THE ROLLERCOASTER REPRIEVE

We had a follow up veterinary appointment this morning for D'fer and we have had some very, very good news.  What one vet and a radiologist thought was osteosarcoma may in fact be very severe osteoarthritis.  We sought out a second opinion this week, and had a second set of radiographs (the medical term for X-Rays is Radiograph) done today, ten days after the originals were taken.  What this allowed us to do is compare what his hips looked like ten days ago and what they look like now.  By finding out what the difference is we can find out one of two things; either the rate of cancerous growth is really fast and dangerous OR that perhaps the diagnosis of osteosarcoma was wrong and the diagnosis might be something else.  There are no significant changes between one and the other which means that most likely...we are NOT dealing with osteosarcoma.  We also did chest radiographs and there are no scary shadows on the film showing us that there has not been any cancerous spread to the lungs.  Phew!  Never the less, the radiologist did think that there is cancer in the bone, so we cannot dismiss that entirely.  If this is cancer, it is growing slowly enough that D'fer won't likely drop dead at any moment, and if this is not cancer, then we may have some treatment options that we hadn't had before.  And this brings me to the roller coaster metaphore for today.



D'fer with his celebration stick.  That would be the toy you buy when you get a different diagnosis than osteosarcoma.  Still not a great diagnosis, but better than death at any moment.

The injury that led to the osteosarcoma diagnosis was that Deef had been lame for a couple of weeks, off and on.  He had a sore shoulder and then he was gimping along on his left hip and then his right front leg looked a bit off.  Then one night, just about dinner time, I took D'fer out to pee and he asked me to throw his frisbee.  Normal D'fer stuff.  I took it and gave it back to him because he had been too sore to really play frisbee.  Then he trotted around the yard and did his thing, and brought me the frisbee again.  I took it and dropped it in front of him.  He launched himself into the air (much more forcefully than he needed to mind you!) and on his way up screamed in a way I had never heard him scream before.   He landed in a heap on his left hip.  When he got himself up he wouldn't put any weight on his left hind leg.  Off to the emergency room we went and they took a radiograph.  His left hip looked like scrambled eggs.  Not good.  I asked some questions and the emergency vet thought that he had severe osteoarthritis; a degeneration of the bone in the hip and sent us home with pain meds to keep him comfortable.  That vet visit is when we got onto the rollercoaster.


The injury happened on a Saturday evening so on Monday morning I went into my regular vet who looked at the radiograph and gave me the sad news that this might be osteosarcoma; a form of fast growing bone cancer.  He sent the radiographs out to a radiologist who confirmed his diagnosis.  My world fell apart, and I wrote last week's blog about how I was going to approach treating this.  D'fer's pain has been well managed and when his pain is under control, he really is a happy dog.  He is still quite lame, but he is a happy dog.  Even so, I felt like I was falling, falling, falling.
 

With the encouragement of friends, I sought out a second opinion; the second vet disagreed with the first vet and the radiologist.  Regardless of agreeing or disagreeing, a second set of radiographs would tell us if the image on the film was growing or staying the same.  That leg of the journey has been like the rollercoaster coasting along nicely and politely.  Things don't feel quite so disrupted or discouraging.  I feel quite a bit like I got my life back when I saw the rads today; especially the chest rads that don't show any cancer in D'fer's lungs.

Radiograph number one take ten days ago.  Compare the left and right hip joints; you will notice that one is nice and even and the other looks like scrambled eggs.  Or more technically "the left hip (right on the radiograph) presents with a  moth eaten appearance.  If you know about radiographs, this is a scary looking hip.

Now compare!  Don't worry that the bones aren't in the same exact direction as they were on the first radiograph; you can see that the problem joint is basically the same.  Now if you are like me, you expand this picture and then you look at it with a magnifying lens for fun!  The important part is that the joint didn't change between the first image and the second, even though D'fer was positioned slightly differently the second time.

