I talked him into coming inside, and put him to bed. About fifteen minutes later, the bells on the door in the mudroom where he's currently sleeping started ringing like crazy! I immediately went and let him outside and told him how wonderful he was for ringing the bells (although he was just playing in there...but hopefully he'll figure out cause-and-effect here.) Once outside, he went right back to cricket hunting. I couldn't get him to go potty. Ah, well. He went on the paper several times overnight but still, that's what it's for. Accidents inside during the day are very rare now.
We got up this morning and walked, a short walk just on the path up and down in front of the car. Not even around the ball field...and he started the limping again. He wasn't doing it when we got home. I'll be calling the vet this morning to see what they think about this. I'm hoping it's just growing pains, but if there's something wrong, it could be an instant wash-out on training him for mobility. He has to be sound for it. The odds when training a dog for service are never good; there are so many things that can go wrong. Large things, like the dog not being sound. Things that look like little things, like his vocalizations, which may or may not end up being an issue. Someone letting a door close on a puppy could give him a door-phobia (like Jake has) making it impossible for him to go through a door with a person. Chasing squirrels or cats. Being too protective of his person. Being too food oriented. Fear of loud noises, or cars, or.... or.... or...... So many things. The best you can do is do your homework and give it your best shot. We'll see how it goes. (I'm hoping it's just my natural paranoia speaking here, and he's just got growing pains.)
1:00 pm:
It took me half the day to get through to my vet's office, so I couldn't squeeze in an appointment today. I have a brace fitting on Monday, which can't be changed, so I can't take him then, so our appointment is Tuesday at 3:00. In the meantime, of course I'm looking stuff up. Lots of sites out there with information on limping in giant breed pups, as there are a lot of things that can cause it. Here's a fairly good one: http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/mastiff/mastiffarticle2.htm
Some are less problematic than others. Just about all of them will stop his training....dead in the water. So, while we're waiting to get this evaluated, no more park walks, not even short ones like we've been doing. While some of these conditions can benefit by exercise, most will not, and exercise is more likely to harm than lack of it.
I'm going to try to maintain a hopeful attitude. This is hard. If Reilly has some disease or disorder that keeps him from working, then we're done. It was a huge decision to try this with two adult dogs at home already. The dynamics are different when there are already dogs in the picture. There is no way I could get a fourth, particularly with the third a puppy still. And by the time Reilly is an adult, I will not physically be able to attempt this anyway. So, while I'm trying to remain hopeful, I'm always a pragmatic person who needs to plan ahead for every contingency, which means I still end up dwelling on every possible outcome. Which makes me a worrier.
Best case scenario is it's something transient. Real transient, like a splinter I've missed that just catches wrong sometimes. And of course worse case is something permanent, that causes him pain. There's lots of graduations in between that wouldn't be a big deal for a pet. But they might be here.
So...I will go somewhere else and worry quietly. And not comment on it again until his appointment.
11:15 pm:
Today, Reilly has been a little rascal. He's pooped and peed in the house, even on his bed! (It's because this morning I said he was going in the house only rarely. I jinxed us.) He's snuck off and gotten into things in our room, which he hasn't been going into at all. He's gotten shoes. He's done all the bad puppy things he can think of. And he's been so cute doing them it's hilarious. I caught him in my room with something...and he immediately dropped it and ran to his room. By the time I got there, he was lying on the floor looking angelic.
And, I bought toddler socks to try out on him today. I need bigger socks. But the idea will work as he's growing, as long as I get the type that have a good cuff at the ankle. And no heel to speak of.
See:
And, because I wanted to show you how smartly sneaky he can be, here's Reilly using a shoe as a pillow. Yes, I had piled my book bags in the corner and tossed my shoes over there, too. Bad of me, I know. But there they are.
If he'd stayed like this...no problem. But after a while, he figured that Mom wouldn't notice if he started playing with the shoe instead of sleeping on it.
But I did. This is his "NOT FAIR" pout:
But he left them alone, right where I put them on the bags.
And one more today, because I wanted you to see how big his feet are. You can compare to Murphy, who is, as I said before, between 90-95 pounds:
Today I did manage to can a couple gallons of grape juice from our grapes. Perhaps Reilly was feeling neglected today, and decided to do foolish puppy things because of it. Ah well, it's always two steps forward and one step back when you're potty training a puppy. No worries. He'll catch on soon enough.
Someone did ask me today why I don't just crate train him. The answer to that is...I'd rather house train him than crate train him. If he's not smart enough to learn to behave in his own home, then how could he be smart enough to help take care of me in unfamiliar places? And that goes for all the dogs we've ever had. I'm not a fan of crates, although they can be a huge help when used right. Most people don't use them right, though. Dogs end up being locked in crates most of their lives. It's an easy trap to fall into, and I can see why. But it's one I'd rather stay away from. We want our dogs to be family, not cage pets. I do agree that all dogs should be familiar with crates in case they need to travel or be confined at the vet. But crate training isn't for us. I'll just clean up a bit longer, until he's old enough to sort it all out.
Meg and Reilly
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