Vacation

Several years ago, in route to an agility trial 5 hours away, my passenger and fellow agility competitor asked what I did to relax. "This" I replied referring to the early morning weekends, lugging around crates, coolers, and dog stuff, lots of waiting, and staying in terrible hotels.... all for just a few agility runs and socializing with some good friends. What could be more glorious? So once again, I embarked on another weekend vacation. This time to Murfreesboro, Tennessee with 3 greyhounds and 4 Ridgebacks. Anne was especially determined to enjoy her "vacation". She is a dog trainer by trade and teaches obedience and agility classes, gives private lessons, and board trains. What better way for a dog trainer to get away from it all than to head out of town to a dog show :-).

We stayed at a Motel 6. Motel 6 is great if you travel with too many dogs. They tend to not ask you how many pets you have. When asked if you have a pet, you simply say "yes" and forgo offering any sort of a number. They also do not charge a pet fee. Unfortunately, I think this was the smallest hotel room I had ever stayed in. The beds were all the way against opposite walls. It was quite a squeeze with 2 humans and 7 large, red dogs. Luckily, the are all pretty well behaved, low key, and get along well...... one big slumber party.

One night we went to dinner and left the dogs in the room. Reagan and Anne's 9 month old puppy were crated, but the other 5 were loose in the room. Travis was being a little grumpy and was sleeping alone on my bed. Katie and Falco (intact male ridgeback) were on the floor. The other 2 female ridgebacks were on Anne's bed. As we were leaving the room, I thought "I hope Falco doesn't try to get on Travis' bed." Well, he did...... we caught them looking quite cozy when we walked in.

The agility trial was a good distraction for me as I waited for test results and for Monday to arrive when more tests can be run. It was kind of weird to wonder if this might be our last agility trial. At first I was desperate for his runs to be videoed, but my camera did not cooperate with my willing volunteers. Later, I decided that if it was our last trial, I probably didn't really want videos of him running while he was sick anyway. I know, I know, I should not be pessimistic, but I am realistic and don't like to be caught off guard. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised. Here is Travis' first run of the weekend in Standard. We didn't qualify. I didn't clearly send him into the tunnel and he hesitated to make sure.

Travis ran Friday and Saturday. I think he qualified in Jumpers one day and Standard the next. I really did not care. Having the opportunity to watch him so carefully, I confirmed that he is indeed drinking a ton of water. Probably 10 times more than normal. He also was abnormally tired in the evenings especially on Saturday. Normally after a day of agility, we search for a local park or a lake for some extra exercise and recreation. I left Travis behind and took Reagan and Katie for the evening outing. Later that night, I laid next to Travis and watched him breath while he slept. I counted 59 breathes in a minute.... much too high for a healthy, athlete. He was his perky self Sunday morning, but I had already decided not to run him. So now, back from vacation and back to normal work days. Today, Travis was set up in the kitchen with pee pads, but he did not have an accident.

This afternoon, Travis had the bile acid test done and tomorrow he is scheduled for an ultra sound. The bile acid test consists of a blood test after a 12 hour fast. He was then fed a large meal of fatty chicken backs and extra chicken fat. Two hours later, blood is drawn again. The test reveals how the liver is functioning. Hopefully we will have some answers by tomorrow evening.

To end on a happy note, I must brag about Sharron Lane and Bridgett. Bridgett is a little, almost 4 year old, brindle greyhound that has been a closet agility super star. Sharron started doing agility with Bridgett to help her build confidence. Sharron says she runs agility brilliantly at home, but she doesn't like to showcase her talents in public. Well, finally on Sunday, Bridgett ran the entire jumpers course perfectly. It was awesome. Its very frustrating when you know your dog can do what you are asking, but instead runs around the ring or is simply non-responsive or tries to leave the ring. So Way to Go, Sharron!

