Answers from the Cat Whipserer

These are the results of the animal communication session I bought from a woman in England for my cats.

Kobie:

Does he feel okay/is he in pain?

He feels a little down, but there is no physical pain with him.

He does seem to be depressed

Why does he cry at meal times when I'm not in the room

He feels threatened when he is alone with the others, he feels that you are his protector, and can stop the others. He is quite insecure.

a bit odd as he's shut in the room alone, the other cats can't get to him, but maybe he doesn't know that?


Why does he let the other cats eat his food

Again he feels he he is being intimidated by the others, so he just keeps out of the way, or steps aside if the others try to but in, he would rather back down that stand his ground.

This is exactly what he does, he just steps away. Its really sad!

Why does he want to go outside all the time.

He feels he can make the outside world more his own, he has his own fave spots, and hide outs, and he smugly comments that the others don’t go there. He feels more secure in the wide open space, as he can get away fast if he needs, he can hide out, he feels safe, he feels like he isn’t having to watch his back all of the time.


And I want him to know the following
That I love him very much, I'm never going to leave him again, and I'm never going to give him up or let anything happen to him That I don't want him to go outside because its dangerous and he might get hurt, sick or killed and I couldn't stand losing him.

Kobie is aware very much on how much you love him, he likes to have his time, his freedom, and doesn’t want you to take this away. He wants to negotiate. Maybe come to some sort of arrangement with him, that you can let him out during the day, but he must come in at night, or you can let him out for an hour or two, and he must come home after that. It may sound silly, but talk to him yourself, tell him your conditions, he will understand, and should listern…… if you meet him half way, you will both help each other a great deal.

Yeah, but I'm not going to let him go outside, at all, end of. Its just too dangerous. Maybe some day I can afford to build him an enclosed porch or yard that he can't get out of and I'll feel okay about it, but not right now. I couldn't stand to lose him to some horrible tragic end outside all alone.


Thurston:

I want to know why he beats up on Kobie all the time. And I'd like to convince him to leave poor Kobie alone.

Thurston is very driven by prey (& attention) it’s a natural response for him to target the weak, he seens kobie as a weaker cat, and Thurston feels he should take advantage of this, and get the best spots to sleep, the best and most food etc, and if kobie gets in the way, he just gets pushed out of the way etc. He knows what he is doing is wrong, but as mentioned above, he can sometimes do this negative behavior to gain your attention, in a cats mind, any attention even negative attention is better than no attention at all.

True, but how do I not pay attention to this behavior? I'll need to find a way to work around this


I also want Thurston to know that his Daddy had to go away, but he didn't want to leave him. That his Daddy loves him very much and asks about him all the time and that his daddy will be coming home in a few months and he'll never leave him again.

I feel Thurston was most affected by this, im not sure if he is more the mans cat, or if he just has a very close relationship with his daddy, but again he feels like he is missing out on so much attention, and will be pleased when he comes home.

His behavior definitely got worse when James left, and I do feel like he is starved for affection. I feel sorry for the poor little guy.


Oh, and if you could mention that the scratching posts and cat trees are for scratching and the furniture and carpet are not :)

(again this refers to his negative attention seeking!)

again, hard to ignore

They have to live somewhere

This may be a wildly unpopular opinion, but I think sex offenders are people too. Once they've served their debt they should have a fighting chance at having a home and a way to make a living. Tonight the city of Lewisville city council voted to increase the distance a registered sex offender can live from places where children congregate from 500 feet to 1500 feet. This new ordinance effectively makes Lewisville a no mans land for sex offenders, with 90% of residential Lewisville now off limits.

Its true, to make the "list" of sex offenders, you must have been convicted of some pretty heinous crimes, but to be living in the community, you must have already spent your hard time in prison. Punishment dealt, punishment completed. Being on "the list" already means you have restrictions on where you can live and work. No one will rent to you or hire you as it is. Now, lets put ridiculous limits on the distance your home has to be from schools and daycares and you've effectively banished all sex offenders from the city limits. As more and more municipalities pass these ordinances, soon there will be no place left for a man to start over.