 

So now we coast for a bit.  Some things have changed and will stay changed; we still have the radiology report saying that the image on the film looks a lot like cancer.  It still might be.  But it hasn't changed!  The vet cautioned us that we have to remember that it might just be.  Now we have a crate in the kitchen so that if we need to we can easily care for D'fer if he is in pain from his leg.  That will stay.  We are not turning D'fer out with other dogs in the yard because it just wouldn't be a good idea for him to get to running and chasing and rough housing with his friends given the state that his hip is in.  That is a change for sure.  We use the hip helper harness (http://www.hartmanharness.com/) to help him up and down stairs and in and out of the car and over curbs when he is stiff or sore.  Likely we will be using this more and more often as he ages and we are very happy to have it.  Probably the biggest change though is that we know that there will be more diagnostics and possibly more treatments on the horizon.
 

Happy D'fer on pain meds, with his cancer beating Frisbee and his hip helper.  One of the changes we have made is to make a rule that he cannot come upstairs without the help of his hip helper harness.  So nice to see him smiling again.  Good boy! 

 

Right now, D'fer's rads are being sent to the surgeon to see if they can remove the head of the femur and alleviate his pain that way.  IF, and it is a very big if, the surgeon thinks that she can successfully remove the head of the femur, then we will consult an internal medicine specialist and see if his heart is healthy enough to undergo anesthesia.  IF it is safe to anesthetize him, then we will work out a plan involving our veterinarian, the surgeon, the internal medicine specialist or cardiologist, and likely and anesthetist to remove the head of the femur.  This is a big hill on the Reprieve Rollercoaster, because a whole bunch of factors have to fall into place in order to be able to surgically help D'fer.  Knowing it is coming is stressful, and not knowing what the hill will surprise us with is even more stressful, but we are going to go up the hill and down the other side in the company of professionals who are educated and who care deeply about D'fer.

 

There are some important lessons in this experience that are not training related but they certainly do impact training.  The first is that you really need to know a little bit about your dog in order to advocate for him.  I have known for a long time that Deef has been "off" but have not been sure what exactly might be going on with him.  Once we had an injury, I count myself lucky on a number of fronts.  I know a lot about the basic anatomy and organization of the body, and how medicine works, so when the veterinarian wants to do something like taking a radiograph of my dog, then I have a good idea what she is talking about.  Also, I knew the emergency vet really, really well.  Those three things; knowing my dog, knowing a bit about biology and health and medicine and knowing my vet have paid off HUGE dividends this past ten days.  I have been able to talk to the veterinarians, I have been able to identify exactly how D'fer is not "himself", I have been able to ask good questions and I have been able to integrate what is being said so that I can advocate on D'fer's behalf.  When faced with an illness or injury being able to advocate for your dog like this allows you to return to training quickly and effectively.  This is really important.

 

Another thing to think about is that I had really clear boundaries about what I would and would not do to my dog before I needed to pull them out of my pocket and examine them.  I know that although I might amputate a dog's leg if it was injured or if it would buy him years of time, I am not going to amputate his leg to get a tissue sample (one of the options discussed when we had the osteosarcoma diagnosis).  I know that I will not engage in radical, painful, long treatment if it is not going to get us a great deal of benefit.  That means that for my dogs, although I might allow surgery, radiation or chemotherapy to happen to alleviate pain, or to significantly prolong life, I also know that I won't put being alive ahead of having what I consider a minimum level of quality of life.  I made this decision long before I needed it and I have discussed that decision at length with my veterinarian.  In fact I have decided these things about each of the animals I have responsibility for so that I can be certain that in a crisis I am not held over a barrel to make a choice I may not be comfortable with later.  Make your choices ahead of time where possible and then discuss them with your vet.  Doing so will save you a lot of headaches later on when you are faced with the decision and you already have a plan.

