The Seven Questions

Recently a few bloggers passed this 7 post challenge on to me.  I finally did it!

Most Beautiful Post: This was a hard one to choose.  At first I was going to pick a sweet one like Tibby and Catty Friends and Sisters OR L-O-V-E.  But in the end I chose Super Stinky Hiking!!!  Because when Tibby is having a good time it is the most beautiful thing to me.  No matter how stinky she was or how many creepy ticks I picked off of myself.  ewww ticks!

Most Popular Post: Well, by page views and comments the most popular post was a post from last years giveaway.  It was very popular, but only because it was a giveaway ;)
Unfortunately, the most popular posts have also been the most controversial - Tuesday Training has the most comments, Brought Home A New Dog Today has the 2nd most comments and Meet Poppy has the most page views.


My Most Controversial Post(s): I never expected to meet so many wonderful, helpful people (friends) when I started to blog.  Sadly, with the good also comes the bad.  I had to turn the commenting off on my blog for a while, because I was getting a lot of not very nice nasty comments about myself and about Tibby.  Say what you want about me, but leave Tibby alone!!  It all started with Tibby's Photo Shoot - Day 1 and Tibby's New Dresses added more fuel to the fire.  Just for future reference to all readers - I screen the comments.  If they aren't nice, I don't publish them. 

My Most Helpful Post:  Well, judging by the number of people who search for this DIY Fleece Tug must be helpful.

A Post Whose Success Surprised Me: Hands down Frozen 5k 2011.  It doesn't have anything to do with Tibby, but it has a ton of page views and more comments than lots of Tibby filled posts.  My Mom is pretty popular LOL!

A Post That Didn't Get the Attention I Felt It Deserved:  I'm always surprised when anyone reads this blog, but as Tibby's Mom I think every post should be read by everyone!  I think Tibby's Graduation didn't get any attention, because when I wrote it no one was reading Tibby's blog.  There are a whole bunch of posts from when Tibby was a baby that no one read, but that's OK.  It was my version of a baby book for Tibby.

The Post I'm Most Proud Of: This was super-duper hard for me to pick.  I'm proud of Tibby.  Very.  Very.  Proud.  Of.  Tibby.  No matter what!  Even when she is 'bad'.  I was happy that we did this Packages For Pups and I hope we can do it again.  Recently I was very proud of how well behaved Tibby was at the cardiologist's office (thermometer incident aside LOL!) The Results.  I was also very proud of Tibby when we graduated from Silvia Trkman's Puppy Class.  It was a lot of work and we had fun (even though we weren't at the top of the class).  I love my best friend Tibby!  Puppy Class Graduation!

And guess what!!  This is my 400th post!  WOW!!

Wordless Wednesday

The Results

Good-ish news.  YES Tibby has a heart murmur.  BUT it isn't life threatening and it shouldn't affect her quality of life at all.  The valve between her right atrium and right ventricle doesn't close completely, so a little blood washes back into the atrium when her heart pumps.  She has the same problem with the valve between the right ventricle and her pulmonary artery.  So TWO faulty valves.  The cardiologist said she should live a normal life and just to keep an eye out for any changes in her behavior during her life - coughing, lethargy, lack of appetite.

The cardiologist was surprised that the murmur wasn't discovered before Tibby's spay (almost a year ago), but she thinks Tibby was probably born with this heart murmur.

~

It was an exhausting day - for both of us!  I got up at 4am and we were on the road a little after 5am.  We hit some bad traffic, but made it to the hospital 45 mins. early.  Since we were so early, I took Tibby for a little walk and then we went inside the hospital.  My overall impression of the U of M Vet Hospital is that it is really dark.  Everyone was really nice to us (and loved Tibby, said she was so cute), but the place is really depressing.  The hallways (floor/walls/ceiling) are dark brownish-grey and there aren't any windows - at least in the areas where we were.   

We were there for almost 3 hours, so I had a lot of time to look at the brown walls!

~

First of all, after we checked in at the reception area and walked a long, long way to cardiology/radiology, a tech with 4 med students took us into a tiny exam room.  Yes, there were 6 of us humans in a tiny room with one Tibby.  I think Tibby felt pretty special - until the thermometer came out.  Tibby has Never, Ever had her temperature taken.  Maybe they took it before her spay, but I didn't see them do it.  Maybe they waited to do it after she was asleep! 

