Pictures

Some pictures from earlier this year.  Photos by Melissa Sheehan at True Colors Photography.

Burnin' Up

Not sure if the title of this post refers to the tournament or my feelings about the drama some teammates feel the need to start the day before we set up.  I won't go into it here, but staying together as a team is likely to get tested sooner than later.

Zio man had to skip practice last weekend when I traveled for my Mom's funeral.  John let me know that Lucy had come into season, so I think Luna is going to run with Speeding Sheepdogs as the height dog.  I'll have to run her, so Katie gets to run Zio.  I hope she remembers to bring gloves!  ;)

I'll miss running Zio, but I hope he does great for Katie.  This will be his first time running as start dog since April when he had started limping.  With everything that is going on, I'm not as excited about this weekend as I should be.  Zio will have fun regardless!

Getting Better

I thought practice was a little better this week.  I ran him in the open before practice again and his turns were a lot tighter than last week.  Props consisted of a gutter down the middle and one on the exit side to force a tighter turn.  He looked really good from distance.

I gave him an extra session running DGW passing with Solo, since Jeep was AWOL.  On box work, I basically did the warmup routine of starting at the box while someone else releases him.  I was a little slow the one time and he came of the box too fast and grabbed my hand instead of the tug.  Fortunately, he let me keep the hand and regripped on the tug.

During team runs, he ran for Katie while I ran Luna.  She said he did the first ones fine, then got a little wide, and then bobbled the last two.  He seems to be running hard and didn't seem to notice that I was in the lane with Luna, so that's a positive sign.  We'll keep working on the turn, but it's just too blasted hot in the evenings to do much of anything with him at home.

Practice Results

A decent practice for Zio yesterday.  We set up early and did an extra session on the box with just the gutter.  He was turning VERY wide, so I had to add more "junk" to get him to turn tight again.  His last turn was perfect.

During his regular sessions, he ran twice with the Speeding Sheepdogs (Zio, Maverick, Lucy, and Wisp).  The first time, we tried to have Katie racing Luna in the other lane while I ran Zio, but Luna isn't ready for someone else to run her.  The thought here is that if Lucy comes into heat at the wrong time, Zio and Luna may need to be on the same team.  Katie and I switched up so that I could run Luna, while she ran Zio.  He did okay for Katie, but the props kept changing at the box and he had gone back to doing wide turns.  He was also mouthing the ball on the wall back instead of running hard to catch me. In hindsight, I should have explained what props should be there and let her verify before each run.

The other racing session was with Speeding Sheepdogs again (wish we had Jean-Luc to practice with too).  I ran Zio this time, since we raced against Cruise Control.  Zio did pretty good.  Although he was tending to straddle the gutter going to the box, he made nice, tight turns.

His box work was more of the grab the tug as soon as you turn off the box exercise.  He seems to like this work and I think it helps him be tight off the turn.

Happy 4th Birthday!

Never in my wildest dreams did I suspect the changes that Zio would make in my life. Not only did he introduce me to canine sports, but he became my inseparable buddy.  Always waiting at the door to enthusiastically welcome me home each day, he can make any day better.  He has been incredibly athletic in his drive to compete, whether it is frisbees or flyball.  The years seem to be passing too quickly!  Happy Birthday Zio!!

Good Practice!

Zio had his first full practice since mid-April today.  His turn had reverted to more of a punch and grab rather than a swimmers turn at the tournament, so we went back to basics with the gutter dividing the lane.  During box work, he did an awesome job of sweeping to the right of the gutter to do his turn and it looked really good.  During full runs with Maverick and Lucy, he kept his turn, but was tending to straddle the gutter going to the box.  I'll have to see what props I can add without putting too much garbage in front of the box.

The other exercise we did was to do the warm up turn at the box.  Someone else releases him from about 20 feet, while I line up at the box.  The idea is that I start off running just as he gets to the box so that he turns really quick to grab the tug while it's still there.  

The championship team is going to come from Zio, Maverick, Lucy, Jean-Luc, Wisp, and Luna.  Luna is pretty much a plan B in case Lucy comes into heat at the wrong time for the championships.  If that happens, it may influence whether I run Zio.  It could happen that I'll have to have someone else run Zio while I run Luna.  Then again, it could work out the other way around.  Plan A is Lucy as our height dog though, so let's hope that works out.

He's Back!

