We went for our morning walk on Friday, and I discovered an ugly truth. During our break from walking...the day/night time length shifted. So walking at 5:30 is no longer at dawn. There are street lights at the park if I stay on the path, but not for the walk around the ball field. There were two sections with so little light I had a hard time going through safely. So we can't take that path again. We'll be walking this morning after dawn, and I'll check out where the lights run so I can plan a new path.
Reilly is walking better on his leash again, although he's easily distracted by people and other animals...of course! He's an inquisitive puppy! The puppy obedience class we start next month will work on that.
His legs are continuing to behave. Sometimes I think that they are overcompensating, with the radius growing faster than the ulna, but the next time I look, not so much. I'm keeping my paranoia on a leash, and we'll re-evaluate next vet visit. As I slowly drop the dose of the prednisone, it's doing weird things to me. I'll be really glad when I'm completely off this stuff. It'll be months yet, as you must come off it slowly. In the meantime, I try to recognize the emotional hoohaw for its source, and let it go. Sometimes I can.
I mentioned the other day that Reilly's new vest came in. Thought you'd like to see it. (Yes, I know...more pictures!)
There are two patches on each side. The top one says "Working dog; Do Not Pet". The second says, "Service Puppy in Training." There are flat zipper pouches on either side. He'll outgrow that vest before he'll ever really use those packs. He shouldn't pack weight until he's mature...and we're talking 18 months at least. However, he'll be packing things before then. Not weight, but bulk. A hand towel or crumbled paper, just so he gets used to the bulk on his back. Possibly empty water bottles hung on the pack, although he'd need two to balance it, even empty. And he needs to be taller for that. Same principle as wearing the vest at all; getting used to having something there. But no weight. Once he's mature, he'll be able to carry up to 20% of his body weight in a properly distributed pack. If he's also balancing me, that drops to 10%. He should mature somewhere around 200 pounds. So he could theoretically balance me and carry 20 pounds. I can't imagine putting that much weight on him. Even if he carried my books from my office to class each day, they wouldn't be nearly that much. We aren't close enough to a store to walk down and shop and have him carry stuff home. And I'm not up for hiking. So eventually he'll carry my classroom material 100 feet down the hall, and outside he'll carry his water, his face and feet towels, collapsible water bowl, poop bags, and maybe my keys and wallet. The pair of water bottles will be his biggest weight. I do want him to learn to pull a cart, though. It'll be good training for later, when I'm in a wheelchair. Service dogs often pull wheelchairs, and mastiffs were bred, in part, as draft animals. I've seen Golden Retrievers pulling chairs, which is asking a bit much of a small dog, I think. I doubt I'll have much call for doing it myself, but at least this is flat country. I'd really like him to be able to in case of emergency; I'm going to need an electric chair, so it shouldn't be needed as a routine thing. Only when the chair breaks down. I expect it to break. I got my new, high-speed, expensive KAFO (knee-ankle-foot orthotic leg brace) on Wednesday, and it wasn't working properly by Friday. Now it must be sent in for repairs. And I must be careful not to fall in the meantime. The more moving parts something has, the more likely it is to break....
Chris and I went to look at sofas briefly yesterday. We need more furniture for the doggies. (Yes, we know. We are not normal.) Chris and the Big Boys like to curl up on the loveseat. This gives me no place to curl up with Reilly. He and I must make it a point to snuggle at a different time than the others, and it doesn't always fit in our schedule! He will fit in my lap in my chair, but I have a seat assist lift on that chair, and when I lean forward to help him up, I get ejected. If I sit in Chris' chair, I can't get up by myself. So, a new sofa. A new, firm sofa. I'll need to move my lift onto it, and it'll be better firm. Not to mention easier for the doggies. I'll take pictures of the furniture we already have and we'll go look again today. Now I just need to make room for it. Two rocking chairs must leave. My antique Empire rocker will go to the guest room, but the other one just has to leave the house. I can't sit in them anymore anyway, but I do so love a rocking chair. Oh, well. Once we have both loveseat and sofa, all dogs and people can lounge in comfort, and Reilly and I can have more snuggle time.
headspace for going under. So, if anyone has a good source for a dog mat like what I need, I'm all ears!
We've been putting Reilly's treasure hunting to good use. He's getting practice bringing me things all the time. He's brought me shoes, a door stop, toys, a pencil, sticks, and sundry other things. Friday night, I got out a tennis ball and tossed it down the hall. He had ignored them pretty much when he had them unsupervised when he was little. As he got older, they were taken away. Suddenly, he's finding them fun to chase, and bring back to me. So we got our exercise fetching a tennis ball tossed down the hallway. Did a little of that last night, too. Then I take the ball and put it away. He's too big now, and can hide the whole ball in his mouth. If I leave him with it, he could try to swallow it or something else foolish. So, no tennis balls unless directly supervised. The Boys have several soccer balls to play with outside, though. We go through soccer balls. They like to carry them around, play keep-away, and just play soccer with them. But carrying them eventually deflates them, and we go buy a couple more. They will entertain themselves and each other for hours with soccer balls. We should buy stock in a company that makes soccer balls.
9:15 pm:
Today Reilly stood at the door for the first time, as if he was asking to go out. The next time I invited him out by ringing the bell, he came and helped me ring it. And he just did that again, when Murphy rang to go out. He and I got there about the same time, and he reached for the bell the same time I did. I think it may have clicked for him today...we'll see if it maintains through tomorrow, since it's a long work day for me. Chris will beat me home, but he doesn't always remember the bells. He re-hung them by all doors today though, so perhaps he'll remember them better now!
Reilly has also been really into the pool today. Just about every time he's gone out, he's run to get in the pool. Good practice on getting toweled off, and good practice on going to his room when told, since that's where the towels are. We don't have carpet, so if he comes in the carport door, he can walk to the mudroom over hard floors, easily cleaned up. As long as he goes straight there, it's not a problem. Running through the house on the way would be more problematic, but he likes his room. He gets treats there. So he goes when he's told to and hopes for a treat.
So far, the anti-poop-eating pills seem to be working...or he's had little opportunity to eat his poop...or a combination of the preceding. Despite the fact that they're brewer's yeast and cayenne pepper, he loves them. He considers them his morning treat now, and he gets them as soon as we go out in the morning. He'll be disappointed when we stop them! But, no poop eating happening. For two whole days now! Let's hope the trend continues.
Meg and Reilly
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