It's really no wonder I was on my vet's Christmas card list this year. We were back at the vet yesterday for another appointment. This time both Secret & Kaiser were getting their first Lepto vaccinations. Secret was a good girl at the vet's office, if you look past barking at noises she heard behind closed doors and taking a swipe at the vet's assistant when she put Secret down in a manner that Secret found less than pleasant.
Secret has all of her adult teeth in the front now -- and I never found a single baby tooth, darn it! She also has a slight overbite that we're keeping an eye on, but my vet is not concerned at this time. Oh! And Secret now weighs 24.7 lbs!
We're dealing with a bit of diarrhea at the moment. Secret got her second dose of dewormer on Monday, so it's hard to say if that is causing it (I don't recall it having an effect last time) or if it was one of the random things that she gets into on our walks at work (ie: cat poop). I'm feeding her pumpkin and yogurt to try to help get things back to normal, but things have been soft/runny since Monday evening (when she poo'd in the arena at the dog center!).
We haven't done any further training with Secret's tricks since I last posted. We were at the dog center last night where we again played with going through a hoop and a full length straight tunnel. Secret seems to think hoops are fairly boring right now, but she is really enjoying tunnels!
I brought out the tippy board to play with, to try to get Secret more confident with things moving under her feet. This is going to be a challenge for us, I believe, as she was VERY cautious about approaching the board once she found out it moved. I'm going to have to remember to bring the clicker from here on out to see if that will help us at all.
I did get Secret to put all four paws on the tippy board while I held it and then moved it some, but in general, her trust of plank-like objects went way down after that and I couldn't even get her to do the baby dog walk.
I *did* however, succeed in getting her to repeatedly go up and over the sway bridge. This was something that I didn't even know the dog center had, as it's a UKC obstacle and we do not do UKC trials. When I discovered it in the puppy area, I was overcome by a fit of joy! I want to take Kaiser to a UKC trial eventually to get a UKC title on him and get him closer to the UKC "Super Dog" award (obedience will be our nemesis). I've been hesitant to go to a trial because of all the different equipment, so finding a sway bridge at the dog center was a huge bonus.
As with everything else that moves, Secret wanted nothing to do with it at first. She saw the boys going up and over it repeatedly, though, and seemed to take notice of how many treats they were getting (while she, in turn, received none). To my surprise, she eventually decided that she could, in fact, go up the wide plank and onto the bridge! She walked timidly across the first time, but then willingly turned around on the decent plank and did it again! And again! And again! It was so good for her confidence and a great way to end the night after the dismal session on the tippy board.
It was while I was packing to go and letting the dogs run around to blow off steam that Secret had her "blow out" in the arena. Yay.... We got up once in the night for a poo-break and last night we were up twice (at 3:00 a.m. and then at 5:00 a.m., just a half hour before the alarm goes off, ugh). Hopefully this passes soon! She is doing a very good job at letting me know that she has to go outside, at least, and we have not had any accidents indoors, aside from the episode at the dog center.
I'm glad I have a large can of pumpkin -- Because when I looked at the store yesterday, I was shocked to find the shelves completely void of any and all pumpkin products!!! We may have to look for alternative "binders" if this doesn't clear up quickly.
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