December 7 - Conditioning Routine

Temperature: Around 35-degrees F and raining
Hydration: Sugar water before start and during breaks
Program: 4 x 5 - Both dogs got it easily, but were tired at the end. The interesting thing is how much both are now greedily waiting for their sugar water at the end of each set. Tor wasn't so into it originally, but they line up and grudgingly take turns getting water from me. I need to figure out a better way to get it to them that doesn't waste so much but they both prefer to drink out of the bottle than a bowl ...

General observations:
1. The sugar water between sets really does seem to make a huge difference for both dogs, but Gata in particular. After the water break and a walk around the field her tongue is back in her mouth, even more than Tor's, her lips are down (not drawn back from her gums), and the insides of her ears are a more natural color (not pink).
2. Need to get better about giving them some sugar water or dextrose before we leave the house. That is part of the experiment I will be doing with both of them, but I am also curious to see how it affects our conditioning program. Generally speaking, they have been fasting for at least 8 hours by the time they work most mornings.

Yesterday I brought the dogs to work with me. We had a going away gathering planned for one of my colleagues and that gave me a little more flexibility. I stopped at one of our favorite parks on the way end and did some obedience with each of them individually. It can be a busy park and is right off Highway 28 so I don't take them both out together - too risky on many levels. But both did some really lovely obedience and had a good time. Lots of long bumper tosses as rewards and very high intensity work.

Then I took each of them for a little walk before I headed over to Happy Hour. They didn't complain too much - each got a nice big knuckle bone to chew on while I was inside. It worked out fine and I was very glad to be able to stay to the end of the get together. Will be missing Michelle a lot - great colleague.

Gata may end up having an interesting weekend. Hopefully, the glucometer will arrive today. That means that both dogs will be subject to having their blood glucose levels taken numerous times. And when I feel comfortable with it, I will set up a few trials of Gata's metabolism. Poor Tor, he gets to be a pin cushion as a control :-)   And Gata will have an ACTH Stim test on Saturday.

Much to think about over the next few days ...  Fingers crossed that we get more clues.

December 4 - Workout - Start of New Program

OK, restarting our conditioning program with some timeline goals in mind, based on my conversation with Dr. Gillette yesterday. I summarized that discussion briefly in a post yesterday, I'll add more detail to my thoughts on what we are doing as time permits and as my thoughts evolve on it. Lots swirling around in my head right now.

Anyway, so I went back to my interval conditioning program to see where they are currently. They've had a week mostly off since I've had bronchitis. So they have just been getting a few bumper tosses in the backyard.

Temperature: 50-degrees F (unseasonably warm)
Hydration: Sugar water before start and during breaks
Program: 3 x 5 - Both dogs got it easily, very easily. I considered trying a 4th set but noticed that Gata stayed at my side during the break after the 3rd set as I took my walk around the field. I generally take that as an indication that she is getting tired. Otherwise, she is usually trotting around checking things out, trying to steal the ball out of the bag, etc. So, I stopped with that.

As my lungs recover, I'll get back to the more standard format - walking to the park, etc. and reporting the time spent. But since I am currently driving to the park, I didn't want to confuse the values by reporting things in the same way, when they are quite different.

One thing to note, times spent this year will be different from those a year ago. The routine which now includes time for water after each set is a little bit longer as a result. I probably spend about 2 minutes giving the dogs water immediately after each set BEFORE I start the regular break, which lasts 3 - 5 minutes.

Next Step with Gata

Just had another call with Dr. Gillette. He certainly is generous with his time. At some point I will have to talk to him about compensating him for his time. I really appreciate his generosity but certainly do not want to take advantage of him or insult him either. These things can get so complicated. But, I feel like we have a pretty well established level of comfort about discussing our more personal issues in this situation. We are both being as sensitive as possible to the other, under the somewhat strange constraints of this working partnership. So, I am pretty confident that I can have that discussion with him without damaging our relationship or impacting the outcome of it.

Anyway, he suggested a pretty easy next step, something that I can do on my own. I'll purchase a pet glucose meter, get Gata accustomed to it (probably Tor, too, as a control), and then set up a pretty simple experiment to see if we can get Gata's blood glucose level to increase by providing her with a dextrose solution by mouth.

Our theory on this one is based on the observation around the last collapse being coupled with a lack of sugar water for her on that particular day. Plus, when we tested her blood glucose levels down at Auburn, they were in the normal range, but they did not fluctuate at all during work. Based on his previous work, this is quite unusual in working dogs. If her blood glucose level does not increase, we know that it is one of the metabolic defects surrounding glucose/glycogen and is at a fairly early point in that process. If it does go up, it doesn't mean that her collapses aren't due to a defect in the glucose/glycogen processes. So, it's not a super simple result at that point ...

So, I've ordered the equipment. Though, I'll have to figure out where/how to get the dextrose solution. I'm guessing that my local vet will sell me some. Hopefully, I'll be able to address this theory by Christmas time. Fingers crossed ...

