Sunny - Companion Dog and Rally Novice

So, Sunny has been proving just how good she is at Rally. We've entered in 5 rally runs so far, and Q'd (qualified) in all of them! She just needs one more Q to get her AKC RA (Rally Advanced) title! We hope to continue our winning streak... ;-) Obedience hasn't gone as smoothly, but she did finally get her AKC CD (Companion Dog/Novice Obedience) title last weekend. We may spend a bit of time in Open, as it will require some tricky long-stays unattended and off-leash heeling without wandering off to sniff stuff!

Crazy-Dog: Master of Obedience

So, it was suggested by the specialist that we should probably retire from agility to make sure her legs don't get worse. Physical therapy seems to be helping, but since she's young and we don't want her to lose her mobility, we're going to quit while we're ahead. It was certainly a blow we weren't expecting, and is hard to swallow, only one Q away from all her open titles... so, since she's had some time off, and it's a chronic-inflammation thing, not an overnight injury, we figured we'd enter in two last trials and it would either happen, or it wouldn't... but it would give us some closure. Last weekend is making us think it probably won't... but we still have one left. We're hoping she'll at least get her Open FAST title - that one is theoretically possible even if she knocks bars, and she's always been good at the gambler-type courses.

In the meantime, though, in an effort to "move on" we've started Rally-Obedience classes, which she enjoys. She still looks longingly to the agility class in the other ring, but she's embracing all the new things she has to learn.

So THIS weekend, we had our very first AKC Rally trial... and since it was the same day, we figured we'd give obedience a shot too, even though our one previous attempt didn't go so well. (You mean you're NOT supposed to play-bow and stick your tongue out at the judge when they want to touch you?) We figured Rally would be doable, and obedience was a, "eh, may as well" even though we had no expectations there.

She... was... fantastic! Ok, so many of our fellow-competitors referred to her as "Crazy Dog" after hearing me call her that... but she left no doubts that she comes through when she needs to, and has finally settled down into a reliable working dog. She qualified in EVERYTHING (2 novice obedience legs and 2 novice rally legs) and got a 3rd and 2nd place in obedience, and a 2nd in rally. (Our first time out in rally we qualified, but didn't place). Wow! She even simply wagged, but stayed planted while the judges touched her this time!

Points off for sniffing the "posts" in the figure-8's on-leash heel, some mind-wandering in the off-leash heel, and 1 point off for coming in for a landing crooked on the recall, but all-in-all, not bad. Perfect stand-for-inspections, long-sits, and long-downs (which all were the big shocker, as she HATES sitting and standing still, and all of which required it!)

So, the bad news is no more agility. The good news is she's transitioning nicely to new activities, even if everyone still thinks she's the high-energy sheepdog your mother warned you about! :-)

Physical Therapy Update

Well, our physical therapy so far has been two-part: 1) ultrasound therapy to heat the deep tissue in the muscle, to make it more flexible and subject to stretching the scarred muscle fibers while we next 2) do the water treadmill to "re-teach" her how to walk with a correct gait.

The good news is Sunny is no longer dragging her toes noticeably when she walks, and I feel some minor muscle development on the outside where it had been atrophied. However, she still "bunny hops" (runs with her back feet together) when she runs, and the muscle still feels rather hard to me. I suppose only time will tell if it's truly making a big difference.

She HAS reverted back to giving us kisses on the lips when we don't ask for it though... and here we thought she just finally matured and out-grew jumping on people! When in fact, she just didn't have the muscular flexibility to! *sigh*

We have a follow-up exam with the specialist on April 3rd - we'll keep you posted on her progress. We're still not sure what this means in terms of agility or the long-term, however, and the not knowing is the killer. It's an "under-studied" rare disorder, so not much is known about it, as we keep getting told... but that doesn't make us feel much better. Especially when what I do read about it says the (final straw) surgery only seems to help for about 6 months and then it's back to where it was...

Send us your good luck that this gets better!

Janis & Sunny

Leg update - gracilial fibrotic myopathy

The good news is it's not a joint thing. The bad news is it may be a degenerative groin muscle. (gracilial fibrotic myopathy)

Basically her groin muscle is thickening for some reason and losing flexibility. This could be from scar-tissue and overuse (like tennis-elbow), an infection of some sort, or something degenerative - we're not sure. At this point, we've been assigned physical therapy (water treadmill, balance ball, etc.) for a month to see if that helps.

If the PT doesn't help and it continues, basically the muscle will continue to harden and it will be like having an inflexible board strapped to the inside of her leg. It won't hurt her, and she can live with it that way, but it'll make her prone to secondary (compensation) injuries from the inability to move it correctly. (This is likely what happened at the agility trial - a strain of some sort from compensation). If she were a "normal" energy dog, she could probably live with it, but as an active dog, it's problematic because she'll just hurt herself.

If the PT doesn't help and it continues, that's when they'd take a muscle biopsy to see what's going on, and worst-case they'd surgically remove the muscle to allow the other muscles recover their freedom of movement. The good news is on a dog it's a secondary muscle - redundant. In fact, he told us they oftentimes take pieces of that muscle to repair OTHER muscles. In humans, we're so precariously balanced on 2 feet that we need all those stabilizers in our quads, or we get knee and joint issues, but he assures me she shouldn't have joint issues from the muscle imbalance, because dog legs are designed better, and she's got fantastic joints. Aside from the muscle thing, he thinks she's very healthy and fit.

