A Daily Dose of Mindfulness, part 2

Today, was Jack’s follow up appointment at the Vet. His face looks so much better than last time, but I still kept the appointment as a precaution, in case, the Vet still thought it was a good idea in doing a biopsy.

Jack is Jack. I’m grateful the waiting room was empty and we only had a short wait. I helped keep Jack’s mind off the exam room by having him work his “Find It” and asked him for an assortment of obedience cues. I think this also helped me keep my mind off the Vet. All of the fun went out the door when the Vet Tech greeted us. Jack immediately dug his heels in and I resorted to getting my high pitched voice out and skipping into the hallway. Jack regretfully followed.

After his initial wellness check, the Vet came out and the air seemed lighter. The Vet looked relieved when he saw how much improvement Jack’s face looked. He even admitted to me he was a bit concerned that it could have been some sort of tumor or even cancer. I was in agreement with the Vet on initially thinking this, but since Jack’s response to treatment made the tumor/cancer question move towards the bottom of the list.

The treatment plan for Jack is finishing his meds and see the Vet again in 2 weeks. The conclusion of his fungal test was well, inconclusive. The only thing the Vet saw was bacteria on the sore. The Vet still doesn’t know what happened or the reason for the issue. He does believe on some level Jack had a severe case of ringworm. There isn’t much in the way of science backing up this thinking, but I guess he ruled out anything else severe.

This question mark made me ask a few questions:

  1. Is this an allergic reaction to a sudden change in diet? Our family was without a fridge for the better part of a month, so we were very limited in the way of adhering to the BARF diet. The Vet’s response was allergic reactions are not localized. There would be generalized skin issues and fur falling out on other parts of the body.
  2. Is this an allergic reaction to something in the environment? I’ve grown increasingly concerned about my own allergy sensitivities since moving to OK. I believe I developed a mold allergy, but with me it manifests as a upper respiratory issue. The Vet believes the mold would be breathed in an not manifest on his face. What about mold that grows outside? I know Jack enjoys rubbing his face, maybe that’s a possibility. The Vet did say, dogs scratch not only because they have an itch, but because it releases endorphin!
  3. My last question related to the quickness of a lump of this size growing on him in less than a day. The Vet did say its not abnormal for tumors to grow that quickly in such a short amount of time. He rattled off a host of possible tumor and cancer possibilites like squamous cell carcinoma, mast cell tumor and the such.

Overall, I’m happy knowing Jack’s responding well to his treatment, the Vet isn’t as concerned and Jack didn’t have to go through a biopsy today. Even though these are all good things, the one question still remains without an answer and which the Vet was very open in saying, what is on his face? We may never know. I hope the issue is resolved and doesn’t return. I’m grateful I took Jack into the Vet initially. Only a Vet can find out the issue of a new lump and bump and I’m glad I didn’t ignore it!

Fingers crossed!

A Daily Dose of Mindfulness

Life seems to have a way of sneaking up on a person.  It goes along like the day before and then BAM, something crops up which disrupts our routine, but also causes us to push the pause button. The break in our daily tasks makes us face the reality of life that of which we, including our pets, have a finite time here.

I had a experience like this last week. Jack developed a lump, the size of a quarter, on his face overnight. I didn’t immediately freak out and catastrophasize the problem.  I immediately thought it was a bug bite or a spider bite or otherwise and allergic reaction to something.  I did a bit of googling which eased my mind a bit and I waited on taking him into the Vet’s office.  Well, a few days later, the lump stayed there and it was irritated because Jack kept on fiddling with it by rubbing his face, scratching it and doing whatever else.  I decided in taking him in for an evaluation.

I informed the Vet of what I thought it could be and wouldn’t you know, he thought the same thing, but there was still a question mark and a bit of a cause for concern for him.  He prescribed him some meds and asked us to come back in a week for the possibility of doing a biopsy. I was prepared for this potential, knowing cancer can appear suddenly even with taking precautions and taking care of ourselves and our pets. I wasn’t prepared for waiting.

The past few days, I’ve found myself wondering if the medications are working in reducing the size of the lump or if my own denial of how Jack isn’t going to live forever changes my perception of the size of the lump. Dogs don’t have the life span of a person, mine and Eddie’s life are forever changed because little Boogs is apart of it and the likely hood Jack will depart this earth before us is a real possibility.  I didn’t realize how much so until the finality of Jack being actively a part of it became a reality. Throughout the past 4 years, Jack made me dig a bit deeper and find patience, an open heart and creativity in coping with things outside our norm. I discovered just this when we were at the Vet’s office this past week. The office was packed and I know how Jack becomes a bit high strung when there are strange people and strange dogs. He did well, in the beginning. I first noticed there were many people waiting in the waiting room, so I checked him in and let the receptionist know we would sit outside. We waited for about 15 minutes and this was Jack’s tipping point. He started getting frustrated. He acted this out by barking at people and dogs. People looked at him and at me like “control your dog”. I’ve had those looks before and I’ve often felt a bit of shame or embarrassment because in that moment, I couldn’t control him, Jack was over threshold and I felt a bit out of control myself. That day was different, I just ignored them. I felt a bit freer and less consumed about how others perceive a certain situation. I know how far Boogs and I came in our relationship and I wasn’t so worried about this moment.

