ORT, Here we come!

I can't believe it has been so long since I have written!  Venom has been doing well.  He recovered from his obstruction surgery and we have been working on different things.

First, we have been plugging right along on his K9 Nose Work training.  I have worked him in lots of different locations and he is doing lots of unpaired hides.  He is very good at it and seems to really enjoy himself.  He is signed up to take his ORT (Odor Recognition Test) next weekend.  I am confident of his ability to find the odor, but a bit concerned about how he will feel in a room full of strange people.  Still, we are doing this for fun, so as long as he seems to have a good time, I will be happy with it!  Here he is practicing for his ORT!

In addition to his nose work training, Rick has been working with him on his field trial work.  Field trial season starts in about two months and we are excited about it.  We have been working with Venom on his reactivity with people and he is doing so much better and we can't wait to see how that translates to the field trial environment.

Not about Venom, but still thought I would share that last month I finished his littermate Slick's bench championship.  He whizzed through it and finished with back to back 5 point majors.  He is a sweet boy and was a blast to show.

Pod Training

With Venom out of commission for nearly a month recovering from his obstruction surgery, I felt like I haven't been doing too much with him.  Of course, I stack him on the kitchen table or counter all the time, but I hadn't done any really fun training with him for a while.

I had ordered a set of Fitness Pods made by FitPaws.  The pods are four, rubbery, half spheres, each a different color that can be used to teach balance.  They can also be used to help train dogs to stack for the show ring.  My pods arrived and I decided to start working on them with Venom.  I videotaped his first training session with the pods.

My training plan was that I would choose a pod color for each foot.  I would start with one pod and put the pod down on the ground and begin to reinforce any interest in the pod, building up to touching with his foot and then lifting his foot.  I started with the left front pod and quickly realized that he was offering his right front pod more readily, so I switched to the right front pod.  I made other changes within the very first session like changing where I was positioned and how I was delivering the reinforcer.  I do not reinforce any foot touches with his left front foot, only the right front, for now.

This first video shows that first session.  This video was taken just minutes after I introduced the pod.

After this session, I realized that the pod was sliding around too much so I added a bath mat to keep the pods more stationary.  There were a few sessions after the one above and what was happening was that he was stepping onto the pod with the correct foot but had no place to put his other foot, so I made the decision 

to add a second pod, for the left front foot.  He did quite well!

As you can see, Venom's tail is going the whole time.  There were a few moments of frustration where he lied down and barked, but I could see he was still enjoying the problem solving so I went ahead and let him figure it out for himself.  I was happy with how the session went.

Big Scare

This past week has been a very scary and difficult one.  Last Saturday afternoon we went away overnight.  As usual, our good friend Michelle came over to stay with the dogs.  Venom was fine on Saturday and ate dinner as usual. 

When we got home on Sunday we saw that Venom had refused his breakfast.  Later that day, Rick discovered some vomit in his crate which had a plastic squeaker from a dog toy mixed into it.  In hindsight, we realized that he had been more quiet than usual when we got home.  We decided he probably had an upset tummy and decided just to watch him.

He refused dinner that evening and again on Monday morning.  He also seemed lethargic.  I began to worry as I had hoped that the toy upset his gut and he would feel better the next day.  I called the vet and made an appointment for that afternoon in case he still wouldn't eat around lunchtime.  About an hour later he was sitting on the couch and stood up and vomited a huge amount of liquid.  I called the vet back and said I was very worried and he needed to come in.  They were fully booked so we decided I would drop him off and they would work with him in between appointments. 

When he got there he was dehydrated and they got him started on IV fluids.  They took x-rays and did blood work.  Everything appeared normal other than the dehydration.  He still wasn't interested in food.  We took him home that night with the IV catheter still in with the plan that we would bring him back in the morning.

The next morning he greeted me and seemed a little bit better, but he still didn't want to eat.  I took him back to the vet and again they gave him fluids and took more x-rays and did more blood work.  Everything still appeared to be normal.  They could not see an obstruction on the films and his blood work looked okay, but still he wasn't interested in food and was acting lethargic.  At that point we were thinking maybe it was a bug.  He had diarrhea when I put him in the car at the vets.  I took him home that night with instructions from the vet not too offer food and to bring him back in the morning.

