a "here is what we can do to make it better" type of visit.

What I do know (and am writing here so I won't forget):

• After an "episode" (which I think just means when she shows signs of pain) she should be on 8 weeks of reduced activity. The first week she is allowed a daily 5 minute walk, the next week a 10 minute walk, then 15 minutes and so on.  After 8 weeks she can go back to life as normal.
• If we aren't sure if her back is bothering her, we can look for signs of pain by pushing along her spine.
• No more jumping - over things, on things, etc.
• Keep her in good shape but don't be a weekend warrior - i.e. she can swim only if we do it regularly or build up to it.
• The crossing of her back legs when she walks may or may not be related to the back problems - it is usually a sign of weakness, not disk disease, at least not in the areas of her spine that we found the problems in, although there could be more problems lower down in areas that we didn't x-ray.  I've just recently noticed this so I'd be surprised if it isn't related somehow.
• Walking her on a collar or harness is fine - it doesn't matter which we choose
• No more backpacking (mainly because it is a weekend warrior activity - if she carried a pack every day that would be fine)
• Do not play tug
• It will never get better - only stay the same or get worse.

That's it. Nothing has really changed from what we knew yesterday - other than the length of the walks she should be going on - whoops!  The rest I already knew or at least assumed.  

The good news is her teeth look great and she can go back to eating regular food and chewing on toys and bones.  

In the Land of Lights

I'm trying to learn.  Poor Lorelei... she's getting texts from me constantly while I try and figure this stuff out. Without all the handholding it would be a disaster.  Not sure what I'd do without her!

Max helped me practice with antlers on.  :)

And then we did some just plain.  I quite like this one.  Simple and sweet.

The next day Kort helped... I added a sheet on the left to act as a reflector and get some light onto that side.  It worked!

A Visitor

Max is staying with us for a few days.  He belongs to a friend of mine and used to come to daycare so when I found out they were looking for somewhere for him to stay while they were away, I volunteered - provided he got along with our furry crew.

He came over the week before for a trial and much to my surprise Lacey LOVED him.  He was pretty aloof, but I knew it would be an easy to manage situation.  He wasn't great with Lu but he called off really easily and I decided that it was a problem that was worth managing in order to broaden Lacey's horizons a little more.  She really has been much, much better with greeting dogs lately!  I'm very happy about that.

Max has some social issues of his own and doesn't really like dogs he doesn't know and in particular, he doesn't enjoy big dogs.  The nice thing about Coulee and Lacey is that they generally want to avoid other dogs too, so no one is pestering him to play or being too pushy.  All the inept social dogs tend to work well at our house as everyone just gives everyone else some space.  :)

They've all be co-existing quite well from the get go.  I keep hoping Max and Lacey will play, but it hasn't happened.  On walks though they amble along together and check out all the same smelly spots.

I've been walking Coulee separately to try and avoid her running. It is working much, much better than the fiasco earlier this week.  :)  Although going on two dog walks is rather time consuming.

It's been nice though having a new photography subject with "my main girl" down for the count for a while.  Max has been nicely keeping me preoccupied.

It's been fun having him around.  He's my little shadow and is never far from me.  Last night he was all snuggled up in bed with me and Marlin was trying to convince him to go out for a bathroom break.  He called and cajoled and called some more.  I finally woke up and told him to go and he went.  When Marlin let him back into the bedroom he launched across the room and back into bed with me before anyone else could steal his spot.  :)

He'll be with us for the rest of the weekend and goes home Monday.  I should have a few more photos to share by then.  :)

Yesterday's Walk

Our walk yesterday was so bad and involved so much yelling, I don't even want to think about it. Some of it was Coulee's fault (she will NOT listen when she knows a toy is not to be had) and some of it was just me trying to get her to not run and play (and by play I mean beat the crap out of her sister because she doesn't have a toy in her mouth).  Instead, I'll just leave you with some pictures of the good moments.

This was not a good moment.  After yelling Come and No about 5 times I gave up and snapped a picture instead.  She stunk so much Lacey actually tried to roll on her later in the walk.   

I Heart Faces - Pets

About once a year I Heart Faces hosts a Pet Challenge.  How can I pass it up?  :)

This was obviously taken this summer but I couldn't resist using it.  I rarely see the goofy side of Coulee, never mind actually capture it with the camera.  It's hands down, one of my favourites of her.

Go check out all the entries - there are sure to be some fun ones... Or better yet, come play along!

Wagging

Recovering

Coulee is feeling much better since her dental.  Her cheeks have almost gone back down to normal size and she has become quite sassy at home... She's been chasing the cats and nudging them to run when they don't go on their own, wrestling with Lacey and just generally being a brat.  It's funny how you don't always notice that something is missing until it's back.

We've been going on "sedate" walks every day and while they are 100 times less energetic than they were prior to our knowledge about her back, they probably aren't as sedate as they should be during this recovery time.  I have to keep calling her back to me, calming her with a down or asking her to heel for a bit.  I'm not sure what is worse - a bit of running, or pulling and lunging like crazy on a leash. I have lots of questions for the vet but I'm glad the appointment isn't for a week as they are coming to me slowly as things pop into my head or as something happens.

She learned how to do the ramp to the car no problem. I started her on the front steps and kept raising it a step after she successfully completed each "level" a few times.  Going up to the car is quite a bit steeper and she needs to keep up her momentum to get up, but with a cookie as a lure, my hand in her collar,  and my body blocking the open area so she can't jump, she manages it just fine.

Lacey is enjoying all the cookies I've been dispensing lately.  ;)

Keeping her off the bed has been a bit more challenging.  We hadn't really thought about how much she actually gets up there as she doesn't sleep up there with us, but it is the only furniture in the house she's allowed up on. We usually let her up in the mornings right before we get out of bed.  We've managed to put a stop to that (although this morning while we were distracted she jumped up and joined us) but when we are getting dressed in the morning, she's on it.  If I'm puttering in bathroom, she's on it. Sometimes she goes upstairs by herself and gets on it.  So it looks like we are going to ban her from the bedroom during the day with a baby gate and maybe get a bed rail for the foot of the bed (it's where she snuck on this morning as our legs were blocking the sides).  We could just close the door but I don't want to lock Jack in there by accident.  He often sneaks in without us even noticing and he likes to sleep in our closet or in the box spring.