Equipment safety

I believe that we should do what we can to make agility safer especially when it comes to the equipment. 

Recently Daisy Peel put up a podcast on equipment safety. Linda Mecklenburg wrote a blog post as well.  Both Daisy and Linda talk about things that I hadn't considered as well as things that I had.  Guy Blancke also has some pictures of some questionable equipment on one of his webpages.  Some of the equipment is so bad that I think that I would have pulled my dog from the event.

I started out with what I now consider to be unsafe practice equipment.  My jumps were the equivalent of stick in the ground weave poles with bolts holding up the bars.  At that time though I had a steady dog and we were not doing tight turns.   We expected the dog to jump near the center of the bar.  Things have dramatically changed since then.  My dogs are running faster and they are turning tightly and slicing jumps.

This is Taari's Mom Angel posing with some of her ribbons.  Note the bolts on the vertical post as well as the horizontal bar holding the ribbons.  This bar was really one of the vertical ones for a jump. 

Nessa has received a cut under the eye from to a metal jump cup.  She was lucky.

Currently most of my jumps have the jump cup strips on them.  I am in the process of buying a couple of jumps that I think will be even safer than the ones that I have.  Once I get them I will post some pictures.

I feel that I should not have to make handling decisions based on whether or not I think that the jump is safe for a tight turn or for that matter because of any equipment safety concerns. 

Before I forget I am very happy that years ago the AAC implemented a rule that weave poll stripes were to be painted on and tape was not to be used.  Dogs were rubbing against the tape and this was also causing cuts on their faces under their eyes. Organizations are making positive changes and I hope that this continues.

I hope to find more time this winter to post more about equipment safety.

Goodbye Spiceman

Lochisle Spice of Life CD HT AGI AGNJS AGNS ATChC ExStSilver ExJBronze Silver (April 21 1996 - - November 17 2010)

I got Spice when he was almost 2 years old through Sheltie Rescue. He was my internet dog as I found out about him via a mailing list - not that unusual now but it was twelve years ago. Spice is not my first sheltie that has gone to the bridge (Taari's mom Angel died of lymphoma at 5) but he was my first sheltie. I got him a week after I started working at my first job after university. I really wanted a dog and was determined to get one even if my allergies were a problem. Luckily I had outgrown my childhood allergies to dogs.

I have made many friends because of Spice, both in my neighbourhood and in the dog world. His best friend was Sheba (my friends's sheltie). I had never seen dogs wrestle before like these two did. They had such a good time playing and it was an instant friendship. My friends's place became his second home. In the past few months if I took him for a walk he would insist on going to visit and if they were not home it was a struggle to get him back home. When I would turn around he would stop and not move as if to say you are going the wrong way.



Together Spice and I learned the sports of obedience, herding and agility. He was a natural herder and did better if I didn't try to tell him what to do. He got his CKC herding started title but we didn't continue on in herding. He didn't pay enough attention to the sheep and they started to head butt him when he wasn't looking. At first I think that he thought it was a game but then he decided that it wasn't a game and he would run the other way if the sheep started coming towards him. He did well at obedience and even won a few prizes at our first trial. I decided after a fun match in which we did both agility and obedience that he enjoyed agility much more than obedience so we just concentrated on agility after that.

He was not big on toys unless they had food in them. Getting out the "magic" Frisbee (one with a food pouch) really helped his speed in agility.




Spice didn't usually get very excited but I do remember that Teo (a Belgian) would usually get him barking in class. It was too bad that Teo couldn't run right before Spice at trials. Spice was a steady accurate dog in agility. He did well at standard courses and it was games that we needed to finally complete his Bronze and Silver Awards of Merit. Spice sped up as he got older and was able to sometimes be under regular course times as a veteran. There have been times lately when I wish we could run together again. Below is one of his later runs where he saved the run for me a couple of times.



He loved puppies and was a great uncle/big brother to all of my girls or his girls as he thought of them when we visited my friends and their male sheltie got a bit too friendly.

I am grateful that we were able to spend so many years together. Thank you for being such a wonderful part of my life.

Spice we will miss you.

Happy Holidays

Taari posing nicely with the reindeer and Santa.

Spice with Santa.

Nessa with some wrapping paper.

Another photo of Nessa.

