Gabby’s heart condition has been fairly stable until now. One of Gabby’s tendons that hold his mitral valve in place ripped loose. There’s a significant amount of blood backing up in Gabby’s heart causing his pulmonary blood vessels to distend. She’s worried when this took place. If this just happened then the worse is yet to come. She increased his Lasix. She would have increased it more except she’s worried about his kidneys. She told me to check if his cough gets worse. She also told me to check if he faints. I asked her how long Gabby has left. She said some of her patients have had good quality of life for up to a year. I cried on the way home.
Category: Diary
I ran my butt off!
No one told me dog obedience class required physical endurance. 😛 I was out of breath and sweating at the end of class. Today’s class went very well. There weren’t as many people in our class this time. I think the first class had people from both morning and evening classes together. There were maybe 5 of us. We met Marcella Mutsulavish, our instructor and her shelties for the first time. Charlie? filled in for her while she was on vacation. Marcella is very nice and down to earth. 🙂 We reviewed what we learned last week and she passed out copies: You Are The Top Dog, Body Language, and Crate Training as well as our 5 week syllabus. We practiced heeling running along the ring. I had to stoop over to reach Hoshi and bait him with a treat as he ran to keep him in the proper heel position. Marcella said Hoshi was doing wonderful. He did look impressive although it took a lot of endurance on my part. I think this class was more of a review and reinforcement on week 1.
30 minutes down 30 to go
We were told to practice our lessons so far for at least 1 hour each week. We haven’t practiced anything since Wednesday. We did 30 minutes just now so I need 30 more until next Wednesday. Lying down is still troublesome. I have to help Hoshi along with a gentle push but he’s starting to anticipate lying on his tummy.
Hoshi’s 1st obedience class
It seemed all too quick for me. Hoshi’s taking Beginner Obedience at the Sportsmen’s Dog Training Club of Detroit. Here are the commands we learned today:
- Sit
- Lay
- Lay – stepping on the leash
- Come
- Heel
- Stand
Our class is about 6 people. Hoshi is the smallest dog in the class. The toughest was getting Hoshi to lay. Hoshi wouldn’t do it on his own. I had to force* in a lying position It looks like I’ll be doing lots of practice at home. I checked out a few books at the library to look at.
*The instructor said persuading wasn’t going to work so I had to put Hoshi in a laying position.
An evening at the park
I took Gabby and Hoshi to the park. I’d like to take them to the beach except the closest dog friendly beaches I know of are on the opposite side of Michigan. I’m planning a trip to Benton Harbor area which is a 3 hour drive.
I haven’t perfected STOP yet. I’m too out of shape to chase dogs anymore. Hoshi, you little rascal! Speaking of which, Hoshi starts his obedience class Wednesday.