The next morning he did not greet me and seemed very lethargic.  He also had liquid diarrhea two times.  I brought him back in to the vet.  I phoned the vet to find out what he thought and he told me he had a radiologist there looking at the films and that the radiologist things there may be an obstruction.  He asked if they could do an ultrasound and of course, I said yes.  The ultrasound confirmed a foreign body and I was told he needed surgery. 

My regular vet had a full schedule and they could do the surgery but not until later in the day.  He thought Venom should go to a surgeon for the surgery.  My vet hospital attempted to get an emergency surgeon to come to their hospital for the surgery, but they weren't available for that so we had to take him to the emergency hospital and specialty hospital in Dublin, about 1/2 hour away.  It is interesting that this is the same hospital where Venom was born via c-section just 10 months before.  I went and took Venom from our vet to the other hospital for the surgery.  The surgeons there were VERY confident that this was an obstruction and that they could get it out.  They felt he would be fine after the surgery and with proper recovery support but did warn us of the risks.  Arrangements were made for Venom to have surgery there within the next 30 minutes of so.  Then I went home and waited...

A couple of hours later I received a call from the surgeon that the surgery went great.  They did not have to remove any of his intestines or bowels.  They removed a piece of sponge/foam type fabric that had some string or threads on it.  Clearly, it was piece of a toy.  I was told I could pick him up as early as the next day if he was eating and doing okay.  I was told I could call to check on him before bed.  I called before going to bed and was told he was doing well and resting. 

The next morning at 9am I called to see how he was doing.  They said he was doing well, but wouldn't eat for them and that he couldn't come home until he was eating.  They said I could come and see him and see if he would eat for me.  At 11am I went to the hospital to see if I could get Venom to eat.  He immediately started to eat for me.  I was told I could come back in an hour and a half and he could be discharged.

I went and picked him up an hour and  half later.  He was very chipper and happy.  The staff said he was very good with them and they seemed to really like him.  I took him home with very specific instructions on how to care for him post surgery.  He needs to eat a homemade bland diet (chicken, rice and cottage cheese) for two weeks.  He must wear a soft cone so he can't lick his incision for two weeks.  He may not jump, run, play or be active for two weeks, so he has to be confined to an exercise pen and is only allowed outside of the pen on leash.  He is allowed to walk outside on leash to go potty.  He has to have ice packs (we use bags of frozen peas) on his incision 3 to 4 times a day for two days.  He has to have warm compresses on his incision 3 to 4 times a day for ten days.  He has a time released Fentanyl patch on his food for pain which can come off 4 days later.  He has sedatives to keep him calm and pain meds to use as needed for pain.  I am to call them with any concerns at all.

The cost of the surgery was $3310.  This does not include the charges for all of the hospitalization, fluids, x-rays, blood work, ultrasound or care at our own vet.

We are four days post surgery today and Venom is doing great!  He is eating and wanting to be active.  He feels a million times better and we are so happy with his progress.  We will no longer offer our dogs stuff toys.  We will use nylabones and super sturdy toys with supervision from now on.  This was caused by Venom eating a toy, or parts of a toy.  It was traumatic for us and very painful and scary for him.  It was expensive and challenging to diagnose.  We are grateful he is okay.

New Baby Sister!

Venom is pleased to announce that he now has a new baby sister!  Last weekend I brought home Everly, a 5 month old Standard Smooth female puppy that was co-bred by me and Sharon Carr of Carrdox Dachshunds.  I had already chosen a puppy from this litter that I co-own with Sue, Venom's breeder.  The puppy, Truly, a female, lives with Sue.  I hadn't planned to bring a puppy from this litter home, but this puppy hadn't yet found a home.  Sharon had turned away a few homes and a couple of others had fallen through.  When I saw her at the field trial a couple of weeks ago and saw her I was blown away at how pretty she is and decided to bring her home.  These puppies are out of our Cinder (Dual Champion Braveheart's Ever After) and Hummer (Dual Champion Darshans Hummer v Jagies).  We are very pleased with this litter and happy to have little Everly here!

Field Trip!

Yesterday I met a few friends and took Venom to the field where our field trials are held to practice and also get him out and around some other dogs and people.  He did SO great.  He was fabulous on and off leash with all the dogs, despite being snarked at by another dog!  He had a great time working the field, working the few actual lines we had on rabbits and just casting off leash with all the other dogs.  Great day!

