Protein is the New Black

We've all heard that protein is good. Protein will make you lose weight, it will help you build muscle, it will keep you from being hungry, and has apparently other magical qualities as well. Properly trained, it could likely do my taxes and cure cancer. Vegetarians and vegans scoff at these claims, and meat-lovers embrace them.

Every label at the store wants to claim some sort of protein content, since all of us are keeping an eye out for high gram counts of the nutrient. I remember when low fat and sugar-free were what we were looking for at the grocery store, but now those nutritional values mean nothing. You can have all the fat you want as long as there is a ton of protein! Yay! High fructose corn syrup? Bring it! I think that stuff was off limits for about 10 minutes, nowhere near the legendary run of "low fat," but maybe next time. Sugar is, once it gets in your stomach, sugar.

I cannot forget carbs, and who could? Unlike protein, apparently this stuff collects your taxes and causes cancer. Many may even be unaware that "carbs" stands for carbohydrates, so intimately close are we to the evil stuff that we stick to first names only. Keeping carbs out of your diet is a full time job for many modern folks, so sure are we that it is responsible for everything going wrong in our lives.

How do these dietary trends get going? Eat eggs! Don't eat eggs! Caffeine is bad! Caffeine is heart healthy! Wine is for drunks and losers! Wine is good for longevity! Don't even get me started on chocolate.

I have alternatively embraced and rejected the protein/carbohydrate game. For a while I cut carbs almost completely out of my diet, focusing on protein, though not a single pound was lost after 3 months. Gave that up and concentrated on lowering my caloric intake and making sure I worked out every day. That seems to suit my lifestyle very well, but, again, not a budge in my weight. No junk food, no fast food, no sweets, those things are easy for me because I don't crave them, and I don't overeat, so occasional lean proteins, whole grains, fruits and lots of veggies, along with some pasta and rice and 1200-grain breads seemed like a healthy way to eat, right? Well, maybe, but I'm still 50 pounds overweight. Hmm. Nothing is easy for this gal.

I know people who have atrocious (to me) diets, filled with processed foods and fast foods, yet they remain slim. I know other people who didn't change their diets at all but started walking for 30 minutes 5 days a week and dropped 40 pounds. I've been huffing and puffing 4 miles away in just under an hour for 10 years, 5-6 days a week, and still managed to gain weight. No fair.

I am so tired of looking at labels and counting grams of this and that, but apparently that is what I need to continue doing. I saw an endocrinologist who specializes in metabolism and weight loss, and he explained that, unfortunately, with my body type I have a metabolism that is too efficient, and will only slow down as I approach menopause. He told me the story of a patient of his (I guess I believe him?) who had surgery done on an ulcer in her stomach years ago, which apparently involved cutting a nerve that signals hunger. Thereafter she has no sensation of hunger or satiation, ever. She skipped breakfast and lunch and ate dinner with her family because it is a social activity and she knew she had to eat sometime, though she never felt hungry and didn't really enjoy the taste of food. She weighed 440 pounds. Huh? (Do I still believe him?)

He said that in certain individuals, females in middle age most commonly, the metabolism slows to a crawl and exercise is not going to change it. In ancient times this would serve you well, as your ability to hunt and gather was reduced, and in lean times you could live off fat stores and require less nutrition. These days not so much. The lady in question had lost 100 pounds simply by eating protein three times a day, according to the doctor. This case report was, of course, meant to inspire me but I'm having trouble with it. I'm sure she has a bizarre physiology responsible for this kind of crazy weight gain with so few calories. I had always thought that obese people needed way more calories to keep going every day than the healthy weight person. Go figure....

The doctor looked at my food journal and liked the fact that I don't overeat and I don't eat junk or fast food, but he said I was not getting enough protein. Curses! My nemesis rears its ugly head once again! He said I need at least 30 grams of protein 3 times a day. Yuk. Some mornings I can eat an egg or two, but that is not getting anywhere near into 30 gram territory, and many mornings the thought of eggs or meat makes my stomach churn. My typical breakfast would be the aforementioned 1200-grain bread (if you can point me in the direction of bread that has more grains than 1200 I'd appreciate it) with natural peanut butter on it for my stoopid protein. So noble felt I! A wholesome breakfast with a ton of fiber and no sugar. Wrong - I'd have to eat a whole jar of said peanut butter to get the protein I'm apparently lacking.

People have said to me, "Liz, you're not eating enough and that's why you're overweight." This is what my doc is telling me, except I'm not eating enough PROTEIN. So, that's why anorexics are so fat? That's why models are thin - they're eating gobs of protein 3 times a day? I think not! Don't eat and you won't be fat. This concept of eating more to boost your metabolism is counter intuitive, but my healthy diet and exercise program I've been on isn't helping, either.

So, I'll give it a try. I can drink a protein shake in the morning (much easier to stomach) and use protein bars and powders to up the numbers. I'll continue my walking/jogging routine. I think it boils down to body types and genetic predisposition. There are skinny people who will be skinny no matter what they do, and chubby folks who stress and obsess and restrict themselves with no results. I was never heavy in my life until I hit 40, so the weight gain has been hard to take, but I can see that my body is slowing down and that will only get worse, so I need to try something else. We shall see.

Protein is, apparently, the answer, for now, and I guess I'll quit fighting it. If I get results then I'll be convinced, of course, but by then scientists will publish papers telling us that high protein diets shorten our lifespans, and magnesium deficiency is killing our country. The Cheese Diet will be all the rage, and protein will go the way of 8-track tapes. If you don't know what 8-track tapes are, you'll have to read my blog from 1978. Wait. I think they were called "articles" back then......

Kids and Dogs. What was it W.C. Fields said?

Never work with them, I think it was. There is some debate as to whether he actually said that, but for me, kids and dogs are ALL I seem to work with. They do tend to upstage me, as well, but that's not a problem, usually!

Back to school time and things are going pretty smoothly. This year the twins have quite a few of the same classes, and even a couple of the same teachers. Next semester they will also have one class together, which will be the first time since preschool. Our county school system typically separates twins, and care has always been taken in this regard, but I think at this point there is no deleterious effect to them being together in a class or two, and it can really help. Yesterday they were able to study for a geography quiz together and I think they actually enjoyed it. Each has her own way of learning, and her own strengths, so one can benefit from the other.

They're also much better this year about getting themselves up and ready for school without a lot of prompting and yelling (on my part), which seemed to be the norm last year. They're getting more responsible and taking care of things themselves more effectively.

They're also starting to "turn," as I like to call it, like that banana on the counter that one minute is perfect, smooth yellow, sweet and slightly firm, and the next time you glance over at it there are brown bruises and it has begun the process of turning to mush. These girls aren't turning to mush, but I will be once they fully transform into teenagers. For the most part they are what I would consider a bit behind their peers, since most of the other 7th graders have already transformed into the eye rolling, demanding, disgruntled and entitled charmers that we know and love anyway. Mine still have that sweet, innocent and optimistic attitude, most of the time, that is the hallmark of the young child, delighting in simple fun and still thinking their parents are awesome. Occasionally, however, the Mask of the Teen drops upon their countenances and they act like spoiled and resentful brats. I don't hesitate to point it out, which may or may not be the best way to handle it, but it is inevitable and we'll just have to roll with it. A couple of trips to the soup kitchen or free clinic ought to reset their compasses a bit when necessary. They really need to appreciate all the wonderful opportunities and advantages they have in life.

They're changing physically quite a bit as well, and I'm sure this is bringing its own issues to their not fully mature personalities. This is an important time in a girl's life and can really have an impact on how they will be as adults, I believe.

The dogs are, well, very prominent members of our household, and much of our lives revolve around these beasts. Sirius is, unfortunately, kept on the back screen porch during the day while we're at work, with a large bucket of water and a comfy bed, as well as a fan on warm days. The porch has a doggy door so he can come and go as he pleases, since he is not reliable when it comes to his bowels these days. He tends to avoid moving his bowels, and when he has to go he has to GO and often won't even make it all the way outside if he's in the house. This is not a problem when we're home, since we're all cognizant of this and run him outside frequently, but overnight and during the day we don't have this ability. At night we leave the sliding glass door open for him to go out when he needs to, and we've resigned ourselves to purchasing a sliding glass door insert that has a doggy door built in. As the weather gets colder we won't be able to leave a door open for him, so this is going to have to be the solution. It will be convenient for the dogs to be able to come and go as they please as well.

Busa is a very "different" dog for us. He is easy to take care of, obedient and happy go lucky, and though he has been known to bring you a sock, not chewed but a little damp, he doesn't get into mischief. He is like a shadow, and for his size that can be a problem, since he wants to accompany me into the powder room off the kitchen, which is impossible, though he doesn't think so. He has learned not to bust past me on the stairs, which could be a hazard for sure, but when I'm in my office chair I have to be careful when I turn around to leave, because he'll be right there under my feet. He is quite LONG and narrow, but he has put on weight, finally, and is filling out nicely. I'm sure he's pushing 100 pounds now, as compared to the rail thin 82 or 84 pounds he was when we got him. At 31.5" at the shoulder you can imagine how lanky this dog is.