Spice a year after his surgery

Spice has been doing pretty good since his surgery. I didn't walk him much during the winter when it was cold and the sidewalks were icy. We did stuff inside the house - ball work, fit disks, ladders, and wobble board. I have been walking him more and doing a bit of agility with him. His front leg can still get sore at times but that is to be expected with the arthritis. Here is video of him doing some jumps and tunnels.





I tried the AudioSwap function at YouTube. I picked a song with a good title but bad lyrics "Catch me jumping". I couldn't get the preview function to work so finally gave up and picked one based on it title.

Running Contacts in my basement

I have what used to be a ramp board from a dogwalk. It is now two boards - a 5 ft board with the yellow zone (lost a foot due to the wood rotting) and a 6 ft board. My basement isn't very big and is fairly cluttered but I managed to make a mini dogwalk contact trainer out of them. I can't wait until we can work outside. Hopefully the snow will melt this weekend.

I experimented with and without the box on it. Taari doesn't have the same speed she usually has on a real dogwalk. There were times when she was fairly excited and faster. She had no problems getting the contact zone either with or without the box.

Earlier in the week I used the long board as the down ramp board but Thursday night I used the short board with the yellow zone. I started with it low and then found some blocks and books so I could raise it up.

Taari was definitely having fun and Spice did too the other night. Spice did quite well considering his 13th birthday is coming up. I should have taped him. Tonight I only had Taari working on the boards. Spice just got to run back and forth in the basement.

Here is the video. Watch for the part where the Manners Minder starts making a funny sound - one that Taari doesn't like. I thought that it was quite funny but Taari apparently didn't. Luckily when Manners Minder stopped making that noise Taari was fine with the it.

Happy Holidays

I would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays.

I haven't been posting lately because I have been busy. I have been doing some strength exercises with both Spice and Taari. I know that I need to do more and continue with Spice's physiotherapy. I haven't been doing as much as I think I should be doing. It has been too cold and too icy to do much walking with Spice as well. I am worried about him in the cold and slipping and hurting himself. Taari and I have been training about twice a week in an unheated facility (groups class and practice time). Today though it is too cold and the roads are not very good so we didn't go. Instead I will be shovelling a path for the dogs in the backyard - yes we got that much snow. I may try to take some pictures later today.

I recently joined a Animal Learning Concepts yahoo group and I am quite excited about trying out some of the things people have been doing. For example teaching their dogs to count. First though I need to brush up on my clicker and shaping skills so I am teaching my dogs other things. I am teaching Spice to touch different items with his left and right paw. Taari is learning to put all four paws in a box. I am decreasing the size of the box. Eventually I will try a muffin tin.

It was recommended that I work on shaping with Taari as she needs to deal better with failure and also needs a confidence boost.

Spice loves to be trained. So much so that the 12.5 year old normally reserved sheltie is whining in his crate wanting his turn.

I am looking forward getting the Nina Ottosson games I ordered from Clean Run. Here is a video of one of them. Hopefully they will arrive before I get back from trip to see my family so that I can try them out over the holiday break.

Spice Qs again in Jumpers (with weaves!)

This Thanksgiving weekend the weather was perfect at Spot On. Rarely do AAC Master Jumpers have weaves. This weekend the judge decided to put weaves in the course. It was a tricky exit as well. I walked the course for only Taari again. I ran her first and she didn't hold her stay at the start line (first time on the weekend). Then she took out the cones at a tunnel entrance. She doesn't like it when I rear cross a tunnel and spun around to tell me so. There were some good parts of her run.

I didn't practice the weaves much with Spice since his surgery since I never expected to see them in a jumpers run. I decided that whatever he did with the weaves would be fine I would just continue on if he stopped or pulled out. I was quite surprised that he did the weaves really well. He Qed with less than a second to spare. I will have to check and see how well he has done in the past with jumpers with weaves. I do remember that Qing with weaves in a jumpers run was hard for Spice.

Here is the YouTube version of the run. Below I uploaded it to my blog.

Spice gets his Silver Award of Merit

Judge Lane White, Spice and Teresa

On Sunday I ran Spice at the K9 Klubhouse trial in Pickering Ontario. Earlier in the day I wasn't sure how he was feeling. He wasn't perky but perhaps I had just woken him up. I walked him around and warmed him. Getting out his "magic" frisbee out always get him excited. The frisbee has a food pouch. When I threw it for him the first time he didn't run after it but after the first time he was enthusiastic about it.