He says she's not in any pain from it, and it's not her bones or joints. In fact, while he was looking her over, pushing, pulling, stretching, etc. she got the "zen-dog" look on her face (like when I'm giving her a massage). Unbeknownst to the general public, there ARE in fact times when Sunny is completely serene and relaxed, and she gets this funny half-eyed grin on her face (and sometimes moans and purrs). So, she seemed relaxed and seemed to be enjoying the attention.

It sounds like the worst possible outcome is that she won't be a "top" agility competitor. (It sounds like she can continue doing agility whether or not she has surgery - she just may not be very good at it). I could care less about that... I just want her to be mobile and happy, because I can't see her being happy as a couch-potato. And if it's just a matter of jumping, we can stick her in the preferred category (16") or maybe even lower, if they allow for-exhibition only entries. (I'd have to look into it).

I'm also happy that while I was freaking out and everyone was telling me different things... I WAS correct in my observations and wasn't a completely clueless unobservant idiot...

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Random spectators: "How can you not know there's something wrong? Can't you see she's in pain?"

Me: *confused* "She's in pain?"

Sunny: *smile* *wiggle* *bouncing and roaring happily*

Me: "She's dragging me to the start line and going out balls-to-the-wall... I'd think if she was in any pain, she wouldn't do that..."

Specialist agrees: "She's doesn't seem to be in any pain"

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Primary doctor: "She seems to want to pull away when I poke that knee..."

Matt: "I said the same thing - she didn't want me poking at that knee..."

Me: Confused, because I've poked her all over (including that knee), and she could care less... was I missing something? Was she letting me poke even though it hurt just because it was ME, like Cinnamon and his cancerous leg? (Although even he kind of jerked, looked around at me and sucked in his breath when I gently played with his leg, so I knew it hurt...) How can I tell something's wrong if she gives me a different sign from everyone else? I DID say her muscle didn't feel right, was atrophied and the outside of her leg felt bony, but this seemed to be regarded as less-important. (Or at least less definitive).

So, I'm glad that I was getting the same info as the specialist after a really long and thorough examination and watching her move, and testing all her joints, etc. I was getting paranoid that she was putting on a special show for me and "hiding" stuff, or my observations skills just sucked. Instead, people poking at her knee are just annoying.
:-) (Or maybe they just managed to hit an acupressure point and it was annoying - even when MY knee is fine, it hurts when I poke it in certain places).

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Aside from no crazy-dog activities for the time being (agility, nightly rounds of living-room fetch/frisbee, and racing up and down the hill in the backyard like her butt's on fire), she's not restricted from any "normal dog" activities, so she's been let out of the crate again (to her relief) and will continue to work with the kids doing therapy-dog stuff. I guess this means we can start going to obedience classes without worrying about it being too much activity too. Mostly we just need to keep things average to low-key so we have a "control" to see if the physical therapy is working.

We'll keep everybody updated as things progress.

Cruciate Ligament injury?

Well, we're still hoping it's something much easier to deal with, but our primary vet thinks Sunny may have a cruciate ligament injury... we see a specialist tomorrow. We'll keep you posted. :-(

Thunder pup's aft-burner is on the fritz!

Sunny appears to be having a problem with her rear right leg - we're hoping it's something common like a sprain and will just take some time to heal, but now that we're aware of it, we're worried it may be more than that, as (now that we're looking) it seems the muscle is considerably atrophied compared to the other leg. She still runs and uses it, but definitely doesn't put as much weight on it when standing, and when she runs, I've only recently noticed she tends to "bunny hop" at top-speed. i.e. front-leg/front-leg/hop (both legs). I'm wondering if this has always been a problem, and she just can't jump now because we've taken some time off and she's out of shape... or if it's a new problem and we really need to worry about it. Looks like more money will be going to the vet while we try to figure this out... :-( Keep your fingers crossed that it's minor!

Wow - Dog Diary of the Day!

Wow, dog diary of the day! Who'd have thought? For those who don't know me, I'm Sunny (Aliyah's CN SunSpots) and I'm an active girl who's a therapy dog for special-needs kids, I LOVE agility, and I tried sheep-herding, but preferred to groom the sheep rather than chase them around in the hot weather. We may try it again, but in the meantime, I'm still having fun and have plenty to do with agility. I'm also a foster-sister for ARPH dogs (Aussie Rescue and Placement Helpline) and love all my doggie friends.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my friends! Mom says Santa skipped our house this year because I was bad and got into my presents before Christmas, so there aren't any more. But, I got a bunch of toys, "wiggle bottom snax" and grandma & grandpa sent a doormat that says, "We're so excited to see you we don't know whether to pee on the floor or tear up the couch!" ...

Obviously grandma and grandpa don't know what a good girl I am... I'd NEVER pee on the floor or tear up the couch... neither did Cinnamon, for that matter. She must be confusing us with ... I have no idea who, but it wasn't us!

Ribbon picture!

I've posted a picture above (it kind of blends in with the ads) with my haul of ribbons I've earned in my first 8 months of agility competition. Wow! We need another wall!

Devil's Beggartick

So we just found out the name of whatever those weed-seeds are that I keep coming into the house covered in. "Devil's Beggartick" (Bidens frondosa) They're these little black things with two spikes sticking out of the top - they look kind of like long flat capacitors.

They come off my fur easily enough, but they were becoming a problem because they'd get in my ears, or I'd clean myself and eat them and end up throwing up, because they'd irritate my stomach. Just a heads-up to all my buddies at this time of year to make sure mom searches you over good when you come in and gets those weed-seeds off, and inspects those ears!