Last trial season

Well, certainly the very last trial season for my Ruda. A bit sad finish as I really believed we could reach our goal which was an Obedience Champion title but realised now that probably we will never get there.

She can make all exercises very well, no problem with that. I am also very proud of her progress in both speed and accuracy made during last year. But all this work just does not show in competitions. We competed 2 times this season and both times she made 2 major faults or refused to perform twice which cost many points. She seems to understand that no rewards will come in trials and does not want to make an effort. She is a smart girl and I must be that stupid trainer that has not learned anything from previous mistakes… She is a reward addict and so am I…

I will give it a try of course few more times but I do not really believe in a single one excellent result anymore. But as long as she is not in heat we can try. Next year she will be a senior dog, I can see first signs of this already. She is slower and more comfortable in everyday life so maybe she is just getting old? We run all the possible blood tests today, just in case, and found no explanation there. She is healthy. Which is most important. She is my friend in the first place.

Prima, the Border Collie, gained her Champion title already. Yesterday we earned last qualifying result. She has been trained mostly the same way that Ruda but she is a completely different type of dog. She does not ponder so much, she just performs what she was taught. I do understand why Border Collies dominate the world of obedience. They are so easy in many ways.

I am very proud of her but…it would have tasted much sweeter with Ruda! She is a real challenge!

I hope I will be a much more clever trainer with little Brita, I don’t have a choice…

Well. Enough of that.

The summer has passed without any blog posts, I just did not feel like writing anything.

It has been a very busy summer!

Very hot July gave a chance to improve general physical condition for me and the dogs. Every morning, after a long walk we swam across our lake and back because it was too hot to do anything else. The rest of the days were spent inside until evening. We have been on the countryside few times and enjoyed long walks in the forest and playing in water as well. During the days the dogs were just lying and walking around in the garden while I studied some Spanish which has become my new hobby. We had summer guests and people just visiting shortly and the garden needed some attention as well.

Then came August with its moderate temperatures and we could go back to training.

Little Brita is showing good potential as an obedience dog but I am sorry to see that her paw is not completely restored. The good thing is that she does not have pain in the bones as she walks without any disturbance with her shoe on. However the part of the skin that has never been meant to be exposed to hard surface after amputation of the toe is still sensitive. I hoped it would get harder after so long time but now, almost 5 months after the accident it´s still a problem for her. Or rather for me as she does not seem to be bothered at all. She is always happy and enjoys her life fully.

I could compete with her in start class but I still hope her paw will be better. I think I give it time until next spring.

And now everything is back to normal. The summer guests are gone, the nights are getting colder and the garden wither. I train every day in different places.

Usually I always feel a bit depressed when winter is approaching but not this year! If everything goes well I will spend a major part of winter in Spain where we bought a little house and hopefully learn a lot more Spanish and find a place to train the dogs. At least the two which are going with me.

It has been decided that Prima will stay with one of my sons who loves her very much so I will never have to deal with fighting dogs again. It is a very hard decision and it will break my heart to leave her behind but I do not see any other way out. The fight will happen again, it´s just a matter of time. And I don´t want to experience this once more, I have had enough!

I believe she will have loving and active home but I am going to miss her terribly!

No puppies

On the picture above happy and relaxed Ruda totally unaware of disappointment I feel after checking her belly yesterday. There will be no puppies, she is empty. The time was not right probably, exactly as I suspected. Despite right progesteron value.

I feel very sad about it as this was my last chance to get a puppy that could keep my kennel alive. I cannot use Brita for breeding so that part of my adventure with dogs might be over.At my age it gets more and more difficult to have long-term plans.

I am so happy we have our obedience training and maybe even competitions to look forward to. I hope they will be allowed soon when this Covid pandemics hopefully ends.

Unfortunately the lack of puppies is not the last distressing fact life has exposed me to lately.

Except Britas accident that had damaged her paw I noticed Prima has been limping from time to time on her right hind leg. Seems to have pain in her hip although she has been x-rayed and has no dysplasia. We will make a thorough examination of her as soon as we can but it worries me and I have to limit her movement. It means I cannot train her either. And chasing sticks will be totally forbidden.

