Jake guarding - Brita snoozing...

Dogs hunting!!

I tell ‘em…  “get that rabbit” because rabbits are eating my stuff!  Remember those carrots I planted….

      

…sometimes I really don’t want to be right….

“Tell me it’s NOT Pannus” …I said to the vet.  “You have a good eye for it”, he said:  “Most people would not have recognized it this early in it’s progression”.  “This is my 3rd dog with Pannus”  I added and his response was “well, you do have the right breed for it.”

Three months ago I noticed Jake’s eyes, took a picture of them and emailed them to Dr. Jeff.  He recommended that I observe him and if I feel like I should do so, to bring him in to have his eyes checked.  So, today, I did that. 

He’s not happy about having drops put in his eyes but since it will be his life now, I’m sure it will get to be just another thing to do each day. 

Pannus is a disease seen most commonly in the German Shepherds, but does occur in other breeds. A progressive change occurs where blood vessels and scar tissue invade the cornea. This change usually begins in the outer or lower quadrant of the cornea, and severe cases can involve most or all of the corneal surface area resulting in blindness. If chronic, the affected areas may become black with pigmentation.

 

It is believed that Pannus is an immune mediated disease. That is, some subcellular change has occurred in the cornea which the immune system then recognizes as abnormal resulting in an immune mediated attack in the cornea almost as if the cornea was foreign or transplanted tissue. It is suspected that the German Shepherd has a genetic predisposition to this disease, but the damage to the cornea which starts everything is thought to be associated with ultraviolet radiation.  Today, Pannus is diagnosed worldwide, however it is well recognized that cases of Pannus are more severe and harder to treat in areas of higher elevation, supporting the UV radiation theory. It is hypothesized that dissipation of the ozone layer has resulted in greater exposure to ultraviolet radiation.  

 It makes sense then to treat Pannus with medications that locally suppress the immune reaction. Steroids (such as dexamethasone and Prednisolone) are anti-inflammatory medications, which provide some immunosupression as a side effect. Cyclosporine, is a drug which has immunosupression as it’s primary mode of action, and applied topically alone or in combination with steroids often results in better control of Pannus than the use of steroid alone.  Cyclosporine (1%) is used in the treatment of Pannus. With treatment, the active formation of blood vessels and new tissue often resolves, but the scarring and pigmentation may improve slowly or not at all.  

   

 Reduction of exposure to ultraviolet radiation is also helpful in the long term control of Pannus. Keeping the dog indoor during the sunniest part of the day; providing a doghouse shelter; or trying a specialty pair of canine sunglasses called Doggles may prove very helpful.

Since Pannus is an immune mediated disease, it is managed by treatment but not cured. Ongoing treatment for life is needed to maintain vision.

Doggles: blue-red-light blue-chrome-black-leopard-chrome..  what color to buy…  what color to buy??  Oh the decisions life throws at us!!  I think I like the blue!

No… they are not German Shepherds!

And it shows that I am not a TOTAL breed snob!!  (Double click for large screen)

Bernese Mountain Dog. Winnie. and Poodle. Grrif. getting acquainted!

Barn Hunt ….huh??

Does it have to do with dogs?  What the heck?  Of course, it has to do with dogs and not something to do with hunting barns!!  Check out the website:  Barn Hunt Association LLC  “The rat hunting game for all dogs!”  …huh?  RATS???   OK I said…  as long as I don’t have to actually hold the rats maybe I should check it out….  after all my dogs will chase and eat anything and so will Winnie!  Wait.. I don’t want them eating rats!  Well, not to worry..  they don’t EAT them, in fact, they don’t even touch them, they just hunt them… in a hard, HARD PVC tube, and, in fact, they don’t even chase them.  They HUNT them in a barn..  BARN HUNT… duh..

Off to the first training…  Jake, Brita and Winnie. 

• Brita:  SO excited she could hardly contain herself…  wait..  that’s Brita no matter what!  Brought her up to the start box and thought, she’s good at searching so let’s see what she does.  Silence, intense searching on the bales of straw.  Silence.  Over the tube with the rat. Over the empty tube. Over the tube with the paper that smells like the rat.  Nothing but more good searching..  hmmm..   Let’s show her the rat… More searching.  Put her back in the van. OH NO…  light bulb! No one told her what to search for!!!  Next time.
• Winnie:  ..the rat killer in her yard.  Piece of cake.  Nothing…  Show her the rat… Aww…  cute… she LIKES the rat.  Looks like we’ll need to do some work here.
• Jake:  Pretty excited – but then that’s Jake…  what to do?  Sniffing around…  WAIT – there is something ALIVE in this tube – I need to kill it!!!  … several times this happened..  “THIS is your dog”,  she said!   No, Jake, you can’t do a bark and hold on the nice lady!  No, Jake, you can’t take it back to the van with you.  “Out-down” became a very handy command.

