The Reluctant Future Draft Dog

Capella is pretty convinced the cart will blow up at any moment. Look at her ears — I suspect she is listening for the ticking of a CED (Cart Explosive Device).

I thought Harper B for Blasted Cart was a tough cookie — I suspect Capella is going to provide even more opportunity for me to stretch in my draft dog training skills 🧐

Grandma Tricia suggested having Capella pull pool noodles — brilliant! They are relatively quiet and light, and after a few days of doing it inside the house it was time to take the show on the road.

Attitude!

Check out her new blue harness! I love the color and am having ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ added to it because yes — someday that beautiful harness will be attached to a cart.

#believe

The pool noodle pulling was a big success — if one defines “success” as “dog tolerated without completely freaking out.”

The other way I know something is successful with Capella is if she will still eat treats. If she stops eating treats, I have pushed her too far and need to dial back. Super important to know your dog.

And every dog is different — if Claire refused a treat, I would rush her to the vet. This is Claire beating the heat.

Something else to think about is how we create associations for the dogs. Capella LOVES agility and so I hitched up the pool noodles and had her pull them to the arena — and then she did agility. So “meh” was followed by “YAY” — that helps add value to “meh.”

BUT I did not end agility and go right back to pool noodles because I certainly do not want to pair “YAY!” with “meh.”

“Great job, Capella!!! And as your reward for your excellent and happy and fun agility work — you get to pull pool noodles, which may also contain explosive devices.”

That would be a Bad Plan.

And so after agility we walked down the driveway for a bit to provide a fun break between “YAY!” (agility) with “meh” (pool noodle pulling) — and then finished off by unhitching from the pool noodles and practicing weave polls, which are another YAY!

Hmmmm… I need to pair draft with swimming because I think that is Capella’s favorite YAY! This is Capella and her dog grandma, Sparkle, at the river earlier this week.

A draft test that involves pulling pool noodles in the water — that is what Capella needs!

Happy Sunday ❤️

Harper B for Bitterroot

At eleven years and nine months, Harper B for Blessed is no less worthy of an interesting life than a young dog.

I took Harper to the Bitterroot River for a walk sniff.

The river is just a mile from our house and is now sufficiently low to be safe for an older lady like Harper. Unlike some members of the family, Harper is not a swimmer but she does enjoy getting her paws wet.

And there were so many new smells to be sniffed!

Living happily with the dog we have right now requires intentionality — and honesty.

We have to be honest about what is, and intentional about how we can make the very Harper B for Best of it.

Social worth in humans seems to declines with age in the dominant USA culture. Ageism is a real thing. Even in dogs.

Not at my house.

Please have a happy day living your own very best life. Because of — not in spite of — your wonderful age.

Dog Poop

How do you like that catchy title? 💩

Metronidazole (Flagl) is a medication frequently prescribed to dogs with acute colitis, which presents with diarrhea. It is a drug I avoid using with my dogs because it has the potential for neurotoxic side effects, it is a carcinogen, and because most cases of diarrhea are self-limiting and easily managed with dietary interventions.

I felt somewhat validated for my long-standing caution about this drug by a study summary I read this morning in Clinician’s Brief, which is a sort of online veterinary newsletter.

Here are two excerpts from the Key Takeaways of that summary:

• Dietary management alone more effectively and safely treats noninfectious acute colitis than in combination with metronidazole administration.

• Metronidazole is unnecessary and detrimental in noninfectious cases of acute colitis.

  ⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆

💩 happens.

Obi’s humans have found Slippery Elm to be effective with diarrhea, others have reported success with Tylan Powder, and some swear by Olewo Carrots. I use FortiFlora and dietary changes when a dog present with loose stools.

Diarrhea that doesn’t go away and/or is accompanied by other symptoms needs our veterinarian’s attention but the occasional bout in an otherwise happy dog is not a 911, and do think twice before using Metronidazole.

I hope your Wednesday is 💩-free!

NOTE: Metronidazole is an important treatment for some of the more unusual and serious causes of diarrhea in dogs. Unusual is the key word there — and occasional diarrhea in dogs is not all that unusual.

Here is the reference for the original article that was summarized in Clinician’s Brief:

Rudinsky AJ, Parker VJ, Winston J, et al. Randomized controlled trial demonstrates nutritional management is superior to metronidazole for treatment of acute colitis in dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2022;260(S3):S23-S32. doi:10.2460/javma.22.08.0349