Well, not all the way, but he did run all weekend without any sign of injury!  He has only had half a practice since mid-April, so I'm not really surprised.  To say his turns were rusty would be a generous statement.  His stamina was down too as he got slower each day as the heat and fatigue took their toll. 

I think I'll invest in some gutters and make a few props for him.  We'll also work on getting a better punch off the box.  I'm piecing together a lineup for the championships and have a lot of questions that I'll have to make a best guess at.  

A few more pictures...

Fingers Crossed!

Hopefully optimistic with Zio after his first full runs since mid-April at practice yesterday.  I was really expecting to see him limping again last night, but I didn't see anything that I could definitely say was out of the ordinary.  I was really scrutinizing him whenever he would get up from resting.  There were a few steps when I thought I might have seen him favor it, but then he would walk normal or go off running.  I think I may have been just looking too hard.  Fingers crossed for Bonham this weekend...

Beach Dog

It appears that I've fallen behind in keeping this updated.  Zio is still not out of the woods with his knee yet.  I played a little frisbee with him on Memorial Day weekend and his limp returned for a few days afterwards... mostly after he would rest a while and then try to start moving again.  I had limited his physical activities for about 6 weeks at that point.  I called Dr. Morey to see what she thought and was referred to Dr Tanger, who is supposed to be the premier orthopedic surgeon in the area.  I'm still not convinced he needs surgery though, so I've held off making an appointment with him.  I still have him penciled in for the next tournament, so I think I may give it a go and decide afterwards which path I should follow.

In the mean time, we went to the Mississippi Gulf coast and played on the beach last week.  Zio was obviously a waterdog in a previous life and loved it!  Here are some pictures of him playing. 

Still Hopeful

The "Limp Watch" continues day by day.  I scrutinize his leg constantly anymore, especially when he does something out of the ordinary.  A few days ago, we were on a walk (still not on a leash).  He lagged behind to smell something, so I gave a quick whistle to say let's go!  He came trotting back to where I was standing and I couldn't tell if he gave a short hop when he stopped or I'm just paranoid now.  After watching him intently for the last two days for any adverse sign, I decided I must just be paranoid. 

We did walk down to the school last night for the first time since he injured his leg.  No sign of limp or favoring afterwards, so he's looking good.  He was allowed to be a distraction for another dog at practice last Sunday too!  I think he enjoyed "killing" his tug for about 10 minutes while a newer dog was doing recalls in the next lane.  I never really grabbed it to tug with him, but he thought I might, so he kept killing it just in case I tried to get it from him.  Silly boy!

Hopeful

Zio was not a happy dog to be watching everyone else race this past weekend.  The positive news that came out of it is he did more walking over the last three days than I had allowed him to do in total for the last two weeks... and not a single sign of a limp!  A lot of this was on slippery tile floors that challenged his balance and going up and down stairs from our second floor hotel room.

I decided to have Dr. Duree give him a chiropractic exam while she was there.  She couldn't find any loosness in his knee at all.  She also suggested four more weeks of rest with some supplements to help his joints in general. 

It's going on two weeks now since I've seen any type of favoring on that leg.  I'm going to add a 10 minute walk in the morning to his 10 minute walk in the evening for the rest of this week.  If that goes well, we'll go for 20 minutes in the morning and 10 in the evening for a week.  I'll just keep progessing the walks slowly one week at a time until the beginning of June.  If he's still okay, we'll get back to practicing for flyball and see how it goes.

 

Monitoring

I've decided to put any further testing on hold for Zio's leg.  He has been showing improvement and generally uses his leg normally while walking or playing.  I had started taking him on short five minute walks (without a leash to pull on) Monday and Tuesday.  I went on a longer walk Wednesday, but he appeared to be favoring it a little after we had been home a while.  Yesterday he was looking good again, so we did a short five minute walk off leash.  He is showing the normal bounce in his step and no indications of soreness.

I did try a little manipulation last night and noticed he resists flexing his hock if the stifle is in a normal position.  Flexing both joints at the same time doesn't seem to bother him though.  I will try more manipulation tonight and see what happens when the stifle is extended first.

Cranial Cruciate Ligament

A partial tear was the initial diagnosis last Friday by my vet.  Thursday evening we played a little backyard Frisbee when I got home from work.  After they ate, we went on a long walk as thunder rumbled in the distance.  Of course it started sprinkling when we were at the farthest spot from the house.  We jogged back and I spent about an hour on the computer before Zio followed me into the bedroom so he could hide from the storm in my closet.  When he came out he was hopping and wouldn't put weight on his right rear leg.  I examined him a number of times thinking he had something in his paw or pulled a muscle.  No matter how I manipulated him I couldn't get a reaction from him. 