This is Tibby during the whole process:

 "Hey! You are the most awesome new people I've ever met!  My name is Tibby!  You are great!  We are going to be best friends!  I love you all!  So AMAZING!  This is the best day EVER! Yes! Super-de-duper!"

*insert thermometer* 

 "WHOA!! HEY!  I DO NOT KNOW YOU THAT WELL!!  PERVERT!  PERVERT!   HANDS OFF!  BACK AWAY!  AGH!  MOMMY!! THEY'RE TOUCHING MY BUTT!  MY - BUTT!  WHY!?!  THIS IS THE WORST DAY EVER!!!!" 

 She was screaming like they were killing her.  It was kind of funny, just because she was overreacting so much.  Although....if some stranger touched my butt I might freak out too.

~

When the doctor came in, Tibby was an angel and held perfectly still for 5 mins. straight while the doctor listened to her heart.  Not a paw moved and she didn't make a noise.

~

After that we went out to the waiting room again to wait for Tibby to have chest x-rays taken and then the echo cardiogram.  While we were waiting Tibby did tricks for treats.  Lots and lots of tricks.  Then they took her for her x-ray.  Then she came back and did more tricks.  Then she went for her ultrasound.  Then I waited and waited and waited.

I was really surprised how excited Tibby was to eat treats and do tricks.  She was super focused.  Usually she won't eat treats at the vet, because she is too excited.

~

After the ultrasound the cardiologist talked to me again and told me the results.  Then we went home.

Tibby came home and got a nice big bully stick in her crate.  She tried to talk me into letting her eat it on the carpet, but rules are rules, so she ate it in her crate.

All these pics were taken after the Great Thermometer Incident of 2011. 

;0

One side.

This is where they shaved Tibby for her ultrasound.  They said she was a very good girl and they didn't need to sedate her at all.  I thought it was funny when they were taking her for the ultrasound the tech said, "Now we have to shave a little of her fur off.  Just so you understand - is that going to be OK?"  Like having some fur shaved off would be the deal breaker, "Absolutely not!  I drove 3 hours and took a day off of work, but you are NOT shaving my dog!  No matter how critical the results of this ultrasound might be to my dog's life - we are leaving!"

I actually said, "That's fine."  LOL!

And the other side.  She has little spots!

Now I'm going to take a nap with Tibby.  What a day!

Late Summer Hike - Part II

Part 2 of our hike today.  We saw many beautiful lakes.

And a bridge that I made Tibby pose on.

"Did they go that way?"

"Or that way?"

"Maybe they are up there?"

We lost Zoe's Mom and my Mom.  I knew where they were, but they didn't know where we were.  They eventually caught up to us. 

We found this algae covered lake/pond.

It's very green.

Tibby and me.

Tibby is saying, "Don't hold me back Mom!  I want to run!"

Tibby on a nice big stump.

Tibby and me. 

Heading home.  Some of us are faster than others!

Late Summer Hike - Part I

My Mom and Zoe's Mom are training for a race and they wanted to do sprints up and down hills.

Tibby and I tagged along. 

There they go!  They are tiny little dots.

Tibby can run too!

Catching their breaths and waiting for us to catch up.

They are off again.

It was the most beautiful day.  Perfect temp., little breeze and NO BUGS!

"Let's go into the forest!"

Here they come again.  Tibby doesn't care.  It was really good training for Tibby, because she learned that she doesn't always have to run when someone else is running.

Yes, it it true.  Minnesota is beautiful.

Silvia Trkman Foundations Class Lesson 3

Lesson 3

This was a long lesson - many weeks - there was a break, so there are 3 videos of Tibby at the end.

1. introducing straight lines: after all the cik&cap work, it’s time to introduce some straight lines and extension jumping too. Set a straight line of 2 or 3 jumps between two tunnels (or simply use one if you don’t have two), start with some cik/cap to tunnel, cik/cap to tunnel, then straight over the first jump to cik/cap on a second jump back to tunnel, then two straight jumps to cik/cap on a third one, cik/cap again on a next jump etc. - just think of something, putting more and more straight jumps in between one and another cik/cap. See a video and again another example here:


Make sure the dog is jumping differently when you just run, saying your “jump/over” or “go” cue as when you say your collection cue. Take off and landing spot must be different for collection vs. extension. Put the jumps on whatever height you’re currently at with cik&cap.
2. sequencing: start with cik on 1, run in for a front cross between 2 and 3, ask for cap on 2 from the landing side, RUN for cik on 5 (extension jumping on 4), another cap on 6 and finishing with cik on 8, rewarding in the direction of 9.

