Bolt

I admit, I really enjoy animated movies in general, but Bolt has to be one of the best movies I've seen a while. They did an outstanding job capturing a lot of dog idiosyncrasies. If you're looking for a funny, lighthearted film, this is it. Believe me, it really is "fully awesome!"

Plus, the girl in the movie says to Bolt a few times "You're my good boy." I tell Iris "You're my good dog" ALL the time. Because she is. She tries, and in the end, isn't that what counts?

Anyway, I really think this is a must see film for any dog lover. Still not convinced? Check out the trailer.

Eye Update

If it's true that things happen in three's, then I think we've got eye problems covered. Both Carmen and Makin have been having eye problems and Iris is also joining the club.

I've been trying to work out Iris' allergy issues for a couple months now. I'm fairly certain that household cleaners are the biggest trigger for Iris and floor cleaners (carpet, kitchen floor, etc) are the worst. I've made some changes since moving into the apartment, and I think we're on the right track. The safest cleaner I've come up with is vinegar diluted with water (you can add baking soda to the mix for tough stains or strong odors). The water/vinegar mix is good for the kitchen and bathroom and a steam cleaner with just water in it works well for the carpets. I've been using non-toxic citrus based cleaners for surfaces that Iris doesn't come in contact with (counters, bathroom, etc). I have tried the citrus cleaner for the kitchen floor too, and I don't think she's had a problem with it. As a side note, just because a cleaner is marketed "for pet odors" doesn't mean it's safe for pets. About a year ago, we tried a "pet odor" cleaner on the carpets at the house and all three dogs started scratching themselves raw.

I've also been trying to encourage her to sleep anywhere other than on the carpet. She has a "new" dog bed in my bedroom. It's actually the old cushion off of a pappazon chair, but Iris thinks it's awesome. You can see in the previous post, she's pretty happy with the blankets on the couch too.

Iris finished up the course of eye drops over the weekend. While I did see a significant improvement, her eyes didn't clear up completely. I'd say they were about 90% improved in terms of how runny they were although I didn't see any change in the gray spots. I talked to the vet on Mon, and we decided to try her off the drops to see if she gets worse or stays the same. Some of the discharge I'm still seeing could just be the drops making her eyes water a little. So far, the only day her eyes seemed worse was when we visited my dad yesterday. Today, her eyes have been clear all day. Since she looks so good today, I'm going to let it go over the weekend.

The bad news is that the gray spots haven't cleared up at all. But they haven't gotten worse either. When I brought Iris to the vet, Dr K did a fluorescein stain, and the spots didn't look like corneal ulcers. I honestly didn't get a good look at the stain (now I wish I had) because I was more concerned with keeping Iris still and quiet. Dr K thinks the spots are probably scarring and are going to be slow to heal if they heal at all. Basically, we just wait and see if they get worse? Right now he says they look pretty translucent. As far as I can tell it hasn't affected her vision. She's never giving any indication that her eyes bother her (no rubbing or squinting). Henry's eyes have been runny since the day we got him and he's never had any scarring. I hate waiting.

In the meantime, I started giving Iris vitamin E (antioxidant to help her allergies) and increased the amount of fish oil she's getting as well.

Merry Christmas!

Hey Iris, do you want to pose next to the Christmas tree for me?

If I pretend I'm asleep, maybe she won't see me. Do you see how many blankets I have? Why would I want to get up?

I have cookies.

Why didn't you say so? I'm wide awake and ready to go!

From myself and the red dog, we wish everyone a joyful holiday season and a happy New Year. Iris says she hopes everyone else got cookies too.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All

Next year I'm teaching Iris how to decorate the tree.

(Hopefully the photo isn't too dark - I just started using a Mac monitor, and it's much brighter than a PC. If I get to work on Mon and think it looks horrendous, I'll update it).

We're Back!

We have internet! And power! Electricity, not world domination. Although I believe that is on Iris' to-do list. At the very least, I'm certain she's planning some sort of conquest in world supervision.

Iris has settled into the apartment better than I ever expected. I think it's been really good for her. It's a much less chaotic environment than the house. She's been pretty good about staying quiet, especially since she doesn't have a window to watch the road from anymore.

On the training front, we're on break from agility class until after the holidays. That doesn't mean we haven't been working. There's a fenced in tennis court on the other side of the apartment complex, and I've been taking Iris over there to work on heeling and recalls. I ordered a set of weave poles, so I want Iris to think of the tennis court as a really cool place before we start working on weaves. I've also been trying to do some free-shaping with her, mostly because Iris has a tendency to wait for me to show her what I want (or worse, shut down entirely) instead of trying to figure it out. I think she's starting to enjoy it a little more.

The only downside to the apartment is that the carpets were cleaned right before we moved in. When we were living at the house, I think the cleaners were irritating Iris' eyes and hoped moving into the apartment would help. Nope, she actually got worse after moving here. This past week, I noticed that she had small, cloudy spots on the corneas of both eyes. We saw the vet yesterday, and Dr. K thinks it's still probably allergy related. Iris' eyes are definitely red, irritated, and getting worse instead of better. Anyway, the spots don't appear to be corneal ulcers (good) and her eye pressure is normal, which rules out glaucoma. As far as I can tell, her vision hasn't really been affected, although she seems a little more reactive to people when I'm walking her outside. Not sure if that has anything to do with her vision since it could just be that as she's gotten more comfortable here, she's also gotten more protective of her home. Now she's getting eye drops for the next week, which will hopefully help. So far, her eyes are definitely less runny, but I haven't seen any change in the spots. If those don't improve by the end of the week, it might be time to see the ophthalmologist or check her thyroid (or both).