We brought him to Mobjack Bay a couple of weeks ago to see how he'd do in the water, and he went right in, without hesitating. He wanted to leap around rather than swim, but the girls walked him out to deeper water (it was low tide) to see if he would swim. He did, but he's not very good at it and tires easily. I think his legs are so skinny and long that he doesn't have a lot of power to move through the water, but I think he can be conditioned to do it. I was impressed at how comfortable he was, like he'd been swimming in the bay all his life. He's definitely building confidence.

He was off lead the whole day and that was no problem since he is unwilling to have you out of his sight, and if he gets distracted by something all you have to do is call his name and he is tearing back to you at full speed. Recall is not a problem with this dog. We wandered over to my cousins' cottage, just a few properties down the shore from ours, and Busa came with me, off lead. There was quite a welcoming committee. A total of 9 dogs were all upon him immediately, barking, snarling, growling, hackles, sniffing, yelping, etc. Several of the dogs were not happy at all that he had arrived, but he did not react at all to such a large pack. He just waited for them to be done checking him out, and it didn't take long for them to settle down, and thereafter he just poked around the yard and seemed quite relaxed.

Many of my cousins were there, and some of their children as well, along with their children's friends, so there were quite a few people standing around as well, and he had no problems. Don't forget, he has some problems meeting new people and can growl and give hackles to people he has not met before. This is how he behaves out in public quite often, so people cannot come up and pet him, typically. He is very striking in appearance and he attracts a lot of attention, but we always ask people not to approach him until he is less nervous. So, I was impressed with how he did not react at all to my family. This gave me a false sense of security for sure! I think, like with the dogs, there were simply too many new people all standing around for him to get nervous about any one person, and he was, as they describe it in dog training, "flooded" with the stimuli and therefore unable to react negatively.

The next day R and I took him to Crump Park, which has a huge open field in the center, football field in size, which is just short grass, and we thought we'd play fetch with him there. We have a tennis ball chucker device that can really send a ball a long way, and this dog loves to fetch, and loves to run, so what could be better? There was no one there at all except one man with his very young son of about 5 or 6, packing up after apparently shooting off model rockets. Busa was chasing the ball as the pair were walking away, and he suddenly rushed over to them, full hackles and barking his head off aggressively at them, charging them. Yikes! We reacted very strongly to this behavior and let him know that this was NOT COOL, and we left - game over. Wah.

I can't explain why he reacted to them that way, but obviously we have some work to do on this. Fear aggression? Protectiveness? Territorial? I can't really say that any one of those things would explain this particular incident, since the pair were walking away and were about as threatening as a loaf of bread, and were not behaving in a challenging way - they were not even paying any attention to us. We had just arrived at this park, Busa's first visit there, so he could not have felt territorial. I think Cesar Millan said something once about a dog not giving "permission" for the person to leave the area, and that is the cause of this type of reaction in some cases, but that seems strange and I don't really buy into that - it doesn't make sense to me, but I'm not a dog.

We have him signed up to start basic obedience classes this Friday, since we've been waiting for the next round of classes to start up. I'm worried he's going to growl and snarl at the trainer or at other dog owners, and we'll be thrown out of class, but I guess that's why we're bringing him. We have attended many, many of these classes with the various dogs we've had, bringing them through the puppy classes, basic obedience and then Canine Good Citizen in Major's case, so we know the drill, know the commands, know the procedures. However, this is the first (nearly) adult dog I've brought to class and one with some issues. He has never literally attacked anyone physically or bitten, but he sends the signals and I'm not comfortable with that. We know how to train a dog but he needs to attend these classes and work on skills that will help build his confidence.

He is a large and imposing looking dog and I want him to be able to be out in public without reacting to anyone. I don't need him to be everyone's best friend, and in fact I like that he's cautious when meting new people, since some people do not have good intentions and they will not be able to get past him if it comes to that. I'm fine explaining to people that they cannot simply walk up to my dog, a dog they've never met, and pet him right off the bat, but I expect him not to growl and put up his hackles at everyone.

I have consulted with experienced Great Dane and German Shepherd Dog owners who say that he may never get over this particular issue completely, most never do, apparently, but that I ought to be able to work with him and improve things. I can say that he has improved a lot since we first got him, when he was terrified at every new experience and every new place we went. I think if we'd have tried going to the Bay then things would not have gone nearly as well, and he may have been permanently averse to going there because of it.

He is a different dog for our family but everyone just adores him. Fortunately, Sirius seems to get along well with him also, but Busa is trying to assert himself more with Sirius these days, whether because he senses Sirius' illness or because he is a pushy teenage dog who wants to try his hand at being the boss dog. We're giving Sirius extra attention, and he gets to come up on the sofa from time to time, where Busa does not. He's still the old man of the house and though we do have to exclude him at night he still holds a higher rank.

Here's a gif of Busa and his buddy, Casey the beagle mix at Mobjack Bay.

I Should Have Called It The Dog Blog

Here I am again, blogging about the dogs. They seem to occupy much of my family's time and energy, and they get a lot of attention. 

We've got the two big dogs (well, they don't seem that big to us but that's what people say...), Sirius and Busa. 

To review, Sirius is a 6.5-year-old Great Dane and Rottweiler mix, half and half, who has recently been diagnosed with colon cancer, and is really slowing down these days. He had the cancer resected but it is not eliminated and we're just going to keep him comfortable until that is no longer possible. Currently he seems to have some discomfort in the region of his hind end, and this causes some degree of incontinence, so we have to take him out every few hours. He moves his bowels okay and does not have diarrhea or constipation, but he definitely waits as long as possible before going out to do his business. He urinates quite a bit, though. 

We had a complete workup for frequent urination that came back negative, as described in previous posts, and we finally discovered a pattern once his rectal tumor was discovered, since it blocked his anal glands and caused infection there. When he was inflamed in that region he could not hold his urine, and when he was not inflamed he could hold it all day. 

He had surgery to remove the tumor and he did pretty well for a while, but now he's back to his old pattern of needing to go outside about every 3 hours, day and night. This is, of course, not fun for me because I have to get up in the night with him to run him outside, but you do what you have to do, right? He will not cry out or bark to be let out, but will simply go wherever he is. Sigh. 

Busa is our Great Dane and German Shepherd Dog mix, also half and half, and he's shaping up nicely. We've had him a month and we're delighted to discover that he's a very sharp and attentive pup at 9 months of age. It is not to say that our previous dogs were not smart, but he is the first dog we've had that really wanted to please us. He's like a shadow, and is always staring into your eyes, waiting for instruction. He does not have to be shown something more than once or twice before he has learned the skill, so you have to be careful to be consistent and not send him the wrong cues accidentally - he's always paying attention. This is the GSD in him, I think! Our bullmastiffs would learn things and were well trained, but they'd just rather be sleeping. Busa never seems to sleep. If he's not in his crate he's pacing around the house, looking for someone to play with him. He has yet to get into any mischief so far, other than stealing one of the girls little footie socks, but otherwise no adventures with the kitchen trash or destruction of anything we didn't mean for him to have. Wait, I take that back - he got a Chapstick once about a week after we'd had him and the girls had not been paying attention. He chewed the top off.

We have been working on his fear aggression, and I have to say we've made quite a bit of progress. We backed off on the socialization over the past two weeks or so, to give him a chance to gain confidence at home and learn to trust us more, and this has apparently served him well. We took him out this weekend and he did much better than in the past, without becoming alarmed at people approaching us, and even tolerating a trip to an outdoor street festival, with crowds, loud music and other dogs. He was not overly friendly, but he did not get his hackles up or growl, except in one case when he was mobbed suddenly. I don't really blame him for that. We are learning his cues and blocking unwanted attention, which builds his trust in us, and this will lead to more confidence in himself. 

We were going to my sister's house for dinner, and since we frequently spend time at each other's houses I brought Busa along. She lives a half-mile away, so I often ride my bike to her house, and decided, on a whim, to ride over with Busa on lead. Many dogs are afraid of bikes and I had no idea if he'd been exposed to them or not, but I decided to try. I pulled my bike out, got on, and with him on lead started riding. He trotted along beside me the whole way without a second thought, like he'd been doing it his whole life. Whew! 