Quick Update

Just a quick update..... the Motel 6 doesn't have WIFI, but the Best Western next door does! I discussed Travis' symptoms with my friend, Anne, on the drive to Murfreesboro. Anne thought that he may have Cushings Disease. Her Ridgeback, Beckett, had developed the problem the last year of his life and he exhibited very similar symptoms. I'd pretty much sold myself on the idea. Cushings can be expensive to treat initially, but once in the maintenance stage, the cost comes down and the dog can continue to live a normal, quality life. Well... forget that idea. Dr. Castle called around 10 AM and the bloodwork did not indicate Cushings as a possiblity. He does however have elevated liver values. One in particular was 4 times higher than what is considered normal. I wish I had more details, but its hard for me to recall all the information without having taken any notes. Since the lab still had more blood, Dr. C requested that it be tested for Leptospirosis and Ehrlichiosis. My understanding is that both are relatively treatable. My brief, initial search on stolen WIFI leads me to believe that Lepto is a possiblity. Although the funny thing is that Lepto is actually the only vaccination I continue to give my dogs annually. But vaccinations are not 100% since there are new strains every year and Lepto is a current problem in our area..... so definitely a possibility. On Monday, if the results are negative, we will pursue another liver test and then an ultrasound. So we continue to wait......

Travis is doing fine today. He is definitely drinking large quantities of water and seems a little less active than he normally is. He is still running agility as well as he always does..... no change there. The weight loss still concerns me. He used to weigh about 67 - 68 lbs in his peak condition days and he weighed only 60.5 lbs on Thursday. He has absolutely no fat to lose, so it has to be mostly lost muscle weight.

Well, I could continue speculate all night. I will leave it be for now.

Now We Wait

Despite all the positive thoughts and chants for a urinary tract infection (that does sound weird to hope for), Travis does not have one. :-( It was wishful thinking since UTIs are less common in males. So blood was drawn and has been sent off. Travis is such a good boy. The tech had to draw blood from both front legs because the veins were being stingy and not giving enough blood. She was digging around with he needle trying to get more blood while he laid there propped up on his elbows and eating cookies..... sweet, little fella. He is such a good medical patient. Results will be in tommorrow. In the meanwhile, Dr. Castle said to go onto our agility trial since he otherwise seems to feel well and nothing showed up on her exam. She didn't feel any masses and heart and lungs sound fine. If all of this turns out to be nothing, I would regret having stayed home this weekend. If it is something, Dr. Castle didn't think it would be anything that couldn't wait to be treated a couple more days. Go to the agility trial and have fun.... just in case.

Wish us luck!

I'm Worried

Well, Travis peed on his bed last night or early this morning. I left a message asking for the first possible vet appointment. Obviously, checking for a urinary tract infection is first, but I am wondering more and more if he's drinking too much. He is not a dog that hangs out at the watering hole much. He very rarely just gets more than just a sip. Plus, he gets a lot of water from eating raw food, so he just is not a thirsty dog. Well, yesterday and this morning, on the way to the dog room he stopped for a "big" drink. I stopped him yesterday because I knew he'd be in a crate for 10 hours without a potty break. Today, I am working from home so I did not stop him and he drank quite a bit of water and then more water after going outside. But so far, this is the only time of day I have noticed a dramatic increase. Hopefully it is just a urinary tract infection although not very commonly found in males. But then Travis is as uncommon of a greyhound has they come. "Please be a UTI. Please be a UTI. Please be a UTI."