Iris did get quite a compliment when we were at the vet. The tech remarked that when I first got Iris, she never would have tolerated such a thorough examination. Yes, this is the same dog who somehow managed to do a back flip to get out of having her temp taken. We did take her temp on Sat (I had her in a bear-hug, but she tolerated it), and then she sat quietly while her eyes were poked and prodded by a man she's only met once before. It was a good reminder of how far my girl has come, especially since I know I've been seeing her reactions to people around the apartment complex as a bit of a set back. Two steps forward and one step backwards is still forward progress!

As a side note, I'm starting to really think about switching Iris to a raw diet, so if anyone has any books, websites, etc that they recommend, I'm interested.

Renting with a Shepherd

For the time being, my little Shepherd will be masquerading as a Sheltie mix. Thanks to breed bans, especially from Insurance Companies, most apartments won't allow certain breeds if they allow dogs at all (One place offered to give me their info in case I would be willing to part with my dog. Um, no thanks). The lists I've seen are pretty predictable - Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Dobermans, and German Shepherds, and Mastiffs top the list followed by Dalmatians, Akitas, Huskies.

Australian Shepherds are not on any of the lists, but unless the leasing office knows something about dogs, the only word they'd hear is Shepherd. One place I looked at just had "Shepherd" on their list next to a clip art image of a German Shepherd. Trying to explain that Iris is probably more of a shepherd-sheep-herder than most pet GSDs, but she's really a completely different breed that's not even really Australian and decidedly not German is just a battle that I don't really want to fight.

Iris is spending this week with my dad while I'm getting the apartment set up. I have to put in some overtime at work this week, and it's just not fair to Iris if I leave her alone for 12 hrs at a time. She did spend some time in the apartment over the weekend, but I think all of the packing and moving is really stressing her out. I wonder if any of her previous owners gave her up because of moving? I'm going home for agility class with her tomorrow and her chiro appointment on Wed, so I'm not completely abanndoning her. On Fri, I'll bring her back to the apartment to stay.

So far I haven't seen too many dogs around the apartment. I have seen a Husky being walked, so maybe I'm living in a more lenient location concerning breed bans? Although I've only seen him out after dark, so maybe he's not really a Husky. Maybe he's a Sheltie mix too.

Chiro Update

Last Wednesday, I took Iris in for her second adjustment with Dr Anne. The good news is that Iris' adjustments from last time held. Hooray! She hasn't had any limping episodes either. I think Anne was just as happy as I am to hear that. Iris has two more appointments scheduled and then hopefully everything will be in alignment.

While we were there, I asked Dr Anne about Iris' runny eyes. I've been suspecting a food allergy but changing Iris' diet hasn't helped (I've tried switching chicken, lamb, no grains). Well, Anne said Iris isn't allergic to anything she's eating. She thinks the problem is a household cleaner. Of course, I have no idea what we use for cleaners so we couldn't narrow it down. However, I'm in the process of moving into an apartment this week. Once we're in the apartment, I'll be using only all natural, no chemical cleaners. Hopefully that will fix the problem! The only thing I'm not sure about is that it looks like the rugs were just cleaned. If Iris keeps having problems, I'll have to clean the apartment rugs again myself.

I brought Iris to visit my mom this morning, and sure enough her eyes dried up after being out of the house for a couple of hours. As soon as we got back home, she was all teary again. My poor girl.

Happy Dog Agility

Happy Aussie came out to play on Tuesday! Last week Iris was pretty freaked out by new people and dogs, so it was good to see her bouncing and more relaxed. Katrin posted Tuesday's course diagram on Monty's blog. I really liked this course and I think I learned a lot from it.

I started the course with Iris on my left and crossed while she was in the tunnel. I'm pretty sure she saved my butt by guessing that the tunnel was right because she was out-running me and I wasn't sure where to throw a cross in at that point. It shouldn't be surprise me that my dog is a lot faster than I am when she wants to be. Later in the night, we tried the start again, and I did a rear cross/switch between jumps 3 and 4.

Iris came out of the tunnel, over the next jump and instead of curving back toward me for the next jump, she said "Hooray teeter!" Iris really likes contact obstacles, and I was completely facing the teeter. But she did wait on the teeter perfectly without me standing right there to grab at her or remind her a half dozen times to wait. Ok, so we tried it again. And again Iris demonstrated that she can wait nicely on the teeter. I still didn't turn my shoulders enough. This was definitely a handling challenge for me. Iris didn't seem to mind because she got to keep showing off on the teeter. She knew I wanted her to do something different but couldn't figure out what. She tried jumping over the tunnel and putting her paws up on the tunnel. When I did remember to turn my shoulders, I turned too much and Iris came in too tight and missed the jump. Ooops! I'm sill amazed by just how much my body language "steers" Iris. As soon as she did jumps 6 and 7 correctly (ok, it wasn't pretty because by that point Iris just wanted to be goofy, but she did go over both jumps), I had her do 8 and 9 which she did perfectly.

I think this is the first class Iris has been in that's followed by a different class. At the end of class, there were cars pulling up and people coming through doorways and she really wanted to bark at everyone. Katrin had me keep her out of her crate for a few minutes while Niel and Tessa did a few more jumps. Iris really settled down quick and then was happy to do a few more jumps. I was proud of her.