I had an incident with Sirius on my bike a few years ago, where he saw a cat or something and decided to chase it, while I'm riding down the road holding his leash. Unfortunately, the object of his attention was on the right side of the road, and I ride with the dog on the left. He took a direct route in front of my rolling bike, and we both went down, tangled up. I wasn't hurt, but that was a miracle, considering he's pushing 130 pounds. I have seen no prey drive issues with Busa so far, in that on walks and out in public he seems to be able to ignore dogs that bark at him, as well as cats that he sees, so hopefully we won't have any accidents like the one with Sirius. 

We noticed that while he trots he has a "sidewinder" gait, or a crabbing sort of body orientation. He moves straight ahead, but his hind end is at an oblique angle to his shoulders, so his left rear foot lines up with his right front foot. It is odd to see from behind. Apparently dogs who are at a gangly stage, and he is definitely the very epitome of gangly, can get this kind of gait due to their hind end being a bit higher than their shoulders, so their front and rear legs are not moving together well, or their hind legs may even hit their front legs as they move, causing them to shift sideways a bit. He may grow out of it, and I hope this is not an indication of a physical defect like hip dysplasia. I'll bring it up at his next vet visit. 

We will get Busa in to a basic obedience class in a couple of weeks, which will be good for him. At first I wanted to get him going in classes immediately, but the local classes had already started and we missed the boat with the trainers we trust. Now I'm glad that we had a delay, because it has given him a chance to get to know us and get comfortable with our leadership, and gain confidence in general. I think he'll be less nervous, which will translate to more effective lessons and more valuable socialization time. We have been to so many obedience classes that we know the drill already, and have taught him quite a few basic commands and behaviors, but it is good for the dog and for us to go through these group lessons. I hope to get him his CGC, or Canine Good Citizen certification once we work with him a bit more. 

Oh, and yes, I DO have children and I DO adore them and marvel at their every move, but I prefer to let them have their privacy when I can, and don't want to blog about every adorable thing they do. They'll really appreciate this later....  

Hey, Boo Boo!

Boo, a.k.a. Busa,  had a vet visit today, his first with us. He is up to date on all of his shots but we wanted to have him looked over and be sure he's healthy and has no occult problems that we need to know about, like a heart murmur, ear infection (now THAT would be a big problem, lol.....) etc. He also needed a bordetella vaccine so he can start obedience classes. 

Well, as we've noticed with him, he's not readily accepting of strangers. When new people try to interact with him he growls and hackles go up. Nothing terribly aggressive, but he is obviously fearful of new people. We have learned this about him over the past 10 days or so we've had him, and we're working on it by bringing him all over the place, to parks and neighborhoods and any business that will let a dog in, and exposing him to a broad range of people and animals. We aren't trying to have him actually meet or be petted by strangers, or have him actually meet other dogs, but just walk among them and be exposed, and gain some trust in us and confidence in himself. It won't be an overnight fix, but we are prepared to handle it. 

This is basically all we did at the vet. We went into a room and he was fine with the vet tech who brought us in, since she did not try to pet him but gave him his distance, but when the vet and another tech entered he growled and was immediately suspicious, hackles up, and moved against me. Fortunately, the vet recognized this as fear aggression and she spent the next 30 minutes warming up to him with a large quantity of peanut butter. She asked one of the two techs to leave so there would not be so many people to worry about. It took some time, but he gradually came around, and was actually affectionate with the vet and enjoyed her petting him.

She felt, and I agreed and wanted to suggest it, that we should not try to give him the bordetella today, since it is delivered intranasally and she'd have to hold his head back to do it, which he might not appreciate. I will bring him by tomorrow afternoon just for a meet and greet in the lobby, so the staff can fuss over him and give him treats, then bring him again on Friday afternoon for the same procedure, but then hopefully he'll accept her looking him over and administering the vaccine. 

In our experience, once he gets to know someone then he is very affectionate and loving, and will accept verbal correction and physical handling without any quarrel, so we're hoping he'll feel comfortable by Friday. We're trying not to imprint a negative experience at the vet, and if we'd moved too fast I'm sure that would have happened, and he'd forever be anxious and hard to handle when we're there. 

Otherwise, he's now 85.7 pounds, up from 82, and she wants him to eat more - he's a little too skinny for his height, and he lacks some muscle development that she expects to see from a dog of his age and size. We're giving him 3 cups of Taste of the Wild Grain Free kibble twice daily, since he won't eat more than that, and she recommends a mid-day meal of about 2 cups. He's still growing, and he'll need more food. Right now he's 30" at the shoulder but she said he'll get taller, and of course fill out quite a bit, for an adult weight of about 130. That's about what Sirius is (Sirius is exactly 30" at the shoulder) and he seems to be built very much like him, though Sirius wasn't so lanky and gangly when we got him. 

I'm giving him much more exercise than he was getting, so that will help with muscle development. We walk a couple of miles in the evening, these days not until about 9 p.m. because that is as cool as it will get before my bedtime, and then 4 miles early in the morning. Once it is not approaching 100 degrees F during the day I think we'll have more outings, but many dogs go off their feed a bit and are less active when it is this hot. He also fetches beautifully, and with the ball throwing stick we got we can really launch it a long way for him. 

I must assume that this fearfulness is why the previous family decided to rehome him. If you aren't experienced training dogs, and experienced with large dogs as well, I can see that this might be daunting, and even scary when you have a baby in the house. We know what needs to be done and we are prepared to manage it and work him through some of this, though we also recognize that at his age he'll likely always take some time to warm up to people. 

We don't have a problem with aloofness, and, in fact, I'd almost prefer my dogs to evaluate and assess a person before they love all over them. We'd like the person breaking into our home not be slobbered and licked to death as they rob us blind, after all. What I don't want is fearfulness, and fear aggression. Confidence and trust in his owners is the answer to that problem. I need to realize that we have not had him but a matter of days, and he's already quite attached to our family, and is already protective of us, but he really doesn't have enough experience in our world to fully trust us and be confident. I think with a lot of exposure as well as a good obedience class or two he'll come around and be a great dog for us. He already is, but we just have a little tweaking to do. 

Colorectal Carci-No-No

The diagnosis is in for Sirius the 6.5-year-old Great Dane/Rottweiler mix. His rectal tumor came back as invasive carcinoma. Our canine capers just don't end, do they?

I did not like the looks of it when I saw it, but I was looking at it from a human perspective, and I wasn't sure if it was something more typical in dogs. It isn't, and this type of cancer is not terribly common in canines. 

So, based on the literature his prognosis is for another two years, which is not too shabby, especially considering the typical lifespan of a giant breed dog, but we certainly didn't expect this. The vet wants to check him every 2-3 months to see if there is any recurrence, and handle it surgically. This is not anything that would be treated by chemotherapy. 

We will, at some point, have to decide how much intervention we wish to do for him, and I am of two minds on the issue. I have always said I would not go to heroic efforts to save an animal, considering that they won't understand why they are always at the vet, always feel ill, having anesthesia and recovering from surgery, but at the same time you love your pet and don't want to lose them. 

I remember clearly when Stella died, and she knew she was dying; and all she wanted in the world was to go off to the most remote part of our wooded back yard to be alone. She did not want us to hold her or comfort her at all. I think animals have a better understanding and acceptance of death and they don't fear it and don't have emotions wrapped up in it. It is a normal aspect of being on this planet. The comforting is a human behavior, and is for us more than for them - we can't help it! 

We will simply have to play it by ear and do what we can to keep him comfortable if it comes back. We can't know if it has invaded or spread, since the pathologist did not provide information about the margins of the tumor, which annoys me. Maybe in the veterinary world they don't typically ask for margins (a determination of whether there are healthy cells surrounding the malignant ones to indicate that all of it was removed) but in my line of work margins are the basis for decisions on whether or not further treatment is indicated. 

In this case the vet will simply monitor the area and check for recurrence, and handle it surgically if so. She mentioned an "extremely radical" surgery would need to be done if it recurs, and I'm not sure I'm up for that - a dog with a colostomy? I don't think so! We'll see how it goes and cross each bridge as we get to it. 

We are obviously gluttons for punishment, with our new large breed addition to the family, but in spite of their issues we love having them. Our entire family has perked up noticeably since Boo has joined us, and even Sirius is more lively. We will soldier on!

Butt Out!

Sirius is at the vet's office this morning having surgery to remove a rectal tumor, which is a small thing, probably benign. It is apparently interfering with him evacuating his anal glands properly, leading to recurrent anal gland infections. He's a mess back there!

I have posted previously about Sirius and some excessive drinking and peeing. When I go back and review my journal entries and my vet records, I see a pattern here. When his anal glands are infected and he is in pain, he is incontinent. When we put him on antibiotics and clear things up, he is not incontinent. For the past couple of weeks since we scheduled surgery I have had him on antibiotics and he has had absolutely no problems with peeing in the house, either in his crate or on the floor. Previously, when we did not realize he had an infection, he was peeing on himself in his crate, peeing on the floor, and when his pain was at its worst, right when we started antibiotics, he wouldn't even bother to ask to go out, and once did not even go out the open door to the outside to pee. 