Signed up Jake and Brita for the Instinct Test for the upcoming trial.

Second training went much like the first.  Put Winnie on hold until after the trial. Brita did the same good searching.  Jake was a wild-man.  Change the entries to Jake only – Instinct and Novice.

Trial day 5 days later. 

• Instinct test:  Only requirement is to pick the tube with the rat in rather than the others.  Piece of cake.  Rule #1 of trialing… make sure you walk your dog.  Handler error.  DQ.  Another lesson learned – you can’t hold the dog back in the start box by holding the scruff of the neck.  Glad I did this instinct thing to get ready.
• Novice:  Jake couldn’t be more excited but is containing himself ok.. it’s been worse.  Get him in the ring, hold him back by the chest, tell him to tunnel and he goes under the bales (required), finds one tube and passes over it, searches more with me just walking slowly around saying “where is it” occasionally,  He finds the tube between 2 bales and starts digging, pushes it out and pounces on it.  I take it and hold it up while telling him to get on the bales (required to jump on them at some point),  He jumps on the bales and them launches himself at the tube that the judge has now taken from me and (thank god!) misses.  I gather him up as I hear the spectators breathe a sign of relief (Hey it was the most excitement all day) and take him from the ring.  Total time: 1:33 – Qualified!  (2 minutes is allowed)

ok… We’re hooked and plans are underway for bales of straw and training in the yard!

 

Thank you Kay for taking the pictures!

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Dogs and digging!!

Dogs dig.  That’s just the way it is.

The key I think is to have them dig in the right places and on command. 

It started with Ari digging in water.  Every time he did I would very excitedly say DIG DIG!!  It didn’t take long before he learned what “DIG” meant!  Then came the sandbox…  took him there and told him to DIG again I’m sure he thought “oh my, how exciting!”  Easy as that!  Built him a 12 x 12 diggers paradise sandbox!  He continued to think it was the greatest thing to do whether it was sand or water.  Eventually the pool turned into a sandbox and I learned that cutting the bottom out was a smart thing to do!

Now I have 2 diggers and am excited about that..  they chase each other to the sandbox and take turns digging.  Brita was not too much of a digger until she saw how much fun it was so she started too.  Jake picked it up instantly and now he helps me around the years…  I get the shovel out and he comes running.  Also, I learned that he loved to dig and pull out buckthorn trees which are invasive.  Apparently, the roots have a unique smell because he will dig and put his nose in the dirt, take a deep sniff and if it is a buckthorn will start digging and then pull it out by the roots….  the bigger the better, here’s another post! 

Now their sandbox is the former pool…  it’s perfect!   It has become the place of choice to hang out when we’re just hanging in the yard!

And finally..  remember I said cut the bottom out…  well here is what happened if you don’t….  sand…  rain… no where to drain  =  mud!

    

 

 

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New footballs!!!

Well, Yes…

…  I did think he was going to go through the window after the squirrel -  but in his defense, the squirrel started it… 

Remembering Teddy Edward

 Click here to go to Teddy's website.

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What do they have in common?

Ok…  what do the following have in common?

• a mouse
• a chipmunk
• a squirrel
• a garden snake
• a possum
• a bluejay
• a mourning dove

They have all ended up dead on the floor inside my house….

…..thank you Jake!

As least now I can tell him to “get it” and “take it out” as I’m opening the door!

….and he does!

 

Racoon…. or Brita??

Look to our dogs….

…..as role models once again…

Happy New Year 2013!

He slept like this….

Yep… when I woke up this is how I found him in the bean bag chair…. and Brita was there to clean his face…

It’s morning and light out…

omg … it’s still snowing…  been for 2 days..  sure we’re only going to get an inch or 2!  The snow “storm” has a name now so we got way more than that!! 

Sure is pretty though…  very light and fluffy!!

 

UPDATE:  9am  …Jake is not so thrilled… he will be when I go out with him!

 

later in the day….  ok..  it can stop snowing anytime now…

 

Merry Christmas 2012

 

Ari…. it’s been 3 years….

So I bought a red balloon and ceremoniously released it from the rear of the yard that was one of Ari’s favorite places to bark at whatever was driving down the lane to the neighbors.  Jake barked at the balloon until it was out of sight.  It was a good thing to do…..

 Click here to go to Ari's website.

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Hmmm…..

….wonder what he wants….

 

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What a difference a year makes…

….no wait… 10 months – not a year!  COPPER – 2 months and 11 months!!

 

 

 

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More snow pictures!