 

Finally, the most important thing that I did to prepare for the Rollercoaster Reprieve, was to carefully develop and organize a support system for myself.  This network is made up of close friends and family members, of dear and cherished clients, of veterinarians and technicians, of people on the net who have never met me but who have read my blogs and my articles and been to my seminars and who have reached out through this difficult time to help me, John and D'fer.  We are not out of the woods.  We may still lose D'fer imminently; he is after all ten years old with a heart condition.  He may or may not be a candidate for surgery.  He may over do it at some point tomorrow or the next day and fracture the neck of the femur, and we may be right back to where we were last week, when I wrote "IT WILL BE ALRIGHT", but I am confident that it WILL be alright because we have the support we need, we have good diagnostics and we have all the right things happening to help us to survive the Reprieve Rollercoaster and whatever it throws at us.  Thanks everyone; I couldn't have made it through this past week without you!

 

BREEDERS FEW AND FAR BETWEEN?

Lately I have been reading on a number of lists that good breeders are few and far between.  People are lamenting the lack of breeders who keep stable structure and temperament in mind when they breed.  I am seeing more and more finger pointing at breeders as the source of ill tempered dogs, with poor structure.  It is true that poorly bred dogs are being produced by someone, but there is a second party in the equation.  You.  The consumer.  The person who purchases the ill tempered, poorly structured puppy is in part to blame.  When consumers start to be more discriminating in their choices of breeders fewer ill tempered dogs with poor structure will be bred. 

There is a problem that relates to this premise.  The problem is that many pet buyers and in fact even many veterinarians don’t recognize a good breeder.  I mentor a number of vet students each year.  And each year at least one of these students tells me that breeders are bad.  Vets don’t get sent out to dog shows to learn about the dogs that people are carefully breeding and they don’t learn about the way that good choices are made when breeding dogs.  Your average pet owner doesn’t know how to find a great breeder and the main person they would go to ask for information is usually at least as uninformed as they are.

Baby D'fer!  He came from Amy and John Dahl of Oakhill Kennels in North Carolina.  Definately breeders who know what they are breeding and why!

Trainers are a better source of contact for good breeders, but even in the training world where we deeply care about what pup comes into our homes, many trainers are not getting their dogs from good breeders believing that they can make a bigger difference by rescuing a dog.  Never the less, trainers are more closely tied into the world of breeders than many veterinarians because we have behavioural expectations of our dogs and we know a variety of people who also have behavioural expectations of their dogs and our network can help to lead you to the right dog to fit your life.  

Possibly the best place to go to get information about good breeders is a breed club if you are looking for a purebred.  If you are looking for a mixed breed, Rally and Agility clubs are great places to look for contacts for good breeders.  The problem is, if you don’t look, you won’t find the great match to fit your life.  If you just want a dog, and you don’t care if it is a slug who lies on the couch all day, or if it is an exercise-o-holic, then you can randomly choose any dog at all.  If you have any expectations at all of the dog who will live with you, you need to find a good way of culling out the dogs who don’t fit your needs, and until consumers demand better, they are going to keep getting mediocre.  Until consumers start to get picky about the dogs they choose to live with, they are going to continue to create and support breeders who don’t breed well tempered, good structured dogs.

So how can you tell if you have a good breeder who is doing his or her best to produce great dogs?  There are some hallmarks to look for.  With a few notable exceptions, great breeders don’t live so far off the grid that the only way to find them is to pack a lunch and paddle your canoe to get to them.  Great breeders have great reputations.  At one point I was looking for a standard poodle for a service dog program.  I went to a dog show and I watched the poodles being groomed.  I introduced myself and started to talk to the people grooming the poodles and told them about the dog I wanted.  I asked them who they would recommend.  One kennel name kept coming up over and over again.  I spoke to about five different handlers and they all said the same thing;-“if you want those characteristics in a dog, this is the kennel you want”.  I went to a second different show and talked up several more people in the poodle group and asked again, and again that same kennel kept coming up.  One handler suggested another kennel and then said “but they get all their breeding stock from this other kennel.”  The kennel I had been referred to over and over again.  That kennel, Dawin, in Ontario, had exactly the kind of dog I wanted.  Had I been looking for something else, I am sure the handlers would all have recommended a different kennel.  Handlers at dog shows are the world’s best kept secret in terms of finding the dog that you want.

