Tibby's Recheck

As you can see - Tibby was AMAZING at her recheck!  She did really, really well.  I was so happy.  6 months ago she was hiding underneath my chair, shaking, refusing treats, panting, pacing and wanting to sit in my lap.  Now she is working her mat, taking treats from strangers, listening to 'invisible' dogs (outside the door) and invisible people, greeting new people that come into the room and generally acting like the dog she was always meant to be.  

It makes me cry a little, because I knew she was in there and, until I took her for help, I didn't know how to get her out.  I'm so happy to see Tibby being happy.  :)

She was really just perfect.  For the last 6 months I have rarely taken her out of the house, so I wasn't sure how our visit to the UofM vet clinic would go.  I took her for a walk before we went in for our visit.  There is a little quad/park area.  

Tibby: 25mg trazadone and thundershirt - ready for a walk.  The first thing we see is a big white and black spotted dog.  Oookay - her biggest trigger, another dog.  Tibby looks at the dog and keeps walking.  Strange men working on the road?  Doesn't care.  People walking around and sitting on benches?  Doesn't care.  The only thing that worried her a little bit was a woman jiggling a big bunch of keys.  Tibby was a little worried about that.  

Then I got Dhali from the car and took them for a walk together around the park.  My plan was to take them separately, but I ran out of time and Dhali didn't get to have a separate walk without Tibby.

We went inside and saw lots more people and dogs.  Tibby was a little overexcited, but so was Dhali.....  But she calmed right down and took treats nicely.  We went into the exam room and waited for a while.  Dhali threw up....

We practiced with the mat.

Then the Dr's assistant came in with 2 med students.  She went over some history and how things were going.  Dhali pooped on the floor..... 

Then we sat for a long time with the med students and waited for the Dr.  It probably wasn't that long, but I didn't know what to say to the students.  They couldn't believe that Tibby had been different before.  It is hard to imagine if you haven't seen it.  While we were waiting Dhali entertained us with his tugging and fetching skills.  He was not shy at all.  He kept trying to get a toy out of my bag, so I finally gave him one and he was so happy.  He ran around shaking it and laid down on the mat to play with it.  Then he wanted to play tug and fetch.  He was very cute.  Dhali is definitely a stress up kind of dog vs. Tibby's stress down.  

Then the Dr. came in and we went over some more things.  She said Tibby is doing so well that we can turn over care to our normal vet.  I'm not sure how that will work exactly, but I guess I will find that out.  

Then we tried to fit Tibby for a different muzzle, but she didn't really fit into any of them.  Tibby was such a good girl trying on all the muzzles.  She put her head right into each of them - she made me look like a good trainer!  LOL!  When I really haven't been doing that much work with her.  I have just been letting Tibby be Tibby.  She's pretty smart :)

She was even offering to do her sit up trick to Dr. Duxbury for treats!

Dhali thought Tibby was getting way too many treats and way too much attention :P 

It was a very long day and both dogs are very tired.  Both sleeping since we got home.

Except for Dhali pooping on the floor, it was a perfect day!

Have A Ball

After the race last Sat. we went to my Mom's house for breakfast.  Dhali found this fun ball to play with.  It makes a funny sound.  I bought it for Tibby a long, long time ago and we left it at my Mom's house.

Dhali's pretty good at playing fetch now.  He thinks it is a fun game to play when he's bored and there isn't anything to do.

He likes this big chair.  Tibby likes this chair too, so it will be interesting to see what happens when they are there at the same time.

Looks like he has a crown - Prince Dhali!

Over The Bridge

"Trip, trap, trip, trap who's that walking over my bridge?"

Busy week starting today.  Let's see - tomorrow I'm taking Tibby (and Dhali) to her appt. (our appt?) at the U of M.  Yes, we got moved up from our appt. in March.  Whoo hoo!  And I'm also super nervous.  I not a big fan of driving in the Cities and our appt is at 8:30am, so driving right into rush hour.  We'll have to leave very, very early, like 5am.  Then the appt. - not sure what we are going to do or how it will work.  I want to be able to answer all their questions and get things figured out, but I am so NOT a morning person plus stress of getting to the appt.