He has had an extensive workup for his kidneys and everything is completely normal, so I think I have stumbled upon the reason. We will see how he does after surgery. I am concerned about how you manage a large dog like this with stitches in his rectum, and a wound in a dirty location that can't be kept completely clean. It would be easier if it was on his trunk or on a limb, which could be dressed or wrapped and protected from dirt, but this is not the case. I guess he'll be on some kind of special diet, perhaps. 

Fingers crossed - poor fellow!

Did you Hear That?

Meet Busa

Busa is our new addition to the family. He is an 8-month-old Great Dane/German Shepherd mix we adopted from a young family who was unable to give him much of their time. He is neutered and up to date on his immunizations, and was very well cared for. The family adopted him as a baby from an accidental breeding of a female Great Dane with a nearby male German Shepherd, so he has known only one family in his life so far. He is 30" at the shoulder and weighs only 82 pounds, so he's pretty thin and lanky. He is very playful, but not too much so, and seems to have no problem issues that we need to address. 

He is named after the Hayabusa  motorcycle, the fastest production bike in the world, and though we can't really relate to this affinity of his previous owner, he responds to it and it is the only name he's ever known. When we rescued Sirius he was picked up as a stray, so nobody had any idea what his name might have been, and in that case you can freely choose something that suits you, but since we have had to call Busa and get his attention right away, it seemed simplest to use his name. We often call him Boo for short, and he answers to that as well.
Did you notice the ears? I sure did, and that's what got my attention when I was browsing through Craig's List looking for ads for aquariums and aquarium fish, which I then post on my fish club forum. We have quite a few Hampton Roads members, and a sister club there, so I usually check the Norfolk CL page, and there was Busa. I have experience with Great Dane mixes (our Sirius is half Great Dane and half Rottweiler) so he really caught my eye, and I could not stop laughing at his ears. I kept returning to his page, and finally contacted the owners.
I didn't really think it would come to anything, Craig's List being Craig's List, with all the crazy people who lie and try to rob you, trick you into paying for something you don't get, or, common in the pet section, "flip" animals for profit. People will find free dogs, then repost them for a fee of $300 and higher, like a part time job. You really have to be on your toes to use Craig's List, and I was not optimistic. I figured they'd get a lot of responses, with his unique looks, and me being 90 minutes away from Norfolk would put me at the bottom of the list. I also assumed there'd be a big fee that would take me out of the running.
However, none of these things turned out to be the case. This is a young couple who have a baby and demanding jobs, so they are away a lot, and the babysitter doesn't like big dogs so Busa was crated more than they wanted. They were not interested in financial gain, and even gave us his crate. They simply wanted him to go to a home where he would not have to be locked up constantly and would be played with and loved. I guess they liked my responses and we set up a meeting in Newport News at a park.
We liked his energy right away. He is not skittish or nervous, but curious and active, though a little aloof at first. He doesn't rush over and love all over you, in other words, and I kind of liked that about him. I know plenty of dogs that jump up on you and lick you when they see you, and though I do, of course, want my pet to like me and seek attention, I don't want to be accosted. The couple was surprised that he didn't bark or chuff at us a little when he got out of the car, because usually he is a little hesitant when he sees new people, but he just accepted us right away, though he was not overly demonstrative. We hung out a while, talking, and they showed us his baby pictures and pictures of him with other dogs and their baby.
We wound up taking him home, and introduced him to our Dane, Sirius. Sirius is not exactly thrilled, let's say, but there have been no issues and no fighting. They are cordial. I thought he'd like Busa a lot, since they both have the same type of energy, and, in fact, Busa reminds me of Sirius when we first got him, since he was also about 9 months old at the time. Busa is very "daney" and so is Sirius. In fact, when we first got Sirius our vet thought he was pure Dane, though the rescue, Mid Atlantic Great Dane Rescue, was not sure.
So, now we're going on the third day of ownership, and it is going well. He is very well behaved and eager to please, is very well potty trained and does not guard food or toys. He doesn't get in the trash or chew your shoes, and he doesn't get up on the furniture, though the owners said he would. He chews the heavy sterilized bones we have lying around, and plays tug with his rope. He needs training for the basics, like sit and stay and such, but he's amenable and a happy-go-lucky type dog for the most part. He's very attached to his people, and is taking to our family quite well. He plays fetch as long as you're willing to throw the ball, but he's not obsessed with his ball like some fetching dogs can be. We love that he fetches, since we have never had a dog that was willing to retrieve a ball more than once.
We have taken him out every day so far, going to the pet store and the park, and are trying to keep him socialized, since we're not entirely sure how much exposure he has had. He seems pretty well socialized but he got anxious when we went to PetCo and there were rows of crates with barking rescue dogs, and a bit of chaos. We hung out a bit until he relaxed. We'll start basic obedience classes next week, I hope - we don't want to wait on that, but get him going with training right away. We didn't do that with Sirius because, like Busa, he was already trained in many ways and we felt like he was good to go, and now he has some impulse control and overexcitement issues that we're dealing with, almost six years later. We wish we'd have taken Sirius to class when we first got him, like we have done with our very young pups.
The only problem we've got right now is that he's not interested in eating much, but we've put a lot on him with the move to a new home and taking him all over the place this weekend. He needs to get settled into a routine, and I think this week we'll accomplish that, since my husband and I will be working every day, and the schedule of morning and evening walks with the predictable timetable will help him. Maybe we should have let him settle in before dragging him around town, but I feel strongly that exposure to many social situations is important at this age. I want him to be accustomed to riding in the car and going here and there, and seeing all types of people, young to old, of all races and wearing hats, carrying umbrellas, in wheelchairs, strollers, bikes and skateboards. I'm sure he'll start eating soon, but he's so skinny we are anxious for him to chow down.
Danes develop somewhat late so it is not unusual for young ones to be thin and lanky and get mistaken for greyhounds, as I've been told by a friend who owns and shows Great Danes. She thinks he'll fill out just fine in no time between now and age 2. However, being lean and fit is of great importance to large and giant breeds, since it is easier on their joints as they grow.
He was apparently neutered at around 3 months of age, which I think is way too early, but the owner said his vet recommended it at the time. I much prefer to wait until the dog is 18 months old or so, giving them time to physically mature. Even 6 months would have been better, but what's done is done, and that is one less thing I'll need to worry about.
So, I'll bring him in to my vet for a general checkup and be sure there are no health issues, but he doesn't need any vaccinations until he turns 1 year of age at the end of October.
Today I took him along for my morning walk and he did very well, after we worked on leash training a bit yesterday. By the end of the walk he had greatly improved. He wants to do what you want him to do, and all you have to do is get him to understand what that is. His only leash experience has been on a Flexi leash, so he could range all around you while you walked. He automatically expects to be able to do that on a short lead and that means he tends to pull, but simple corrections seem to work very well.
We have two dogs in the house again and we are all very happy. We have a nice dog that is still young and trainable, but we don't have to deal with housebreaking or chewing or anything like that, which is nice.
Oh, and he'd better not pretend he did't hear us when we call him, either! 

Go, Speed Racer

Last night the family enjoyed an evening of indoor go-karting. We went to G-Force Karts, where I had a gift card received for Mother's Day. 

The nice thing, especially for us new to this thrilling activity, is that it was "family night," where each group has a period of time on the track by themselves, so you are racing against friends and/or family, and you don't have to worry about the experienced speed demons crashing into you. 

We registered, signed about a million waivers that give them the right to discard your crumpled remains, or let them sue you for staining their track with your blood.... I don't know; I didn't read them. Let's go RACIN'!  We actually said, "boogity boogity." 

We were gathered before a huge poster listing the rules, the meaning of all of the signals and flags that we might see during our race, and the track staff reviewed each point. We nodded in unison, not seeing any of the signs or flags, and not caring. Let's goooooo, lady. Pedal to the metal and get ahead of everyone - what's so hard about that?

We suited up in some (filthy, nasty, sweat-stained) awesome neck collars to protect you as your head whips around due to the MASSIVE motorcycle helmet you need to wear. Or, let's clarify, the MASSIVE helmets my entire family need to wear because of our oversized craniums (crania, actually). No worries! Who needs peripheral vision or the ability to see over your shoulder? Not us! Woo Hoo! 

The track cleared of the previous group of racers, we were assigned karts. The kids got the junior karts and us grownups got the adult size. Adjustments were made so that we were comfortable, and they started our mowers (um, motors) with the pull string. We were at last turned loose on the track! 

It. Was. Awesome. I really enjoy driving, and I enjoy driving much more when I can feel the machine and feel the road, which is not really possible in my living-room-on-wheels that is the Ford Expedition. I'm basically sitting on a sofa and steering the thing through traffic, which is great for road trips and transporting a group of people ("here, kids, watch this DVD!"), but it does not satisfy my need for the physical sensation of powering a machine through time and space. 