Now really, what is this extra 1000 feet going to do? Absolutely nothing. To the hardend child molester that was going to re-offend, he will re-offend, regardless of how many feet he is living from a school. All this ordinance does is further punish the ones that have already changed their ways. Society needs to make up their minds about sex offenders. If we truly believe that they are a continued threat to our children even after release, then we need to lock them up forever. At least in prison they will be afforded food, a job and a place to sleep; something that the current laws do not allow them. I, for one, think child molestation and rape should be a capitol offense, punishable by death. But currently, neither of these are the case. Under the current laws, once released, sex offenders should be returned to active contributing members of society. This is becomeing increasingly impossible. What are we trying to do exactly? Force all our sex offenders to move to Mexico? Herd them all together in communes, like the Indian reservations? If we are going to imprison them in society, we should just cut to the chase and keep them in prison.

The route we as a country are going down now in regards to sex offenders is simply inhumane.

Lonely Kobster

I heard back from the animal communicator, and she says Kobie is lonely. She says he doesn't have the right companion. I guess it could be true. We have the two other cats, but he did lose his friend when Mocha died six months ago. Come to think of it, the odd behavior really began then. Well, too bad Kobie, I'm not getting you another kitty. Sorry.

Actually Kobie has bigger worries today. He has an upset tummy. He's on a 24 hour fast which is he not impressed with. Hopefully he will be feeling better tomorrow.

Meanwhile, In an espresso induced high, I came up with a five year plan. Five years from now, I plan to have achieved the following:

1) Earn my Masters degree in Social Work
2) Achieve fluency in Spanish
3) Achieve a healthy weight and lifestyle
4) Grow Spiritually
5) Work through and overcome my abuse issues

Its nice to have a plan of action. Now I'm off to work on my Spanish.

On hate

First, please pardon the non-pet nature of this post. I just need to get this out and make it public knowledge.

Ever since I forgave my dad back about a year ago, I seem to have lost the ability, or desire, to hate. I recently found out that a man who raped me several years ago is in the hospital, fighting for his life, and I have nothing but well wishes and compassion to offer him. I searched my soul upon hearing this for any signs of hatred, or joy in his suffering, and try as I might, I found none. I originally found this to be odd, but now I think it is a blessing. God has blessed me by taking hate out of my life. All thats left now is love, and love is never wrong.

"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us" I feel like I am finally practicing what I've been praying all these years.

My inability to hate really couldn't have come at a better time for some people. I've recently found out the heinous truth behind the years of lies lavished on me by the one person I was closer to than God. (That being the first mistake I made) I am disappointed, and saddened, and much much wiser today for having heard the truth, but I don't hate him. I don't wish him harm. Instead I feel intense pity for his poor tortured soul. Old and alone, with nothing but his paranoia to keep him company at night. Someday all the lies and all the pain he's caused will come crashing down upon him like waves and he will become awash in a sea of misery of his own design. Its not a fate I wish on anyone, even him. So if you are out there, and you are reading this, and you have lied to me, used me, and sold me out, then have no fear of reprisal from me. I forgive you. You need only make your peace with God.

-Rachael

Beautiful Moxie

We went to training class tonight and had a ball. She just loves to work. She did great and we spent a lot of time off lead. I need to work her off lead more often, I need to trust her. She's better than I think she is. Sometime I'll get someone to take some more video of us. There's an AKC trial in April in Denton, but Moxie doesn't have an ILP, and I don't think I could get one to be honest. Oh well. Keep your eyes peeled for me a local obedience trial. ASCA, or UKC, would work.

Animal Communicator

I believe that some people have been given a gift, and are connected at a deeper level to animals than most. I am not one of these people, but I do know someone who is. She's a good friend of mine and she runs a rabbit rescue and wildlife rehabilitation center. I took my cat Kobie to her out of desperation several years ago when he was desperately sick and none of the vets knew why or how to fix him. This person also practices alternative healing methods including Reike. I don't know much about Reike, but I do know that within 48 hours, Kobie was completely well again. While I had Kobie there, she talked to him. She knew nothing about this cat, but knew that he had been hit by a car and had to have hip surgery, she even knew which hip it was. She also told me that Kobie liked to watch the birds. Ever since then, I've left the blinds raised about a foot and a half so he could see out.