Then on Sat. Dhali has his first real show!  Very exciting!  We are going both Sat. and Sun.  Tibetan Terriers show after 2 on both days and it's in St. Cloud for any one that is interested in seeing a dog show.  The entrance fee for visitors is a food shelf item.  There are just under 800 dogs entered on Sat. and over 800 dogs entered on Sun.   There are 7 TTs entered and one of those is Dhali's litter mate Nickle.  Can't wait to see him again and see the boys together.  When I was looking for a TT puppy one of the things that I wanted was to be able to see their family every once in a while.  I don't know why, but that seems kind of nice - maybe because I don't have a big family, I want my dog to have a family?  

Speaking of family:  My Grandma has taken a turn for the very worst.  She was baking cookies, doing mental memorization exercises and took a marching walk around the block on Wed.  Wed. night she started vomiting blood and since then she has been in bed heavily medicated and mostly sleeping.  The Hospice nurse checked on her Friday and prescribed a liquid form for of one of the meds.  She hasn't eaten since Wed. and has only had tiny sips of water for the last 4 days.  My Mom is doing an amazing job taking care of my Grandma.  I hope I can do as good of a job when it's my turn to take care of my Mom.  I have taken a few turns sitting with my Grandma, but mostly my Mom has been doing everything for her.   

The Vet With Three Pets

Enjoy these snuggling puppy pictures!  Not at all related to this post!

I took Catty, Tibby and Dhali to the vet this morning.  First I just brought Catty into the office.  Again we had to wait FOREVER.  Glad I just brought her and had the other 2 wait in the car.  It's weird the way we treat cats and dogs differently.  Dogs are expected to just deal with strange situations/new places and cats are expected to be freaked out and scared.  Why can't dogs get scared?  They do obviously.  Humans just have much higher standards for dogs, I guess.

So Catty gained some weight!  Yay!  She is now 7.3 lbs.  That's her average weight, so good.  Now my Mom can stop worrying that she is starving to death.  You really can NOT make a cat eat.  They do what they want.  At least Catty does what she wants. 

Catty also got some topical wormer (I don't think she has ever been wormed and she catches/eats little animals all the time) and 2 shots - rabies and leukemia.

Tibby was next.  I took Catty out to the car and brought Tibby in really fast, so she didn't have time to even think about what was going on.  She was too nervous to take any treats during her exam and she peed on the exam table.  She really doesn't ever have any fun at the vet.  First, she had her eyes looked at.  She has these strange white marks across the pupil on her eyes.  They look like white milky oily circles.  That's the best description I can give you.  I've tried to take a picture of them, but they are on the surface of her eye, so they don't show up.  The vet wasn't worried about them and said her eyes looked fine.  Next was the anal glands.  Tibby has a lot of trouble with her anal glads - they bug her.  The vet remembered that Tibby tried to bite her last time....

And I asked for a referral to a veterinary behaviorist.  The vet had offered the referral a few months ago, but I have been debating taking her.  Yesterday Tibby was especially weird - alarm barking/freaked out by a coat, yes a blue coat, so extra scary.  We'll see what the behaviorist thinks.

She weighed 23.9 pounds.  

Again I took her out to the car really fast, so she didn't have to look at anyone or see anything scary.

Dhali was next.  He weighs 18.6.  He was a good boy.  Didn't like the vet looking in his ears or mouth, but willing to eat treats and do tricks.  He got his final parvo vaccine.  The vet still wants me to get Dhali neutered asap.  They even sent me a coupon for $15 off the surgery, but I have to get it done before the end of December.  She also said his canines that haven't fallen out might need to be surgically removed.  They gave me an estimate for the neuter + tooth removal = $263.  If his teeth fall out that will save me $75!  Let's go play some tug and loosen up those teeth!  LOL! 

   We played a little 'look at that' when another dog came into the reception area while I was waiting to pay.  It works really well!  I still don't know if I'm playing it correctly, but it was effective at keeping him from staring at the lady sitting in the chairs and the woman waiting with her cat at the desk.  It helps that he is so willing to work.  

Overheard while we were waiting:  Woman dropping her cat off to have its claws removed, "Does she really need pain medication?"

Vet tech, "Well, they have to remove past the first bone on each joint, so yes she does need pain medication.  It's actually a very painful operation.  And the meds. will cost $20."