While I was waiting ringside and playing with him (with the frisbee) he did a play bow and barked at me. He has never done this before - at least not that I remember and definitely not ringside. That made me happy - he was definitely feeling pretty good. He wasn't showing any signs of stress. This used to be a problem and mostly likely a large contributor to how slow he ran sometime. I know that I was a major cause of his stress. This was his second last try at getting his Silver as there is only one more trial after this one. I was a bit worried that I might cause him stress again. Well I obviously wasn't. I think that in the back of my mind I was thinking it would be nice to get his Silver but really he doesn't care so I just want him to have fun and it was great that he was feeling so much better let alone able to compete again.

I had only walked the course for Taari who I ran first. I thought that I would have plenty of time to decide how to run it for Spice since Taari was one of the first dogs and Spice was the last dog. I also thought that I could think on the fly with him as he isn't as fast as Taari. Here is the video of his run. There is one spot where I was out of position. Spice Qed and his speed was 3.79 yds/sec. This is his 5th fastest Jumpers run ever (out of about 64 jumper runs).

A big thank you to everyone who helped with Spice's recovery, our trainers, family and friends for your support. If it wasn't for the excellent care he received from his surgeon, veterinarian, chiropractor and massage therapist he would not be feeling as good as he does now. Getting his Silver is just icing on the cake.

Having fun

On Monday I did more training with Spice in my backyard and he was very enthusiastic. No signs of being sore after running jumpers on Sunday. He was taking off anticipating me throwing the frisbee and also not waiting for me to tell him to go through the tunnel or over the jumps. He was definitely having fun.

Spice got a Q in Jumpers

I will post more details later but I ran Spice in AAC Master Jumpers on Sunday and he got a Q. This was the first time I ran him in a trial in almost a year. He was 5 seconds under the standard course time. He did very well and was happy to be running.

The start of his story can be found here.

Spice is jumping

Today at the Spot On match I tried running Spice at 6" for the first time. This is the height I will run him at when he competes again as veterans are allowed to drop two height categories. First I tried him out on a short course with a tire, jumps and tunnels. Then later I decided to make the course a bit longer (18 obstacles). He ran really well. Spectators thought he looked happy. He showed no signs of limping when he was running. He was limping very slightly on the grass. I think that he may be cautious on grass as I have noticed that his limp is worse when he is walking on grass. I think that he still has the muscle memory of limping.

I have noticed that since I started running with him that he is improving. Less of a limp and he is distributing his weight more evenly.

Also on Tuesday of this week Spice went to the chiropractor and the ophthalmologist. His cataracts are slightly worse. I think that he should have no problems with jumps, tires, chutes and tunnels. We haven't tried a chute yet but the rest he is doing well.

Spice is running

Spice was fine after doing the tunnels and jumps with bars on the ground on Saturday (no signs of soreness). I took him with me to Taari's training on Tuesday night and had him do some more jumps and tunnels. He was running pretty good all things considered. It was a nice cool evening too. Tonight at home I had him doing a few jumps and 4 weaves. I wasn't encouraging him to run fast as I am being cautious. In fact on Tuesday night I made a point of doing more sending work so he could set his own pace. His magic frisbee (with the food pouch) got him excited though. I gave Taari a turn, Spice a turn and then Taari again. I wasn't going to do any more with Spice but he came out the door all excited wanting another turn. So we played a bit of frisbee. I didn't throw it as far as I normally do.

I am very pleased that he is having fun again.

Update on Spice

Spice is continuing to get cartrophen shots every 5 weeks. He saw his chiropractor on July 24th. She saw a definite improvement from our last visit.

I have been trying to walk Spice more. It is hard when working full time. He is at most getting 3 walks a day. He got a double length walk one night when I met some friends (40 minutes). I am continuing to do fit disks, Bosu ball (normal and inverted so it is like a wobble board), and ladders with him.

I have been taking Spice to some of Taari's trials to get a massage.