After a lap or two I got the feel and was able to really let loose, and felt the sensation of the G-forces around the turns, just like the name of the track suggests. The younger kids had never driven anything before, so there was a bit of a learning curve to operate the kart and figure out how to brake with the left foot and accelerate with the right, but they soon got the hang of it. Unfortunately, my husband was ahead of me out of the gate and I never caught him, though I tried. I kept getting stuck behind the slower kids, who blocked the track, and I had to maneuver carefully to get around them. In the end, R finished in first place, I was in second, our oldest in third, and the twins of course in the last two places. I was only 2 seconds behind R for the finish, but that really burned my toast! 

I am very (very) competitive, so this was a blast for me. I care about nothing other than catching and passing him, though I was able to quash that bitter aggression and not ram into the kids. I was getting a stomach ache from having to wait for them to get outta my way, but I really wanted to ram those little darlings! I think we were able to go about 30 mph, which to me seems slow but on an indoor hairpin turn track it was pretty darn zippy. Now I want to go back, and doing that every day would not be a problem for me. I'm actually sore in my arms today from gripping the wheel and making the turns, since at speed you really have to hold on. 

The facility could not be nicer, and when we were done we were given a printout of our performance (if I had known I was being clocked and evaluated like that I'd have tried harder - dang it!) and we got to take home our head socks. I wish we'd been given a neck sock, but oh well, that's what showers are for, right? We all wore our head socks in the car on the way home. Cuz that's how we roll. 

P.S. My dear R, love of my life, recognizes my need for speed and power, and I have to thank him for facilitating this passion of mine. After the race I was very pumped up and exhilarated, and he knows I love it. One year he gave me a Richard Petty Racing Experience, where I drove a NASCAR car at Richmond International Raceway, which was one of the most exciting things I've ever done, and I adored that, too. He's a doll and I'm lucky to have someone like him, who wants nothing more than for me to be happy. 

I Smell the Smelly Smell of Something Smelly

Sirius has, umm, issues with his bum. There's really no way to describe it without sounding juvenile or corny, but he has infected anal glands and a rectal tumor, which is likely the cause of his infected anal glands. 

I've had him to the new vet a couple of times for lab studies and a general checkup, where she discovered the infected gland issue. We had no idea this was going on, since he gave no indication other than an occasional whiff of that signature anal gland smell, which is fishy, musky, and I don't know what else, but gross. All of our dogs have had that smell from time to time, and they go out and poop and that's the end of it. Well, his problem was pretty severe, and it took 14 days of two separate antibiotics to battle it. Return for follow-up and now that the infection has cleared the vet found the very bloody and vascular tumor, which she showed me (thank you very much for that, Dr. B, I can't unsee things, now can I?). Actually, being a medical person I wanted to see it so I could get an idea of what he has going on, and it is maybe the size of a walnut and is quite bloody, and seems to be made up of blood vessels, or at least the surface is. 

I hope this is a benign mass or polyp, not terribly uncommon, but it is causing problems where it is and interfering with proper pooping, thus contributing to inadequate natural anal gland expression. 

So far I'm about $500 in with the vet from the initial visit and the follow-up visit, and the surgery will run us $1400 or so. This is not good, because I don't have the money. We had to spend $3000 on a rebuilt transmission for the Ford Focus, which is a car we rely on heavily for R's work and for an alternative to the Ford Expedition, which is, of course, a gas guzzler. So, we're tapped out money-wise but we really do need to get this surgery done for the poor boy somehow. 

Time to look around for something to sell, I guess (Not the kids! Shame on you!) and see how we can swing it. 

In a related story, Sirius' evaluation for kidney problems continues. The vet is convinced there is some sort of kidney damage, as evidenced by his extremely low specific gravity in the urine, even the first urine of the morning. She sent out his urine sample to some lab for more specific protein testing that she can't do, and maybe we'll find something. I'd certainly like to nip a problem in the bud, or at least mitigate further kidney damage with diet or something, since we don't want things to progress without us knowing about it, like they did with Major. Two dogs with kidney issues is very suspicious, and we just don't know what the association could be. 

This is a reminder to anyone considering a pet for the first time: they are expensive, and it is your responsibility to take care of them, just like human children. Big dogs like we have are even more expensive, since they eat more food, wear out giant dog beds quickly, their medications cost more, anesthesia for surgery costs more per pound, etc. 

That's why I must slap myself on the wrist every time I glance lovingly at the Tibetan Mastiff Rescue page on FB where they have puppies needing fostering. I would ADORE that - what a stunning breed - but I just can't swing it these days. Hopefully I'll be able to resist. We have loose plans to reserve a bullmastiff pup that will hopefully be whelped sometime around Thanksgiving, but we're waiting to see if the breeding is successful. 

Remain Calm but Bring the Dog in IMMEDIATELY...

The vet called late yesterday afternoon while I was making a grocery stop on my way home from work to give me lab results.

His thyroid is normal and his CBC is normal, but he was showing some elevated levels that indicated pancreatitis.  No worries, but she wanted me to bring him by in the "next 30 minutes" to get an additional blood test to rule out this serious ailment. 

In the words of our great president #43, George W. Bush, "Do Whut??" I was confused. When I think of pancreatitis, I think of humans and the dire illness and pain it causes. Sirius was fit as a fiddle! However, I was at a store only minutes from my home, and the vet's office is also only minutes from my home, so I collected him and brought him by. They whisked him back for a quick blood draw (he was "an angel" lol) and we waited. The blood test, CPLi, or canine pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity, came back negative. No pancreatitis for you, Sirius, but now we have a baseline and we can recheck his panels a couple of times a year and know if things slip into poor ranges.  

While we waited for the results in the empty corner lobby with windows all around, he spied one of the vet techs walking one of the dogs they have there for boarding or medical care, and he immediately went on point, staring, riveted at the dog across the parking lot. He is not to be distracted during times like this, and this is precisely the behavior that I'm trying to correct. You can call his name, make him sit, give him a treat, take his head and turn it away, etc. and he will not be shaken from his focus. I had to walk him to another area of the lobby and even then he's craning his neck and trying to get a look. 

What I need to do is to give him the reward he seeks and the satisfaction he gets from this behavior, because there is something rewarding to him, or some sort of stimulation he is looking for when he spies another dog, since he basically turns into a completely different animal and cannot be distracted. I need to train him to look to me for that reward instead. This is a natural dog training concept but it makes sense to me, though I'm no canine and the more I learn the more I realize I don't know about dogs. 

Onward and upward...

A Very Sirius Business

"I've got your "dog training" riiiiggghhht here...."

We got our (nearly) Great Dane, Sirius, from the Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue organization in late 2007, when we estimated Sirius to be about 9 months old. We figure him now to be 6, which is a good age for a Great Dane, but he's showing no signs whatsoever of slowing down, and we are sure he's mixed with something. 

Once we sent away for one of those canine DNA tests out of curiosity, and I'd have guessed Great Dane with either Doberman or pit bull, but it came back Great Dane and Rottweiler, about equal parts, and no other breeds. This really does not compute, but it was good enough for us. Does he look like a Rottie to you? Since then, I have read quite a bit about these tests, and if I send it away again to the same company I might get a different answer, and almost certainly will if I send away to a different company. That's okay - we are always being asked about his breed but we'll never really know for sure. 

We did not have to do much work with this dog when we got him, and now I realize this might have worked against us in the long run (the photo at the top is just for the ironic imagery, and is NOT the work of Sirius! Click on the text for the reference). He went right into a crate when we got him home from the rescue location about an hour away (I was a nervous wreck when I realized I never asked if he was crate trained! What if he wasn't? I rely on crates for dog training) and never had any accidents in the house. He got along with our bullmastiff wonderfully, and was a great addition to the house. He didn't do anything we didn't want, and if he did, one correction was enough to cure him forever. 

Over time, several years, he started to get more and more excitable when we would see other dogs out on walks. When we went to see him for the first time, he was not leash trained at all, and my husband was almost unable to hold him with a leash. I was ready to go home right then with no dog - it was a deal breaker for me. The rescue folks got out a Gentle Leader/Halti collar type device and that worked like a charm, and he was easy as pie to control. Whew! A very close call. 

Once on a walk he was dancing around in excitement about a dog he saw on leash and he shook his head just right and got out of the head collar. Another time he was able to bite right through it, like he had used scissors, while he was in the car on our way somewhere. I decided to switch to a choke chain, which is what I've always used with our bullmastiffs, enabling me to give short "corrections" that keep the dog under control; this is important with a 150 pound bully breed for sure, and has worked very well for me, so I figured it would work on this giant dog too. 