The next morning he was hopping or toe touching.  I took him to the vet and of course he started putting some weight on it.  The vet tech initially had to ask which leg was the problem because his gait was close to normal.  He wouldn't relax enough for Dr Morey to examine him, so she put him on Rimadyl and asked me to let her know Monday if he wasn't putting 90-95% of his weight on that leg.  She suggested that I give him six weeks of rest with no walks for a while.

The rest of Friday was a mix of toe touching and then walking normal.  I did notice that he was pointing that leg slightly while in a sit.  By the time we went to practice Sunday, he had a pretty normal gait while trotting or walking.  While standing, he was still favoring the leg though.  Other than the issue with pointing his leg in a sit, he was acting normal... chasing birds off of the power lines, playing with his jolly ball, and generally being in a good mood.  He did hop one time last night after being inactive about 45 minutes.

Today, I haven't seen him hop once and there has been only a slight favoring in a stand.  I've taken him out for a 5 minute walk twice today (without a leash) and he trots and walks normally.  He's scheduled to go back to see Dr Morey again tomorrow morning.  She's going to sedate him to try and get a better idea of what is going on.  I keep debating whether I should just let him continue with limited activity or take him in and see what she comes up with.

Part of my concern is that my research said it's hard to pinpoint a partial tear by manipulation.  I know too much about the surgical options now too.  TPLO seems to be the gold standard for surgical procedures, but TTA and Tightrope have their supporters too.


Here's a video of him Sunday evening in the backyard.  There are a few times when I notice him slightly favor it, but if you didn't know about it, I'm not sure you would see anything out of the ordinary.

 

Disc Dogging Time

With the OKPaws Spring Fling in about ten days, we starting to spend a little more time practicing with the disc.  I've had him how the last two evenings doing some distance throwing that we can't do in the backyard.  He is still jumping early too many times, so he'll really need to get his timing down if we wants to do any good.  Sometimes he'll make an awesome catch and then on the next throw, he'll be way early and not even close.  We'll see how much more practice time we can fit in before the 28th.

Zio Factoids

Some non-flyball related observations.  Most people that know Zio have only ever been around him at practice or tournaments and see his focus and intensity.  He's actually a very different dog away from flyball.  To those he trusts, he is very affectionate.  He hates conflict and will go in his crate if Luna starts barking at the neighbor's dog through the fence or there are raised voices.  It's pretty obvious when he feels guilty about something when I come home.  It might not even have been him that did anything... just that he thinks someone is in trouble and he doesn't want to be around if he thinks I'll be mad.

 He doesn't play with many dogs, but when he does, he makes this growly, purring sound that I call his puma imitation.  He loves riding in the car and sticking his head out the window.  Absolutely loves his Jolly Ball!  I have no doubt that a stray cat would be in serious trouble around him.  He is okay if he is introduced to a cat and will ignore it, but a stray cat is just a slow bunny with short ears.

For three and a half years, Zio has stretched out to pee.  In the last three to four months, he has started hiking his leg once in a while.  I'm not sure if it's maturity, he has seen other males do it, or he has gained confidence... but it is happening more and more now.  I find it interesting to watch the transformation.

Zio also did something for the first time the other day on a walk.  He's been around barking dogs on walks and at flyball all of his life.  He's learned to just ignore them when we are out on walks and someone's yard dog is going crazy behind the fence.  Heck, Wisp and he bark at each other face to face all the time in the racing lanes before the race starts.  On our walk Sunday evening, we passed by a yard that has a wrought iron fence where two obese Boston terriers live.  I haven't seen them outside in over a year, but they were out that day.  I was trying to make sure Luna didn't escalate with them when Zio lost his mind and lunged at them with his "serious" bark and his hackles making him look like he had a buffalo hump. I've never seen him display an aggressive response to other dogs, so it took me by surprise.  It was all over in two seconds though as he found his mind and started walking down the sidewalk again.  It did take about a half a block before his hackles were down though.   

Some 2011 Pictures

Shamrock Invitational

One tired boy after this tournament. We had a little glitch Saturday when Zio reverted back to punching the box and turning the wrong way during one of the races. Between races, we took him outside with a box and a gutter and had some refresher practice time. The gutter seemed to get him back on track and he was okay the rest of the weekend.