Cat's owner, "Hmm, really?"

Uh, yeah lady!  How would you like to have the tips of each of your fingers cut off.....without pain medication???

Dhali's First Dog Park

We went to the dog park today.  It was Dhali's first visit.  He liked it a lot.  We had the whole place to ourselves.  Tibby had a nice time too, but Dhali had more fun - racing around and jumping.

He LOVES to jump.  His favorite thing is to run up behind you and jump on your back.  He jumps as high as my shoulders and uses me as a springboard to do a turn and then run away again.  Or sometimes he just jumps, jumps, jumps as you are walking.  He likes to get as close as he possibly can - trying to trip me?!  I'm sure this isn't good for his growing body, but other than keeping him on a leash (and he still does it then) I don't know how to stop him.  And he's having so much fun.  Such a silly puppy.  I do wish he would watch where he is landing though!

He finally got to run full speed in a big area and wow! he is so fast!  Tibby couldn't keep up or catch him.  He's like a little race car!

A Pill For You

We went to the vet again this morning.  More shots and anal gland squishing....ewwww.  

Dhali is now 10.8 lbs!  He's getting to be a big boy.  I would love to know how big his brothers and sister are getting.  And how they are doing.  They are all 14 weeks old today.

I have been saying that Tibby was 14 weeks when I got her, but that was NOT correct.  She was actually 16 weeks and 2 days when I brought her home.  So another 2 weeks and then I can start to compare them.....see if they look similar/size.  Tibby had a really thick, soft, plushy coat as a baby (and adult).  Unless he does something in the next 2 weeks, Dhali will not have the same coat.  I can hope!  Maybe it's a boy thing.

Tibby weighed 22.8lbs....which is EXACTLY the same as last time.  Strange that she would be exactly the same weight?  

So now Tibby is on more drugs than I am.  She is taking Previcox - a pain reliever and Dasaquin + MSM - a joint supplement.  She also has Xanax to take as needed - for anxiety. From the Dr.'s note, "Her x-ray showed that she may have some arthritis in her right hip and her left hip isn't seeded as well as it should be in her left hip socket."

So weird to pick the Xanax up at my grocery store pharmacy.  "Um, a prescription for Tibbit?"    

Dhali did really, really well at the Vet.  In the waiting room he just laid down by my feet.  Tibby had to sit on my lap.  No really...she doesn't let me say no.  Either she sits there or I have 22.8lbs of dog flying at my lap until the lap gives in.

In the exam room he wanted to explore and whenever anyone came in the room he had to run over and see what they were doing.  I kept him busy while Tibby was having her exam and he was eating treats when she started screaming.  She HATES to have anyone touch her butt.  She uses some salty dog language.   Dhali was really worried about what was happening to his big sister.  He would eat a treat, run over to the exam table, run back to eat another treat, run back to the exam table.  It was cute and didn't seem to cause any permanent damage.  He had to go 2nd.  And he didn't say a thing when they did his anal glands.

He was a little bit more tired today, but also we were outside almost all day too.

I tried out the Xanax on Tibby tonight.  I just wanted to see what would happen, in case I need to use it.  So far not much.  She does seem really playful tonight and wanting to play and train.  I saw her play bow to Dhali, which is new.  

Of course, now I don't know if it was the pain reliever or the anxiety med that made her feel so good.  Or if she was just feeling frisky.

Jiggity Jig We Went To the Vet

Well, what a fun morning we've had.  NOT.  I took the pups to the vet bright and early this morning.  Got to the vet and realized that I had forgotten to bring my purse, so I had to drive all the way back home and then drive back to the Vet's.  I remembered Dhali's fecal, the 2 dogs, treats, a toy and the file with all their records + my list of things I wanted to talk to the vet about, BUT I forgot the money.  Seems to be important?  Today's visit was $238.

Dhali weighed in at 7.9lbs.  He was 5.38lbs on the 11th of July.  So he is getting bigger. 

Tibby was 22.8lbs. She weighed 22 at her last visit. 

