Friday, November 20, 2009

Farm Dogs

are too poor for real toys.
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They have to make do with old milk jugs, and sticks.
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Which they may or may not find whilst digging up the horse paddock
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OMG! Are we poor?
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Yes Dexter, we are very poor! And we almost got a lot poorer recently too.

The other day, we thought Piper had blown a cruciate. Eep. She hunkered down in Dexter's crate and wouldn't come out, and when I did lure her out she was limping badly on one hind leg and didn't want to walk on the laminate.

Well, it hurt. What did you want from me?
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I immediately blamed Dexter.

It's not my fault. And you can't see me anyway.
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Because SOMEBODY has a nasty habit of trying to squash her while she's bouncing up and down waiting for her ball.

What, you mean when I do this?
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And the heavier he gets, the more he impedes her insane devil spins and interferes with her take-off.

So we trundled off to the vet clinic for a check up.

Piper has the most intense sense of self preservation of any dog I have ever met. She refuses to show pain in front of anyone but me. If *you* cut off her legs with a rusty hacksaw, she would just stare at a spot on the wall behind you and pretend it was not happening, and that she was fine, but if *I* pinch her toe she screams just as if I'd said "all the world's tennis balls are gone and you'll never play fetch again."

So of course the vet couldn't get her to show an ounce of pain. She was so tensed up the vet couldn't tell anything at all! She did step out of the room and I grabbed Piper's knee and she shrieked but as soon as the vet stepped back in the room she stopped (mid-shriek) and went back to her happy (mad) place.

In the end, the vet said that given Piper's size and general FANTASTIC body condition, and a few other factors, she didn't present as a cruciate injury, but possibly a muscle strain. We decided on a conservative approach of rest (no agility, no fetch) for a couple of weeks to see if she improves on her own. She is no longer limping, but I'm playing it very safe. She gets a two week break from agility class, and I scratched her from the trial this weekend too.

There's a good chance I'm going to lose my shit, thanks to this regime.
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I didn't want to trundle all the way to agility class with just Tweed, who is too old for two hours of class anyway.

No I'm not! I can do it!
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Yes, you are. And no, you can't.

I hate you, and you'll pay for this. Good luck falling asleep at night.
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So for a lark, I threw Mr. Woo into Piper's spot.

Mr. Woo has learned all the equipment in sporadic practices, except the chute, and for fun I have taught him both threadles and serpentines, but really Wootie has been on equipment maybe 6 times in his life. Since this is a mostly Masters level class, I apologized profusely to my classmates for the time-waste they were about to watch ... and damned if the little fat couch didn't run almost a whole 20 obstacle course.

WTF?

A "natural jumper" The Sadist calls him.

That was fun. Let's hook up next Thursday, and I'll show you up once again. XOXO
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Since Piper's on a break, there was no fetch today.

Just some rock climbing:
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I think I lost my ears in this pile of rocks ...
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And exploring for weird things. Weird things like this:
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What is it, fish roe? I am sure there are fish in the dikes (which are now, like, rivers) and I know there are lots of birds of prey flying around, as I see them every day, so I assume these were the remnants of a fish supper.

I also saw a dead headless duck, but decided not to photograph for you all :)

Call me old *grumble* Why don't you step in here with me, Food Lady?
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14 comments:

Rossie said...

Dear Piper,

Please stop scaring us like that! But, do keep up the excellent posing!

Rossie

Anne at Film and Thread said...

Our English Setter mix tore both rear ACLs. The first one we had operated on. The second one we let heal naturally (controlling her activity) because the surgery was not something that I would put her through again. She has done just as well with her non-surgical leg as her surgical one, so if it was an ACL, I would think long and hard before surgery. It has been two years since the last tear and she is doing great for an 11 year old.

Two French Bulldogs said...

Very cute pictures..
Benny & Lily

Sweetpea said...

GREAT post about country life...dogs are sooo darned adaptable, ain't it wonderful?!?!

Cool it, Piper, you'll be back at it in no time!

riosmom said...

So maybe you didn't need to get another agility dog - you had one and didn't know it! Will you do more agility with Woo or do you think he was just teasing you? Wonderful pictures of Dexter - he has the most expressive face!

Dog Nerd said...

Maybe they're frog eggs?
Poor Piper, I have one total drama queen dog and one who I have closed a car door on his tail and the only reason I realized something was wrong was when he didn't immediately jump into the front seet. He just sat there...no crying, no wincing, no trying to get free.

Arwen said...

Poor Piper. Hope she is better soon and not going too nuts on restricted activity.

Woo in agility made me laugh. My prediction is he'll do shockingly well a few times, and then just when you start to count on him, he'll show you up just to keep you on your toes ;-)

Blue said...

After see all of the "big air" photos of Woo, I'm not surprised he's a natural jumper!

I hope Piper I back to bouncing up and down for her ball soon.

Erika said...

Those are salmon eggs and yes, they do spawn in the dikes. A predator might have taken off with the fish before she spawned and that might be why the eggs are there. My dogs all try to roll in dead salmon at this time of the year!

Anonymous said...

I love Dexter's ears.

nickelsmum said...

Pretty sure Piper's going to die without being able to play fetch. And I LOVE the "OMG are we poor?" photo. That is a RIOT.

Laura L. said...

My farm dogs are too poor for treats. They have poopsicles (sheep) when they're in season.

Laura

Debra Kay said...

Dexter is adorable, I may be in love.

tsroxx said...

Researching the iliopsoas might shed some light on Ms. Piper's mystery. A friend of mine had a dog who would also not present at a vet's office, and the iliopsoas turned out to be the offender.
I also have a BC, after intense weave pole training came up with the same strain.