He is still doing three legged and/or low turns, so I think we are going to add the gutter to the jumpboard in practices for a while. On top of Speeding Sheepdog races, he also raced pairs with Lucy Sunday. By the end of the day, he had lost that natural bounce in his step and was ready to rest on the ride home. His best time over the weekend was a 4.03 if I remember correctly.

Barkin in Bonham 3.5

The first tournament of the year is in the books! Although Zio can do better, he was much improved over the first tournament last year. His best time from the weekend was a 4.08, but he ran Sunday with a burned pad that had to be wrapped before each race. His turns reverted back to three legs most of the time, so that's what we'll concentrate on in practice until the next tournament in March.

He was actually very consistent with his starts. For almost the entire weekend, I had to line him up around 61' 11" to avoid early starts. Only during the very last races Sunday did I have to adjust that (to 61' 6") as he ran a little slower.

His platelet count came back solidly in the normal (200k-300k) range at 257k! This is after being completely weened from Prednisone for the last two weeks! The highest he had tested since he was diagnosed with Erhlicha at the beginning of November was 201k the beginning of December after the initial higher dosages of Prednisone.

Another Fun Practice

We took a new picture of everyone so that we can update the webpage and it made me realize how far we've come in the last year. We have so many fun people coming and it's exciting to see the dogs progress. Of course, I'm plotting which dogs have the potential to be on the club team and we have a lot of dogs in that category.

With the first tournament of 2012 less than three weeks away, I'm very excited to see some of the new dogs and handlers get in the ring! First time handlers Amanda with Jasmine and John with Lucy and Lucky. Maverick is going to make his debut in pre-flight singles and the pairs on Sunday.

I was hoping to have Luna ready for pre-flight at this tournament, but it will end up being the March or May tournament now. Zio did well at practice using the regular eight inch jumpboard. We'll do some practice tonight in the backyard "ring". When the tournament comes around, he'll have been off of the prednisone for about two weeks, so I'm hoping he'll be feeling good! It would be nice to turn some more 3.9's!

Another Blood Sample

Zio went in for another blood test today to check his platelet levels. At the beginning of November when he was diagnosed with Erhlichia, they were 145k (200k - 300k is considered normal). After two weeks on antibiotics, they had only slightly improved to 150k. He was started on 20mg of Prednisone, twice a day for five days and then once a day for five more days and rechecked in the beginning of December. At that time, they had improved to 201k. Toward the end of December, he was being weaned from the Prednisone and had been taken one every other day for most of the month. Before Christmas, he tested at 184k, so he has continued on the every other day, 20mg dosage to date.

Really hoping for good news today...*sigh*

EDIT: Platelet count at 197k, so she wants him to take one a week for two weeks, then test again after another two weeks.

It's not flyball unless there is some blood!

Usually, that means the handler. Zio broke a nail toward the end of practice, so that pretty much ended his day. Fortunately, it was just the nail and not a tear. Thanks to my teammates that cleaned up every spot he stepped until I noticed he was bleeding.

Prior to that, he was back on track with his turns and did great keeping everything nice and high. On the drive home, I was reflecting on where we were a year ago in his training. Back then, he was still doing okay in practice, but would fall apart in a tournament... stabbing the box, turning the wrong way, three legged turns, etc...

A year later and I'm very proud (usually) of how he runs. I'm really looking forward to the first tournament in less than four weeks now!

Hmmm...

Not sure what was going on yesterday, but he suddenly decided he didn't need to go above the jump board laying against the pedal. I put a regular jump board in and he crashed it a couple of times, but started getting back up again. Maybe he was just being lazy. I'll have to keep an eye on that and maybe throw in some backyard practice this week... after it warms up!

Steady

We've been able to get out a few times a week and squeeze in some extra practices with our warmer weather. Zio has been fairly consistent with his turns, so I've been very happy with the little man. The only prop continues to be the 10" jumpboard laying flat against the box pedal. He tends to slip if he gets too low, so it has been very effective at keeping him up on the box with minimal visual cues.

He continues on one tablet of 20mg Prednisone every other day. He would have been done with them around the end of last month, but his platelet count from 12/22 had dropped to 184K (from 201K) since the beginning of December. Normal is considered 200K-300K. He'll be due another follow up blood test in a week or two. Another vet mentioned that she has a dog with ehrilichia too and she puts her dog through a round of Doxy every quarter. I'll have to discuss that with Dr. Morey when I take him in again.