So today, there is a woman on Ruffdogs who is claiming to be an animal communicator, and says she can talk to any animal, all she needs is a name, a gender, and a picture. The picture is to make she she isn't talking to a different animal with the same name. Now, I may be a tad skeptical since I got taken by the whole breed test scam, but I don't quite believe this. She offered a free reading so I sent her a picture of Kobie and a question to ask him. I'll let you all know what she says.

Noise phobias

I don't know what to make of Moxie lately. Her noise phobias are just spiraling out of control. Today at work, she absolutley FREAKED out when the someone used the electric stapler, she ran to the reception area and hid under a chair for half an hour (I didn't try to coax her out because I didn't want to reinforce the fear, that and I was busy at the time) She did go back in the office when I made her, but she hid under the desk and shook. When I pulled her out from under the desk she would just circle and look for a corner to sit in and shiver.

She is increasingly anxious when I bring her to work, to the point that I don't want to bring her anymore because I think she's miserable. She won't settle down and go to sleep. She's jumpy, on edge, she whines, she's clingly. She's not a happy puppy. All of this is recent, though. I've been bringing her to work for 8 years and she's never been phased by anything at work.

Tonight at the therapy visit, some of the kids started playing with basketballs and again, Moxie got all weirded out. She used to be bombproof about stuff like that. I don't know whats going on with her lately. I'm completely at a loss. Any advice would be much appreciated. I don't know where my confident happy dog went? She had a full checkup today, with physical exam and bloodwork and there isn't a thing one wrong with her physically. Should I call in a puppy psychologist?

New Camera

Here are a a few of the first shots with my new camera. I hope to get some good ones in the next few days as I figure out how to use it.

Kobie. I love this picture


Having a scratch


Thurston wasn't up to being a model tonight. He said he'd have his agent call me.


Sully was all about posing.


He's gotten big hasn't he?


Sexy Sully


Cuddled up with my foot. He's so sweet!

So how did I do?

I just took a gander at this blog from this time last year. Wow, so much has changed. As for my new years resolutions for 2007, I did pretty well. I have become a much happier healthier individual. I exercise on a regular basis and I make wise and healthful food choices. Mentally, I'm the best I've been in a while, but still have a ways to go. I have become a better friend, sister and daughter. I was the best teacher I could have been, and now I'm the best Vet tech that I can be. I've made great strides in all areas of my life. Though the trials have been many, overall, its been a good year, I think. At the beginning of 2007, I could never have forseen the changes that were to happen in my life, or to this journal. We said Goodbye to Mocha, and hello to Sully. I moved to a different country. I decided not to start a family, in fact, never to start a family. I changed jobs. I changed my home, my friends, my priorities, my life. I survived it all. Now THAT is something to celebrate!

*Pops the cork on some sparkling cider*

Now for my 2008 New Years Resolutions

1) I will continue in the vein of last years goal to live a healthier lifestyle. This year I will go ahead and make a pledge to lose 100 pounds. I will exercise six days a week. I will weight train a minimum of twice a week, and I will work out at the gym a minimum of three times a week. I will stick to my Sparkpeople diet plan. I laid the groundwork for this last year, so I am ready to tackle the big problem now.

2) I will strengthen my relationship with the Lord. I will find a church home, I will attend bible study weekly. I will spend time in Prayer and in worship. I will seek His path for my life. Its clear that I cannot be trusted to steer this ship. Its time to let go, and let God.

3) I will cultivate deep, meaningful relationships with other people.

4) I will make important decisions about school, career and general direction of this next chapter of my life. I hope to have a plan mapped out by the end of the year, and a new set of goals for 2009.


I hope you all had a good 2007. I hope you met and exceeded all of your goals. Most of all, I hope that 2008 is better than you could ever imagine.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

I'm still here, still alive. I haven't posted much for two reasons. 1) Not much has happened of interest, and 2) my camera broke so I can't bless you with new pictures of my beautiful babies.