Well, work it did, but, unbeknownst to me, I was conditioning him to get more and more excited and upset at the sight of other dogs, since his behavior would be corrected with pain and my displeasure. At some point he was impossible to take out without his excitement level turning him almost "red zone" before we got out the door. He gets himself worked up in anticipation of just about anything.

In the house, this dog is the model citizen - probably the best behaved dog I've ever known. He does not counter surf (though with his height he could do so easily), does not take food from children, does not take food from the coffee table (I would not blame him for that, but we've come home from being gone and a sandwich was left by one of the kids on the coffee table, untouched). He does not get up on the sofa unless invited, and NEVER has used the sofa in our absence - he seems to have no desire to be on the sofa unless one of us is there too. You can call his name or simply snap your fingers and point, and he'll go lay down on his bed. I can stop him on a dime in the house. 

However, leaving the house became another story altogether. There were more than one instance where he was dancing and stepping on my feet, causing me to fall down at the sight of another dog, and one of the last times I took him out he reacted very badly to another dog that nipped at him as he was being walked by - Sirius was labeled the "bad dog" and I took him home. It used to be that we could take him to festivals and events where there would be a lot of dogs, "flooding" him with so many other dogs that he could not concentrate on one in particular, but that was no longer the case, and we had to leave him behind. 

There was also an incident where we were walking down the street and a very small stray dog (loose dogs are very rare in my neighborhood) that was chasing us, barking and trying to nip at his face, and me unable to get us away, since that dog was loose and was running alongside us, determined to engage with Sirius, a 130-pound dog versus a 12-pound dog. Sirius bent down and picked up this little thing, shook it, and tossed it down. It got up and ran under a car, and fortunately I saw it several weeks later, apparently unharmed, but that was a big scare and alarmed me badly. If he had killed that dog, which he could have easily done, he would have been labeled a vicious animal and I'd have to muzzle him in public. It was not his fault, actually, and I don't really blame him, the little dog was biting at his face and would not leave him alone. 

Since then I've taken him out only to vet visits, and that is such a shame, and not fair to him. I tried a variety of methods to train him, but none of them had any lasting results. They'd work a time or two, but then he'd ignore them - excitement was the problem, and my own impatience was not helping. 

We recently lost our 3rd bullmastiff, Major, to a very sudden and terrible kidney failure (see prior post) and we now felt it was a good time to really focus on helping Sirius become a better dog in public, and have a more fulfilling life, able to go with us on our many outings to dog-friendly locations, as well as hiking and camping. I hate that it took the loss of Major to get me to take more decisive action, but it is hard to really focus and direct specific training when there is another dog in your way trying to get the treat or distract the student. No excuse, but it is the truth. Plus, we could take Major  absolutely anywhere and it was easy enough just to grab the "good dog" and leave the "bad dog" at home. *Sigh* Live and learn.

We hired a trainer, Janet Velenovsky, and have learned a lot since consulting with her. I knew that I had caused Sirius' problems, but I was not completely sure how. We now realize that Sirius is very "soft," and needs to be handled differently than we are accustomed to handling our dogs, after 20 years of owning stubborn and independent bully breeds, three bullmastiffs and one bulldog mix. You can't bully or be forceful with Sirius, as he gets confused and overreacts, and then tries to mitigate the "punishment" by trying to anticipate what you want, then you don't want that, and he gets confused and overstimulated. I needed to be able to control my dog, who could very easily overpower me and get away, being such a large dog, but the choke chain, then the prong collar, were doing nothing but aggravating him, and making him more anxious about leaving the house. If people can control 1000-pound horses with a head collar, then why not a 130-pound dog? He got out of the head collar once, but it was probably not fitted properly and I needed some handling lessons for myself. 

He needs to learn to focus on ME, or my husband, or whomever has the leash, and not be distracted by dogs approaching on walks. We needed to train him to face us on command, and over time he'd learn to trust us on leash. 

This training had mixed results, and I've had to backtrack a bit - this is why I say that maybe we should have done some basic training with him when we got him. We didn't think he needed any training, since he seemed trained already, but the simple routine of performing a command and receiving a treat is now enough to send him over the edge with excitement. Again, the excitement. He began to lunge and bite my hand with the treat in it, anticipating when he'd get it, and ignoring the exercise. Keep in mind that normally a treat does not send him over the edge - he will take his treat and go on about his business. However, this training exercise somehow made him anticipate getting the treat, and he loses his composure. 

Now we had to backtrack, as I mentioned, and teach him HOW to take a treat, and what is acceptable. After that, we start working on his training of specific behaviors. This is a slow process, but I will learn some patience in the process, no doubt. 

In the meantime, I have also purchased a head collar, a Halti this time (the first was a Gentle Leader) and we've been using it in the yard. It is working very well, and I think it fits his head in a way that will make him unable to shake it off. It also comes with a little snap strap that you attach to their regular collar, so in the introductory phase if they shake it off you'll still be attached to their collar so you can get hold of the dog. This snap is not strong enough to hold him, but it will buy me a second or two to grab the collar. 

I have also purchased a spray can of citronella, designed to be used on dogs, so if a stray dog approaches us with aggression I can spray towards the dog and chase it off with the strong and unpleasant odor that is very powerful in a dog's sensitive nose. Plus, if it gets on me or Sirius it won't be as much of a problem as pepper spray blow-back can be. That will give me extra confidence when I've got him out in public, since I won't worry about a loose dog putting me and my reactive dog in a bad situation. Janet recommended this to me and I think it is a great idea. 

He did very well today, just on a short walk down the street a few blocks and back, and we even saw a cat under our front bushes, darting out in front of us, and he was not too excited by that, and we went on our way. I'm not going to get too optimistic too soon, since it will take a lot of time to get him deconditioned, with so many years of being that way, but I do think we can make this work. I can't be yanking on his collar and issuing "NO" commands left and right; I have to treat him differently and teach him a Pavlovian response to a word or term, like "come to front," "this way!" or, my favorite, "ten hut!"  If we can get this done in the house and yard, with few distractions, to the point where it is 100%, then we'll start working with distractions, and little by little we'll get him there. I have volunteers in the wings, ready to walk their stable dogs past my house, or walk ahead of us down the street, or come up behind us on the street, etc., when the time is right. 

He is an old dog for the breed, technically, but he's as fit and agile as the day we got him, though he's getting a little gray around the muzzle. He can learn new tricks!

Incidentally, and not to be overlooked, is that I have taken him to a new vet, recommended by Janet, and she discovered an infected anal gland (we had no idea!) and is also running a complete blood panel, including thyroid, to be sure there are no health issues that could be contributing to his behavior problems. This is a very important part of dog training. Aches and pains, hormone or other chemical imbalances can definitely cause unwanted behaviors that have nothing to do with obedience, and sometimes (often in big dogs, especially) they don't let you know that they're hurting. 

The Great Hospital Gown Caper!

Sounds exciting, right? Well, it is more of a mystery at this point, but if we ever find out the details it may wind up being a caper.

I am a doctor's office manager, and we have only a few of us on staff. Me, our secretary/receptionist/front end manager, the doctor's former office manager who comes in once a week to enter charges, and a surgical tech who comes in on our surgery clinic days, about twice a month. This wonderful lady is a friend of the practice and is very well-known in her community. Half of our patients already know her, if that says anything! We are a pretty tight-knit group.

Last time we had a surgery clinic she came to me to ask where we were keeping the hospital gowns. Hmm. They are kept where they have always been kept, in the supply room next to the OR, of course. Well, no, when I went to look they were ALL GONE. Every one. We had a supply of maybe 30 cotton gowns, the awful thin cotton ones that tie in the back, and they were folded and wrapped in plastic wrap from the linen company who handles our laundry. One bundle of the regular-sized gowns and one bundle of the extra-large gowns. We use only half a dozen gowns a month or so, not very many, so typically the gowns stay in their tightly wrapped bundles in the supply room on the shelf. 

The linen guy comes once a month and brings me any gowns that we have used as well as surgical towels, of which we use quite a few. He comes to the supply room and drops off the bundles there, and picks up the soiled linen bag that sits in a frame, replacing it with a clean, empty bag. 

I called the linen service and let them know that all of our gowns were gone (????) and inquired of our guy if he had any ideas. He didn't, of course! They promised to send him early to bring us more gowns so we wouldn't be completely out. 

He came by the other day and marveled at the notion that someone would steal these gowns. They are not exactly a valuable commodity, right? He gave me 20 more gowns or so, and when he went to collect our soiled linen bag he gingerly picked up a very bright salmon-colored gown that was within. He said, "This isn't yours!" and I agreed; our gowns are very pale bluish grey, washed out and faded. He then picked up another gown in the soiled linen bag that was teal and white striped with flowers. Also not ours! 