The icing on the cake happened after the visit and I was paying our bill. I had Jack’s leash and the receptionist was passing my credit card and receipt back to me when another dog and owner came out through the door. This jolted Jack back to alert mode and he started barking. I know Jack, he wanted the opportunity in greeting the other dog, so I wasn’t concerned. I proceeded in asking the receptionist if I can book an appointment. She looked at me with puzzlement and asked “you want to book one right now”.  Normally, I would be apologetic and immediately remove Jack from the situation and come back and wait for my turn again. Not this time. I said “yes, please”. I felt more relaxed having a JRT as a companion than I ever did before.

The likely hood this is just a blip on the screen of things happening and not having any major life changing implications is pretty high. I guess what it caused me was an opportunity in being present. It keeps me grateful. I’m more aware of my own gratitude for things in my life on a daily basis. The things I’m most grateful for today is, how soft Jack’s fur is, how much he makes me laugh and how much more I’m aware of myself because he’s been apart of my life.

What are you grateful for?!

A Treat Is A Bridge To A Pup’s Heart

The past few weeks have been CRAZY!  I’ve been working more hours at my other job, a before/after school program turned into a summer camp for a few more weeks.  The increased hours doesn’t lend me in having much time for dog training, but I certainly make time when I get a call.

I met with a woman, I’ll call her Terri, a week or so ago who was interested in training her tiny puppy to become a service dog.  I was excited about working with a puppy and at least helping the client start off by getting basic obedience down pat with her pup.  My enthusiasm was met with an old skool and in some ways, a hardened heart.  This meeting went south, pretty quickly.  Terri was quick on telling me her pup, I’ll name Bubba, absolutely knows the word ‘No”.  She also shared whenever the puppy gets close to an electrical outlet, she smacks the puppy on the nose.  The last thing she tells me before I intervene is that Bubba already drew blood.  The puppy was only 8 weeks old! I calmly informed her she’ll get more reliable results with positive reinforcement training and actually, the smack on the nose can get her the opposite of what she’s intending. She took my information and I left knowing I wouldn’t get a call back from her.  I’m beginning to understand the culture here in SW Oklahoma is decades behind in dog training and my frustration with this type of culture is how people who adopt this thinking perceive reward based training is so ‘candy’ and passive.

When I came home, I felt so deflated.  I felt like I didn’t do enough and the whole meeting was a waste of time and resources.  Then I found this article and it solidified the reasons behind positive reinforcement training and the why’s behind it working.  Do Dogs Prefer Petting or Praise is a great easy read on the psychology of how dogs learn and what their preferred method of doing so is and why.  We know dogs learn by association.  We know dogs or any animal for that matter will show a conditioned response after a stimulus if the response is reinforced.  For instance, if a dog sits and you give him praise and a treat, he’ll begin to associate that behavior will get him a treat and will start to give it to you more frequently.  Then you can begin generalizing the behavior by giving more real life rewards. On the other hand, if a dog doesn’t sit when you need him to and then you pull on this pinch collar, he’ll associate the pinch with not giving you the behavior and will likely only do things in order to avoid the punishment. Then you run the risk of not being able to generalize the behavior using aversive methods since he’ll not be wearing a pinch collar and leash 24/7, so how will a person give a ‘pop of a collar’ when the pup doesn’t sit when asked?  There is also the risk of changing the dog’s emotional response towards the negative and potentially making the dog unintentionally aggressive.

What about praise alone?  I’ve often had discussions with other trainers about the pros/cons of using praise in conjunction with treats and just praise alone.  Well, the findings detailed in the article show dogs don’t understand only the verbal.  “If saying “Good dog!” is always followed by a treat, it will come to have some meaning for the dog since it predicts a food reward. However, without this conditioning, it doesn’t have any significance. – See more at: Companion Animal Psychology 2015.  Dogs perceive unconditioned verbal praise as no interaction at all while the praise with the treats or the petting is what dogs are looking for in building a relationship with their companion.

Amazing! There is concrete evidence on the types of praise and in encouraging a dog to build a relationship with a person.  The more of this idea spreads, more of a culture shift can happen.  I know its a long road ahead, but knowing there are some truly wonderful people who are fully committed to their pups, I’m hopeful the tide will turn and more positive reinforcement approaches will be sought after here.