Decision Time

     Today, Brando had his umpteenth training class.  He has this new fear of shiny floors, so he drops to the floor the minute we step foot into anywhere that has a shiny floor.  Training is no exception.  He now shakes with fear if we're doing any exercise that requires my daughter and I to step away from him.  I feel that at this point, I should discontinue Brando's training.  It seems cruel to put him through this.  Today, a man in our class was complaining to my daughter about Brando. (Sometimes it takes Brando a little longer to accomplish something because of his fearfulness.)   I wished I had been there to set him straight, but she ignored him, which was probably the right thing to do at that moment. 

     Like I've mentioned before, Brando's trainer wants the vet to put Brando on medication for Generalized Anxiety Disorder.  The vet wants to give him a little more time before we do that, and it seems like a wise choice.  We've seen some amazing progress.  I think if we work one-on-one with him, maybe he will come out of his shell.  He's no longer afraid of other dogs, or his trainer.  He will also take affection (in small doses) from a stranger.   I want to look into other ways to help Brando, instead of relying on a drastic drug with who-knows-what type of side effects it has.  I don't want to close the door on anything right now.  If we decide that we've exhausted every possible avenue to help Brando, then we can talk medication.  As of next week, Humphrey Bogart will take Brando's spot in training.  Brando will still continue to do workshops towards CGC.  If it takes Brando a little more time to earn CGC, I've got nothing but time. 

Let's Help Out

Dear Fellow Bloggers: 
    
     How many dogs can we help? 

BlogPaws the Conference for Pet Bloggers, Pet Brands, and Pet Health Care Professionals is only a day away now and in honor of the occasion Pedigree has decided to launch a Write a Post, Help a Dog Campaign. For those of you who missed the event last year in September 391 bloggers wrote about the program and with each post, Pedigree donated 20 pounds of its Healthy Longevity dog food to shelter animals. In all, 7,820 pounds of food was donated to two shelters known across the country for their dedication to the care and re-homing of senior dogs: Muttville Senior Dog Rescue in San Francisco and Castaway Critters in Harrisburg, Pa.

How you can help in 2011

Simply spread the word about Write a Post, Help a Dog 2011 and once again Pedigree will donate 20 pounds of food for each blog post.  If you don’t have a blog feel free to tweet about the campaign or share on Facebook so your friends who do blog can participate. All bloggers are welcome even if you do not generally talk about pets on your blog. Its all about using Social Media for Social Good.

Here’s how it works:

• The Write a Post, Help a Dog program is aimed at raising awareness of the more then 4 million dogs that wind up in shelters and breed rescues each year. As well as to help get them all food (our goal is 10,000 lbs of food in the next two weeks) for the more than four million dogs that wind up in shelters and breed rescues each year.
• For each blog post mentioning the Pedigree Foundation from now until midnight ET on September 3, Pedigree will donate 20 pounds of its new dry Pedigree recipe food for dogs — its best recipe ever — to a shelter, because every dog deserves leading nutrition.
• Feel free to mae your post more visually appealing by using either or both of the two images seen in this post.
• The Pedigree Foundation — a 501 (C)(3) nonprofit organization is committed to helping dogs by providing grants to shelters and rescues and encouraging dog adoption. This year the Foundation has already raised more than $376,570 against its goal of $1.5 million to carry out its work to fund grants that not only help shelters operate, but to further shelter innovations.

The Pedigree Foundation depends on charitable contributions from individuals to carry out its mission to help dogs find loving homes. In addition to writing a blog post, here’s how you can help:

• Donate online at http://pedigreefoundation.org/donate.aspx
• Apply for a shelter grant from the Pedigree Foundation by completing a form at http://www.pedigreefoundation.org/
• Purchase Dogs Rule Gear at http://www.dogsrulegear.com/ where the proceeds go to the Pedigree Foundation to help loving dogs find a home. SPECIAL OFFER: Get 10 percent off Dogs Rule Gear by using the promo code BlogPaws10 from August 22 – September 30.

Once you get your post up and ready please feel free to grab the link code to include it in your post and add your link to the list so it is easier to keep track of all the posts plus it makes it so easy for your friends to learn about the event and see the progress we are making towards our goal of 10,000 lbs of food.

Introducing......

He's finally here!  Meet Ziggy Stardust!  He weighs a whopping 2 lbs. He fits in the palm of my husbands hand.  He's a small fry!  Hopefully, Ziggy will be our next dog to try his paw at agility.  The breeder saved him for us since he is full of energy, and extremely playful.  Of course Ziggy needs to grow a little bit first.  More photos to follow, and possibly a title change to the blog.

*Interesting note:  Ziggy shares my father's birthday!*

Captain Agility

Look mom!  I can do the table, too!

   

     Our family is having such a wonderful time with Humphrey, and our new found love of Agility.  My hubby even made him a jump bar to practice with.  We have exciting news to share!  Miss Jane, his trainer, said Humphrey was amazing, and so fearless.  "We have an Agility dog on our hands".  My dog, an Agility dog?!  Can it be?  It's so much fun, and Humphrey seems to love it. 