Odor, Vehicles and Santa Paws!

Venom is doing really well with his K9 Nose Work training.  He has shown a strong desire to search for food in boxes.  He is persistent and confident in his searching and willing and able to problem solve obstacles.  He goes crazy when he has his nose work harness on and when he sees boxes and knows it's time to search.  For all these reasons I knew that he was ready to move onto odor.  This means that he will no longer be searching for just food, but for food paired with the first target odor which is birch.  I began pairing birch with odor to build a strong association.  This pairing will continue throughout his training.  Once the association is very strong we will begin to do more and more unpaired hides where he is searching for the birch only.

He is doing great on his training so I decided to get him started on vehicle searches.  With vehicle searches the dogs must look at the vehicle as a huge container (box) and have the same enthusiasm and excitement about searching vehicles as they do searching boxes.  We start off by setting the hides in a way that we hope to set the dog up for quick success early on.  These are pictures from Venom's first ever vehicle search!

I was so pleased with how he did.  I am most happy that he loves searching and hunting and is already proving to be a great hunting dog.  Next weekend we will travel to Southern California together to compete in the New Year's field trials.  These will be Venom's first trials on cottontail in a different terrain so it will be interesting to see how he does.

After nose work I had to stop at Petsmart to pick up some things.  Turns out they were Santa photos so I decided to go out to the car and get Venom and get his picture taken.  I wasn't sure how he would react to Santa but he did great!  Merry Christmas everyone!

Venom's First Field Trial

We spent this past weekend at Venom's first ever Dachshund field trial.  It was held in Vacaville, California at the Lagoon Regional Park.  I like field trialing at this park but it has it's up and downs, literally.  When there is a lot of game, it's great!  When the game is scarce, it's not so fun as you could walk for hours before popping a rabbit and when there is no game down below it means you have to head up into the hills.  The great thing about this grounds is that the game is jackrabbits.  Jackrabbits are big and they move high and fast.  Because of this, the whole gallery is able to see the rabbits run and usually see the dogs run so they can watch the runs.  In other places where the game is cottontail rabbits, it is harder to see because they move so much lower.  Also, many of the other grounds have a lot of trees or brush, so you just can see.  That is fine but it means you can't watch.

Okay, back to Venom.  So, for those of you who may not know how a field trial works, I will try to explain it.  Dachshunds are run in braces of two dogs.  Dogs run with dogs, bitches run with bitches and field champions (dogs who have already completed the requirements to be field champions) run against other field champions, so that class is mixed with dogs and bitches.  The dogs are randomly drawn into braces of two.  Each "stake" (or class" is run separately.  So, the class running first, we'll say dogs, head out to the field.  There is a person designated to be "field marshal".  That person runs the "gallery" which is the group of people walking.  They also call out judges decisions.  The gallery is lined up in a line and begin to walk slowly in a line through the field.  It is important that the gallery listens to the field marshal and stays close together and moves slowly or we will walk over and past rabbits.  Eventually, you will "pop" a rabbit.  This means a rabbit will jump up and run.  The judges watch where the rabbit went as best they can.  Then, the judges bring up the brace that is up to run to the "start".  The start is where the rabbit was first spotted.  They then bring the two dogs up on "release lines".  Release lines a long (about 12') piece of rope looped through the dogs collar ring allowing for the handler to hold each side of the line.  The hounds are brought up to the start line together and the handlers start them where the judge pointed out and then begin to walk along the line the rabbit took.  As soon as a handler thinks their dog is on it, meaning that they are scenting the line they can let go of one end of the line and release their dog.  The dogs are judged on how well they follow the line and how they are hunting it.  As a judge, I am personally not interested in the "style" that a dog hunts, I just want to see that the dog is working the line correctly.  Dogs work the line differently.  Some dogs are very slow and methodical, others move faster and air scent with their heads up picking up scent and some use a combination.  I am looking at whether or not the dog is making progress and how well he is working the line.  It is not a race.  Faster does not mean better so just because a dog may blast out of there doesn't mean he won.  I will always watch the other dog work too.