They examined Dhali first, because Tibby was hiding behind the exam table.  He got his DHPPC and some wormer.  He didn't like the wormer very much, it made him reverse sneeze for about 15 mins.  They checked him over and everything looks good.  He didn't like his mouth handled, but I'm not too worried about it.  The vet said I should work on that.  Well, he's 10 weeks old and he gets picked up/mouth, ears and feet played with/brushed/examined 50 million times a day.  He's just spunky!

Then it was Tibby's turn....poor baby.  She got examined and then her first Lyme vaccine, a complete blood draw + thyroid panel and a hip x-ray.  I told the vet about how strange she has been acting for the last few months (since about April, maybe?) - not wanting to go outside or only sitting on the deck, not going down to the grass, not wanting to do agility, sleeping most of the day -except when I make her go outside, acting scared and nervous when she goes outside/away from home, wanting to sit in my lap and not interested in food.  The vet said I should try to lure her with food when she is nervous about something - like going outside.  She also thought Tibby might be in pain from her hips so they did an x-ray.  She said I could take her to a behaviorist if I wanted to.  This is sad, but I hope that something comes back in the blood work.  I really, really don't think it's her hips.  But I don't know for sure, of course.  It seems like Tibby has moods - sometimes she will run around and play like crazy with another dog in the yard and other times she isn't interested at all in doing anything.  When she's in the playful mood she with run up and down the deck stairs like it's nothing and jumps off of the deck!  I really do not think it's her body that is the problem.  I think it's her brain!  I'm not sure if I will take her to the behaviorist.  She is happy, if I leave her alone.  She does her own thing and isn't hurting anyone.  If she were pacing, panting and hiding underneath the bed all of the time I would take her, but she's just sleeping and really lazy.  She likes to play with Dhali.  I don't know what to do, but hopefully the vet calls soon with the results.

Edited to add:  I have been doing some 'research' while I wait for the vet to call. 

Hypothyroidism in dogs "Others will become fearful, whining incessantly, and showing nervousness in new situations or around strangers.  Noise phobias – particularly thunderstorm phobia - most commonly arise in this group. This is also the stage at which some dogs start to show other signs of hypothyroidism – lethargy, weight gain, reduced energy, change in the character of the bark.  Superstitious behaviors - watching the ceiling or wall for no apparent reason, refusing to walk on particular surfaces - may appear.  They sleep more, seek out heat sources, and show reduced scenting, hearing and visual acuity.  The behaviors exhibited by the experimental group included noise and thunderstorm fears; fearful/anxious/shy behavior; separation anxiety; hyperactivity; poor concentration/learning; compulsive behaviors; mood swings, irritability and aggression – primarily territorial. 

This sounds a lot like Tibby.  Suddenly nervous around new people, noise phobias, lethargy, reduced energy, refusing to walk on grass, sleeping and laying out on the burning hot deck when it's 90F outside, mood swings (!) and irritability.  Yeah.

I forgot to mention before that Tibby snapped at the vet and vet tech - which she has never, ever done. She was not a happy dog.

Busy Day, Tired Pup

Dhali is very tired tonight.  This evening we went over to my parent's house - both TTs + me.  Dhali took a nap in his crate while we ate dinner.  Man, I love a crate trained dog!  It's amazing!  Then we (my Mom, me and Dhali) went to visit Zoe's Mom, Zoe and a few other family members.  Dhali explored a new house/people/backyard.  Zoe LOVED Dhali.  They played and played and played, until they were both laying on the grass totally exhausted.  :)  Zoe is just slightly larger than Dhali, so the perfect size (for now).  He's growing so fast :(  I wish he could stay this size forever!

He pottied in their yard without a problem.  Still hasn't had an accident yet!

After Dhali was completely tired out we stopped at my Grandma's house and she got to meet Dhali for the first time.  He was tired and very well behaved ;)

Then we went back to my parent's house and Tibby was SO HAPPY to see us LOL! 

I'm trying very hard to make sure they get to go to places separately.  I think that it's important.

Right now we are having a big thunderstorm.  I finally remembered to get Tibby's thundershirt out for her.  She calmed down after I put it on her.  She even offered some behaviors to get a piece of my banana.  Then she went to bed.  funny girl.  I wonder if she would like to wear the Thundershirt all the time?  Or would that ruin it's effect?