The temperature that day was probably right around 70-degrees at the time that I worked her. It was the first real warm day of spring and was significantly warmer than it had been. The sun was bright and it was right around noon when I worked her. I knew that the conditions were right for a collapse, if she was still collapsing. She had been on Phenobarbital for about 5 months at this time. So, I didn't really know if she would collapse or not.
I talked to everyone at club and let them know about the collapses and asked if someone would videotape her working. I worked her for about 10 minutes. It was something between a regular obedience session and a straight up conditioning session. There were a few short breaks in it but not many. She was definitely getting hot - I could see the signs but she kept working. After we finished, I let her trot off the field to lay down in the shade.
I got a leash and went over to walk her out. It was instantly apparent that she would collapse, so somebody picked up the camera and started videotaping again. It was a bit shocking for them and they stopped recording when she collapsed to see if I needed any collapse, so we didn't get the entire collapse. But we got most of it.
I then picked her up and carried her over to a creek nearby and put her down in it. She recovered very quickly in the cold spring water. The entire collapse and recovery lasted less than 10 minutes, of which about 7 minutes are on video.
I'll post links to the videos below. However, before anybody reading this watches them you should know that they are disturbing. I am aware of that. I set her up and worked her specifically to see if she would collapse. It was no easier to do than it is to watch. In fact, it was quite a bit harder to do than it is to watch. After all, I adore Gata, everything about her EXCEPT the collapses.
Here are the video links and a brief description of each video:
Video 1 (about 10 minutes) shows the obedience and ball play before the collapse. There were a few things clearly noticeable to me while working her. She starting trotting back with the ball relatively early, almost fell out of a sit stay at one point, and then started looking at the shade and even heading toward it before returning the ball, I took those all as signs that she was over heating and could potentially collapse.
Video 2 (very short) is the start of the collapse. I think the guy taking the video pressed the wrong button or was a little freaked out by what was happening and thought he should stop the video and help her, not sure ...
Video 3 shows the final collapse and recovery (about 7 minutes)
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