When to Worry

Travis hasn't been himself the last few days. Is it just a coincidence or is there something wrong? Yesterday, he had an explosion in his crate..... diarrhea. Happens to all of them now and again, but Travis has only had it happen once before and that was years ago. At 3 AM this morning, Travis asked to go outside to pee. Travis never asks to go outside. Not at night, not during the day. Not ever. He goes outside when we tell him too. Today, Travis peed in his crate. Travis has never peed in his crate. So I am starting to keep a little journal. Other than the above issues, he seems to be himself, but then I wonder if he has been himself over the last month. I have noted that he has had little interest in swimming this summer. Normally, Travis returns the bumper to me immediately for another throw, but this year he has been wandering around with his bumper once he hits land. Eventually, he does bring it to me, but I don't have the impression that he really wants to swim. Travis also loves to fetch on land, but lately he has been trotting back to me when normally he runs. Of course, it is hot and he hasn't had time to acclimate to summer temperatures yet. Maybe that's all it is. He also looks a little skinny. Granted I didn't feed him much yesterday due to the diarrhea. I like to keep Travis as light as possible to minimize the effort needed to clear agility obstacles and to reduce unnecessary stress on joints. So anytime Travis skips a meal, he is going to look a lot skinnier sooner than a chubbier greyhound would, but he did weigh in at only 62 lbs a few weeks ago on our vet's scales. That's down several pounds from what used to be considered normal. The one thing that hasn't change is Agility. He still runs as well as he ever as. Knowing that he has reached the age when other agility greyhounds have retired, I have poised myself for his retirement. But thus far he hasn't turned in his resignation. This weekend we are are entered in a 3-day agility trial in Murfreesboro, TN. I am working from home tomorrow and leaving for TN at 4 PM. We are traveling with my Ridgeback friend, Anne. These 4 days will give me an excellent opportunity to watch him carefully since we will be together 24/7. He will potty on leash, so I will see every poop and pee. His performance in the trial will be a good way to judge how he is doing and how he is feeling overall. The trial is indoors with icy cold air conditioning, so the heat will not be a factor. Starting today, he will be eating an extra chicken back until he weight is back to normal. Alone, each problem is not alarming, but all together....I'm slightly alarmed. Hopefully its all just a coincidence that this has all happened at the same time.

*** This evening he seems fine. He played fetch happily.... even galloped back to me a few times. He ate as eager as always.

Run-A-Muck

Today, my agility training club had our annual picnic at the lake. We talk about dogs, eat, and let the dogs run-a-muck. Like my hounds, I'm pretty food motivated, so I'm always happy to talk dogs over some lunch, but I'm not a big fan of the run-a-muck. There was a time when Travis used to catch other dogs. He is wonderful now, but when a bunch of dogs are running in all directions, he isn't quite sure what to do with himself. He doesn't really play and wrestle like the other dogs do. Katie never runs-a-muck. She works for food and that is it. She would stand there staring at me the whole time..... never giving in to being distracted by the chaos. Reagan.... don't know. The biggest concern is that Reagan could get distracted and stop listening to me. Being ignored is not something I want to practice. It happens everytime.... eventually you start to hear certain people calling their dog's name over and over and over again.... usually while the dog is running in another direction.

We arrived early. I wanted to take them hiking first, so they would get plenty of exercise. We found another turtle. Turtles are great because they just are not good for chasing. Other than one squirrel mishap, I have always been able to distract my guys from the fox, deer, and one mama possum with 3 babies on her back..... knock on wood.

When we got back to the lodge, a few other humans and their dogs had arrived. We went down to the lake for some swimming. Katie swam along the dock a few times for food. I introduced the idea to Travis and he seemed to like the idea of swimming for food as well. Reagan tried offering downs on the dock.

I put Travis and Katie back in the van and decided to let Reagan try running-a-muck with a couple of coonhounds, standard poodles, and American Eskimos. She played nice and stayed very attentive to me. She fetched her toy from the lake.... just chest high water.... while the other dogs ran around. At one point she took off running with other dogs in pursuit. This led her to finding some dead fish remains to roll in. My other greyhounds have never done much rolling in gross smells, but Reagan is all over it. That was good for me... time to go back to the van.

All in all we had a fun time.

What's Wrong?

What's wrong with this picture? Recently, we took some family photos and its amazing how the placement of one black dog's leg can ruin and otherwise wonderful picture. We laughed hysterically at this picture. Thank goodness for photo editing. If you double click the photo, it will come up larger.

We took some other pictures also. The 2 photos of me and the redheads were taken to be a possible replacement for my website photo on the main page. I figured it was time to take Teresa and Jess off and add Reagan. Let me know if you like one better than the other. I didn't really love one of them especially, so I will probably redo eventually.

WHY? Part 5

Why do greyhounds have to touch what they are smelling with their noses? I realize that they are sighthounds, but that does not diminish their incredible sense of smell. They sniff and snark my clothes when I come home. They snark and sniff strange items and other dogs. I have even seen them touch their noses to a pile of poop they are smelling.... YUCK! What is up with that? Can't they smell it from an inch away?