Britas paw is healing slowly. Deep wounds, in one place with visible bone need long time. As soon as we see that there is enough of tissue we can try to stitch it again which should hasten the recovery.

But Brita herself lives her life happily. She has mastered her balance to perfection and moves freely on three legs. Changing the dressing every day is the only stressful moment in her life but even then she lies down by herself and does not move until released. A perfect patient!

Of more positive things I have to mention an obedience seminar me and my friend Anne attended away from home. The journey, living together in a little cottage and seminar itself was a great experience. I have changed some ways of training Ruda and wait impatiently to implement some new thinking in both Primas and Britas training. When they will be able to move.

On the way back home we stopped at the countryside and visited our friends, which gave me some kind of distance from daily troubles. This place is like balm to troubled soul!

I really hope all the bad things that were aimed to hit us this year have appeared already. The future ought to be bright and full of positive events only!

Just to keep the balance!

When one bad thing happens another one usually follows

This is my little Brita today. Walking on 3 legs.

She was allowed to run free during last 2 weeks after the surgery and now she is facing lots of restrictions for another 3-4 weeks again. At least. If everything goes well…

Everything happened so suddenly. She run in the forest close to our house, where we usually finish our walk. She discovered something interesting behind a hill and run over there. I did not have a chance to step on the long line she was on since the surgery.

She came back after just a couple of minutes with her left hind paw severely damaged. Tattered skin, all bones broken to small pieces in one toe, partially in the second one. All muddy and bleeding.

We went directly to the practice where, after x-rays were done, Jacek had to make the painful decision of amputating one toe and a half of the other one. Then he tried to do his best to put all the pieces of skin together and stitch it.

This happened a week ago. I have been worrying sick about possible infection that we would not be able to control. That could have ended in amputation of the whole leg.

But we had a bit of luck in this terrible situation. There is no infection. But the damaged skin dies and falls off piece by piece exposing deep wounds that will take ages to heal.

Brita herself has adjusted well to her new life on three legs. She wants to run and play now and keeps the balance very well. She rests a lot of course but I could stop giving her painkillers already after first 5 days. Her paw looks terrible though. I have to change her bandage every day and I see how it is getting worse every day. But I have seen horrible wounds in my life. I know it will heal. It´s just so hard to deal with it at home with my own dog.

I am very low. Can´t think of anything else. Blame myself for not being able to protect her. But the place where it happened has been a part of my favourite route for 15 years. I felt safe there.

There must have been some kind of junk dumped in a swamp her paw was trapped in. She must have pulled the leg with effort. She has small wounds on all legs. We tried to find the place to clean it but could not locate it.

I will never let her run without holding that line again!

Happy news, sad news and hot news

It’s been such a long time since my last update. I did not feel like writing anything, I have been really low, very affected by Britas condition. Despite so many years spent working as a vet nurse I am totally broken seeing my own dogs being unwell.

The only thing I could do, when I was not occupied with something else, was playing bridge with robots. To kill the time and take my thoughts away. Highly recommended way to forget about reality!

But, happy news first! About Britas rehabilitation.

It´s with great relief I claim we have left the difficult time behind us now and Brita seems to be totally recovered. We started from short walks to the garbage bin, made a lot of exercises recommended by our rehab therapist, done some swimming in the dog pool and now she is allowed to run freely in the garden. She has never been lame or in any other way showed weakness on the right side. Her muscles are equally developed on both sides and a bit bigger that before the surgery. Everything seems to be back to normal and her chances for long and active life are obvious now.

In the meantime she was in season for the first time and celebrated her 1st birthday. Except her lovely character I love her looks though I would like to have some more furnishings of course. It´s such a shame I would never be able to use her for breeding…

Now sad news. About Orca.