Overall he is improving. I haven't been massaging and icing him much but I think that I should start doing it more often again. He still has a limp at times but he does seem to be putting more weight on his good leg. Even more importantly he seems happier which I assume means less pain. It was definitely worth it.

Today he went to the fun match with Taari and just walked around. Later I had him going through some tunnels and jumps (bars on the ground). He was having fun. I will see how he is tomorrow.

Recheck with Surgeon July 10th

I wrote down what I could remember right after Spice's appointment with the surgeon on July 10th and I am posting it today (more than a month later - sorry).

The surgeon was pleased with Spice's progress. He said that his range of motion had improved. Spice was not as
sensitive when he touched his elbow as before. 70-80% weight bearing on his right front leg. Did not protest when he held up his other leg so that he had to put weight on his right leg. Muscle tone was good - no atrophy compared with the other leg.

He mentioned swimming again as a good exercise. I should increase the length and frequency of his walks. (Hard to do when it is hot out).

We should keep Spice from jumping right now and preventing him from doing stairs (not sure if it was 2 more weeks or longer). Again going down is the worst. If he goes down carefully two front feet at a time it isn't as bad. His cartilage still needs time to form/heal. He mentioned 20 weeks (was this how long the cartilage needed and/or how
long until he improved as much as he is going to?). Sometime dogs will plateau before continuing to improve.

In two weeks could try some running.

Can keep icing especially after activity.

By (the end of?) August we likely will have seen as much improvement as we will see. Again this could be the 20 weeks he was mentioning.

If you try something and he is sore, give him a couple days rest and then try the same thing again. Don't need to revert back to something easier unless it repeats.

He thought teeter would be okay and weaves. I think that the teeter might be too jarring for him. Depends on how he does it. Weaves may also be jarring if he tries to do them fast (two footed). Maybe I should use pylons to try to get the weaving motion without jarring.

He said that his elbow may always get sore due to the arthritis.

He felt the soft tissue swelling spot. I said that it was getting better. He didn't seem concerned since it was getting smaller. I could hardly feel it today when showed it to the surgeon.

I explained the types of exercises he was doing (ladder, fit disks, bosu - half ball) etc. He said that I was doing really well - gold star. Especially compared with other owners (dogs are usually overweight and not active - owners don't know about the exercises).

Catching up

Sorry it has been so long since I have last posted a blog entry. Things have been very busy for me.

Spice has been to the chiropractor twice more since his first visit. The chiropractor noticed some swelling on the outside of the elbow joint on the second visit. She said to watch it and it was smaller on the third visit. I will mentioned it the surgeon next week. I have been using cold therapy more often which may be helping.

Spice got his second massage since his surgery a couple of weekends ago at one of the trials Taari was competing in. Next week he goes back to his regular vet on Wednesday for another cartrophen shot and on Thursday back to see his surgeon.

He is improving and putting more weight on his front right leg. I have noticed that he still turning his front left leg in a bit but I think that it is less than before. This is mostly likely due to him shifting his weight to his left leg.

As well as ladder work I also bought some fit discs and a Bosu. Last night he got all 4 feet on the Bosu by himself (I was lifting him up previously). He was also turning on it. I have been putting the fit disks close together and getting Spice and Taari to put their two front feet on one and two back feet on the other. Definitely a balancing act when I tried it but it may help having 4 feet instead of only two.

I have been letting Spice do stairs occasionally. He does them slowly otherwise I wouldn't. I noticed in the past day or two that when he goes down the small set of stairs he wasn't two footing it down but striding. This indicated to me that he is comfortable putting more weight on his right leg.

We are up to 20 minutes on some walks. In the morning he doesn't want to go too far so I don't make him. I wonder if he doesn't want to go far because he knows he gets cookies when I leave for work! Speaking of which he is still in an X-pen when I am at work.

Just last night I noted how much happier he seemed. He is improving but not 100% yet. I think that it will take time for him to regain his natural stride and be "even" again.

Taari and I have been having a great time at training and going to fun matches and trials (when it isn't storming outside!). This past weekend she had a really nice Steeplechase run. She was more than 12 seconds under time and it wasn't a perfect run so I estimate that we could have been around 15 seconds under time.

