Pet and Animal Expo DWD Demonstrations

After a lot of agonizing I agreed to allow Kenz to partake in two days of dances with dogs demonstrations at the Adelaide Pet and Animal Expo.

She was required to give 2 demos on Friday and then again on the Saturday and all I can say is she is still my little star and still gives me all of herself when it is needed. Kenz was certainly looking "sound" enough. Better then she was when we went out walking with Dan and her kelpies on Wednesday.

Any way back to Kenz's routines -

Despite huge audiences at all the demos she was absolutely FERAL. She barked almost non-stop during her routines. During the course of her four routines she did flatten a little but only to the extent where she was able to respond to commands.

Each demo she was full of enthusiasm though. The audience certainly would not have realized she isn't really firing on all cylinders. She was super stressy outside the ring so to see her switch on and work as she would normally was huge.

I was fortunate enough that Dan offered to tag along on the Friday and video both routines.

Here is the video of Kenz's second routine on the Friday -

FitPAWS Fun

Last Thursday night my baby girl was playing in the back room and came up badly lame, non-weight bearing and it was persistent lameness. A couple of days of keeping her quiet and dosed up on meds and tonight I am sitting here marveling at a dog who actually bought herself up to bed tonight with no pain meds this evening. She has not done that in ages.

This is a video of this afternoons FitPAWS rehab work. So you tell me is she having me on. I still cannot get a walk around the block with her without her shutting down and looking lame. Confused very much so.

Back to see Ian

Earlier in the week, after following up on an email from John, Ian requested I make another appointment for Kenz to discuss where things were at.

I was somewhat apprehensive but it appears needlessly. Ian's main reason for having me bring Kenz in rather than having a conversation on the phone was just an added assurance in his own mind that Kenz was otherwise neurologically normal and that nothing had been missed on her first examination.

All that being fine there is very little doubt in his mind that she does unfortunately suffer from the BC form of EIC. He has agreed its worth me submitting bloods for the research so I am kept informed as to the latest findings and he has offered to arrange those for me.

He made an interesting comment re her patella issue and feels that its very likely connected to the BC collapse but will go away and do some more research for me. He made a comment about dogs with EIC having issues with building adequate muscle. Kenz is far from the athletic dog she use to be. There is still such significant muscle loss and so its a bit of a catch 22 because while Ian said he is no ortho specialist her MPL in her RH is fairly significant now.

So as far as where that leaves Kenz. Ian's view was that if Kenz was his he would be doing all he could to avoid any collapse episodes but did appreciate that there is a quality of life issue which comes with that.

There isn't anything much else we can do for her. Life truly does suck and makes each day we spend together even more special.

Will have another chat hopefully with the guy in the US and see if he has any other suggestions on exercises to try and help maintain as much muscle as I can on her for the meantime. 

Kenz's first legs in Rally Advanced

This past weekend was the 2013 SA State Rally and Obedience Champs. Sandi and Deb were over from the West with Scoota and Brookie. It was a lovely weekend and I enjoyed their company. Nothing like two fantastic friends to make a trial seem a nice place to be.

Its an absolute privilege to watch the boys in the ring again and even when they aren't at their absolute best they are still such a joy to watch and something very very special. It was great to catch up.

Now to Kenz's performance. Kenz was entered in Rally Advanced A both days. 

A very long and hot day of mostly sitting around in her crate on Saturday resulted in Kenz's first Rally Advanced pass at her first attempt at the State Champs. Not only did she just pass but she walked away with a second place in Rally Advanced A. We ended up with a score of 91. 

Kenz's Saturday Round



Way to go my baby little girl. It wasn't an easy round for her and she was really up against it but we got through and with a fairly respectable performance. Keith Millington was the judge and she was acting more then a little spooky towards him and even he commented at the presentation that she wasn't comfortable with him.

Sunday was another extremely warm day. Kenz worked a much better round under Kathy Millington but I messed up costing us 10 for an incorrectly performed station. Great dog shame about the handler who couldn't count. She still managed to finish up third in Advanced A on Sunday.

Kenz's Sunday Round



Sunday Kenz also got to meet one of Sandi's toller pups from Cider's litter - Marley. After Kenz had spent most of Saturday trying to flirt with Brookie she quickly decided Marley was the bees knees.

A great weekend and super flat batteries even if the dogs don't. 

Kenz's Fifth Birthday

Happy Birthday my gorgeous little girl. Hard to believe its been 5 years. I promised you last year it would be a better 12 months for you and unfortunately that wasn't to be.

We can still continue to live in hope and maybe the next 12 might be an improvement over the last 12. I hope you enjoyed your birthday McBites for lunch :). Love my special little mad midget.

Day 3 of 30

Yep today is day 3 of April and also day 3 of the 30 days I am giving Kenz before potentially calling it a day. I am trying to have patience but my poor little girl is also a mess. Tonight it the evening before my baby girl turns 5. For the last 2 and a bit years its been one nightmare after another.

I am so out of steam its not funny anymore. 

This afternoon she had another serious collapse episodes at the park. They are getting much more frequent, occurring at lower temperatures and looking much more severe. She can't even get up during a collapse anymore and just lays head flat on the ground. It took her a good 10 minutes to recover before she was able to physically manage a very wobbly walk home again.

Her RH patella is also bothering her more frequently in the last few days. She is struggling on a walk around the block almost constantly. If its not the LH its the RH. The pain meds aren't really doing much other than to maybe take the slight edge off.

She is so OTT when we do anything its a vicious circle. She doesn't understand her own physical limitations and it continues to spiral out of control.

This weekend are heading out to the State Obedience champs but it is a strictly social affair. Kenz will enjoy a chance to flirt with Brookie and I will get to bribe my favourite toller Moo. Looking forward to it but I know its going to be super tough.

I did have another email from John yesterday - I think he is out of ideas other than to have confirmed there was no iliopsoas strain. Good and bad news I guess.

Rehab Day 2

Well so far the new combination of tramadol and carprofen twice daily seems to be helping more then anything else. Bedtime saw Kenz have no issue racing upstairs last night. Similarly another first in many many months - Kenz happily jumped on my bed first thing in the morning.

We tried another session of her reverse 2o2o and she is nailing that and we just keep adding height with each session :). Its easy enough to see when its obviously hurting and she has done enough and trying to remember to keep things short and not do much is always my biggest short coming with training.

Unfortunately both walks today have been a little bit of a disaster. She really struggled. Poor little girl something obviously hurts so very very much. I wish I could be 100% certain its her patella coming out but its not quite that straight forward.

Starting to wonder if I should cut the walks completely but not sure since she is otherwise so feral with so much energy to burn. Hmmm more thinking to do I suspect.