A Fun Day!

It was a rough week with way too much serious stuff going on.

 So, I tried to do nothing but relaxing and fun stuff today.

Shyla and I played fetch with her favorite toy at sunrise, and our game totally absorbed both of us.

 Shyla's pure joy over the simple act of retrieving was infectious.

Each time she handed me the toy, she pleaded for another toss. When I met her 17 months ago, she had no drive for retrieving. Now, she's one of the most intense retrievers I've known.

After our joyful game, I tried to snowbike on our trails (and Shyla ran) but it's tough biking, even with my gnarly snowbike, due to bad snow conditions. The wind has been blowing relentlessly for days. Every day, the forecast seems to include "gusts of 50-75 mph", which causes snow drifts and windpacked snow. Needless to say, it makes for tough biking on the trails.

When we got back home after our ride, R was snoozing, like he's supposed to do. And, Shyla finally laid down with him. She seemed to know not to lean on his sore limb.

It warmed my heart to see the two of them snoozing together.

A Long Day

R wants to say thank you for all the well wishes. He's in the "rest, rest, and then rest some more" phase of recovery. He's pretty good at napping right now. Just wait a few weeks until he becomes an uncontrollable black tornado!

He wears the cone only when he's unsupervised because nothing else can keep him from nibbling on the toe part of his thick bandage. And, to be honest, he has the type of personality that is not bothered by a cone. By contrast, when Shyla has "needed" a cone, the vets have hesitated to have her wear one due to her sensitive personality. It's amazing to see the difference in personality between two distantly related Labs.

We had another long day of medical stuff. My head is spinning. Do I get my shoulder or my neck fixed first? I have shoulder surgery scheduled for next week but that might change. The latest recommendation is to have one or two more tests early next week before surgery. To be perfectly honest, I just want to make a decision and then get comfortable with it - so I'm mentally ready for the challenge of surgery. But, it seems that my case is so complicated that the decision will be in the 11th hour.

At least I had a brief time in the sunshine with Shyla this morning before we got in the car for our medical odyssey. She makes me smile and laugh no matter what!

The whole pack accompanied me on my heavy schedule of doctor appointments today (R had to come with us so that he could get his meds on schedule, and he snoozed the day away in the back of the car). I feel so lucky to have such a supportive pack behind me.

R is home!

This new day dawned with R still in the hospital but Shyla and I were out and about on the trails.

We knew that R couldn't come home until the afternoon so we played in the rising sunlight. I'm afraid that my anxiety wasn't cured by Mother Nature, though. Shyla seemed to mirror my pensive mood. She seemed worried the whole time that R wasn't at home.

Finally, in the early afternoon, we were given the "go-ahead" to pick up R. To show us what they did during surgery, the hospital gave us a vial full of the bone fragments that they extracted from R's elbow joint (I promise not to show photos of them!). Those bone pieces told a shocking story of how much degeneration had been underway in his elbow despite his elbow dysplasia surgery by a top-notch orthopedic surgeon five years ago.

When we finally saw R after getting a whole packet of instructions about how to take care of him, he wore a cone of shame and a big thick bandage going from his toes to his shoulder. I'll take a picture of him in the coming days. Shyla is afraid of his cone and the bandage but I hope she'll relax about them soon. He'd love to curl up with her on a dog bed, like they normally do.

After springing R from the hospital, the Runner brought R home, and I attended a flurry of medical appointments to try to get the "all clear" for my surgery next week. I made progress. But, whew, it is stressful having two family surgeries in rapid succession.

I think that the next few weeks are going to be tough for everyone in our pack, not just the patients. But, I'll try to keep being Shyla's rock because she needs more reassurance than your average dog.

I'll also try to keep up with my blog but that might prove impossible on some days. Thanks so much for your support.

Update on R

R came through his surgery well and is in Recovery. However, there was much more damage inside the elbow joint than they expected to find. One section of the joint had lost all of its cartilage so two bones were grinding directly on each other. Moreover, he had a very large bone fragment removed. It was so large that they had to break it into three pieces and then expand the excision to remove the pieces.

We'll see how he does as he recovers since this was a more extensive surgery than expected. There is still an option for a reconstructive surgery, called a "CUE" surgery, if his elbow remains too painful. However, the surgeon felt hopeful that today's procedure would help slow the degeneration within the joint and give R pain relief. The surgeon also said that R may be the most stoic dog ever because he must have had a lot of pain in that elbow but he rarely showed it.