I have been saving up for a new camera, and I was going to buy it for Christmas, but I decided to spend half of it on a present for my Mom instead. I figure I can wait a couple more months, besides, seeing her open her present was well worth it.

Moxie got a new toy, a package of Greenies and a Bully stick for Christmas. I have never known Moxie to chew on anything for more than five minutes ever, but she sat down yesterday afternoon and ate the whole bully stick. It was a 12 incher. And as one might expect, she was puking this morning. I would have taken it away from her sooner, but I really didn't expect her to do that, its totally out of character. I'm going to take the excessive chewing to mean she's bored and has too much pent up energy so I need to work harder at wearing her out every day.

This year was Sully's first Christmas, so I tried to really do it up for him. We actually put up the Christmas tree, solely and entirely for his benefit, as neither my Mom or I care much about decorations. He's been amused by it. Since I shelled out a pretty penny for a new cat tree and scratching post this year already, I kept the presents light. I actually bought them a new feather attachment for their flying bird toy. I got it out and played with them with it a day or two before Christmas and Thurston destroyed it in a matter of minutes. So I went back to Petco and bought them out of feather flyer attachments. That should last this crew about a week or so.

Kobie has taken a turn for the strange in recent weeks. He's decided that he cannot eat alone. I must be in the room with him when he is eating his meals, or he will refuse to eat. At first I thought this was just him getting weird in his old age, but then the real reason for it came out. I've been nothing if not really busy of late. Between work and taking care of house and family and volunteering and cultivating friendships, I don't have much extra time to take care of me. Last week, I picked up an old journal, flipped to a fresh page and spent the twenty minutes I would usually pass doing nothing sitting in the room with Kobie, writing. So now I have daily built in journal time, to process my day, and set my goals for tomorrow. Its brought some much needed structure to my chaotic life, and I have my precious little neurotic orange cat to thank for it.

So thats the long and short of it now. Expect copious updates when the new camera comes in, featuring many pictures of the fuzzy beasts.

Whats in a breed.

What do you get when you take one of these:



add a little of this:




and a little of this:




and a dash of this:




Don't know? Well, according to the idiots at Mars Veterinary, you get this:



Can you believe it! Its like instead of doing the test, they just threw darts at an AKC breed poster. These idiots are trying to tell me that my dog, that MOXIE, is a beagle mix!!! WTF! DO they think I'm stupid? Well obviously I am, I actually paid these people to do a DNA breed test on my dog. $85 wasted.

I'm so angry I could spit nails. I've been royally had!
What makes me even more angry than the money I wasted, is the fact that this company assured us that this test was complete and accurate, and something useful and factual that we could offer our clients. Now its our integrity on the line, and you can bet we won't be offering this test in our office anymore. Moxie's was the first profile we did, and I wish we had waited to offer it to clients until we had her results and were satisfied. As it is, we had two other clients do the test. I'm so ashamed. I just hope whoever is playing darts over at Mars Veterinary has better aim with their tests.

Believe me folks, don't waste your time, or money on the Mars Wisdom panel DNA breed test.

Back to blogging

Well long time no blog. Moxie and I have been very busy with work and training and volunteerings.

I took a trip to Boston a few weeks back and Moxie and the cats stayed behind to torment my mother. I believe all but Moxie will have to be boarded next time I go out of town.

Sully has entered the "complete nuissance" stage of his development. He is constantly into everything he shouldn't be, and looking pleased as pie with himself when I'm retieving him from the shelf, or fishing something out of his mouth. He swats at me with his one paw and looks endearing with those blue eyes, and I just can't be mad. I remember this phase with Thurston. It lasted about two years. Oh brother, what have I brought into this house.

Kobie and Thurston both have ringworm, and I have no idea how they got it. I don't have ringworm, Sully has been over his for months now. Its a complete mystery. But it isn't too bad and it seems to be healing with treatment. I hate ringworm. Its one of those things I will ask God about when I die. "God, why ringworm?" I just hope Moxie doesn't get it.