The second thing about great breeders is that they are aware of what their dog’s faults are.  When I first got involved with dogs, I bought a breed book with all the breeds that were then recognized in Canada.  I read the whole book, cover to cover, even the breeds I knew I didn’t want.  That was perhaps one of the best exercises I could have done.  I learned a lot about dog breeds, traits and characteristics and temperament.  I learned that a correct temperament for a Kuvaz is aloof.  I learned that the correct temperament for a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is friendly.  I learned that some breeds of pointers should naturally exhibit pointing behaviour.  I also learned about which breeds I wanted to live with and which ones I did not.  I narrowed the choice down to two; the Chesapeake Bay Retriever and the German Shepherd.  And then I went to a dog show to meet the breeds.  All the chessie people told me about the drawbacks to their breed, and what I should consider when getting a chessie.  Many of them told me that I should consider them as a second dog, but get an easier dog first.  The German Shepherd people all told me that shepherds were great dogs.  Knowing what I know now, and looking back, the chessie would have been a better choice, in part because the breeders were upfront with the drawbacks to the breed.  There are a lot of drawbacks to my beloved German Shepherds and I would have been better served had I known those drawbacks up front.

The third thing I like to ask a breeder is “what are you breeding for?”  If they respond “good temperament and great structure!” I know we need to dig a little deeper.  A good temperament in a German Shepherd is not a good temperament in a Golden Retriever and vice versa.  If I am visiting a lab breeder and they tell me that they breed for a deep chest and a strong back, with a stout otter like tail, who is willing and eager to work with people and carry things around, who tolerates a high level of noise and activity without distress, and whose ancestors had good health into their early teens, then I know I am talking to someone who has thought about what it means to breed a good Labrador retriever.  If I talk to a lab breeder who tells me that they want to breed dogs with good structure and temperament, then I know I need to keep looking for another breeder.

Finally, I like to get to know the breeders I am buying from.  The last three dogs I purchased were all from training colleagues.  The first, Amy Dahl was someone I got to know well through a variety of interactions in the training world and on line.  She and I had collaborated on a couple of projects and I had consulted with her on a behaviour problem in a dog she knew.  The second was Robin Winter of Narnia Kennel who had competed against me in a number of dog shows.  I also met several dogs she had breed and I really liked them.  The third is a trainer Mel Wooley of Stahlworth Kennel who has presented at our Service Dog Seminar.  She has an incredible dog, Divah, who I really like, and when the chance came to get a Diva puppy, I jumped at the opportunity.  10 years later, I am still in touch with Amy from time to time, 6 years later I am still in touch with Robin sporadically, and 18 months later, I am in regular contact with Mel.  I would consider all my breeders to be good friends and I know that if any of my dogs had any issues, I could turn to them for help.  If you really like the dogs, but you just cannot stand the people who breed them, consider that if the paperwork doesn't come through or if the dog has a congenital issue that pops up years later, these are the same people you will have to work with.  If you cannot work with them when the going is good, you aren't likely going to be able to work with them when the going is tough.

The bottom line is that until consumers start asking for better dogs we are going to keep getting second rate animals.  If we were to treat the car industry the way we treat the dog industry we would buy cars that just fell apart and we would accept that as not only normal but as desirable.  We need to demand better minimum standards and when we do, the world of breeders will turn around.  Breeders breed what sells, and if it doesn't matter to you what dog ends up in your home, it won't matter to the breeder either.

CONSIDERING AN INVISIBLE FENCE? CONSIDER THIS!

Invisible fences are becoming more and more popular and in a few cases they are a very successful method for keeping your dog on your property.  In most cases though, this can go badly wrong.