On April 5th my husband veterinarian was called to our friends taking care of the old lady. Her condition has worsened dramatically in the evening before and the right decision has been made. She was euthanized at home with people around who loved her dearly . She was my oldest dog ever, 14 years and almost 4 months old. I am so happy she could spend her elderly days being loved and spoiled by my friends. Run free my very special friend!

Time for hot news! About Ruda.

We have been to Tibro and visited the male called Puzzle. Hopefully the result of this visit will be seen on ultrasound examination in the beginning of May!

But not everything went smooth this time.

As she is 7 years old I wanted to be sure she is in good health before the mating. Except physical examination I have even done an official eye examination, just in case. I thought it was just a formality as she was clear before but this time I was rather chocked when the veterinarian told me she had a very mild grade of Y suture cataract in both eyes! The word “cataract” sounds terribly serious in my ears so I thought my dog was going blind soon!

Hopefully, after talking to the vet and reading all the science material I could get I found out that this condition does not affect the dog’s sight at all and does not exclude from breeding according to the Kennel Club.

And I suppose many dogs used for breeding carry this disease but nobody knows about it since breeders check the eyes in young dogs only.

With this obstacle ruled out I was patiently waiting for Ruda to come into season. As usual both her and Prima started at the same time. But then something happened. I know Rudas heat cycle very well. Or, at least I thought I knew. For this time everything went with high speed. Puzzled by their sexual behaviour I run progesteron test on her and found she was very high! At least 5 to 6 days before I expected! I packed and drove with high speed myself and really hope this was the right time!

Well, we will know soon. In all the hurry I forgot to take my camera with me. So I found an old pic of him and Ruda and put it together. Once more I was really pleased meeting him! Such a lovely character in Laekenois is hard to find! Friendly, playful and totally confident! I really have high hopes for this combination!

Now we shall not forget about Prima. Nothing really new about her. She has been nice to Ruda for a long time now and I hope that things will stay this way.

Otherwise our life is almost back to normal now. I try to train as often as possible now when the snow disappeared. However we have had lots of rainy and very windy days and sometimes walking in the woods seems to be brave enough. Today it’s such a day with stormy northern winds. Cold and frightening. I just hope no trees will fall on our house. We have some real giants around that might break any time!

When it comes to training both me and my training mate Anne with her Border Collie Alvin are feeling we are not making enough progress lately. That´s why we have planned a 2 day long obedience seminar with a very well known trainer for the holiday of May 1st. That will be fun! We are going to travel away and live in a little cottage together and all that is a bright element of our rather grey reality.

And I hope a real spring will come soon! We have had few really warm days just to wake up the desire and make the earliest flowers bloom and then the cold was back again. I admire the nature for being so adaptable to all the conditions!

After the surgery

We are slowly getting routines to tackle our everyday struggle to keep little Brita immobilized after her surgery. Which is not easy for either of us. Sometimes I think Brita takes it much better than me. Maybe it´s time for me to learn something from her?

This is how our days look like. First thing in the morning I go out with Brita on leash ( the 5 minutes that are allowed ) trying to stop her from jumping and running ( yes, she can jump and run even on short leash!) Afterwards I put her in her cage and go out for longer walk with the rest of the pack. Then I feed them and try to cuddle Brita a while before I place her in the cage again. This schedule will be repeated, without feeding part, several times a day for nearest 8 weeks. Boring but necessary.

A humble flip of cartilage on the humerus bone is responsible for our mishap. I have a pic of it. It is just a size of a shirt button but causes such a long and tough recovery. It could have ruined her life as well if we did not detect the problem in time!

The flip has been successfully removed by arthroscopy. Thankfully Britas wound is very little and looks perfect. She has not even had so much pain afterwards which might have helped to keep her still. But she has been very, very patient since we started our new way of life. Never complaining. Accepting whatever I ask of her without struggle. I am both very proud of her and very sorry for her. If there is light in this tunnel somewhere I cannot see it yet. 8 weeks feels like an eternity!

But soon we are going to meet a rehabilitation therapist who will certainly know what more I can do to help her. There must be something we can do except short walks on leash. Maybe then life will become liveable again!

