Good News

The results from the lab today are pretty clear that Bethena's NOT Addisonian. While it's frustrating to know that it's fairly likely that she's got some sort of food intolerance (those can be very hard to pin down), it's good to know that I don't need to worry about things like obedience trials and heat stressing her out any more than they might any other dog. (The really interesting part of this is that we stim-tested another dog the same day. This other dog had fewer changes than Bethena (who had relatively mild changes) but came back as Addisonian. She did much better yesterday after getting some steroids and will start regular treatment next week.)

Bethena must have known that I was less stressed this afternoon; she was less stressed, too. We played lots of frisbee (in bursts -- while it was less hot, it was still wicked hot for this part of New Hampshire) and she really enjoyed herself. Iggy helped by pointing out to her that what he perceives as the boredom of continuously retrieving the same object can be alleviated by playing tug-of-war with said object. As far as self-actualization goes, you can't get much better than a Labrador playing so hard that collapse on a shady spot of lawn is more important than eating delicacies such as fermented-lawn-mower-grass-leavings and mushrooms.

Now they are both sacked out napping, Iggy on the couch and Bethena on the floor at my feet. They attended to my wounds when I came in from berry picking with layers of mosquito bites. While I suppose that some of their ministrations were due to sweat and salt, I'd like to think that some were due to them knowing how inflamed my skin was and how much I needed a good Labrador lick.

I'll see how the day goes tomorrow, but if they seem happy I might try some very informal fun rally-type stuff in the front yard. When Bethena's in that groove (as she was in Boston in June) and when Iggy's in a spot where he's not distracted, they have lots of fun with that -- and that's the whole point, having fun.

Mini-Break, Kind Of

It's finally summer-like here, it has been hot and humid and nasty lately. We've done a little bit of work in the front yard and at class, but I haven't wanted to stress the dogs much. Neither one of them does well in the sun when it's that hot, their black coats absorb so much heat.

I did try to work a little bit with Iggy on the Haverhill common this morning. We tried heeling. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Most of what we did was Iggy paying attention to me only when he had a hope of a food reward soon (i.e. if he could see me holding a treat). He did, however, pay lots of attention to all the little whitish mushrooms that had popped up all over the place. He kept lunging after them while I tried to get his attention away from them. Obviously, not only was he supposed to be paying attention to me but I didn't want him eating the mushrooms, which he clearly thought were a wonderful delicacy. North Conway in September might be an unrealistic goal for the two of us.

Bethena's still had some focus issues, so taking a break will hopefully be good for her. She's had on and off diarrhea (which started about the same time as the stress of the Hopkinton shows) and her potassium is a little high and her sodium:potassium ratio is a little low, so she is having an ACTH stim test today to make sure she doesn't have Addison's disease. While it's pretty unlikely that she actually has that, we need to rule it out. So, Iggy and I are at home and Shana will call when she is done with the test (only takes an hour, but Bethena HATES restraint). Bethena is scared of needles so it takes people she trusts and who are strong to hold her; she might even need sedation. When I got the blood on Tuesday to do the basic bloodwork, she was OK for the first stick but when I went to try to do an ACTH stim myself (Shana was on vacation), she bucked like a bronco and was scared and nervous and (surprise) I was pretty stressed, which didn't help. She's better for Shana but I think she'll still be stressed enough that she might need a little sedation.

So, I'm thinking about making jam and Iggy is taking a nap and we are waiting for Bethena to be done. When it cools down a bit, we'll go back to doing a little more practicing.