Consider for starters that you are depending upon a boundary that the dog cannot see.  Invisible fences work best when they are the back up to a visible boundary.  This is why you start out with flags.  Most people take the flags away far too soon, and the dog is not exactly clear on where that boundary is or is not, meaning that they will get shocked more often than is strictly necessary for success.  When I recommend an invisible fence, I would put it along natural boundaries that are visible to the dog, such as a flower garden, along a driveway or lane, or along a row of trees.  I would not use a sidewalk or the street as a boundary for reasons I will outline below.

Consider that you often cannot control the degree of shock that the collar delivers.  If you really want to know what your dog is experiencing, put the collar on your upper arm with the electrodes against your skin on the inside of your arm.  Walk towards the fence.  Repeat that five or six times so that you are certain about the outcome.  There is a caveat.  This will hurt and it will hurt a lot.  Electric shock is one of the most intense sorts of pain we are able to deliver, and most collars are factory set to deliver a very intense pain.  

Consider what happens when your dog sees the kids coming home from school.  If he darts out meets the kids right at the boundary line, he may learn that the kids cause pain.  I have seen four cases where this happened and in one case the dog became so aggressive towards people that we could not safely live with him.  When looking for the cause of the shocks, the dog is not going to naturally gravitate towards his behaviour as the underlying cause of the pain.  He will look for clues about when he gets shocked.  He may decide for instance that cars, kids, other dogs, the mail delivery person, or the contractor who comes to install the air conditioner is the source of his pain.  Dogs in pain are much more likely to bite than dogs who are not, and if the dog decides that the contractor is the source of his pain, then the contractor is who he will bite.

Consider that you are depending on a piece of equipment that may not remain charged and may not work all the time.  If your batteries die and you don’t notice, your dog may approach your boundary and not hear the tone he would normally associate with approaching the edge of his yard.  Not hearing the tone, he will eventually test that boundary and then discover that the fence does not currently shock him.  This leads to a gambler’s effect.  When the fence is sometimes live and sometimes not, any time your dog approaches the boundary and he doesn’t receive a shock, he in effect receives a reward.  This means that he will start to gamble to try and figure out when he can win and when he cannot.  This means that in reality you are increasing your dog’s likelihood that he will try and test the fence, even if that means that some of the time he gets shocked.  The rule for using punishment is that it must occur every time that the dog behaves in the targeted manner, and when you use shock as a punisher, this is especially important.

Consider that your dog may learn that the equipment is what causes the pain.  If you do not condition the collar properly, your dog will learn that having equipment put on is going to create pain and they may become difficult to catch and also difficult to put other collars and harnesses on, or even to bandage if they are injured or ill.

Consider that other animals can get into your yard without penalty, and if those animals (foxes, skunks, raccoons, other dogs, children, adults, cats, coyotes, bears, wolves, deer, sheep, goats and pretty much anything else with feet in your neighbourhood) are aggressive or dangerous to your dog, he cannot escape.  This means that if a person comes into your yard with the intent to harm your dog he cannot leave unless he is willing to be shocked.

Consider that most pet dogs are breeds that were intended to stay close to us, and they don’t actually like being outside alone.  They want to do stuff with their people, even if that stuff is just laying close to you while you type on the computer.  Invisible fencing makes it easy to leave the dog out of doors unattended and able to learn nuisance behaviours such as barking at the fence line and ripping the siding off the house.

Mostly...dogs just want to be with their people!

Consider that if your dog sees a squirrel, another dog or a friend across the street and he breaks through the invisible fence, he may learn that the cost of roaming where he wants is a moment of intense unpleasantness.  If he is running towards something fun, he may consider the pain worth the gain.  Coming home is another story though.  Coming home means facing angry and upset people AND experiencing shock.  Thousands of dogs every year die because they broke through an invisible fence.

