I have 3 mango trees. They are baby trees. Two of the trees are Carrie mangoes. One is a Julie mango. The Carrie mango trees, between the two of them, produced one mango that hung in there this summer. Last year, I fenced both trees off and got several mangoes, but this year, I figured I would just let it go and see what happens. That mango got very big until one day, just this week, Luigi noticed it. Though he was playing it cool, as if I wouldn’t notice he noticed it. He was just biding time till I turned my head. I could tell what he was planning.
“What mango?”
“Oh. Are you still there?”
“Is that a squirrel over there?”
“Hmmm…I followed my nose and it found this!”
“Ptttth!”
“That was pretty good!”
“This chair won’t stop me. See?”
“You’re kidding?”
The party’s over, Luigi!
And when it was finally ripe, well, it had these black spots on it.
I decided to throw it away instead of eating it.
I took Mimi to the veterinarian this month and got her hips x-rayed. She does indeed have hip displaysia. And arthritis has set into the hips. So she is now taking fish oil besides glucosamine and has pain pills at the ready.
This is what hip displaysia and arthritic hips look like. Frankly, the fuzzy Mimi is much cuter.
I am treating her heartworms with Ivermectin and Doxycycline. She’s all of about 3 years old, and one of the vets thinks she’s had heartworms for half her life.
That vet likes to use the fast kill method on heartworms, but the vet I was seeing likes to use the slow kill method, which is what I’m going along with. She supposedly tested light heartworm positive in New Orleans. And upon viewing the x-ray, slow kill vet didn’t seemed concerned. That and the fact that Mimi is not showing any symptoms such as coughing, panting, shortness of breath, bloating, or fluid retention. I am not sure how fast kill vet saw from the x-ray that her heartworms have been with her half her life either. Here’s what that x-ray looked like.
This is what Thunder Phobic Mimi looks like. This picture was taken during the start of a very severe thunder storm today. Right after she peed all over the living room floor and tried to climb in the toy box. I found several toys in the water bucket as I was pulling her out of her manic hole. When I removed her from the chair to put the anxiety wrap on her, she peed all over it. It’s a good thing I have it covered with so many covers. She will also express her anal glands during a thunder storm. We are having fun.
Once I got the anxiety wrap on her, I put her in her crate. This is where she collapsed as if she were in a straight jacket, but honestly the anxiety wrap’s nothing like a straight jacket, yet it is supposed to produce that relaxed effect. I also sprayed her crate with some lavender and gave her Rescue Remedy on the way in.
I leave her in a crate without blankets because she chews holes in anything I put in her crate. Her nickname remains “The Termite.” She is stealth, too. She chews holes in my blankets, sheets, and pillow cases and I never hear the munching, but I find the holes. Susan Garrett says to embrace our holes. So I do. <grin>
Even if Mimi had good hips, I’m afraid she would be very uncomfortable with life playing agility. We live in Florida. There’s bound to be more of these storms pretty much for eternity or until Florida ceases to exist.
Mimi is a great example of why it’s good to go through rescue if you’re looking for a second-hand dog to do a sport with. Mimi makes a great pet when the weather is clear. Otherwise, we take it a day at a time. She’s a very sweet and loving dog with a sense of humor when she’s not peeing herself or shaking it off on me. And honestly, I had no idea that Border Collies were disposed to hip displaysia, and guess what else. Elbow displaysia. I didn’t know that before the x-rays, but she’s got odd elbows, too. I’m betting she’s got some of that elbow displaysia, also. Border Collies are also known to have epilepsy, which I recently learned, and Collie eye, which I know nothing about. Surprise surprise at all this. Especially the hips because I always think of German Shepherds when it comes to hip displaysia. Live and learn.
Luigi and I went to the MOC 3-in-2 trials over Memorial Day weekend. We teamed up pretty well, and Luigi got his CD. Two trials were on Saturday and one was on Sunday.
Luigi is 9 years old. I was a little sad as I walked out of the arena because this is pretty much our last to do in the world of titles. He has his RE and he can’t jump because of arthritic elbows. He’s trained though in most exercises in open. Most of all, he’s my pal.
