1. Who's a Canine Good Citizen?
Not Athena. Nope, we haven't yet tested for CGC. As many of you know, over the past couple of month's Athena has been enrolled in a CGC prep class and has been working hard to master the ten test items. The five-session prep class was Athena's best training class by far. Usually Athena is the class clown, always trying to rile up the other dogs and not pay attention to her parents. However, during CGC prep, Athena was an absolute star student and our trainer used her for all of the test demonstrations. We have REALLY been looking forward to testing Athena for CGC because we feel that she's ready now more than ever. We were suppose to test on the last day of class which was suppose to be on June 16th. But, June 16th has come and gone and Athena is still just a CGC in training. Our trainer decided to postpone the test until late July or August to give the other class participants more time to practice before testing. At this point, Athena is probably the only one ready to test from her class (I'm not saying that's she's necessarily ready to pass!) and so we will wait until our trainer schedules the test in the next month or two.
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| Getting yummy treats in CGC class! |
2. Our first flyball tournament is in 10 days!
I just looked at my calendar and had a mini panic attack when I saw that our first flyball tournament is in only 10 days! We've been hard at work practicing to get Athena ready to run as a green dog (she won't actually be in he tournament, she'll just be with the team practicing as a dog in training). Athena has had some ups and downs in flyball over the past few weeks and the ups definitely make me so excited for our first tournament, but the downs (not bringing her ball back over all jumps, running around hurdles, putting pressure on other dogs, acting like we've never practiced before...) totally frighten me. Alas, I'm sure that our first tournament will be quite the experience and we'll have plenty of stories to share when we're back.
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| Flyball practicer! |
3. Athena's belly bumps are a mystery...
It's been a few weeks since we shared about Athena's most recent trip to the vet to get her bumps and scabs checked out. She went on two weeks of antibiotics and Benadryl and things cleared up pretty well. However, some bumps and scabs were not completely gone and a couple of new bumps appeared, so we called up the vet and Athena is now on a second round of antibiotics. We also took her off Benadryl for the time being and put her on a steroid to help with the itching. It's been a little over a week since the second dose of antibiotics and steroids, and things were REALLY starting to clear up until she developed a couple of new belly bumps the other day. We have an inkling that the grass is triggering the tummy bumps, but we're not 100% sure. Our vet has suggested seeing a dog dermatologist if we can't get things under control.
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| Thean loves to eat grass... |
4. We're SO hot!
Us Portlanders are milld weather people. We look forward to the summer for 70 and 80 degree weather. Personally, when the temperature starts to creep past 80, I am miserable. This past week we've been having temperatures in the upper 90's (like 98!) and it has been pretty awful. Seeing as this hot weather is rare, the majority of people here in Portland don't have air conditioning in their homes so it gets REAL hot. It's tough to take Athena out during the day because the pavement is just too hot for her paw pads, and the sun is too bright at the park. She doesn't seem to mind too much that she's been lacking in the exercise department though. The mix of steroids and hot weather makes for an extra tired Bean!
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| This girl is jumping for joy because it's starting to cool down! |
5. Athena is a midnight muncher
On Friday night Athena did a little something that she's never done before. She crept out of the bedroom and into the living room while we were asleep and found a bag full of dog treats and food samples. When we woke up in the morning, we noticed four treat bags and two food samples had been ripped open and demolished. Athena also looked like she put on a good five pounds over night. Our little skinny Bean was a BIG fatty all of Saturday with bloat. I of course freaked out and Googled all of the signs and symptoms of dog bloat. Luckily Athena didn't exhibit much besides being a big lug all day. Nine poops later, Athena was back to her normal self and ready for Sunday!
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| I took this picture on the day of Athena's bloat. Can you tell how bloated she is? |
Well, that's about all of the major updates I have for you. Athena wishes everyone a very happy 4th of July and hopes that you will cross your fingers that she's not too afraid of the big booms (AKA fireworks)!
I just want to scoop her up and snuggle her! Seriously...
ReplyDeleteYeah Bloat is a very serious condition, thought our JRT had it from drinking to much water after eating. The Vet told us to wait 30 mins from time they eat to the time they drink and vice versa. This allows food to digest or to get the digestive bugs back in belly after drinking. Turned out he ruptured a disc in his back, caused vomiting, whining, etc..the tell tale signs of Bloat. Glad Bean is OK...OSU Vet School in Corvallis is awesome for those weird things that pop up, maybe you can get a referral there for Tummy Bumps. Our Furkids are happy the hot weather is cooling down too.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a busy summer. It can really be hard to balance being out and living life as opposed to sitting down and writing about it. That may always be a challenge.
ReplyDeleteI think we are getting your normal Portland weather as it's in the 70s and our pool is now pretty much a big decoration in the yard.
Oh Athena - we all overeat sometime or another! Sounds like a busy couple of weeks. Our goal is to test Edi by the end of the year - we're not putting too much pressure on passing!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the tournament - I'm sure she'll do great!!
We've had a milder summer than usual, but our South Carolina exercise secret on sunny 90+ degree days is lake time. Any body of water will work, but while we love the beach, we often go solely to wear out pups when it's too hot to walk. Our favorite last summer, which now has no beaches exposed due to a super rainy spring/summer, also has a wooded trail that's cooler in the evenings if we can get them to behave when they know the lake is RIGHT there.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe it's been so hot there. We have similar summer weather between 70 and 80 and this week it's been around 85 which seems unbearable! Oh...and the only midnight muncher around here is the cat! That sneaky brat will tear in bread or snacks left out, dog treats and she's demolished 5 bags of Missing Link. She's just tears things open but doesn't eat it:/
ReplyDeleteI would like some of your hot weather, please. It is supposed to be nice and toasty here, but everyday is just gets cloudy and weird =P
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry Athena's tummy bumps are being to stubborn! I bet the hot weather doesn't help so much either.
And I can't wait to hear how Athena's CGC test goes; I know she is going to do so great. I had to take my CGC test twice, 'cause I got a little too excited and jumped on someone the first time. Just a TINY jump, I swear. I mean the tiniest. I bet Athena will not do any wild jumping though :)
And the last thing is that I really love that picture of Athena licking the grasses. I mean, I love all her pictures, but I love that one extra.
Oh, and really last is that I am very glad she didn't get the bad kind of bloat!! That stuff is scary business. Her tummy does look pretty puffed out, poor pup :( I'm glad she is feeling all better now!
Good luck with Athena's belly bumps! Hope you stay cool. We are having the same weather here in this Portland, and we hate it. It's the humidity that kills the pups! Happy 4th of July!
ReplyDeleteWith Athena being a CGC dog in training and a flyball dog in training, she is doing A LOT of training! Good for you!
ReplyDeleteMy pittie had bumps like that too a few years ago. The dr said it was a secondary bacterial infection (I can't remember the name) that was VERY hard to treat and she ended up being on antibiotics and steroids for 7 weeks before they started to wean her off. It cleared up after that. If you'd like, I can go look though her papers to see what the heck it was and you can ask your vet about it.
Weather in San Diego has been equally awful, and believe it or not we don't have AC either in a lot of the older homes, because we're coastal so our temps NEVER get too bad, right?? HA!
Good luck with the flyball coming up, and do your best to stay cool! Does Athena have a pool to splash in?
ninest123 16.03
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ReplyDeleteAt Harbor Compounding Pharmacy, we take pride in offering Veterinary Compounding Services . Your pet may be a member of the family, a companion, a service animal, or even a best friend. We know medicating your pet can be challenging due to taste, dosage form, or even unavailability of a medication from the manufacturer.
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