Considering the eight points above, you may wonder if there is ever a place where I would recommend an invisible fence, and how I would suggest using it.  For rural properties of five acres or more where you want to contain the dog in a specific component of the property, and where there are good visual landmarks, I would consider an invisible fence.  Why five acres?  Because I want the fence to be far, far from a road.  Because I want to be able to see when people are approaching so that I can bring the dog indoors when someone comes to the house.  I want permanent visual boundaries that can be seen even after it snows (tree lines, garden beds, decorative fences, laneways or livestock fences are all possible visual barriers).  I don’t recommend only putting the collar on the dog when he goes outside; I recommend keeping it on all the time.  I suggest that your dog should be accompanying you most of the time and should be in the house when you leave the boundary area.  If you need to remove the dog from the boundary area, take the collar off and either go through a physical gate or take your dog in your vehicle to get him out.  Even then, I have to say that I am not a huge fan. 

If you live in a covenant community that does not allow fenced yards, consider treating your dog as though you lived in an apartment.  Take him out on leash to toilet.  Teach a rock solid recall and a rock solid down stay.  Keep him with you more often than not.  When I compare the number of behaviour problems I see in dogs who live with invisible fences to those who live in apartment buildings, I have to say that I see far fewer dogs who live in apartments.  That says something profound about the life style of dogs who live in apartments.  They just don’t have the opportunity to experience the problems and pain that those who live with invisible fences do.

INTERPRETING THRESHOLDS

NOTE TO MY REGULAR READERS:

Those of you who follow my blogs will have noticed that there has been a long delay since the last blog I posted on March 2nd of this year.  On March 20th, I fell off my horse and sustained a concussion.  One of the things I have not been able to do very well has been to read and write, so I have not been blogging.  Here is my first writing effort since my fall; I hope you enjoy!  I don't promise to be back as often as I have been for a while, but I take it as a good sign that I was able to put this together today.  Thanks for reading.

INTERPRETING THRESHOLDS

A threshold is the limit at which a stimulus causes a response.  When a single mosquito flies past you, most people don’t take note or get concerned; they are below threshold for mosquitoes.  If the mosquito lands upon you and starts to sting you, most people become aware of the mosquito; you could then say that they are at threshold for mosquitoes.  If a swarm of mosquitoes were buzzing towards you, and some were already stinging you, and you were swatting them and trying to get away, then you could say that you were over threshold.  

When working with dogs with behaviour problems, we look at the things that concern the individual dog, and we ask “at what point do these things become a problem for the dog?”  It is tempting to look at the things that dogs are concerned about and classify them according to if you think they should be of concern to the dog or not, but this isn’t helpful.  Looking at each dog and determining what their individual threshold is for a variety of stimuli helps trainers to determine at what point they need to change their training plan.

Thresholds and arousal are closely linked.  Going back to the mosquito example, most people are pretty relaxed about a single mosquito flying around.  When a mosquito lands on us, we become a tiny amount more aware or aroused about that mosquito.  And if we are swarmed by mosquitoes, we become vigilant and aroused, ready to act quickly if needed.  By making the link between arousal and thresholds, we can easily determine at what point we can move the dog’s threshold. 

When a dog is below threshold, they can habituate or just become gradually accustomed to the stimulus.  This is useful information if you want your dog to learn to tolerate a stimulus that you can easily control and present below threshold, but often, we cannot control the target stimulus that readily.

When a dog is at threshold, we can use Classical Conditioning to pair the target stimulus with something that the dog likes a lot.  If for instance, the dog is concerned about men wearing hats and you can present a man with a hat at a distance, so that the dog is aware of the man in the hat but not upset by him, then you could give the dog treats so that he associates men in hats with treats.  You need to repeat this until the dog is well below threshold in order to be successful, and sometimes this takes a great number of sessions.

When a dog is over threshold, he cannot learn at all.  He is aroused and overwhelmed.  Being aroused and overwhelmed can come in two flavours-he may be extremely happy or he may be really frightened.  The dog who is presented with a Frisbee and who barks and lunges and bounces around is as aroused as the dog who is presented with the frightening man in the hat and who stands and shivers.  Either way, his arousal level needs to come down before he can even begin to think, much less learn new things.