Since Wednesdays are normally wordless, I included my favorite dog photo of 2013 above. Because I like it so much, I've considered getting some note cards made with this photo on them, and donating them to the auction being held to help offset Tweedles' vet bills. However, I have no idea if anyone but me likes this photo so much. I'd love some input about whether you think that's a good idea.

Thanks for all of your support.

The future is creeping up

I've been avoiding thinking about the future for a while now. However, the future is almost here so I'm must now deal with it. And it's making me sad and depressed, like Shyla looked on a recent sunrise snowbike ride. Just so you don't worry - I don't think that Shyla was truly sad on our ride. She was just a tiny bit unhappy about the wild mountain winds.

Thank goodness - Shyla is very good at snapping out of it, kicking up her heels, and rejoicing in the moment.

Unlike Shyla, I'm having trouble with focusing on "now" rather than what's about to happen. Tomorrow, R will have elbow surgery. Our sweet dog will have a fairly long recovery after a surgeon "cleans out" his elbow that has congenital dysplasia. It will be his second elbow surgery in his life.

Yup, Shyla, that's the one. Funny, she's sniffed my bad shoulder the same way.

I feel certain that the elbow hurts him much of the time but he still romps with joy. That's something that he and I have in common - we ignore the pain and get on with life. However, sometimes it's more prudent to deal with the pain than to ignore it.

Sometimes I wish that I could explain the surgery to R and his sister so they'd understand why he's suddenly going to be unable to romp and play.

Like R, I am facing surgery, and I'm feeling very sad about it. I'm scared, and I hate knowing that I'll be missing out on some of the fun stuff that I normally love to do for the rest of the winter. So, perhaps it's better not to know ahead of time to avoid the anticipatory fear, sadness, and anger before surgery.

My surgery is next week. But, before that, we have to get through R's surgery tomorrow, and we'll help him get started on the road to recovery. He'll be in surgery early tomorrow morning.

Recalls - the most exciting kind of training!

Today is the first positive training bloghop. It's been a long day but I really want to participate because I love training my dogs using positive techniques. By positive training, I mean training that mainly involves rewarding good behavior and involves very little "punishment". Thus, I train a dog to come when called by giving them incredibly great rewards for sprinting to me at top speed. I've used other training techniques in the past, and none of them work as well as positive training, especially for off-leash work when I need my dog to have very high motivation to listen to me.

Every time my dogs and I go for a hike, I practice recalls with them. At the start of their off-leash time, I leave them in a "stay", and I walk far away to call them. The Labraduo is in a "sit-stay" in the photo below.

They both learned "stay" very soon after arriving at our home and can stay reliably.

R literally shakes with excitement before I call the dogs to me. I can see him shaking from a distance. So, when I call, he bolts toward me like a rocket.

At the start of a hike, I do a number of these structured recalls, getting the dogs mentally ready for more freedom. Sometimes, I have them stay a distance apart from each other before a recall, which seems to be harder for them. In fact, if Shyla is in a stay behind R, she sometimes tries to sneak closer to R while my back is turned. Fortunately, her bell alerts me to her sneaky move!

I motivate them for recalls by having a treat bonanza when they get to me. Both dogs get lots and lots of treats when they arrive, and I praise them excitedly. I think that you can see from these photos that both dogs are very motivated to get to me fast when I call them.

I find that practicing recalls is really fun! It feels as if the dogs and I are playing an exciting game rather than doing "onerous training".

After the opening series of structured recalls, I let the dogs run around together as I hike but I periodically throw in a recall, to help keep their focus on me.

Of course, my dogs are not perfect in real life situations but they're pretty good. R will recall away from wildlife with almost 100% reliability - I still smile with glee when I see him turn away from a deer to come to me. Shyla is not as good as R yet but she's doing very well for a young dog. If one of them ignores a recall, I repeat more structured recalls like we did at the start of off-leash time. Usually, that works to sharpen up their responses.

But, I do accept that there are situations that are simply too difficult for a dog to be off-leash and obedient. For example, if wildlife like coyotes, deer, bears, bobcats or elk are close enough that I can see them, I think it's prudent to rely on a leash rather than on the dogs' training! I also tend to leash the dogs when their body language tells me that they've caught scent of something extremely exciting. Around here, that "exciting scent" could be a mountain lion eating a dead deer, and I sure don't want my dogs barging in on that!