To make things more difficult we are having a real winter this year. Lots of snow and under - 15°C every night. Might be very beautiful on pictures but difficult for me. To pack the snow on our paths in the forest takes a lot of energy. Bending to put the shoes and all the clothes on is still painful after my surgery. The only positive thing is that Ruda and Prima, running in deep snow get a lot of exercise in shorter time.

The cats do not leave the house. They sleep through the days! To tackle the boredom they even started to play with each other which is very unusual.

Here are some pics from our walks before Britas surgery. I could let her off leash for short moments then.

No chances for weather change in the nearest 10 days according to the forecast. But we will survive, we always do. And spring is on its way, no doubt about it either! Right now I am happy time flies fast!

Ups and downs

Life is life. Today I found out my puppy Brita has OCD in her shoulder. I am very, very sorry for her and myself as she is the second puppy I intend to keep affected by growing disorder. The first one, called Arrba, was from Beertas litter and had an FCP in one of her elbows. Despite the surgery she had never recovered and had to be put down…

Luckily an OCD in a shoulder offers much higher chance for full recovery but the question is why I need to go through all that again? Am I doing something wrong with my own puppies while all the others seem to be O.K? Laekenois is not large size breed, Brita has not been growing abnormally fast and she has not been pressed to high activity. I give her right puppy food for her size and of good quality. These are the main causes for the disease. If OCD is a growing disorder so why would she show first symptoms when she is over 9 months old and stopped growing? When she started to limp after a walk in a forest I never suspected a serious condition! Additionally the symptoms have been very mild but would not disappear, despite my efforts to keep her calm and walking her on leash. Persistence made me decide to X-ray her shoulder and that´s why we found the changes. Otherwise I would never suspect anything serious. My world is totally upside-down right now…The condition is not considered to be hereditary but I will, of course, never breed on her. I just hope she will have long and active life as she deserves.

Brita herself, totally unaware of her condition, tries to invite us to play and is happy as usual.

It´s been 2 weeks since we trained last time after my spine surgery and, what is very positive, I feel ready to start again but now I have to find out how to adjust the training so it would fit us all.

My friend Nathalie made some training pics on our last session outside.

Well, the time for Britas surgery has been scheduled to Febr. 9th and a long rehabilitation is ahead of us afterwards. Have to carefully think it over as this will be a very difficult period for both of us. Have to find out what we can do without overworking her body and at the same time give enough of stimulant to make her tired and happy.

Ruda and Prima have been waiting patiently while I had to heal after my surgery. Despite shortened walks and lack of other activities the dogs have been calm and respectful to each other. It is going to take time before I am completely fit but I feel restless and have to go back to some training soon. Luckily we have quite a few training halls to choose between! It seems that this year we are having a real winter with fresh snow and snow that turned to ice on our training grounds and even walking isn’t totally safe…

So nice to look at pictures of us made by a friend on the training ground that still was safe for the dogs. We may need to wait until spring for the next chance!

It is snowing again today. All the icy spots will be covered with fresh snow and difficult to spot. I appreciate the beauty of winter but hate the risks! Especially now when I need some more time to recover after my surgery and have a dog that has to be leashed.

Next year I just have to leave this country and spend few winter months in Portugal or Spain! Enough is enough!

A different Christmas

Another Christmas has passed away. A rather different holiday this year with people being scared of family gatherings because of Corona and keeping distance from each other rather than seeking each others company.

Even my family was affected as my daughter stayed away on Christmas Eve with a common cold being afraid of infecting my old mother. Well I hope that soon we do not have to think about Corona! Enough is enough!

After a long time of dark and rainy days we enjoyed the first frost on Christmas Eve and first snow on Christmas Day. I hoped for some sunshine to be able to make some winter photos but all the clouds from all over the world must have arranged a meeting right above little Sweden ... I think we have not seen the sunlight for more than a couple of hours during the whole December this year!

On the other hand we still can train outside, almost every day!