Handlers can and do affect how a dog runs.  Some handlers can be quite rough on their dogs.  This weekend I watched some handlers do some really nice, thoughtful handling and I watched others do some pretty ugly stuff like shoving their dogs into thick star thistle.  One handler was even lifting their dog by the lead which meant the dog was being lift by his neck to move him over thistle.  This is not kind or respectful to the dog at all and it won't help a dog to be a better hunter.  Treatment and well being of our dogs in the field should be our number one priority, not such a desire to win that the dog as a living being is overlooked.

After being rushed in the vet parking lot by an off leash dog Venom has developed some issues around other dogs while on leash.  He can be reactive and barky so I wasn't sure how he would do.  When we got him out of the truck, he was great!  He walked beautifully in the gallery with the other boy dogs and was relaxed and confident and happy.  He occasionally greeted other dogs and did just fine.  That made me so happy and I was able to really relax and have a good time.

On the first day the conditions were really tough.  It was extremely windy which means of course that scent is blowing everywhere.  It was very difficult for any of the dogs to run, especially the less experienced class dogs.  Venom's first rabbit was released in some really thick star thistle and he just didn't know what to do with that, so he didn't work too well.  That's okay, it was his very first experience and we were just fine with that.  I was especially proud to see Rick handle him carefully without any pressure.

That evening, after the trial had ended, a longtime trialer, judge and very knowledgeable hound guy who is a friend of ours offered to work Venom on a dead frozen rabbit that he had.  I know, it sounds gross, but many people will keep a dead rabbit when they come across one and freeze it then use it for training.  He drug the frozen bunny and allowed Venom to track it and then chase it.  Rick felt it really got Venom fired up which is good.

On the second day the conditions were much better and it was quite nice field trial weather.  If I had been allowed to discuss it with Mother Nature prior to the trial, I would have requested it rain a little bit the night before for wet ground, but I wasn't give that option.  It was chilly in the morning and warmed up.  Even though the weather was nice the game was fairly hard to find.  Some local people had come and allowed their dogs to run off leash (illegal at this park, we are allowed to do it because we rent the park and pay and have permission to run two dogs at a time off leash) so they probably pushed the rabbits all over the place.  Rick and I had judge the girls in the Open All Age Bitch stake.  We saw some really beautiful runs and were happy with our first through NBQ (next best qualifier) picks. 

The boys were run after girls, so they didn't head out until about 10am.  There were only 3 braces which means that there were just 6 dogs entered.  Venom was in the second brace.  We saw a rabbit pretty quickly so the first brace was run on that rabbit.  After they ran, the handlers walked down the hill and asked the next brace to be ready.  After a few more minutes Venom's brace was called up.  This means that they had decided to use the second half of the line that had already been used.  So, by the time Venom's brace got up to the start line, the scent line was over 10 minutes old.  That is okay, but it can make it harder for young dogs.  Venom was released along with his brace mate.  His brace mate was licking Venom and sniffing him and the judges called interference and had the handler of the other dog pick up their dog while Venom continued to work alone.  Venom did so great!  I don't have pictures of this run, but I was able to watch it.  He followed the line, with his nose down for probably 40-50 feet!  We were over the top with pride at how great he did.  When you run a dog, especially a young dog for the first time you just never know how they will do.  Sometimes they run off and start playing with their brace mate.  Sometimes they just run crazy.  Sometimes they just sit at their owners feet.  Sometimes they run to the gallery to look for their other human.  Venom didn't do any of those things.  He was just really good and we couldn't have been happier.  I do know that I will need to do more practice with him working in brush and bushes so he learns to push through and ignore it.

After the "first series" or the first time each brace is run the judges look at their scores and call back the dogs for second series.  In small stakes like this where you only have 6 or 8 dogs, most judges will only call back 4 dogs.  So, 4 dogs were called back, but Venom wasn't one of them.  Frankly, we were disappointed as I thought his run was really good.  Not the best, but I did think it was quality and worthy of a call back.  But, the great thing is that regardless of placements or what the judges saw and thought, WE KNOW what we saw and how we felt.  We treated Venom (as always) as if he HAD won because no matter what he does, we are happy and proud of him, but when he does really good, recognized or not, that is still really important to us, so we were thrilled.

After the dogs stake we stayed back while they ran champions.  I walked Venom down by the water and got a few good pictures of him.

Then we went into our friend Sharon's RV and hung out waiting for the field champions to finish.

All in all, we had a good time.  So proud of our boy and more excited than ever to head down South with him at the end of the month!  Here is Venom with his first Rosette!