Photos and text copyright Romping and Rolling in the Rockies 2009-2017.

All photographs and text within this blog are copyrighted.

You may not copy or repost any photos or text without specific permission from the author of this blog. When in doubt, please ask.

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Shyla's Gradual Return to Normal

I think that Shyla is finally adapting to her new anti-seizure medicine. She's playing and training with enthusiasm.

I'm currently taking a fun training class with her. I am learning to teach her new behaviors by having her mimic me. We're still pretty early in the process but it's very fun to learn.

Until recently, most people believed that dogs couldn't learn by imitating either their human or another dog. That view has gradually been debunked.

In recent years, a scientist and dog trainer, Claudia Fugazza, figured out a technique for teaching dogs to imitate what their trainer does. For example, I put my hands onto a raised platform, and then I tell Shyla "mimic". When she mimics me, she puts her front paws onto the platform. There's a great book and DVD about this training technique, plus a Fenzi course that leads you through the steps. I hope that I can show you the training method in action sometime in the future.

In any case, the fact that Shyla is mentally sharp enough to learn a very novel training method speaks volumes about how much better she is now than even two weeks ago. Moreover, she hasn't had a seizure since starting her new medicine so I am feeling optimistic.

The one area where she is still lagging is her endurance. She has endless energy at the start of a mountain bike ride but is more subdued by the end. I'm shortening our morning rides until her endurance returns. Has anyone else with a dog on phenobarbital noticed a reduction in their dog's endurance?

Here she was today at the end of our ride. She still looked pretty good but wasn't running at her usually warp speed!
Given her amazing improvements in the past couple of weeks, I am hopeful that her endurance will return. Thank you so much for all of your kind words over these trying 4.5 weeks since she started the medicine!

24 comments:

  1. Sounds like you are going to have a lot of fun with this new technique!

    ReplyDelete
  2. that sounds very interesting and I noticed that Phenny tries to do the same like me... just his doggy-way... when I work in the garden or if I sort the laundry... but if he tries to imitate my shopping-behavior Mark would burst... and our wallet too ;O)))

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wish Astro had the attention span Shyla has.
    He's about about a 0 unless I have treats.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hari Om
    Shyla, looking goooooodddd, dogpal!!! I reckon a drop in stamina is a small price to pay for no nasty seizures... as to mimicking? Well I never, that explains a bit about how Jade used to be with me!!! Hugs and wags, YAM-aunty xxx

    ReplyDelete
  5. The training technique is interesting. Good to see you out and about Shyla
    Snorts,
    Lily & Edward

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a fun training technique. So glad she is doing better, I'm sure she will be 100% very soon.

    ReplyDelete
  7. We are SO happy to hear that Shyla is doing better! And that sounds like a fun way of training. We hope somebody videos YOU doing all the dog tricks sometime. BOL!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Keep smiling, Shyla. We are smiling right along with you☺

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bravo Shyla, we are still cheering you on pretty girl, you can do it all!

    ReplyDelete
  10. She looks so happy and bright-eyed, even if she is a little subdued! I'm so happy that you are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. ♥

    ReplyDelete
  11. A shorter ride, and then a quiet time for Shyla to recover, that is a huge bonus for no seizures, A long time to wait, and I am so thankful that all is looking good in your part of the world.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Such encouraging news!! Shyla cannot be defeated!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

    ReplyDelete
  13. ONe day at a time, right? Glad to hear there is such good improvement. We are going to check out that book too.

    ReplyDelete
  14. My gosh I didn't realize it had been a month! So glad to hear Shyla is coming back to being her charming athletic self.

    ReplyDelete
  15. There nothing so wonderful when your worrying and waiting pays off! Go Shyla Go!

    ReplyDelete
  16. So nice to see sweet Shyla getting her groove. I've never heard of mimic training. Can't wait to hear more about it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. It's good to hear Shyla is doing better.

    ReplyDelete
  18. This is wonderful that Shyla is getting adjusted and getting back to herself. It would make sense that it might take a bit for her stamina to come back. the training sounds like fun
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel

    ReplyDelete
  19. OMD, gurl, you are lookin' FABulous!!! I am so glads you are improving!!!! I wish I could tell you abouts the pheno, it's been too long to remember if Annie had a loss of endurance, but she didn't have the side effects that Shyla had. It would make sense if she did, at least for a while, it might improve as time goes on.
    I am keepin' my paws crossed gurl that you keep this up! I loves those action shots!
    Kisses,
    Ruby ♥

    ReplyDelete
  20. It's so wonderful she is coming back and doing so well!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hi hi hi! Ojo here! I am glad to hear you are starting to feel better, Shyla! Guess what? Our person has been trying to teach us to mimic too! I sort of understand, but not totally. We're still working on it. We'd love to hear how this goes!

    ReplyDelete

If you are a Blogger registered user, you can skip the step asking you to verify that you are not a spammer. For posts older than 5 days, I have comment moderation turned on.

Thanks for your comments!!!!!