Last Tuesday I sent off Moxie's DNA profile. I should have the results in another two weeks. Can you believe it! Two weeks and we will finally know what makes a Moxie thanks to the fine folks over at Mars Veterinary Wisdom Panel. We've already had several clients request the test. I'm thrilled because I was insistent that we carry it. I had to really convince my boss that I wasn't the only one CRAZY enough to spend that kind of money to know what breed mix my dog is.

I've been seeing other dogs.

Moxie has had her suspicions. First, the strange red hairs on my clothes, then, the strange collar in my car, and finally, the distinctive "canine" smells on my hands. Well her fears have been confirmed. I have been seeing another dog.

This is Bosley and he's stolen my heart.



He's actually my bosses dog. I pet sit for them when they are away. They want to get Bosley into pet therapy so I've been working with him. He's great in the house but needs some work outside, so I've been taking him for long walks with Moxie and practicing our basic commands. He's getting much better. He's such a sweetheart though. He will sure bring a ray of sunshine into the lives of people in need. Just look at this smile.



He's at the top of my dognapping list for sure.

Today Moxie and I went to "Bark in the Park" a community event to benefit the Hickory Creek Animal Shelter. My therapy dog group trains on saturdays in the front room at that shelter. The town has been very generous to donate the use of that space. They are raising money to build a new shelter, which is desperately needed, unfortunatly. Don't you wish there was no need for animal shelters at all? In a perfect world....every dog and cat would have a loving wonderful home.

This past week was the week of terrible pet owners at work. Some of the people I worked with don't deserve to have pets. I cry for those poor animals. Suffering at the hands of willfully ignorant, lazy and heartless owners. Sometimes I just don't have the stomach for my job.

After Bark in the Park, Moxie and I went to visit our friends, Kathy and Jally. I visited with Kathy, and Moxie visited with Jally. We all had a lovely time. After that we went over and took Bosley with us on a nice walk. Moxie spied something strange in their backyard. She couldn't quite figure what it was.



After a short game of "chase the giant hopping rat" We played a game of "leave the kangaroo" that wasn't nearly as much fun according to Moxie. Bosley just ignores it. After all he lives with a lemur. He's already seen it all.

I'll leave the keeping wild animals as pets rant for another post. Suffice it to say, I don't agree with the practice.

But keeping Golden Retrievers as pets is perfectly acceptable!

Training Disaster

So tonight was my first night to teach basic obedience at my local obedience club and boy was I nervous. I have been on edge about this for the past 48 hours. So I pull up to the fairgrounds after work and I notice there are some people inside the building, which is very odd. I waited for someone else from the club (someone with some guts) to show up. Ann fit the bill, and apparently, the fairgounds double booked our building! We've had that building every Tuesday night for the past 15 years, but they gave it to the 4H club.

So that put us in a bind, and our students were beginning to arrive. We set up a makeshift registration in the parking lot. I had left my jacket at work and was freezing. Our first student is a finished champion smooth collie who wants to start on some competative obedience. Nice dog, the lady is going to be difficult. Then the rest of the class shows up. Three families, with FIVE 5 month old German Shepherd Puppies between them. Two of them are dragging small children behind them through the parking lot. Two are barking and lunging at the Collie. The fifth is hiding, cowering behind his owner. Oh brother.

So I explain to the parents that no, their children cannot train the dog in class. The mom informs me that I have the honor of informing her children of this. Great. I'm terrible with kids. So I broke the news, gently I hope. They didn't cry, thats a good sign right? We talked about collars, leashes, treats, class rules, and I talked a little bit about teaching attention. It was too dark to do much else so everyone left and we will extend the session a week.

So I'm thinking I'm in WAY over my head. I have a week to do some research and figure out how I'm going to handle this crew. The training director offered to see if our resident GSD expert would be willing to teach this session and I graciously bowed to experience. I really hope she says she will teach because I am really nervous about this. I mean, these owners with the GSD's are dog novices. Two of them have littermates in the same home. In watching them interact, they clearly know nothing about dog behavior, or basic training. The dogs are 5 months old and already a nightmare. I think they can be helped but I don't think 6 weeks at an hour a week is going to be enough time.

So, Lord help me.