Not Myasthenia ...

So the results of Gata's Myasthenia Gravis test is back - normal. That's pretty much what we expected. So now we get back to metabolic pathways in detail and start chasing zebra ...

Crash ...

So how often do you expect your dogs to literally run into each other, at nearly full speed? I know, you think they would be watching where they are going and not be so inclined to try to destroy themselves. Well, the other day, a couple of weeks ago now, Gata and Tor did just that.

We had just finished up some obedience work in the back yard and I was giving them a few free throws, as I usually do to increase the likelihood that they will relax for the evening. It was just before the sun went down on a Saturday late afternoon.

As usual, I threw the the first bumper from the back of the yard to the right side of the house and threw the second bumper to the left side of the house. Normally, Tor goes for the first bumper I throw and Gata goes for the second. Somehow, Tor missed the first throw and started for the second. Gata started for the first and then both seemed to change their mind at almost the same instant and start for the other bumper, while still looking at the bumper that they were originally headed for. They slammed into each other at roughly 3/4 speed, which doesn't sound that bad but is.

They both yelped. Gata hobbled over to me holding up her right front leg. Tor seemed fine at that point. So, I turned my attention to Gata - checked out her leg gently and gave her a little reassurance. I moved her around a little to see if she would put it back down. Thankfully, she did.

Then I turned and with horror saw that Tor was standing in 1 spot with his back roached as high as it could possibly go and his back legs trembling and fumbling underneath him. He was trying to come to me but could not coordinate his movements. It really looked like a serious spine injury.

I went to him and tried to calm him a little, in the vain hope that he might relax out of it as Gata frequently does. It helped his mental state a little but not his physical state. I had no choice but to carry him inside. Though Tor is quite thin, he is still a big dog and with the trembling in all the muscles supporting his back end this wasn't a particularly easy task. But I got him inside and tried to lay him on his side but he wasn't having any of that. So rather than risk injuring him further, I simply stood him up in the middle of the living room and grabbled my cell phone and iPad.

I quickly looked up the nearest emergency vet - VCA in Gaithersburg, about 25 minutes away. Gave them a call to give them a heads up. By this time, Tor seemed quite a bit better and was able to start moving on his own again. By the time I had loaded Gata into the car, he seemed perfectly normal. I elected to take him anyway, as I was pretty sure that he had suffered a traumatic shock to his spine and I wanted to make sure that they didn't see anything in spinal radiographs.

Got there and registered. Brought him in and got his weight, etc. He was really cool with the vet tech, though all the smells on her scrubs certainly got him aroused, as normal with Tor. She just chatted with me a bit and then got his temp, etc. By that time he was leaning against her legs getting petted.

Unfortunately, the vet was not nearly as comfortable with him as the tech was. There is no question that he is an extremely dominant dog that could be dangerous if handled the wrong way. But he isn't dangerous, just pushy. And honestly, though he may have bumped her hand with his nose when it was near his head, he did nothing more obnoxious than that. But the vet was not having any part of him and wanted him sedated before she would examine him. Since I knew they would have to sedate him to get x-rays anyway I complied with her request.

Anyway, the x-rays turned out fine. And Tor certainly seems fully recovered. But I definitely need to do more with him in terms of socialization. In particular, socializing him with people that smell like other animals. The smells definitely bring him to a higher state of arousal. I guess I'll have to talk to the folks at my friendly local vet clinic and see if I can convince them to help. They actually like my dogs, especially the owner of the clinic :-)  I wish they would have been open that Saturday late afternoon/evening ... 

I decided not to get Gata checked out. After we finished with Tor, I got her out and moved her around in the parking lot. She has one of the most beautiful trots I have ever seen and displayed it for me there. So, I elected not to leave more of my money there. They both got a few days off and seem no worse for wear at this point. 

Update on Gata - Still Collapsing

Oy, there's always so much to write about Gata. I am looking forward to the day when there is nothing of any health issues to note for her, or Tor, or any of my dogs in the future. They do seem to keep me on my toes.

Gata is collapsing again but her latest collapse may have provided a hint. It happened one day about 3 weeks ago when it was very cold during the early morning hours, only 28-degrees F when I took her to the park. Coincidentally, that day the water bottle that I have been taking with everyday, containing sugar water, broke. I decided that since it was so cool, she would probably be fine. She collapsed quite early on, even earlier than I would expect during warm weather.

So, maybe it has something to do with glucose supply for her. I've talked with Dr. Gillette about it. And I have to say getting him on the phone to discuss something like this is exactly like being in the room with him down at Auburn, only without the white board. What an incredibly, unpredictable, mind-bending conversation. All about metabolism and Gata's lab values from the trip to Auburn. I should just mention - metabolism and the energy generating pathways in the mammalian body have never been my favorite topic. I much prefer cellular communication processes (and I don't mean cellular phones!). So I guess I am on now on a collision with the TCA (Krebs) cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, gluconeogenesis, glycolysis, etc.