However, those situations are rare. Normally, I can count on a very enthusiastic response when I call the dogs, like Shyla leaping a small rock to get to me this morning!

Black and White Sunday: A cat and two dogs

A Snowstorm!

Last night, we had the gorgeous skies that often come before a storm. The four of us went for an easy stroll on the trails as the sun set. The clouds sat thick and heavy over the Divide but the sky to the east lit up beautifully.

The rocky peaks sat, unimpressed, from where they've watched sunsets for eons.

We awakened to single digits, snow plummeting out of the sky, and a power outage. I burrowed further under the covers, choosing to stay toasty for longer rather than brave the cold. Soon, I felt Shyla leap onto the bed. Then, she gently lay directly on top of me. I peeked out from under heavy eyelids, and she was holding one of my slippers a few inches from my nose. She made me laugh and got me out of bed with a smile on my face.

I was so grateful for the invention of the Fat Bike this morning. It made it possible for Shyla and I to pedal blissfully and silently through the forest. I sometimes get sad on "powder days", since the doctors have made telemark skiing off-limits to my fragile spine. Before I was banned from skiing, I used to log about 100 days a year on skis.

Shyla's enthusiasm was infectious! She is the perfect snowbiking partner.

By the end of our ride, snow was still falling at an incredible rate. No doubt, we are now having real winter after a short sunny and warm break!

Now, we are ready for our evening walk through the snow, using snowshoes to pack down a trail. This photo is from last night as the storm was moving in - I am looking forward to somewhat clear skies again soon!

All in good time.

Wild Kitties

It was another glorious winter day, with alpenglow to start the day. This is the only time of year when I can get up early enough to see the glow of the nascent sunrise on the snowy mountains.

The windswept clouds told the story of a breezy day with a storm front moving in.

Shyla really doesn't like our winter winds so we stayed back in the trees where we were protected from the wind a bit.

Later in the day, I checked a trail camera that pointed at a bear tree, waiting for the first bears to wake up in a few months. In the meantime, there's been some fun action by other animals at the base of it.

First, a cute rabbit has been hogging the limelight, getting his photo taken hundreds of times.

One of his main predators, a bobcat, has been passing the camera almost daily. I get more photos of bobcats than almost any other kind of animal but this one looks distinctive. His/her spots are much more pronounced, against lighter background fur than most bobcats around here have.

Check out those spots!

Given that this bobcat has been passing the trail camera almost daily, I wonder if it might be a mother with kittens stashed nearby. Bobcats can have kittens at any time of year, although spring is most common. I'll keep an eye on this spot to see if any kittens appear over time.

Just for contrast, here's an earlier photo of a mother mountain lion and her kitten in the same place. Look how much bigger they are than a bobcat!

I haven't captured many mountain lion photos lately. I had a flurry in late October and early November, and very few thereafter. I'm hoping for more, especially when the elk herd is in the area. I have seen lion tracks in the snow pretty regularly but they haven't passed my cameras.

Happy Friday to all of you from R and Shyla!

A Good Day...

Today was the kind of day that I like for kicking off the new year. Shyla and I were out before sunrise, pedaling up to the plateau where we can see a long distance to the east and west. Alpenglow lit up the snowy mountains.

And then the sun peeked over the eastern rocky hills.

Shyla and I sat on K's Boulder to soak up the first rays of sunshine.

Shyla is such a graceful athlete. I grin as I watch her leap and run.

And, she was off at warp speed!!!!

Then, we visited Shyla's favorite sunrise spot in the forest. It is "Shyla's Rock" in my mind. She has a certain way that she likes to lie on it to watch over the eastern meadows.

It's very important to me to find joy in this time of year with Shyla. Two years ago, we got K's osteosarcoma diagnosis on Christmas Eve. The true battle couldn't start until the new year due to the holidays. Since K has been gone, I find that I am prone to getting dragged into the abyss of thinking too much about that tough time when we hit this time of year.

I'm so glad to have my Shyla to keep me smiling! She glows with the energy and health of youth.

And, she's becoming a closer companion with every passing day. Life is good.

Wordless Wednesday: A stormy start to the year