If someone else takes the class I'm going to bring Bozley and put him through his paces every week. He's a great dog, just needs some manners. I've been babysitting the Boz man two out of the past three weekends, and his owners are going away again tomorrow until Sunday. I'll get some pics of him and let you all see how lovely he is. Such a sweet boy.

Moxie and I haven't trained in three weeks now because, first, I was sick, then, last week Moxie had the pukeys, and this week this mess happened. I hope to do some work with her tomorrow so she doesn't lose ground.

Sully is doing great and on NO meds or supplements. Guess what did the trick? the all canned food diet. If he gets into the other cats dry food, or the dogs dry food he gets the squirts, as long as he just gets his canned food, he has normal solid poops. I'm feeding him only the Wellness grain free varieties. He has no complaints about it. I wouldn't have dry in the house except Kobie is being difficult and won't eat enough of the wet and was losing too much weight. Meal time around here is a circus. I have to lock everyone in separate rooms and when I open the doors, dash in and pick up the bowls before Sully or Thurston run in and stick their face in the bowl. Little piggies! But I love them. Sully is getting so big. A little too big in fact. I've cut his rations back as he's a bit podgy already! Actually, I don't think I feed him too much, its all the food he manages to steal. I swear he's taking lessons in being bad from Thurston. Now I have a pack of little thugs terrorizing the house.

I am going to Boston next week! YAY! I'm going to visit Shawn. The kids are staying with Mom, with lots of backup phone numbers. I'm wondering if I should just ask someone to take Moxie for a few days but I just don't know what would be best. Maybe I should board the cats too, so Mom doesn't have to deal with the feeding fiasco. Or just Sully, with his special diet. I just don't know. This is precisely why I don't leave town more often. Any ideas?

Goodbye Hazelnut Latte Bear :(

I'm really sad tonight. Little Hazel, who was doing SO WELL, took a turn for the worse last night. I took her back to the animal emergency clinic when she developed labored breathing and a pounding heart beat, and began grinding her teeth, all signs of pain.

They admitted her to the hospital and gave her some pain meds, then ran some bloodwork. The results weren't good, their were significant changes from Friday mornings labwork. her liver values were about the same, but her electrolytes were all out of whack and her CBC was dangerously off scale. The bloodwork painted a much bleaker picture than I had originally thought for Hazel. We decided to treat her overnight and see what it looked like in the morning.

The doctor called at 10am and said Hazels labs were actually worse this morning, and that things didn't look good. At this rate Hazel was going to need a blood transfusion just to restabilize, and the list of possible reasons for her illness was full of dire prognosis. It just didn't look like she was going to pull through, no matter what we did. So I called Shawn and there was a coordinated effort between myself, the doctor and Shawns parents for a while, then a decision was reached to let Hazel go.

I met Shawn's parents a the ER, and we held her and stroked her and told her how wonderful she was as she slipped away. It was even harder to say goodbye once I saw her. She looked more alert than she had in days, and was managing a weak purr. I cried like a baby. It was like losing Mocha all over again. I feel so guilty for letting Shawn and his family believe that Hazel was going to be okay. I just never saw this coming. I really wanted her to get well. She was such a fighter. She never gave up. What an incredible little kitty.

Run Free Hazelnut Latte-Bear. Give your mom and your brother love from me.

Hazelnut

Hazelnut is improving hourly. She is home with me tonight for feedings. Her eyesight is returning gradually, and she is more alert today and able to stand a walk a few steps. She will get better, there is just no other option.

Here she is tonight. Does someone look like her mama or what?




Here is Mocha mommy and brother Tyler for comparison


Hazel looks like an old cat after her ordeal. Very sunken and unkept. I can't wait until she returns to her former glory. She was quite a stunning cat before all of this.

All your thoughts and prayers are helping! Keep it up!

MIRACLE!

IT'S A MIRACLE!

Hazel was found, ALIVE, one block from her house. She is dehydrated and emaciated but alive! She was taken by her rescuers to the Animal ER where Shawn's parents and I met up with her. I was expecting her to look alot worse than she did. She raised her head, meowed and made several attempts at grooming. She is very weak, just exhausted the poor thing, but very happy to be found for sure. I can't believe it! Two months to the day she dissapeared!