We will likely pursue something along those lines. First, however, we want to rule out the possibility of Myasthenia Gravis. We don't really think that it is MG, but it is more common than some of the other things that we are thinking about and it would be foolish to head over to him again (now in the Chicago area) without ruling that out first, especially since visiting him at his new practice will be much more expensive than it was to visit him at Auburn. But I have to say, every time I talk to him I feel hopeful again. He has the kind of mind that really thrills at physiological puzzles and his enthusiasm is contagious. And, like me, his focus is on Gata.

Now that he has met Gata he understands how important it is to be able to come up with a solution for her. He knows that giving her a mental job would never be enough, that she requires a physical release of her energies. He also gets that I would never make it easier on myself by giving her to someone else that could provide a "quieter life" for her. It wouldn't change who she is or in any way change my responsibility to her. 

So, we'll wait for the results of the MG test. In the meantime, I'll try to start brushing up on metabolism and all the processes involved in the movement of glucose between cells, cellular compartments, storage, etc. It really was much easier to think about it as a potential nutrition issue, meaning that I was doing something wrong with the raw. Oh well ...  

Week 6, Day 5

Took the dogs to the park in the morning again. Weather was extremely humid, not too hot, high 60s probably, but STEAMY. Worked on getting water into them between sets again. Gata is very good about it and Tor is getting better, though he wastes a lot.

Start time: 5:50 am; 65-degrees F and HUMID

Program: Walk to park, 1x6, Obedience, 1x4 Recovery water at the end of the set, and after obedience, before the break.
Total time: 42 minutes (Guesstimate, forgot to take my phone)
Status: Both dogs tired; Tor seemed a bit more tired than Gata, perhaps because he doesn't drink as well as she does at the end of each set; Took 500 ml of recovery water - came back with less than 100 ml, Gata drank probably 2/3 of it; Both dogs handled the work well, recovered well. Walk home uneventful. No signs of drunken sailor walking or any other early signs of collapse.


I should mention that Tor had the runs over night and early in the morning. I started giving him a roller ball containing 1/2 cup of Royal Canin 4800 in the morning when I leave for work, too. I probably started too fast with him. I know that his stomach is a little more sensitive than Gata's. So will back off on that a little. I suspect that it impacted his performance this morning - he clearly had some stomach cramping going on.

As long as I'm documenting adjustment to food issues, I should also mention that Gata has had no problem transitioning onto the Royal Canin. Though she would still be happy to eat Tor's food. Her stool is fine, bigger than on raw but not bad. Interestingly, she seems to have made the transition to Royal Canin much easier than the more trendy grain free kibbles that I had tried previously. Corn certainly doesn't seem to bother her.

Our evening work was just in the back yard. Again, STEAMY HOT and the temp was quite a bit higher than in the morning. Played around with several different SchH exercises with the dogs.

1. Couple of quick sets of barking for each dog. Building duration, calm position, and distance awareness with Tor and continuing to build duration with Gata. I really like the whole platform concept and using the deck works great for this. If either dog gets drawn off the deck by my movements we simply stop and they get back up. It is incredibly clear. Have to start practicing off the platform with Tor to see if the concept of space is clear to him.

2. Blinds - Set up 2 mini blinds in the yard and have them do the figure-8 pattern between them. We practice the whole pattern of heeling between the blinds to starting position, salute, pivot right or left to start. The pattern training is really important. Gata, in particular, gets extremely jazzed and will start to vocalize if I don't keep an eye on this. She has responded well to the negative reinforcement/punishment routine and is quiet again these days. But I know her well enough to know that it could creep back in at any point if I become sloppy. Only did 1 send in each direction with each dog due to the heat. They do about 7 or 8 full circuits in each send. Emphasis is on speed (both VERY fast), giving me eye contact as soon as they exit a blind and until I send them on to the next blind. Both dogs were excellent.

3. Launching - Over a 26" jump with an 18" jump set up about 3' in front of it creating a nice layout position. 1 set of 4 (2 presentations of the wedge on each side of my body) with Gata. She's got this and comes with great speed and power. She missed a little on the first launch but it didn't seem to affect her confidence on the next 3. Did 2 sets of 4 (2 presentations of the wedge on each side of my body) with Tor. He showed more confidence with presentations to my left last night in the first set. So I did a second set. He's a funny dog - even using this method he figures out ways to slam your body as well as getting the wedge. He doesn't do it every time and I don't know why he does it. Hopefully it goes away over time. No question that helpers won't like it. It makes it harder to catch him and increases the likelihood of the helper going down. I guess I'll just start doing more of this and see if it goes away. He is a dog that really benefits from repetition on some things more than others. Some things he gets instantly and others not so much ...

I think they both had a good time :-)