Dog Walking

I can now proudly say that my hounds are the best at walking with whom I have ever had the pleasure to do so.

I have found my 2nd calling.  Granted Wishes Pets is underway -- I LOVE being a dog walker.  I have two clients, Rosco and Sugar.  Both boxers, owned by completely separate people.  Rosco is a total gentleman, when he doesn't meet his arch nemesis dog(s).  Sugar is a lovebug, who also doesn't really approve of other dogs.  I see Roscoe for 30 minutes Mondays-Fridays; and Sugar for an hour Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  It's getting me fit, and I completely love living in California and being able to enjoy the outdoors in February when everyone back home is complaining of imminent snow storms.

I am trying, and failing, to energize my hounds.  Energize them for training, for activity... I think I may have waited too long in their lifespan to hope for them to be anything like Never Say Never Greyhounds Riley, Seven, or Reagan.  However, I love them dearly, and they are excellent emotional assistance dogs.  JoJo and Kibeth are also learning to tag team to help me with my anxiety.  Yesterday was the first day that they snuggled in my bed without a fireside to entice them.

Kibeth's vet checkup is tomorrow for her corneal ulcer.  Once again, I do not believe her eye to be healed, and it should be.  It's still red, enflamed, and teary.  However, those are all signs that healing is going on, so here's hoping it's just taking its sweet time.  She is ever the terrific patient, but fading fast.  I can see her quality of life diminishing.

I have cancer on my mind, for some reason.  I am paranoid JoJo has it.  She has small, hard lumps in her skin (not attached to anything internally, but under her fur) about the size of a pea.  There are two of them, in one of her front legs.  I'll be taking her to the vet tomorrow with Kibeth, to have him just take a look and see if they're anything worth investigating.  Likely not, as they're not attached to the leg, they're just in the skin.  However, they're nothing like the fatty tumors I've encountered with my other dogs (Kibeth included).

Healing continues! Training delayed...

Well, Kibeth's corneal ulcer is on the mend!  No surgery required, thank goodness.  However, our training has been delayed due to personal drama and my Mom coming to visit (completely unrelated, btw).

In other news, I have (possibly) 2 new dog-walking clients!  We also met Lisa and her 2 bull terrier pups, Brandy and Brody tonight for a play-date.  Kibeth was having nothing of the obnoxious puppy behaviors, but JoJo was tolerant and perfect.  I really want her to raise my next dog.  Her social skills are 2nd to none.

Corneal Ulcer Remains

Kibeth's checkup at the vet revealed swelling, blood vessels, but little progress in actual healing.  That she has these symptoms is encouraging, it means her body is fighting the ulcer now (it wasn't before), but the vet said it should be GONE by today; if not, significantly smaller.

Another debridement and $63 later, Kibeth's ulcer lost a few more flakes, and is hopefully on its way out.  We can continue this treatment and hope this takes care of it eventually, but if not, surgery will be required.

I think I heard the vet say that they would sew her eyelid to her eye to force it to heal.

She's 8 years old, that's $1,000 surgery.  I don't think she needs an experience like that at her age.  Without treatment, she may go blind in that eye.  Please, please heal!

CGC Certification

Well, here's my plan...

I can't afford formal training classes right now.  At least not until summer.  I've got to just suck it up, and do this myself.  Rick will be my assistant/co-trainer.  I'm going to be the "wonder trainer" who uses the knowledge she's acquired from her various books, articles, online readings, and generous outside personal expertise to compete her greyhounds in obedience and (hopefully) agility.

Step 1.  Become CGC certified for both hounds.

I will be pursuing the training required to pass the CGC test for the immediate future.  Stay tuned for daily reports on our training!  My goal is to take the test at the end of February.  That's about 7 weeks.  We've got most of the basic training and manners, just not reliable with distractions of any kind.

Tools:  clicker, squeaky/squawky stuffies, treats, squawker, praise.  I'll try to have a video up every Sunday (not tomorrow -- too soon) and feel free to offer suggestions!

Thanks for reading...

Dog Beach Pic Spam ;-)

So, I crossed something off my bucket list yesterday.  Rick, Kibeth, JoJo and I went to the Huntington Beach Dog Beach and had a blast.

 Here we are, walking by the water!  Kibeth is a water dog.

 I think it's super cute how they're in step almost.

 You can see our footprints.

 Haha:  JoJo was afraid of those evil white waves!

 Greyhound footprints!

 Beautiful day.

 Happy pupz. 

 You cannot get that girl out of the water.

 This beach stretches on for miles in either direction.  It's wonderful.

 A good run!  We did go off-leash eventually, briefly.

Kibeth is flying!  JoJo is being a goof again. ;-)

Grid Keratotomy

Kibeth is scheduled for the procedure this afternoon at 2:00.  It should take about 30 minutes, not require any sort of tranquilizer or anesthesia, and eliminate her ulcer within a week.

If not, it's surgery... Please wish her a speedy, full recovery!

Grey Save Homecoming

I just have to vent:  JoJo has sleep startle.  She was doing remarkably well with it lately, and I got complacent.  She attacked my ear upon waking unpleasantly and I caked my hair with blood.  All 15 minutes before my alarm was set to go off at 5:15 a.m.

So this morning, I attended a Homecoming event in Chino Hills, CA for my local greyhound rescue, Grey Save.  My, what a day.

First, I arrive early to help prepare for the greyhounds coming from Mexico.  The event is taking place at Bonnie's (one of the leaders of the group) house.  Her house is huge, nestled between mountainous hills and real mountains with snow caps.  The kennel is set up on her deck, and her house is all-greyhound.  All of the volunteers were very friendly, and my boss, Suki, President of the Orange County Hiking Club actually came as well.  More on that later.

When the dogs finally arrived, they were unloaded from the truck, and each volunteer assigned as a handler got to pick their hound as they came off the van.  I ended up with Swat, short for Swat Team; a medium-sized, relatively healthy greyhound, who later became Tina.

Tina was a rock.  I am so proud of her.  She was super food motivated, although she's not underweight at all at a rock solid 64.8 pounds.  She's 3 years old, and acted like she'd already lived in a house.  Nothing phased her, she instantly knew how to manage stairs, and she only cried to get to go somewhere, for attention, or to go to the bathroom.  She was a gem of a patient for her shots and exam, although she tried to escape her bath, which did not go well at all.  We started off with a bath, moved on to drying, getting her nails clipped (the girl who did it ROCKED at it), getting a winter coat (it's cold, even in California!) with snood made by one of the fabulous volunteers, new collar/leash (all blue for Tina, the fashionista), photo shoot for the website profile, and finally a meal.

Unfortunately, I had to leave for a wedding gig before I could go with her to test her for small dog and cat reactivity.  I bet she's safe with both, but I'm dying to know!  I was a bit worried that she wasn't very attached to me at all, and I wasn't doing a very good job.  However, her reaction to my return after a brief 15 minute lunch quelled that concern.  She wagged her tail, hopped up and down, and was very glad I came back to keep her company.

Wow.  What a tremendously satisfying day.  I couldn't be happier.