I started using stride regulators to help her with her A-frame. I didn't realize it until examining video that she wasn't putting her back feet down after jumping the apex and she was walking down on her front feet a step or two. The stride regulators have helped. If I can figure out how to slow down video for YouTube I will put up some clips.

First chiropractor appointment since surgery

I worked from home yesterday so that I could take Spice to the chiropractor. He seemed not too bad in the morning when I walked him. Before I took him to his appointment he was limping more than he has for quite a while :(.

His chiropractor said he wasn't as bad as she expected. I gave her a copy of the report from the surgeon and she had also read the Jump Down Syndrome article. Spice doesn't want to extend his right leg completely (the surgeon mentioned this as well). It has been a while since has. She showed me how I could gently stretch his leg. She also suggested that I massage his leg (towards his heart) and ice him a few times a day. She did notice some heat/inflamation in his elbow. More towards the outside of the leg.

She also asked if I was giving him any supplements and what other exercises I was doing with him. She also mentioned that lifting each leg would be a good exercise. I remember this from one of the DVDs I have.

She thought that it would be best if I brought him back in a week. It would help him to heal faster. I took next Thursday off so that I can take him to his regular vet for another cartrophen shot and back to see her.

After his appointment I found him to be about the same as far as limping goes. Today I am seeing an improvement. His limp is not as strong. I also noticed this morning he was tight lipped on his walk. This evening he was not. He wanted to go faster but I held him back so he wouldn't go too fast. He doesn't appear to be quite a good as I thought he was before he started this more severe limping. I am not sure why he was worse yesterday. I wonder if he curled up too much in his crate. Normally he is in his X-pen when I am not home. I brought him downstairs and he slept in his crate while I was working.

I have been walking him 3 times a day and I was up to about 10 minutes but yesterday and today I haven't been walking him as long. I also was doing cold therapy about once a day but have since started doing it more often.

Massage and Progress

On Sunday we went to the Spot On trial. It was cool in the morning but otherwise not too bad weather wise. Taari's jumpers run was fast and had some good parts. We have some things to work on (start line stays) and I need to make sure she is with me coming out of tunnels. I am retraining her contacts so we are only doing jumpers runs at trials right now.

Spice had good visits with his dog and human friends. He was moving really well while walking at the trial. I was walking him pretty slowly so I think that people thought he was really old. No obvious signs of limping. Andrea gave him a massage. That was the main reason for bringing him to the trial.

I had a good visit too with my friends and stayed longer than I had intended. Unfortunately it was pouring rain by the time I left. I was glad not to be running in it.

I did some more reading about stem cell therapy and found that they need about 2 tablespoons of fat (see Vet-Stem website). I am not sure how easy it would be to find that much fat on Spice. I keep him pretty slim.

On Monday I noticed Spice limping a bit more when he went for his walks. It is too bad he doesn't like to walk on the grass. He prefers the sidewalks which is probably harder on him.

Today (Tuesday) he seemed worse (head bob and limping when walking) in the morning and got better later on (less limping). We started going for longer walks since it has been two weeks since his surgery. He seems to want to go fast on the walks and I am slowing him down. I am still massaging his leg 2-3 times a day and I have been icing it as well.

Spice does seem to be more lively which is a good sign. He is still spending the day in an X-pen when we are at work and no stairs.

Recheck with the surgeon

Today we went back to the clinic to have the surgeon check Spice. It has been 10 days since his surgery.

The surgeon was happy with Spice's range of motion. The small incision healed well and the bruising is gone. Spice is still sensitive at his elbow joint but there is no swelling. The surgeon could not detect crepitus in the joint. One thing that he noted was that Spice does not want to extend his leg completely. I am not too surprised as I think that it will take some time.

No stairs for 2 more weeks and then he can be allowed to do the small set of stairs going up to the bedrooms. Going up is easier on the joint than going down. We will have to wait longer before he can go down the larger set of stairs to the basement. One thing that the surgeon suggested was to use a harness (tracking harness or seat belt) when Spice is going down the stairs and lift him a bit to take some weight off and reduce the impact.

I told the surgeon that I used a physioroll before to help strengthen Spice. I have the Get on the Ball DVD. He said that we can start ball work twice a week to start and see how he does. I will wait about a week before trying this and will be starting slowly. Yesterday I did some ball work with Taari and Spice was getting excited in his X-pen thinking that he would get a turn. He got cookies instead.