3. bang the see-saw game: if you did the “closing drawers and doors” trick, then you’re all ready for this new game. If you don’t have a see-saw, you can use a small plank with something underneath so that it moves when the dog pushes it with front legs. If you have a see-saw, either lower it almost to the ground or support it so that one end is 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 inches) off the ground and have them push it down with front feet - you can then raise it somewhat more off the ground. Do not promote 4 feet, 2 feet is better to teach them to push. Jackpot for most powerful pushes and eventually stop rewarding the gentle touches. Reward away from the see-saw, you want a push&go (I’m not doing very good job on that in the video, I forgot to bring better treats for that - a toy would actually be even better). ONLY work on this part (step 1 and 2) for next 2 weeks (no 4 feet yet!) - I included next steps in the video just to give you an idea what’s the plan

I’ll be answering your comments till Friday 29th. Then I’m leaving for EO and have the camp after that, so we’ll be on break till 15th August so that everybody can catch up AND you can practice cik&cap some more. We’re introducing straight lines too today, but if you only started with cik&cap when the class started, you still need to do quite some work on that anyway - especially exercises 1 of lesson 1 and 2! You can also keep adding height… So, plenty of work for everybody! The second week of this lesson will be from 15-21st August, with no video commenting in between. I like those breaks as they take some pressure off and I can always see a huge progress after the break!

Up and Away

Some more jumping pictures.  We had a really good training session Sunday morning.  Tibby was racing around through the tunnel and taking jumps all over the place.  We ran one sequence and then I wanted to figure out my handling better, so I was walking it through by myself.  Tibby decided I was taking too long so she ran the sequence by herself - all 4 parts of it!  It was jump, tunnel, jump, jump.  Smarty pants.

Just Jumping

I took a bunch of pictures of Tibby jumping on Saturday.  I'll be posting them over the next week or so.  I think she looks so pretty when she's jumping! 

I was working on an around the clock jumping exercise with her AND taking pictures.  I had her targeting a plastic target on the grass.  So I would set her up to take the jump, I would get in position to take the picture and then tell her to jump.  She would take the jump and run to the target.  It worked really well.

I eventually had her set away from the jump and the target was straight in front of her, but she took the jump and then ran to the target.  Smart girl!

Holding Hands

Proof that animals can show love.  Just two lovey bun boys.

The Appointment

Tibby's appointment for her echo cardiogram is this Tuesday.  We are meeting with a cardiologist, then she gets some blood taken and an EKG.  Depending on the results, she will then have (possibly) xrays and (most likely) an ultrasound.  We have to be there by 9am.  I get to stay with her for the first 2 hours and then Tibby has to stay there until 4:30pm to 5pm.

~

We are going to have to leave very, very early for the appt. for 3 reasons:

1- That is the day President Obama is coming to the Twin Cities

2- The State Fair is going on a few blocks away from the hospital.

3- There is road construction EVERYWHERE.

Also, it will be rush hour.

Tibby says, "pffft!" to heart murmurs.

Tibby is smiling in this picture :)

Have a great weekend!

Things That Bug Me

1- Random old woman in the park with her 2 obese little dogs said to me, "Have you ever thought about taking her (Tibby) to obedience training?"

2- Different old woman at the downtown market stepped into Tibby's path and yelled, "Get!  Get!" while she waved her arms around.

3- My Mom said she wasn't going to walk with us ever again, because Tibby doesn't know how to heel.

She Can Do It

I never thought I would see the day that Tibby could relax in her crate.  Ta da!  She can.

Now I just need to reinforce the wonderfulness of the crate and then get her used to being in it in different places. 

Wordless Wednesday

Her Heart

I took Tibby to the vet today for her rabies shot.  The vet took a long, long time to listen to her heart.  She said Tibby has a heart murmur that is new since her visit 4 months ago.  She referred me to the University of MN - Veterinary Medicine.  They called to make an appointment for Tibby to get an ultrasound done.  I just have to find out when I can get a day off from work.  Thank goodness Tibby has insurance.  I hope the murmur turns out to be nothing. 

Waterlily

Maybe it's just my imagination, but in the morning Tibby sometimes looks like a waterlily spread across the pond bed.

"Excuse me.  You. Are. Crazy.  I'm a dog, not a stoopid flower!!"

I took this picture today of a waterlily in my pond.  Maybe I just have waterlilies on my mind!