She had some labwork draw. Remarkably, her kidneys are healthy! Her liver enzymes are elevated and she is a little yellow - she probably has a condition known as "hepatic lipidosis" or Fatty Liver disease, common in cats who are overweight and stop eating. Good news, we can beat Fatty liver disease. I think she can survive this. We will see what my docs think in the morning. I'm up for the challenge, I'm just so glad she's been found! I had given up hope! Only just last week, Shawn's parents had given me all of Hazel's things and I never took them out of my car (not because I had a feeling, just because I'm lazy)

So everyone send your best prayers and healing vibes to Hazelnut! She's a fighter though, I really think she will pull through this. What a miracle! An absolute Miracle!

Beating the Drop on Recall Demon

Another breakthrough night at the training club! I'm so excited! Moxie and I have been working on the drop on recall exercise for open level competitive obedience for some YEARS now (though not consistently) and tonight it finally "clicked". I started out by leaving her in a sit stay and walking out about 20 feet. Then instead of calling her, I asked her to "down" in place. (This made possible though years of work proofing downs anywhere, anytime) I used her verbal mark, "yes" and praised then returned to her and gave her a treat. Then I would put her back into a sit, go back out, and ask for a down again. Mark. Treat. Repeat a few more times. Finally I left her in a sit, went out, and called her front then asked her down about five feet out and she dropped like a stone! I was amazed! No creeping. No hesitation. It was an immediate, picture perfect down on a single command! I through a puppy party over it of course. I was very excited about this down, which of course meant Moxie was excited about it, and is more than happy to do it again and again for all the praise and yummy treats.

I just can't believe that was all it took to get her to "get" it. I have tried every which way to teach this skill. I tried using a helper and a leash to stop her while I simultaneously give the down command. She was too smart for that one, she knew when she was tethered and when she wasn't. I tried proofing moving downs, drilled them and drilled them and she would drop on recall, eventually, but she clearly didn't understand what I was asking of her. I tried using her favorite game, fetch. I would throw the ball for a retrieve and as she brought it back to me I would ask for a down and the minute she dropped, I would throw another ball for her. Again, she would drop, eventually, but it wasn't an immediate response and she clearly didn't understand the concept.

But tonight was just brilliant! I was so proud of her! Our relationship grows stronger with each passing day. If only my people friends could read me as well as Moxie can. She's amazing. Other highlights from tonights session include an great improvement in heel back/backup. She is performing the skill correctly more and more frequently and with greater control and precision. We are getting there! Her attention and heelwork is spot on. I wish I had some good video of us heeling to post as it's quite flashy from where I am, I'm sure its fun to watch.

One negative, my new trainer is all about correction, which, I believe correction is necessary in training. Don't get me wrong. But its also imperative that you know your dog, and trust me, I know my dog. I cannot leash correct my dog. She shuts down. Moxie is a super soft touch. She works best completely hands off. All I have to do is change my tone of voice for her to know when she is doing something correctly vs incorrectly. So I use a verbal correction, "eh" or "wrong" in the right tone of voice is all thats needed to get Moxie to reorient to me and try again. So tonight I lost her attention for a split second during a heeling with distraction exercise and my instructor says "correct her!" which I did! I gave her an "eh" and then a command, probably a watch me, or a leave it, I don't remember, but it worked. But no, she wants me to leash correct Moxie. It doesn't work and I won't do it. She shuts down. She cannot be manhandled like that she's too sensitive. Don't get me wrong, I don't disagree with a leash correction as long as it is done properly and not overdone, done out of anger, or done to "hurt" the dog. I just don't agree with leash correcting my dog as she doesn't respond to it.