Up and Over!

   

     I've also been in touch with the AKC this past week to try to have Humphrey earn AKC Puppy Star.  He's doing so well, and I think deserving of it. 

    

     With that said, I'd like to dedicate this blog to Humphrey Bogart, and to our many adventures in Agility.

Humphrey's Agility Day

Humphrey's trainer said he would be better next week.......Hummm.

We were all in for a shock!

 

Humphrey and all 15' of tunnel

 

 

"He'll probably only do one or two rungs today,"
 said Miss Jane!




 

                    

               
                Humphrey had other plans.....

Up!

Up!

Over!  Hooray!

He made it all the way over, and is on his way back
down the other side!

What was that about next week?!

Brando's Heart

Is that a heart with an arrow through it?

Training Session #14

"I'm not afraid of the rain."
 wet Brando watches the rain on the car windshield

I'm happy to report Brando is doing very well in his obedience training, which is helping him move forward toward earning CGC.  My daughter and I have been taking Humphrey Bogart to stand on the sidelines during his sessions.   I was hoping that Brando may feed off of Humphrey's good energy.  Humphrey loves everyone, and vice versa.  This plan doesn't seem to be working.  Tonight, before we began the workshop, the trainer talked to us about herbal supplements to try to help Brando to calm down.  He's afraid that Brando's fear based aggression is turning into aggression.  I can see it.  Even going for a walk, he's getting worse.  We met up with Ms. Passerby, again.  Only this time, instead of Ms. Passerby trying to guess his breed, she started barking at Brando.  "Can I have one?"  she asked my son about the puppies.  We all started laughing since he didn't know how to answer her.  Brando let out one bark when we started laughing.  She immediately started furiously barking back at him, which sent him into a tizzy.  Tail up, he was dominant,and lunging.  He went from zero to 10 in a second.  I've never seen him so mad.  The angrier he got, the more intense her barking became.  The trainer has trained us how to handle strangers, but not a barking stranger.  I really wasn't sure what to do.  "Leave it!"  wasn't cutting it.  Body blocking was working either.  He wanted to bite Ms. Passerby, and if he had his way, he would have.  That's the first time I've seen him escalate so quickly, and to the point where he was in complete control of the situation. He finally calmed as she left his line of sight.  "What in the world was that?!"  I never want to believe it's Brando fault.  I went straight into a motherly protective mode,  "Why would you bark at a dog?!  What was wrong with her?  She was just egging him on!  He only barked once, and she had to bark a million times back at him....."  See my point.  When everything settled, it dawned on me that Humphrey couldn't have cared less about her, or her barking.  He wanted tummy rubs.  Brando's trainer has strong feelings about how Brando was treated before we got him.  I thought his breeder was a nice old man, was it a front?  Could it have been a puppy mill?  Is the trainer right?  The very thought makes my stomach turn.  He said if we don't see some improvement in a few more sessions he's going to recommend we talk to the vet about Xanax.  He thinks Brando needs more help than just training.  I looked down at my little love, and for the first time saw just how miserable he is.  Can a dog suffer from "puppy panic attacks?"  Is a herbal supplement the answer or just covering up the problem?  Is it unfair of me to ask Brando to be CGC?  Xanax?!  Look out Google, here I come!

Furry Friends and One Crustacean

Brando's kitty and small Cavalier

Brando and James Cagney with orange hedgehog

Crustacean

Another little kitty.  Love this photo, look at those squishied lips!

 

Mort the Lemur Brando's favorite

More on the Lump



If I don't give you this treat, will that cause you stress?!

Yesterday morning, we woke to a mess of blood. Having three rambunctious boys, I thought one of them had done something.  Strange, but no blood on the boys.  As I walked through the house, trying to figure who or what (remember we have three boys) was bleeding, I bent down to say good morning to Brando.  He was bloody.  I'm not sure if he scratched the lump or if Humphrey did it when they were having their morning wrestle, but Brando was bleeding.  His white fur was staining to a brown.  It took a second to sink in. I think I may have even been hyperventilating when I told my husband.  Brando seemed fine.  He was trying to wiggle out of my arms to get back to "Cavalier Wrestle Mania" with Humphrey.  The good news is his lump is GONE!!!  A phone call to the vet confirmed that I shouldn't worry (I'm still checking for a lump!) she said Mother Nature may have taken care of it for him. She also said since he's been on antibiotics there wouldn't be any reason to worry about an infection.  The next thing she said had me concerned.  No stress for Brando.  Stress could be one of the causes of his lump, and make it return.  Hummmm.....no stress.  That will be interesting since Brando is afraid of his shadow, my car keys, the tags on his collar, sometimes other dogs, or a car passing by when we go for a walk.  His fears vary from day to day, and I would imagine being fearful could cause stress.   Our lives can also be stressful since my little guy has frequent seizures that can cause chaos in our already unstable day.  As we all know, dogs can feel our stress and tension, so that can't be helping Brando either.  No stress.  Those are two words that will cause more stress.  Hey, at least the lump is gone!!  That's fantastic!