Where’s Dr. House when you need him?

Still (knock on wood) so far so good with Bryce… (though he’s NOT happy with me!)

If anyone’s up for playing veterinary detective prior to our $$$ neurologist visit $$$, here are all the facts about the episodes that I could come up. (I had tried to videotape the 2nd episode, but learned that it’s really hard to hold a dog, videotape and panic all at the same time – I got 2 out of 3 of those things right.)

When it happened:

– Both days @ 2PM.
– Had been out and about in the house for about 10-15 minutes – having cookies, running around, jumping on/off sofa, light playing with Jayda, fetching toys …
– No sign of anything unusual until the episode began – he was bright, alert, not shaky, unusually hungry, anxious or anything – just normal Brycey.
– Both episodes were shortly after he did some very excited spinning in one spot.

What it looked like:

– Looked “funny” – “glazed over”
– Stepped wide in his rear
– Seemed unsteady, collapsed (rear) – Front did not collapse. Might have been holding right (both?) front legs a little stiff, but didn’t seem extraordinarily rigid (like “seizure” type rigid).
– No “paddling”, no loss of bowel/bladder control
– Didn’t appear to lose consciousness
– Started to be able to stand and again in a little while – uncoordinated, slow at first, gradually went back to normal
– Episode lasted around 3 minutes.
– No panting or difficulty breathing, didn’t cry out, seem painful or act particularly distressed.

Other things that may or may not be significant:

– Ran in an agility trial just a week earlier. Energetic and bouncing up and down like a crazy man after his runs (he was very pleased with himself!) Speed consistent with other recent events. Absolutely nothing unusual.
– Lots of leaves down in my yard – they sometimes stick in his fur (ate something toxic?)
– Had a dental scaling a week before. There was a little gingivitis, but no infections, no bad teeth and virtually no bleeding. However, because of his myeloma and just as a precaution he was …
– Finishing up the last couple of days of a round of amoxicillin. He had never been put on amoxi before for anything that I can recall. (Byce has been known to have weird problems with normally innocuous drugs – for example, Flagyl).
– Wiped out while running in house over the weekend (slippery spot in hall – his foot went under instead of on top of the rubber backed rugs I have there). I didn’t think he hit his head and he didn’t SEEM any the worse for wear afterwards but he landed pretty hard.
– His main meals are around 5-6AM and 5-6 PM, but he gets cookies occasionally throughout the day. Gets a small snack (cube of cheese and a couple of kibble) at bedtime.
– He spins a lot (duh – he’s a sheltie!), including his “dinner dance” when I feed him. This spinning MAY have been a little more intense/ focused in one spot.

We Have 48 Hours – Do I hear 72?

We’ve passed 48 episode-free hours!

His oncologist is as puzzled as his regular vet and I are. We have an appointment to see a neurologist on Monday.

I’ve been keeping Bryce quiet – or trying to. He’s not very happy about spending this much time in his crate and he’s making his feelings known. Maybe I’m being overprotective, but I’m trying not to let him do anything that might trigger another incident. At least not until after I hear what the neurologist has to say.

Nightmare …

Yesterday Bryce was out for his usual lunchtime play/cookies – playing with Jayda, playing fetch, snarfing cookies. Then all of a sudden he had some kind of “episode” – partially collapsed, had a hard time getting his back legs under himself. Two or 3 minutes later he was acting perfectly normal.

The vet I like the least was in at my regular vet practice so I took him to the emergency vet clinic – which turned out to be equally useless. He was fine last night and this morning…

Hoped it was an isolated incident but no such luck – happened again today, oddly enough, the same time of day. This time I saw it start-to-finish. I had just put Jayda in her crate, was going to take him out before putting him up for a nap. He spun a bit (as usual) while I was crating Jayda. Went to the door, put on his leash and he just looked … odd. Then he got wobbly and collapsed as the day before. Didn’t completely lose consciousness, was acting normal again in 2-3 minutes.

Ran him straight over to my vet right afterwards for a full exam, neuro exam, full bloodwork, and a urine. Once again the exams yielded no information. So what is going on? A seizure? Bleed/Clot? Something else? And if it’s a seizure, why and why now? This is so weird because it really came on out of the blue – he ran in that trial a week ago with no indication of any problems. Should have the test results back tomorrow and we’ll take it from there …

Needless to say, I’m really freaked out right now and beyond worried about him :(

Last weekend in pictures …

(Most of these have at least 2 photos in the series – just keep clicking “next” above the big picture until you stop seeing shelties :). )

brycejumpersSome pretty photos of Bryce Sunday in jumpers …
Bryce in Elite Jumpers

brycetunnelersand in tunnelers …
Bryce in Elite Tunnelers

He’s not as wild and crazy as he used to be, but he’s still having fun and looking pretty good!

jaydasatjumpersHere’s Jayda – in jumpers Saturday …
Jayda – Saturday Jumpers

and Sunday. Jayda – Jumpers


Doesn’t she have the LONGEST legs???!!!

jaytunnelI like this photo of her coming out of a tunnel – for once, she has a very soft, pretty expression on her face!
Jayda – Touch N Go


jaydaweavesThis group starts with an interesting sequence – can you tell me why Jayda popped that last pole? (Hint – look at her ears in the 3rd picture!)

Jayda Weaves and A Frame

Note to self: Always ask the paparazzi NOT to photograph Jayda in the weaves!

ravensaturdayThe pictures of Raven really tell the story of her weekend! Here’s Raven in Saturday’s jumpers. Can you tell she’s about to head me off and jump on me as soon as she lands?