What is going on? All of our own gowns are missing, and gowns that don't belong to us are in the dirty linen bag. This makes no sense. Incidentally, any items that are placed in the soiled linen bag won't be brought back to our office unless they are part of our inventory, so they will be lost forever if they don't belong to us. If someone put them in there thinking they'd be laundered and returned, they're wrong. 

I reported all this to the property manager, and they are baffled, to say the least. Naturally, we suspect the cleaning crew, since none of us on staff are responsible, and we have not lent our keys to anyone. I wish I could be a fly on the wall overnight, so I could see where these unfamiliar gowns came from and who took our bundles of clean gowns. We don't have any kind of surveillance cameras but maybe we need them. 

The property manager does NOT suspect their cleaning crew, also naturally, and since we have office staff with keys they don't feel responsible, though they think the whole thing is bizarre, as do I. 

The previous tenants in our suite provided pain management for spine injuries, and our supply room used to house very valuable and desirable drugs, so the door handle assembly has a key pad for a combination lock. We don't use it currently, and we don't know the combination, but if the door closes it locks automatically and is opened by the front door key. That doesn't do us much good, obviously, so I'm having a locksmith come in and program the key pad with a combination that we will use to open the supply room door, and everything important will be kept there. I am also having the cabinets in the OR fitted with key locks, so we can secure the injectables (steroids and lidocaine), syringes and needles that someone might wish to steal. 

I have not noticed any reduction in inventory in the OR at all, but the only thing I can think is that someone is using our office to do procedures after hours. That doesn't make a lot of sense, though, and if they were, they likely wouldn't use a pile of gowns, and would not bring gowns from the outside into our office and discard them in our linen bag. 

Do we call the police? I think not, at this point. I have no cash loss here, but likely I will have to replace those gowns whenever we close the practice and discontinue the linen service. I will have to inquire with them about that and see. 

This is a curious case, for sure. 

New Walking Partner

Since losing Major I have not had a dog with me on my morning walks. I set out at 5 a.m. and walk 4 miles, which takes me about an hour. I'm not truly a morning person, because if left to my own devices I'll sleep until 10 a.m., but for the past 8-9 years or so I have found that if I like the solitude of exercising when nobody is around, and I don't have to worry about cars constantly passing, etc. My street is pretty busy during daylight hours and when I walk then I'm constantly getting over onto the shoulder to avoid them, especially when walking a large dog. At 5 a.m. I have to contend with the paper delivery man (who, incidentally, tears around the neighborhood and you need to watch out for his mini van) but otherwise it is quiet, dark and peaceful, and I can walk right in the middle of the street. I also see quite a few shooting stars throughout the year, which is a bonus! Lately, however, I without a dog to accompany me it has not felt right going alone, especially since it is so dark.

My next-door-neighbors have an Akbash/Great Pyrenees mix, Ellie, who is a very laid-back and calm dog, and she's also really good on leash. I have been meaning to pick her up and take her along with me, but I never did before, mainly because at 5 in the morning I did not want to disturb their sleeping household by coming in and collecting the dog. However, I decided now was the time, and the family was all for it. They are busy, with 6 young children and careers, so they are happy for me to get the dog out and exercise her.

Ellie's breed mix means she is a guard dog and though she is not as "guardy" and independent as many of her breed, she is still protective of the house and the children, and though she knows me well and likes me, someone coming in the door in the dark might not sit well with her. The first morning M, the mother of the house, got up and was there when I came over to get her, so Ellie would know this was a sanctioned activity. The second morning, this morning, nobody was up and Ellie barked, but not too much. She was timid, but I coaxed her out and she let me put the leash on and off we went.

Ellie seems a bit insecure in general, being leery of the tall trash bins that are rolled out to the street on trash day, and also leery of other pedestrians I pass in the dark. She needs more confidence and I think these walks will help, and the exercise is good for her too, of course. When we see someone coming (there are a few others I see regularly who walk at the same time as I do) she might stop in her tracks and wait, and I talk to her in a sing-song voice and encourage her that we are not concerned about these other walkers, and they are friends, and she need not worry.

This is a new activity for Ellie and I think any dog would be a little bit on edge walking in such thorough darkness and quiet, but especially for a guard dog, who has a genetic predisposition to scan the horizon and check for intruders. Her breed is typically kept outdoors with livestock, especially sheep, where they protect the herd and monitor for trouble. At night they might be especially on guard for trouble from foxes or coyotes. Ellie does not have duties like that, of course, but she cannot deny her heritage, and I have to take these things into account when working with her.

So far, anyway, she's done great. She does not pull on the leash at all, not even a tiny bit, and she is a pleasure to walk with. She has the stamina to go at a leisurely pace for an hour (she's leisurely with her long legs - she's a big dog - while I'm scrambling away as fast as I can on my little bitty short legs) and she seems to enjoy it.

She is a large breed dog so I will check with the family and be sure she does not have any new aches and pains that they have noticed, since there could be potential for things like hip dysplasia and knee problems, but she's not a cumbersome dog and this routine ought to be easy for her.

It is therapeutic for me to have a new dog to accompany me, and maybe I can help her with her timidity and minor insecurity on these walks. Trucks drive by, people walk by, dogs bark from yards and houses, trashcans loom and strange sounds emit from storm drains, plus there are so many interesting smells, and once she grows accustomed to the routine I think she'll gain some confidence. She is a really great dog with very calm and relaxed energy, in general, so I'm looking forward to the coming days as we get used to each other. So far she's not given me any problems at all.

A Major Goodbye

It is with a sad heart that I announce the passing of Canis Major, who turned 3 years old on March 30, 2013.

Major has been a wonderful pet from the very beginning, a bit aloof but that is often the case with bullmastiffs. He was very easy to train and we had few problems with him as a puppy, other than what we called "dietary indiscretion," or swallowing his chew toys instead of just chewing on them. That gave us a few scares, but he never had to have intervention by the vet and he outgrew the habit.

He was never neutered, because we wanted him to achieve full size before we did so, but once he did, we saw no need to put him through it, since he exhibited no behaviors that were caused by being intact. He never marked in the house, never showed aggression towards our neutered male Great Dane, never escaped in search of a female in heat, and was a wonderful dog. He had such great conformation and a really great head that we were even considering showing him, and were looking into taking some conformation classes to that end, so we continued to hold off on the neutering procedure. We certainly did not want any accidental breeding, and neutered males don't have problems with their prostate, etc., but it was a topic on the back burner, so to speak.

In fact, he obtained his Canine Good Citizen certification at the age of 10 months at a Pet Expo, which is a chaotic affair in a convention hall, with hundreds of dogs, many of them agitated, overexcited, barking, etc., not to mention people in mascot suits representing businesses and sports franchises, contest announcements over loudspeakers, and, in general, lots of distractions. When we first got there he was a bit alarmed, so we just walked around for a while until he grew accustomed to the crowds of people, dogs and noises. We knew that if he didn't pass the test that we could not blame him, under those circumstances, and we could try again at the obedience school under quiet and calm conditions. He passed, though, and we could not have been happier!

He matured and became even more amazing to us, mainly for his ability to ignore distractions in public, including dogs nipping at him, lunging at him, barking at him, and otherwise showing fearful aggression to him, which is a very common thing to happen to bullmastiffs, in my experience with them. I have had this happen with all three of mine, and it must have to do with their large size and smooshy faces. He ignored every incident and never responded in kind.

One memorable story is when we went down to Mobjack Bay for the annual Memorial Day family reunion. We brought Major, because we love taking him with us and he always enjoys new experiences. He was always easy to travel with, and settled in no matter where we went. My cousins have dogs, and theirs are always friendly and relaxed, going into the water to swim or just hanging out with everyone. They all get along and are happy go lucky dogs, mainly spaniels and a couple of corgis, and a mutt or two. Well, when Major arrived these dogs were NOT happy. I've never seen them act this way. "Intruder alert!" was the call sent out by the dogs. We got them settled down and everyone was relaxing, when after about an hour we hear commotion and the dogs had all ganged up on Major and had him surrounded next to the woods, and he was bitten on the ear and on the hind end. He did NOTHING about it. He just stood there, confused, until we got the other dogs under control.

I decided to leave at that point, because even though Major was not misbehaving, the other dogs just could not accept him being there. I'm sure there could have been some better way we could have introduced them to each other, in a more canine ritualistic fashion that would have prevented this, but we didn't, and I regret that. The dog owners were scattered around, doing other things, and it would have been hard to line everyone up with their dog for a controlled meeting.

I admired him a lot for how he handled that nasty situation, and I can't tell you how relieved I was. It could have ended very, very badly. If that had been one of my other two bullmastiffs (I would not have allowed them to be loose with unfamiliar dogs in the first place, however) they would have definitely retaliated and likely killed at least one of the dogs. Major always kept his head.