WHY? Part 4

Why do greyhounds have no idea how long their noses are? If they did, they wouldn't constantly smudge and snark my windows.

WHY? Part 3

Why does Katie stand up, turn around, and change her postion everytime we start the van and begin driving? Can't she do it when we are stopped and she doesn't lose her balance?

Crazy Biotch!

Reagan learned a valuable lesson today........... I am the current and forever reigning alpha biotch in this house. I was cleaning house and heard some bickering coming from the other end of the house. At first I thought it was Travis scolding Reagan.... which I'm ok with since he only dishes it out when it is deserved, but bark/growls continued. When I checked on the commotion, it was obvious that Reagan who was laying on the dog bed in our bedroom closet did not want Travis laying on the other dog bed in the bedroom. "Oh no, you did not just talk to an elder that way!" She didn't appreciate my verbal assault and proceeded to tell me so. "Oh no, you did not just talk to the alpha biotch that way!" This resulted in losing the bed out from under her and she found herself laying on a hardwood floor and then I chased her out of the bedroom. She's definitely a bit spicy. :-) Attitude I wanted, attitude I got.

On a more complimentary note, she's really doing well with agility training. I've started her on weave poles, she's jumping great, she is starting to get the idea that we might do 2 - 4 jumps in a row instead of just one, and the teeter is coming along fine. She willingly sits and downs on the agility table. I am having a blast with her. She has learned to back up with some pressure on her leash. She is fetching great. Recalls are good. All in all, things are going well.

WHY? Part 2

Why does Travis have to hang his head off dog beds and drip and drool on my floor? Look at this drip coming off that nose of his!

WHY? Part 1

Why does Reagan lay her head on everyone? At first I thought I was capturing rare cuddley moments amongst greyhounds, but now I see that it happens all of the time. Poor Katie seems to be the favored perch.

Chicken Backs

The worst part about feeding 6 greyhounds raw food is that you need a lot of chicken backs. I remember the day when I only had 2 greyhounds and a box or 2 of chicken backs lasted a month. Yesterday, we purchased our 2 1/2 month supply of chicken backs = 360 pounds. I know it sounds like a lot........ and your right, it is :-). It takes us almost 2 hours to place them all into containers and into our 2 upright freezers. I'd much rather process a large volume at one time and have it last for a few months. Otherwise, I'd be purchasing chicken backs every week. Once we have our large supply in place, feeding raw food is easy, but I will admit that this part is more time consuming than just buying a bag of kibble.... and while they are starting to make raw food that comes in a bag..... I'm not quite willing to pay the hefty price....... especially for 6 greyhounds.

Midget Report

I hate it when I start a post and then I save it for when I have a picture. The news gets old...... especially with Reagan. I write this nice bragging piece about her and then suddenly she has a bratty week............ so here goes without a photo.

I am starting to gear up to start some serious agility training with Reagan. She should be about 100% physically mature now. It is time to add the contact obstacles and to start weave poles. Mentally, she seems focused, motivated, and ready for some real work. We will keep doodling with obedience training. Her stays are pretty good and she has some nice heeling moments here and there, but I don't think she is that mentally ready for hard core obedience. Agility is fun because they get to run and jump. There is a lot more freedom. Obedience strives for perfection and is strict and rigid. I am not sure if she will ever be a good obedience dog due to her very WIDE sit position, but we will see. I'm ok with an ugly sit (Katie sits like a bulldog), but it needs to be comfortable for the dog to do a 3 minute sit stay. Not always easy for a greyhound.

Reagan's recalls are very good. When she is in an unfenced open area, I have her drag a long line while she fetches or while Stephen and I practice recalls back and forth with her. Long lines are such an excellent tool for off leash training. They allow you to force the issue if you are ignored, adds an element of safety, and also gives the handler a good feel for how responsive the dog is from a distance. BUT YOU HAVE TO BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL about not wrapping the line around yourself, your dog, others, objects, trees, etc. A greyhound speeding around could injury himself and others easily. I used to try and incorporate more long line use in my basic greyhound obedience classes, but I found that people were either good at using them or horrible. It seems so common sense to me, but it just was not for some students. I just decided I didn't want to risk it.