A very excited Raven – jumping


(Notice that I’ve been working on learning the patented and uber-scientific “pointy finger” method of handling – however, I haven’t quite gotten the knack of the “double-pointy-finger” technique yet, which is what you need if you want to become one of those REALLY competitive “world team” types :) :) !)

raventunnelHere she is in Regular – eyeballing the judge on the other side of the dogwalk and bouncing out of the tunnel …

Raven – Novice Regular


(BTW, I did NOT gain 30 lbs – I had 3 layers of clothing on under a rain jacket that wasn’t meant for layering!)

ravenjumperssundayAnd here she is on her GOOD jumpers run. Handler-focus, obstacle-focus, handler-focus, obstacle-focus … back and forth, back and forth the entire run, but she held it together!

Raven – Sunday Jumpers

Halloween Weekend Trial

It was a we-e-e-i-i-rd weekend for a NADAC trial and not just because it was Halloween! After this weekend I’m so glad to be done with outdoor trials ’til Spring! Saturday was one of those hot-cold-rainy-sunny, never-know-what-to-wear days – you know, the kind where you put on several layers, then you’re too warm so you take some of them off, then 5 minutes later you’re freezing again! Gets sunny for a while, then starts to rain. It was really windy too, which was freaking out poor Jayda a bit.

Nonetheless, I was very pleased with Jayda’s speed this weekend. She popped at the 10th pole in Regular, which meant I had to go back and do them all again – and still managed to get a 5 pt Q. Sunday in Touch N Go we had a miscommunication bobble at a hoop but she made time by several seconds. That wouldn’t have happened a year ago! She also Q’d twice in Jumpers and once in Chances to finish her Superior Novice Chances (S-NCC, 100 pts) title! One more jumpers Q and she’ll have her Novice Triple Superior!

Bryce wasn’t entered in much this weekend – he had a nice run in Elite Jumpers Saturday but an unfortunate spin put him over time. He made time and qualified in jumpers on Sunday and had a very near miss (0.4 seconds over) in Elite Tunnelers.

There was a costume contest on Saturday. I personally thought Raven’s little bee costume was just THE cutest thing, but she didn’t win – oh well, there’s no accounting for taste (or lack of it) …

raven-halloween-2009

Raven’s weekend was quite interesting – I think I saw her literelly GROW UP over the course of the weekend’s runs!

Saturday started with her at her jumping-up worst. Let’s say she DESERVED to have to wear a little foo-foo costume! The first run I think she jumped up on me EVERY OTHER obstacle – argh!!!

Sunday in Regular she was a LITTLE better. She also did well her first time on rubber contact equipment (though she was a little weirded out by the judge standing behind the d/w staring at her.). I ran her in chances with no attempt to do the distance part, just using it as an opportunity to practice on a short course. I was pleasantly surprised when she made it through 9 obstacles before jumping on me!

Then we came to her last jumpers run – beautiful course for a dog like Jayda (who ran it first and qualified), wide open, lots of lo-o-ong, straight lines. More like your worst nightmare if you have a dog who keeps running in front of your feet! As I stepped to the line, I had horrid visions of this pushing Raven to her “herd the handler” worst.

Silly me. Raven went out there and absolutely CRUSHED that course! Didn’t jump up on me ONCE. I heard her start growling a little near the end but she kept her feet on the ground. There was some side-to-side motion in her path because she kept turning her head in to look at me then turning back out to jump, but despite that she finished the course in 20 seconds at 4.68 YPS, beating Jayda’s run by a second or two! Woohoo, Raven – THAT’s what I’m talkin’ about :) :) :)!!!

Will the obnoxious jumping make a return appearance? Probably, but getting rid of it COMPLETELY for one run was very encouraging. It was the best “real” run I’ve ever had with her and I couldn’t have asked for a better end to her weekend!

First Roadtrip with the New Dogmobile

The weather was beautiful yesterday so I took the new car on it’s first road-trip (to a NADAC trial). It’s officially a dogmobile now!

dogmobile

Three crates in a Forester. Notice how nice and neat it is – the water bowls all fit nicely in the little side area. Bungees and clamps are on the other side And check this out – room to put stuff behind the front seat – what a concept!

dogmobile-back

Fall foliage was out in full force – I took this while sitting in local traffic on the way home…

newpaltz1009

This was a last-minute “day of trial” entry. The trial secretary at this trial usually accepts same-day entries (at $1 more per run) if the trial doesn’t fill – I love having this option and I wish more of them did this! Feeling kind of short on cash, I limited my entries to just a couple of runs per dog.

Bryce ran REALLY well yesterday! He didn’t *quite* get his elite Chances attempt, but it was the closest he’s been in a long time! I ended up handling him from what later became the Open line and he was fine from there. Seeing that he’d completely lost his distance work a while ago, that was encouraging. Also encouraging in light of the last CPE Jackpot Q we need. I ran him on a nice, fast, elite Jumpers course later in the day and he looked great – his speed was better than I’ve ever seen him at 8″ (skilled vet) and he seemed very happy out there and pleased with himself afterwards. Didn’t hurt that his entire fan club greeted him at the gate after he ran – that boy still loves to schmooze :).

Jayda Q’d in Chances and Jumpers with two really nice runs, but popped the 10th pole in Standard. Her weaves have been a little “off” lately – I know what we’re working on this week.

Raven was doing the Annoying Jumping Up Thing again – more about that in another post, but I’ve gathered more information and think I may have settled on an effective way to deal with it when it happens!