Here are the videos.
1st Novice B Leg – 185.5
I was nervous and Luigi was green to the obedience ring. I talked a lot in Rally, so this was dead silence. Our off-leash heeling was interesting. And his recall just never gelled. It had fallen apart a long time ago, and I never got it into tip-top shape to start with. It is what it is. Passable.
2nd Novice B Leg – 186.5
This was my favorite of our three runs. We didn’t have a higher a score. He didn’t do a front on this one, either. It was our heeling that felt good and we were more in sync.
3rd Novice B Leg and CD Title – 186.5
I just wanted to get this Q. He did good for me, and we ended with three comparable scores for our two days of work.
I appreciated the help from some friends, Kat and Lynn, (formerly known as Jim’s wife),
and Bruce who recorded our runs.
And Joann who took our picture with the judge.
I love having these to look back on.
Today when I let my dogs out for their lunch break, Dudley ran out after Bunny and grabbed her rubber ring. She wouldn’t let go, and Dudley was tugging. Well, I don’t think it was tugging, as much as his trying to get that toy. He wanted the result of the toy being his and didn’t necessarily look like he was enjoying the getting it part. As a matter of fact, the way the tugging ended was he let out his bratty “I want this now” scream, and Bunny released the ring so he could have it.
Meanwhile, I am still slowly rolling along with Dudley trying to get him to tug with me.
Last night, I took Luigi to the local dog training grounds, and I found out how much fun tugging could be with a dog who enjoys it. He played so nicely with me, and we used it during obedience practice, which made it somewhat fun. Now I want all my dogs to tug.
Easier said than done, but what is life without challenges?
Here are some snippets of clicker training I’m doing with Australian Shepherd Dudley and Doberman Raven. We are working on Silvia Trkman style pivot heeling, and Dudley is learning to tug as well as cross your paws.
I found out how thunder phobic Mimi is yesterday. I was doing something I rarely do. I was lying down some time around 4 pm on a Sunday watching a video someone loaned me. Mimi was lying on the floor by the foot of the bed, that is until the thunder. It was an instantaneous and coordinated choreography. Mimi flew through the air and landed on my chest grabbing me with those flip-flop paws of hers as if she’d practiced the move for weeks. Eeegads! Was I surprised!
And it didn’t end there. We had a lot of panting and snuggling. At one point, she stood over my head, and I was concerned about many things. Having a paw smack me in the eye was one of them. I gingerly disengaged from that position, and decided it was time to go outside. The rain had subsided, and the dogs needed a little fresh air. I needed a little breathing room from my space cadet. We stopped at the door, though, and I gave her a helping of Rescue Remedy. Though I think it was too late in the process for it to help much.
So I went outside with my shadow. She hugged me and hugged me and hugged me. All that hugging and following me around and hugging led me to believe that she wanted me to come inside.
I thought she wanted me to come inside. Then there was a time when I felt very grounded. Actually, my feet were under Mimi’s behind. This made it very hard for me to move. But that face is so darn sweet I found it difficult to walk away, even if I could.
Then there was the final desperate act of communication by Mimi. She couldn’t get me to cooperate by following her inside. So she decided to work the message from the inside out. First she tried the Peek-A-Boo method for getting me to come in. Didn’t work. And neither did the “I’m in here and you should be too” look.
I thought I had thunder phobic dogs before, and maybe so. It’s just that Mimi reaches a level of anxiety that is outstanding comparatively speaking. So because of that, I decided to invest in one of those garments that are supposed to help anxiety. I ordered the anxiety wrap and they suggested I also get the anxiety face wrap. So I did. I figured it would save on shipping, and the woman who wrote to me after I filled out her survey said she has a Border Collie and understands the reaction, and said Mimi would do best with the whole get-up. I rarely fall prey to upselling or sales tactics – not counting buying a vehicle – so that I conceded so quickly to her suggestion surprised me as much as Mimi’s flying leap.
So we will see how that Anxiety Wrap works. I hope it lives up to its claims.
