A Dog and a Bobcat

This morning, the freezing air felt like winter but the light told me that it's springtime.

It's the season of early sunrises, and Shyla's deep chocolate color resonating with the pine tree canopy above her.

We enjoyed south-facing trails that are almost clear of snow, with Shyla running along side my summer bike! Then, we traipsed through deep snow on a shady north-facing slope to check on a trail camera where there was lots of bobcat activity last month.

A couple of months ago, I showed you some photos of a bobcat enjoying an elk femur that a local dog had dropped in front of my camera.

I didn't show you a photo of the dog because my rule (for myself) is that I never publish photos of people or their dogs on the rare occasion that I capture them. However, I forwarded the photo of that dog, who I'll call "B", to his owner, and I recounted the bobcat's antics.

B's owner, a friendly neighbor of mine, replied that I was welcome to publish the photo of B, and that he would cherish the photo. It turned out that B, unknown to me, was suffering from cancer, and he'd placed the bone in front of the trail camera on his last outing in the forest. Rest in peace, B, and know that I appreciated you as one of the true mountain dogs, with an easy-going personality and an absolute love of our forest.

His owner said that B had brought the elk femur to the spot in front of my camera over the course of several snowy outings. During each outing, B had systematically carried the heavy bone about a half mile or so toward my trail camera. On his last day in the forest, B dropped the big bone in front of my camera, like a gift.

At least one bobcat has loved this gift. Here was a bobcat who was interested in the bone, just after B left it there. The bobcat was rolling directly on top of the femur, looking ecstatic.

And, then, more recently, a bobcat spent a long time with the elk bone in front of my trail camera. After checking it out, he proceeded to spend several minutes in front of the trail camera grooming. It's the longest series of photos of a bobcat that I've ever captured. I made the series of rapidfire still photos into a video, which you can watch here or at Youtube.

Thank you, B. Your spirit has changed this place, with your dogged determination to place that femur, like an offering, in the spot where it still lies. We all miss you, and I hope that you are running free, without pain.

Our bobcat thanks you most of all.

Worries

We're just a bit worried. You may remember that R repeatedly had abnormal blood tests starting in September. They seemed to indicate cancer - but an ultrasound and an echocardiogram did not uncover any tumors. We decided to take a wait-and-see approach, while we began feeding R a home-cooked diet designed by a veterinarian who specializes in nutrition.

After more than 2 months on the new diet, I took R to the vet to have his blood examined again. Unfortunately, it was worse than it has been in the past. The abnormalities are now suggestive of leukemia or lymphoma so his blood is presently at the Colorado State University Vet School where they're doing high tech tests to look for those two diseases.

We are nervous about the outcome. R is far too young to have these diseases but it's not unheard of.

In general, R's energy and spirits have seemed pretty good. He likes playing with his sister, most of the time.

However, Shyla is sometimes a bit more wild than he prefers. He avoids her, by hovering behind us, when she's playing too rough. We'd like to see him tell her to "chill out" with a correction... but that's up to him. I'm not sure if he has the personality to give corrections - he may be too sweet and forgiving.

I've felt, for months, that something intangible wasn't quite right with R. Our vet suggested that it was the loss of K that provoked the change that I think I see. It's possible that she's right.

But, since he still runs with glee, plays with abandon, and rolls in the snow like a goofball most of the time, I find myself feeling doubtful that he could be very sick.

R adores rolling and rubbing his face in the crusty snow. Shyla hasn't taken up this hobby yet.

Here's what Shyla has to say about all this worry...

I agree.

A Lion, Sunrises, and R

I love when I sneak a peek at the photos on a trail camera, and a mountain lion is looking back at me.

I especially love it when the mountain lion isn't wearing a radio collar or ear tags. There's been a never-ending study in our area that has been radio-collaring all the lions. This summer, it seems that a few "rogue" lions have been wandering our neck of the woods. This one looks like he just ate a good meal - notice how his stomach is distended.

They are incredibly curious creatures. This lion walked a little past my camera and then sneaked up for a closer look and sniff from the side. You can barely make out his ear (bright white) in the far left of the photo.

This summer, one camera in particular has captured a lot of lion photos. The reason may be that the deer hang out in this same spot. A small herd triggered my camera to take more than 200 photos after the lion came through. This doe was munching on something, as you can tell from her funny expression.