Another good passive exercise is having Spice give me his paw. I will have to review my other DVDs to figure what other exercises would be good.

Up until now I have only been walking Spice about three houses down the street for his bathroom breaks. We can start walking more (6 houses) but it will be a meandering walk. He is not ready yet for 10 minutes of continuous walking but we could just go out for 10 minutes - visiting with neighbours and enjoying the spring weather.

I am at a trial this weekend with Taari and it is okay for Spice to come along and get a massage.

It will take 6-8 weeks for cartilage to form. How Spice is doing will tell us how well things are progressing with his joint. There is a danger of damaging the scar tissue if the surgeon went in again so he will only do it if necessary (i.e. Spice gets worse).

I may find that Spice gets sore during his rehabilitation and if he does then I rest him for 2-3 days. I asked about his cartrophen shots and Spice can continue to get them on his regular schedule (he doesn't need to have them more frequently). I stopped giving him Metacam today. If he gets sore again later today can give him Metacam again for 2 or 3 more days.

He doesn't think that Spice's elbow will get bad enough that it will require more drastic measures - fusing the elbow joint, amputation or elbow replacement. I was glad to hear that.

The surgeon also said that Spice looked good for his age (12 years old).

We will go back and see the surgeon in two months unless he gets worse. Until then we will continue with his physiotherapy. I am feeling more positive about his prognosis.

Diskless

Spice no longer has to wear his e-disk to prevent him from licking his legs. I think that he will be happy about that. He doesn't like being left in the X-pen at times and lets me know. Especially when I come home and want to do a few things before letting him out.

To prevent him from going up the stairs I have taken parts of my hoops (Taari's contact training hoops) and created a barrier. I have a baby gate that I use on the stairs that go to the basement. This is one of these times I wished I lived in a bungalow.

I will have to figure out a way to categorize Spice's limping so that I can see if he is improving.

Tomorrow he goes back to the surgeon for check up.

Update on Spice

Wednesday: I picked Spice up on Wednesday (his surgery was on Tuesday). His leg was very bruised which is to be expected. He has a "poodle" cut on his leg as they shaved part of it. He also missing some fur on his left leg from the surgery. His leg was quite sore.

For the next two weeks he is to be kept quiet. Only going out on leash for bathroom breaks. No stairs, slippery floors, jumping, running, etc. He will need to be kept in a small room or crate when we are not at home. I have an X-pen that I set up in the living room. He also should not lick his incision. I don't like the cones (typical e-collars) and neither to my dogs. So I am going to try the craft foam disk that I made for Taari. I just need to cut a larger hole in it for Spice since he is bigger. This is quite flexible and should prevent him from licking himself. It is Christmas colours since I bought the foam on sale (red and green with some yellow duct tape). As well as ice therapy for the first few days I should wash the incision with warm water. Home physio consists of massage and flexing and extending the joints. I will probably continue with the ice therapy as well.

After two weeks I can start short walks with Spice and gradually increase the time to help build muscles. They recommend 3-5 walks a day which will be a challenge on days in which I work. I think that I can get three walk in (one before work, one when I come home and one before sundown). I will also do some strengthening exercises.

Wednesday night Spice and I didn't get much sleep. He was very restless which I believe was due to pain from the surgery and possibly an upset stomach. They most likely gave him something to eat while he was at the clinic.

Thursday: I worked from home so that I could keep and eye on him. Thursday night we both slept better. I gave him some Slippery Elm to help with his stomach.

Friday: I went to work but came home early since I was worried about him. It was actually Friday when I started using the e-disk on him.

Saturday: His bruising is continuing to decrease. He seems to be in less pain.

Sunday: Again I noticed that bruising is less. I tried not using the e-disk but caught him licking his leg. Not where the incision is but where he was shaved. It is a bit red there so I am wondering if it is irritated. There is also some scabbing on his skin and I wonder if it is because he was shaved or perhaps due to the arthroscopy.

Spice has for the last couple of days wanted to go for more than a bathroom break when I took him out front on leash. I think that he is expecting a walk.

Sunday night when I got home from the trial (Taari was entered in a nearby trial) he seemed to be moving better when he went for his bathroom break. It is good to see an improvement.