Little Brita has grown into a 9 months old teenager with long legs and skinny body. She is a real fun to live and train with and I am so happy to have her around! It´s not easy to get a side pic of her but somehow I managed when she stopped moving around waiting for Primas stick to be thrown.

Ruda is back to normal again and shows some higher stage of activeness. She cannot wait for her turn during our training sessions and shows a lot of positive attitude and willingness to perform. Such a pity we cannot compete now! She would shine in the trial ring! Unfortunately all the competitions have been cancelled lately, due to Corona pandemic and we do not know when we will be able to test our skills again…

And Prima is still practising her heelwork and other small things that can be improved. She is strongly accustomed to her habits and rather difficult to learn new ways so we have something to work on before we are allowed to compete again. But she is such a happy dog as soon as she gets her ball or a stick to chase in reward! I am also learning not to show her a slightest sign of dislike when she misses an exercise- she will be so easily discouraged, a very sensitive dog indeed. So we both have something to learn!

All Britas siblings are doing fine. It´s such a joy to watch them grow!

The breeding plans are still on, the male has been chosen and I am waiting for Rudas next season. That is if I am physically fit after the spine surgery on Jan 14th. A Laekenois litter requires a breeder in full shape!

Otherwise we proceed with our daily activities even though they are slightly limited by my physical condition. And I really hope, hope and hope for better life soon!

Hard time

Autumn is here. With rain, wind and darkness but also beautiful colors and sun gleam from time to time.

Tough time for me. Freezing hands, pain in all joints. And spring so far away!

Good time for dog training though, perfect temperature for explosive movement and soft surface.

The trio enjoys our daily routines. Walks in the forest, obedience training and helping with the last activities in the hibernating garden.

The trial season has not ended yet. I have had no success I hoped for in competing with Ruda. I went for it 3 times and it has always been something we missed that deprived us of getting an excellent result. A lack of focus that made her miss a box, a dog yelling at her under the exercise that made her turn back to me and , last time, a hesitation from my side that made her uncertain of which dumbbell she has to retrieve. That she is in the middle of pseudopregnancy doesn´t make the situation easier. She stopped eating and is generally low.

Hard time for me as her trainer as I really believe she is well prepared. I feel I am loosing my motivation and feel sometimes I just want to quit. Every trial is such a traumatic experience for me that I really don´t know how I even manage to appear at the start point. Yet it gives me such a satisfaction afterwards when I win over my fear and act as supportive and confident handler. It would be very difficult to explain if somebody asked me why I am doing it. One judge said once it was just a game. For me it is much more serious than that. I cannot pretend. Maybe I lost a child in me and forgot how to play? I am so bloody serious about everything…

The most important thing though is that Ruda enjoys her training a lot and seems to be in good mood even during the trials. And despite her bad appetite she still enjoys her treats which gives me inspiration to carry on. I have some trials ahead. I will continue to fight. I know myself. I do not give up so easily.

Little donkey, Brita, is still a funny, lovable and cosy puppy. She has grown a lot, it seems to me she is taller than her mother already. Training her is such a joy! She enjoys both food and toys as rewards and has lots of energy. Yet staying focused for longer time is not a problem either. I really think she will be able to compete in the lowest class in spring

I’m also very pleased with Primas training. I have managed to improve her heeling significantly so actually it would be much easier to achieve the goal ( which is a champion title) with her than with Ruda. But she is younger and what´s more she has decided to go into season right now. We have to wait then. Probably until spring. The trial season is almost over. There is a couple of competitions in a training hall, far away, that I could try but it was such a long time ago I trained them in such a limited space that I do not feel they are prepared for that. But we still have time.

It could be a very frightening but useful experience for me. Partly because one is more exposed in a hall and partly that the judge is a very known person in the obedience world, a kind of obedience guru.

Well, we will see if I have the courage. And if I will be fit physically. My spine is in a very bad condition now. Next surgery is needed but I will do it after the trial season is over so I have time to recover before spring.

Well, this is the irony of life. When I was healthy I did not have the time, now when I have time I’m limited by bad health…

Let’s hope the surgery will make me fit again!