On other subjects, life has become much busier since Shyla's arrival. I need to fit training and puppy-socializing into my schedule - which involves extra trips to town and other places. Consequently, we are suddenly seeing lots of sunrises, so we can get in a hike before the busy days are underway. Shyla looks gorgeous in the rising sunlight among the golden aspen leaves.

A bull elk has been bugling each dawn - a beautiful sound associated with the elk rut. Shyla is fascinated by the sound. She's looking toward it in the next photo.

When the sun is fully up, she can run. Oh my, she can run like the wind!

She's so fast that I often find my shutter speed to be too slow for her! I'm learning about the zip of a puppy!

R will be having another blood test soon to find out if his blood cells have recovered and whether we can fully relax about his hemangiosarcoma scare. My "scientific test" has always been to look into the eyes of my dogs - and I can often see nuances that tell the story of what is going on inside them. R's eyes have recently regained their sparkle and gleam. I hope that my "scientific test" is supported by his blood test.

He's been going on some short mountain bike rides with me, and I'm seeing our speedy Labrador returning! And, I love seeing him among the golden aspens.

The one thing that I've noticed is that he suddenly gained a few gray hairs on his muzzle during this episode. No big deal, as long as he's getting healthy again. He definitely believes that the only good part of this whole episode is that he is now too skinny so he's getting extra portions and extra meals - a Labrador's dream.

Have a great weekend!

The Future is Bright

The biggest news is that R's blood test showed no signs of a heart hemangiosarcoma tumor. So, we're finished "hunting" for cancer for now. We'll wait a few weeks and hope that his blood spontaneously returns to normal. We feel optimistic that R will be fine.

This morning, Shyla and I were out on the trails before sunrise. It was dusky in the low meadow but then the eastern horizon brightened. Soon, the sun peeked over the eastern hills and bathed us in red light after we'd climbed up to a high point.  Although Shyla is a dark chocolate Lab, her fur turns red in the sunrise light just like K's did.

Shyla is already amazingly good at keeping her eyes on me when we're on the trails. This was just after sunrise.

I called her, and she accelerated toward me, wide-eyed and happy.

She adores clambering on the boulders that are strewn all over our mountains. She gracefully leaped onto one this morning and then looked at me quizzically.

After our morning outing, we went to town for training class and some socialization. This girl is incredible. It's as if she landed on Mars a few weeks ago, and she's already adapting. During training class, she decided that it was time to shower other dog handlers with kisses during playtime. They all knew that Shyla was shy so they were so nice to her! The key thing seems to be that *Shyla* chooses to approach them and not vice-versa. If a person walks straight toward Shyla or looks straight at her, it's scary. But, if she wiggles her way until she's next to a person, it's not at all scary. In fact, it's fun for Shyla.

And, our little girl was the ringleader for playing among the dogs. At one point, the other three dogs in class were all chasing her in circles around the facility as she had a "zoomy fit". Everyone was laughing.

Yes, I am smitten. The future is bright.

And, it looks like Shyla agrees!

Progress

My puppy and I made it out early enough for the sunrise light yesterday. Her fur glowed in the red light as the sun barely peeked over the hills to our east. Look at her athletic and graceful build. Also, look how happily relaxed she always is in the forest.

As we hiked up toward a viewpoint, I practiced recalls with Shyla. She's a superstar on the trails. She has learned SO fast. Below, her eyes were on me as she started her sprint to me.

We stopped up higher for some quiet contemplation. Her eyes are stunning.

We were up so early partly because we had a date with a dog trainer. I made sure that we arrived early to give Shyla time to assess the scene before we interacted with anyone. We sat in the grass near the dog training facility. Shyla was tense at first, leaving sweaty paw prints on the pavement. But, with time, she calmed (except when a bike whooshed by - but she rebounded quickly after that surprise).

Then, the trainer finished her puppy socialization class that was before our appointment. I'll spare you every detail but the trainer thought that we should use Shyla's love of other dogs as motivation for her to go into the building. So, she asked the puppy owners to stay a little late while we brought Shyla into the building. It worked better than I could have imagined. We still had some trouble convincing Shyla to walk through the door and into the building but we used treats to get her over the threshold. Then, the puppies, all under 4 months of age, helped Shyla to begin to relax. Shyla even nose-poked the hand of one of the owners. Seeing that made me think that, with a nice slow pace, Shyla will get used to meeting new people.