Reagan no longer has any pee inhibitions. She will pee anytime, anywhere outdoors, multiple times.... dirt, grass, gravel, or even concrete and asphault.

Reagan's house manners are really good. I have not caught her chewing on anything. Her housetraining is very good.....(here comes one of those whoops I waited to long to post this) except for the day of her first swimming lesson. She drank a lot of water and she had 2 little accidents that evening. None since though. She does not counter surf and does not bother us when we eat at the coffee table.

I have started working on her noise sensitivty. I've noticed that Reagan cringes if I drop a muzzle (happens a lot when you have 6 in your hand) or something else. I want loud noises to trigger "where's the treat?". The training is going well. Unfortunately, in Asheville we were finishing up our final potty walk when 2 jets took off from the nearby airport. These were not normal planes, but 2 of the loudest noise makers I think I have ever heard. They made me cringe too. Travis, Katie, and Allie had no problem with it, but Reagan wanted out there. She struggled to the end of the leash and wanted to run away. She started to shake and was obviously very nervous. I did not want to hurry up and put her away especially since I did not want her to associate indoor agility venues or crates with blown eardrums. Instead I sandwiched Reagan between the steady redheads, Katie and Travis, and continued to walk her until she calmed down. Going forward, hopefully Reagan will have a fighter jet free life since that is not a sound I can nor want to reproduce.


My only complaint right now is that she bites too hard! I like to wrestle with my guys, but Reagan needs to learn a little bite inhibition. It hurts!

Sexy Dog

Ten years ago, a red fireball was born. I would bet that Travis has been a trouble maker from the get go. His brothers and sisters probably wouldn't play with him because I would guess that Travis was a bit overwhelming.... maybe even a bully. Wouldn't you just love to be a fly on the wall of the whelping box just to see your greyhound as a youngster? I am sure Travis was hell on wheels (or is that paws?).

Folks, you have to admit, but Travis has to be the most stunning greyhound that has ever lived. I know I am his mama, but I can be totally objective about this :-). He is just so perfectly proportioned, nicely put together, beautiful head, very photogenic, athletic looking, and a pretty color on top of all that. He has also aged better than any other greyhound I have ever met..... minimum amount of greying, great muscle tone, sound, and a perpetual youthful personality to go along with the package. Travis is 22 days from his 10th birthday in the top photo (and 3 years old in the photo on the left, 4 years old in the photo below right, and probably 5 years old in the bottom left). If there is such a thing as a sexy dog..... Travis is one heck of a sexy dog!.............. ok I'm done bragging and gushing over my beautiful boy............. onto my next tangent :-).

Typically when dogs are bred for just the conformation show ring only, you start to see certain physical characteristics start to become a little bit exaggerated. These traits thought to be of benefit to the dog's work and performance can actually become a handicap if allowed to go to extremes. In numerous breeds of dogs you find a "field" version and a "conformation" version. A fine example is the Labrador Retriever. You have stocky, fat, show labs and then you have your slimmer, athletic, field labs. It is important for purebred dogs to meet the breed standard which is designed to describe the ideal physical characteristic of a dog that does his working job well. A lab should be able to assist a hunter in the field all day, yet your conformation show labs can't physically do it anymore.

I think this has happened to greyhounds to some extent. Originally, greyhounds were bred for coursing hare and the breed standard was written to describe the perfect coursing greyhound. Racing greyhounds are bred for speed only, so they tend to come in all shapes and sizes. A greyhounds with a glaring conformation flaw may still enter the breeding program if the dog had the heart to overcome the physical flaws and win races anyway. Ears that stand up, overbites, baldness, and structure that can lead to unsoundess may be overlooked by some breeders for the need for speed. Conformation greyhounds are bred with a standard in mind. Like other breeds, some of the greyhound's desired traits can become exaggerated to the detriment of the dog. For example, a long, elegant neck is preferred, but when not combined with strength leads to neck problems.... a common problem in show greyhounds. Show greyhounds tend to have deeper chests than their racing cousins. The very deep chest is a good example of a trait being exaggerated without adding any benefit and I personally am not a fan of the look of it. Racing greyhounds seem to have a higher incident of bone cancer while show greyhounds are more prone to bloat. Show greyhounds have beautiful coats where as many racing greyhounds have bald thighs. I applaud the breeders (of any breed of dog) who strive to meet the breed's standard (even when the standard is not currently in style) and strives to preserve performance and intelligence.