The Beginning of the End

Ever since the weather cooled down last fall I have been taking Major on my morning walks, which are 4 miles long and take an hour. I was so happy about this, because he is an angel on lead, no trouble at all, and he was actually able to do it. My other two bullmastiffs were not capable of long walks like this; they would have to stop and rest and would be sore and stiff later on. I really started it last spring, but once the weather got to the point where it was 70 degrees before sunup it was too hot for him - he had trouble keeping himself cool with the type of breed he is and the short muzzle. It didn't matter how cold it was, but it had to be below 70F. We resumed again in the fall.

We noticed he had lost some weight, a very small amount, and we thought it was because of the daily walks. We gave him a little extra kibble in his bowl at mealtime and didn't think anything of it. Around the middle of March one morning he could not get up. He was completely lame. What? We had no idea what could be going on. It seemed neurological or something - he had no control over his legs and could not balance on them. Then he had bleeding from the penis. Oh boy, this is not good. He was also off his feed, and was noticeably skinnier. We took him to the vet and he could not really find anything amiss, especially since the lameness had resolved by then. He gave him antibiotics for a possible bladder infection (the prostate was ok) and an antiinflammatory, Rimadyl. He seemed to improve. The blood from the penis resolved and he started acting more like himself. He would intermittently have lame paws, which varied from the front to the back with no pattern and no sign of injury. He would have days when he'd eat, and days when he wouldn't. We started giving him more delicious food, the kind that is like a deli salami and canned that looks like beef stew. Sometimes he'd take it and sometimes not.

We went on vacation and he seemed pretty good, and the neighbors took care of him while we were away. He ate for them, and ate for us when we got back. The Sunday after we got back he had a bad night, not eating, and acting like he felt very poorly. Monday 4/8 we took him to the vet and he could not find anything wrong, though the dog was obviously ill with something. He poked and prodded and listened and took his temperature, and could not detect anything. He was not dehydrated. He decided to draw blood to see if anything came up abnormal.

Tuesday night he called with the blood results and they showed kidney failure. Complete. Chronic. The numbers were creatinine 11.2, BUN 230, phosphorus 17.7. These are very high numbers, and the vet indicated that the phosphorus being so high was an indication of chronic disease. In his case it was likely congenital, considering his youth. He never showed any symptoms of kidney failure, so we were all quite shocked, most of all the vet. Most dogs drink a lot and pee a lot and have bad breath when they have renal disease, but he never did. His symptoms just did not point to any specific pathology, and by themselves certainly not kidney disease.

The End
That night the vet and I agreed that I'd bring him in the next morning and we'd do an IV flush and try to perk him up and get him to eat, and though we knew his condition was fatal, we could give him a bit more time. This was a brand new diagnosis but he'd seen dogs do well with this interventional measure. Well, Major went downhill quite drastically that night. He began panting a lot and snuggling up to us, and over the course of the evening and into the next morning we knew he was a goner. Rick and I took turns staying up with him as he suffered through seizures, disorientation, apparent hallucinations, unconsciousness, fits of activity, etc. He was lying on the porch outside the screen room and I thought he was just about gone, when he dashed up and crashed straight through the porch screen, knocking aside the glider rocker and flailing through the wood pile. Horrible. I waited until he had stilled, standing on all fours and panting, and guided him down again to rest. This is when our other dog, the (nearly) Great Dane, Sirius, began to get extremely anxious. He was giving Major his space earlier in the evening, but now he really knew something was horribly wrong. I had to put him in his crate, so anxious was he to get outside and see what was going on. This incident was at about 5 a.m. and the vet's office didn't return my phone message until they opened up at 8. They spoke to the vet and we agreed to meet at his office to put Major down - there was really no hope for him and he had suffered long enough.

I wish I had been able to put him out of his misery earlier, but when I spoke to the vet the night before he was not doing that bad, and was certainly comfortable and just lethargic. We could not have predicted his rapid deterioration. It seems like the minute I was given the diagnosis that's when he started to actually go into kidney failure, not before.

Looking Ahead
I know it is just a dog, and the world is filled with dogs - too many won't ever have a loving home - but this was a member of our family. His absence is like a void and we're all sensitive to it. The household dynamic has been altered, and after only 3 days we have not accustomed ourselves to things. I still see him out of the corner of my eye, I still tell the girls to "feed the dogs!" (instead of "the dog") and I still expect to see him when I walk in the door. Even though both dogs were quiet before, it seems like there is a new quietness to the house. Sirius lays around like a throw rug, often not getting up to greet us when we come home, and I know he misses Major. We are giving him extra attention and love. It will take a bit of time for us to adjust, but it is tragic - Major was only 3.

We lost our second bullmastiff about seven months before we got Major, in January 2010, and she was just shy of her 4th birthday. She died at home in a similar fashion - very sudden, very dramatic and very agonizing. That memory is still fresh with me as well. She had a lump on her "armpit" at the base of her chest and front leg, and it was biopsied as a negative hemangioma, or blood vessel tumor, not dangerous. Ok, we were comfortable with that, since it was not large and we didn't want to put her through anesthesia and surgery, plus the expense, if it did not need to come out. It suddenly became much larger, and before we could get her into the vet, we got up in the morning and she lost control of her bowels in the house (she'd never done that) and began to cough up blood. She took herself outside and continued to cough up quite a bit of blood, and you could see she was dying. She could not put her head down, since that seemed to cause her airway to fill with blood. We called our vet and she came to the house and put her down in only a few hours, but it was horrible. Apparently this tumor was not benign, and was likely a sarcoma, which ruptured through the pulmonary artery and she basically was drowning from blood in her lungs.

We got Major after a long and careful search for a reputable breeder who shows and raises champions, and is well known in the bullmastiff world. She has bullmastiffs that live long and healthy lives. Major's sire lived to be 11, in good health all the way, and his mother, grandmother, aunts and uncles, not to mention littermates, are all doing well and healthy. This was a total fluke and we are just laid flat by it. We went to a lot of trouble to mitigate against bullmastiff health problems, after going through such trouble with Stella, who also had crippling orthopedic problems diagnosed when she was only 15 months. We knew she was poorly bred, so we vowed to take better care next time. Well, you can't predict such things and that's just how it goes.

The Upshot
Someone said to me, "Well, after this I sure hope you won't get anymore of those big dogs. They've been nothing but trouble!" As if it was a off-brand appliance or a car that turned out to be a lemon. "Yeah, I'll never get another Ford Pinto - I've sure learned MY lesson! Ha ha!"

It made me really examine why that statement got me so upset. I realized that big dogs are part of our family life, and we are not happy as a family without sharing life with them. They make us happy, and we feel unsettled and incomplete without them. It is like a big screen TV or a dishwasher:  you don't NEED them, and they can be expensive, but they make your life happier and more enjoyable. We're not hoarding animals or anything, and we don't put our dogs before our children or other household responsibilities.

So, though I can't bear the thought of bullmastiffs right now - it is so painful - we'll get another dog someday. It was ironic to us that the night after his passing we were watching TV and found some random and mindless movie, a comedy, that we could stare at and take our minds off our sorrow. The family pet in the movie happened to be a bullmastiff! We never see them, since they are very rarely in movies, ever. What are the chances? We had to change the channel, as we weren't up to it right then, of course, but someday.

I'm starting to think of the benefit of having only one giant dog. Our dog food bill is going to go WAY down, as will our vet bill and the dog hair situation is dramatically better (Major was fawn and I usually wear mostly black, so I was usually picking hairs off myself - Sirius is black and matches my outfits!). We'll save on immunizations, heartworm and flea/tick treatments, which are all more expensive for large dogs than average-sized dogs.

I definitely prefer having two dogs, and I miss Major more than I can say, but I'm trying to see the bright side of things. Sirius, the Dane, is not terribly easy to manage outside the house like he used to be, though he's very, very good at home. He's very obedient and does not get into mischief of any kind, and I can stop him on a dime, point and snap my fingers and he's on his bed. An angel. But take him out of the house and he goes red zone, constantly scanning the horizon for trouble, and very anxious. He had an incident where a tiny dog chased us down the street, snapping at his face, and he picked it up in his mouth, shook it, and tossed it to the ground! Yikes! The dog ran off, and I since saw it being walked by its owners, who did not see the incident, as it was full dark and very early in the morning, so it was a relief to see it was okay. It changed Sirius and now he's a mess on leash.

I have tried many times to correct these behaviors so I can take him out more, but they have all failed, including professional help through the SPCA. I can take some of the money we are saving now and use it to find him a trainer, possibly a boot camp type program where they take dogs with issues and help them, then return them to you and show you how to manage their issues. I know he can be helped, and a lot of the problem is my own energy when we go out.  I yearn to take him for walks with me again, like we used to do, and take him to festivals and parks, like we used to do. I'll focus on Sirius for now and try to train a little bit of Major into him, lol.