The trainer, Shyla, and I stayed in the building until the Level 1 class, Shyla's class, arrived. We showed Shyla that there were back rooms where she could go if their arrival was stress-inducing for her. But, the lure of meeting new dogs kept Shyla in the front room as one dog-human pair after another (4 total) walked in! I was SO happy to see that my trainer knew so well how to handle these seemingly mundane situations that can be scary for an inexperienced dog.

During class, Shyla started out sitting in front of me, faced away from me, nervously scanning the scene. But, as the trainer talked, I'd click my clicker and give Shyla a treat every time she glanced back toward me. By the end of class, Shyla was sitting facing me, her back to the class, and making amazing eye contact. I reward eye contact lavishly because it means that my puppy is focused on me - a very good behavior in all sorts of situations.
That moment when Shyla turned around and looked into my eyes during class was magical. I knew, at that instant, that we'd work our way through socialization and training. If Shyla trusts me enough to turn her back on the class and look at me, it means that we are building a bond that will last. I believe that it is one of those moments that I'll never forget - it was the moment that I felt that she was truly my girl.

One last note about Shyla... we are house-training her, and it hasn't been as easy as I expected (it's usually not too hard with little puppies). I micro-manage her to prevent accidents. We are constantly either tethered together, contained in a small space together (e.g., the deck), or she gets freedom for 30 min or so after she does her business outside. We had a 5 day streak of no accidents but I messed up yesterday and let her roam free while we were getting ready to go for a hike. So, I hit myself over the head with a newspaper and cleaned up the accident (have you seen that cartoon? Don't worry - I consider it to be *my* mistake when she has an accident. There's no punishment involved.). A new streak of no accidents started immediately with a clean slate - and we are up to 24 hours now. The togetherness of house-training is good for us.

As for R, he continues to romp as if he feels pretty good. We've decided to get the echocardiogram and find out the truth. We both believe that there is not a tumor on his heart but we need to find out the truth to move forward. Many of you asked about tick-borne diseases that might have damaged his blood cells - my vet had them on her list and then somehow ruled them out. I'll be sure to ask her why in our next conversation. Thanks for the input.

Enjoy the remainder of your Sunday!

Still worrisome

Unfortunately, R still has a population of damaged red blood cells. We haven't yet decided how to proceed. We can either wait to see if his blood work improves in 3-4 weeks or we can do an echocardiogram to look for hemangiosarcoma on his heart. Thank goodness for our great pet health insurance which makes it possible for us give our dogs good health care, even when it's expensive.

I'm feeling shell-shocked. It seems inconceivable that we could possibly be staring down the barrel of another terminal cancer in such a short time. I just hope, with all my heart, that R is cancer-free.

On the good side, R has decided that Shyla is the most amazing friend he can imagine. He is always looking for her in the house, wanting to play wild chase and wrestling games. And, she is more than happy to oblige. I finally had to separate them so that I could think for long enough to write this post!

You can see in the photo below that R lost some fur when he had his ultrasound, and he lost some weight when he decided to stop eating (he's eating again now). He looks so playful, and so does Shyla!

Shyla and I did our normal trail hike this morning, enjoying the only sunshine of the day. She's so confident on the trails. Look at her tail!

Shyla and I do our morning hikes alone while R is on the trails with the Runner. So, during our morning hikes, Shyla doesn't have R to follow during recalls and other training games. Here she is doing an enthusiastic recall all by herself!

She is confident on the trails and sticks to me like glue. But, as I mentioned yesterday, the rest of the world is scary to Shyla. So, today we did a socialization outing. We visited a pair of friends who are wonderful with under-confident dogs. They've rehabilitated a number of fearful dogs so they were teaching me how to introduce Shyla to new people without her getting scared.

Just after we arrived at their house and when she was first met each of my friends, she was afraid to the point that she used a super low body posture (approaching a "belly crawl") to approach them. But, as my friends worked their magic using non-threatening body language and treats, Shyla relaxed with each of them. Many thanks to my friends at Dream Valley Ranch for helping Shyla and me!

Seeing Shyla today showed me that her fearfulness the other day wasn't a fluke. She is indeed very inexperienced with coping in new situations or with new people. Tomorrow, we will venture to the city to see an amazing trainer. I hope that we can lay out a plan so that I can gradually help Shyla to be as confident in new places as she is on our trails.

I'm beginning to realize that I have a very big job ahead of me to socialize Shyla. But, the love of a dog is worth it.

Please keep R in your thoughts. I feel scared about him.