Happy 10th Birthday, Travis. You are not at all what I expected..... thank goodness. I am so glad you let go of your issues and channeled all of that prey drive and energy into being a super agility dog. I could not ask for a better agility partner.

Swimming Lessons

We took the greyhounds to the lake yesterday to swim. So far, Reagan does not show the natural swimming ability that Travis does. Or maybe she is just a little more grounded than he is. I remember when I was starting to throw the bumper in the lake just far enough to see if Travis would swim. He would sometimes go under water and he swam very awkwardly. Not much has changed, but at least now I know he can old his breath and he will surface soon. Occasionally there would be a tense moment for the humans on the shore, but Travis was never scared or deterred. He was always game. Reagan seems to prefer the feel of land under her feet.

Katie has always enjoyed cooling off in the water, but doesn't have any desire to swim for a toy. However, Katie would sell her soul for a cookie and she would swim to the far side of the world for one too. I like to swim her along the side the dock..... feeding her treats, of course. I thought that Reagan might follow suit with Katie leading the way, but she was not willing to go any deeper than chest level. That's ok, I have another idea to try. She doesn't have to be a dock jumper like Travis, but I would love for her to swim along the dock like Katie does.

Asheville Kennel Club Trial

Stephen, Travis, Katie, Reagan, Allie, and I headed for Fletcher (Asheville area) NC for another 3-day agility trial. Yes, I do compete a lot. Right now my excuse is that Travis and I are on a roll, so why the heck wouldn't I show him as much as possible. 2007 and 2008 have been the big pay off years. I started training Travis in 2001 and now its just time to enjoy all of the hard work. There is no more training to do. We know what we are doing. We just keep fit, practice for a few minutes once or twice a week, and we compete. Fun! Fun! My other excuse is that I keep reminding myself that this could be the last time I get to show Travis in Asheville (Decatur, Perry, Harriman, etc. etc.). I hope its not, but I am prepared for whatever.





We left Thursday afternoon and arrived at Red Gates RV Park in Hendersonville at around 8 PM. This is our last tent camping opportunity for the spring/summer. We have camped at this campground a few other times and Park managers look forward to seeing the greyhounds every year.


On Friday, Travis QQed with 4th places in both classes.


Friday's Standard Run

Friday's Jumpers - Just a really nice smooth run. Jumpers is so much fun.

We were done around noon, so we headed for DuPont State Forest to check out some waterfalls. We took all of the dogs on the 0.8 mile hike to Hooker falls.






We saw some wildlife........... yikes!





He kind of ruined my picture of Hooker Falls.... Oh, well.



















Reagan made a little friend. How cute are these pictures?




















Katie and Travis cooled off.



















We then took the seniors back to the van and then hiked to Triple Falls with Reagan.

On Saturday, Travis QQed again. I don't think he placed in either class. In Standard, he was so slow to lie down on the table. It was pretty bad and we wasted about 10 seconds. In Jumpers, I found myself completely out of position at the end of the course. I was suppose to be on the far side of a particular jump with Travis coming to my left side. Instead, I was on the wrong side of the jump with Travis right next to me on my right side. This forced me to have to cross behind him to get back on the correct side which turned him towards the wrong jump. At the last second he realized I wanted to go straight so he veered off and took the tire jump at the most awkward angle. The tire jump does not displace like a bar jump does, so dogs can get hung up in the tire. I just stopped and cringed as he sailed through. He saved my butt and the Q.... good dog! I wish I had this run on video, but Stephen went hiking for the day, so he was not available.


Alas, the QQ streak ends at 8 in a row on Sunday...... not too shabby at all. Travis ran an awesome standard course, but unfortunately dropped a bar on the last jump.


Sunday Jumpers - This was a really fun course for handlers and dogs that like open room to run. It had several nice long lines for running and Travis placed first.