Fast forward to the end of the night, I asked the trainer to put Moxie through some heelwork as I'm trying to get her used to other handlers so she will be more responsive to the patients during the pet therapy sessions. So she takes the leash and moxie responds brilliantly to her. She was heeling Moxie in a weave pattern through a line of dogs performing down stays. Two of the dogs in the class are less experienced and are still learning the meaning of stay. One of these dogs is friends with Moxie, so when the trainer walked Moxie past her, she broke her stay and tried to initiate play with Moxie. This commotion made the next dog break his stay to move out of the way. Meanwhile the trainer is trying to heel Moxie through the mayhem and Moxie turns her head to watch the dog that is coming up behind her. The trainer leash corrects her. Moxie cowers down and turns her head away (sending her best doggy calming signals) and what does the trainer do, she gives ANOTHER leash correction. I was alarmed to say the least. I mean, all she needed to do to get her back was to say her name and "heel" in an upbeat voice and Moxie would again trot happily next to her. Fortunately, once the other two dogs were back under control Moxie recovered and finished heeling. The whole thing probably only took a couple of seconds, I just couldn't believe the trainer didn't read the situation better than she did.

The positive outcome was that Moxie did work for this other person. She did recover from the correction and we were able to end the night on an up note. So all's well that ends well I suppose.

New Frontiers!

Long time no update. Moxie is doing well with her training. We are working with a new trainer at the obedience club and are really being challenged. She loves working with me in class and learning. Its fun for her. We worked some on weaves the other day and she is starting to go out and do them without me next to her which is a huge step for us. There is a UKC Obedience comp in Denton tomorrow that I've decided not to enter as we are at the open level in UKC and not ready to compete. We have everything except a reliable drop on recall and dumbell retrieve. I am using the Shirley Chong method to teaching the retrieve and we are making real progress, but still have a ways to go.

I have the trialing bug though, BAD! I would love to find an APDT Rally trial, an ASCA obedience or agility trial of any flavor to compete in. Moxie and I are bored! We want some rosettes for all our hard work.

On the cat front, Kobie's paw has healed perfectly and he has had no futher complications. Sully has had a setback. His stools went soft on me again after I took him off his supplements, so I put him back on the slippery elm, probiotics and digestive enzymes. He's on a three times a week dose of budesonide and his stools are coming back to normal. This tells me, though, that we are probably dealing with IBD as it recurrs when we stop treatment. I was hoping it was just residual inflamation from the coccidal infection.

Finally, a bit of my own news. My obedience club, GTDOG, approved me as a trainer and I'm doing my first basic class starting next session. I'm super nervous and excited. It should be fun, I just hope I'm good at it!

Lightbulb Moment

I'm reading the book, "Control Unleashed" by Leslie McDevitt and so far its been pretty good, but doesn't really apply to me and Moxie because Moxie doesn't have reactivity issues, and she rarely ever has a "shut down" moment any more. Though its all good stuff to know so I can help others who have dogs that do have these issues. Moxie's big issue that I was hoping the CU course would help with is she becomes so excited over certain things that her brain fogs over and she can't concentrate, listen, or learn anything. Its a big problem in agility, it also happens sometimes in obedience.

Last night, Moxie and I went to our twice a month visit to UBH to do pet assited therapy. On these visits, we set up a short agility course and have the dogs run the course, then get the patients to work the dogs through the course. Moxie gets SO WORKED UP she isn't listening to the patients commands and it ends one of two ways, either everyone laughs at the silly dog, or the patient feels like a failure, which is something I would really like to avoid. Something else she does on these visits is she fixates on treats. She won't calm down for petting, or pay attention to the patients. She keeps her eyes focused on me at all times, ever vigilant, hoping for a treat. So while I was reading the book last night, it was talking about rewarding calm behavior and I finally made the connection that half of Moxie's problem is she is overmotivated by food.

I started to really think about it, and I almost always feed her when she's in an excited state of mind. Including meals, she is always worked up and excited before meals and I reward that state of mind by feeding her. So, the new regiment is no food until she is relaxed. We are going to do some relaxation excercises with the ultimate goal being an ability to cue relaxation. I want to build in an off switch basically. The book has given me some good starting points, but if anyone has any ideas feel free to chime in.



In other news, SULLY HAS NORMAL POOP! The budesenide has worked wonders for him and so far no unwanted side effects. I am slowly weaning him off all his supplements. Hopefully, once we stop the budesenide, he will continue to have solid stool. Everyone keep your paws crossed!