Rehab

Perhaps because of worrying about Haku and the grand scheme of things, I just could not get into the obedience match over the weekend. I really had to force myself to go, and when I got there and saw we’d have to wait hours, I tried to stay – but couldn’t. Even bringing Navarre in and heeling around the rings we were just being goofy and not at all doing any sort of real work. Navarre was very cute and it was fun to visit with some seldom seen obedience folks, but we were not in the right frame of mind to do any good anyway, so we went home. I imagine we’ll get more serious about it all when the trial is closer, but I guess we’re going in cold – we’ll see how he does at the trial. I think he can do it. Probably. It will be a surprise! Really should work on some stays though, so silly to NQ because he starts throwing sit-pretty during the long sit.

After Haku’s laser treatment over the weekend he came home and his wrists were cracking super loudly – which was really freaky. Haku seems about the same movement-wise, and he’s still somewhat creaky, but not as much. Without toys he’s spending all his time stalking cats – they’re already pretty tired of it. Yeah, going to be a long month. But stalking cats is low impact, so, hey. REALLY hard to leave Haku at behind every day, his little face as the other dogs get to go and he doesn’t – ouch. Have I mentioned it’s going to be a long month?

Got a nice write up from Haku’s initial rehab appointment, I thought it was very thorough and well done, and a nice plan of attack and what they want to fix and how they plan to do that. We have some rehab homework for at home, and heating and icing and stretching and weight shifting. It gives Haku something to do. I haven’t noticed any big difference with any of his supplements so far, nor have I noticed any particular changes in personality on the CBD oil. It has not been that long though. I imagine (and hope, actually, as all of this is too expensive to maintain in the long term) most things we will phase out. Still waiting to start him on the ‘joint food’ and the elk velvet.

We’ve been back for our first rehab appointment, I was not very optimistic for the underwater treadmill. I had forgotten Mr. Mincy Feet, Haku has never been good on treadmills, we used to try at Bobbie’s and he moved with tiny mincing steps no matter what we did. Fortunately, while he started off like a dork at first, he did finally relax and walk fairly normally. I think it’s hard to mince when walking underwater. He was a little nervous about it, but once he got into his groove and got to carry a toy he felt better. I think he’ll learn to very much enjoy it over the next month, especially as he’s not getting much action otherwise. No loud cracking in his joints after his second laser treatment. We’ve also started using the Asssi Loop at home, which, hey, no idea if it’s doing anything. We are giving this a full go though, Haku really needs to be able to stay active, way more than my other dogs. Maybe at some point he will chill out … but not yet.

I was walking Navarre around the farm store and I suddenly noticed how BIG he’s gotten, I think just seeing him in an unusual setting. He’s one substantial dog, and I think he’s finally grown into his manly intactness. He’s got a huge chest with a big man mane and big manly head. He’s long and big boned and just SUBSTANTIAL. Thank god he doesn’t have a lot of coat, he would seem the size of a house. My little puppy is grown up and all manly. Manly LOOKING anyway, he’s still a giant puppy at heart. Hard to believe he’s almost 4, just imagine how much more mass he’ll have by seven. Oh my.

Navarre is easier to train than Haku … away from sheep. He can now lie down and walk up with whistles, on toys anyway. Now how much that will transfer to sheep, that’s another question. And I definitely like the brass whistle, feeling much better with it. Navarre finds whistle toy games to be super fun. I still suck at the away whistle, but maybe not quite as badly as I used to. Navarre thinks playing whistles is SUPER FUN. At least, away from sheep.

We did a little agility this week, Bright is so easy at this point, she is just so bendable and effortless – Navarre, omg, things always seem way harder than they need to be. We did a refresher of lines of threadles and pushes – we haven’t done those for a while and we’re definitely rusty. Bright is better at them, but Navarre is slower through them, therefore easier! Points to Navarre though, I was refreshing some contacts – Bright has zero criteria with her running dogwalk these days, no attempt to even hit at all. Navarre continues perfect, however. We’ll definitely be training my next dog right from the beginning, that’s for sure.

Week Two of Herding Navarre this week, at least, with me handling – we’ll see how it goes. Better, I hope.