Just keep going

Amika’s toe was still sore, so I took her back to the vet (more bills!) for the x-rays. I”ve had a tiring week with a cold, so she certainly has had time to rest that paw. The x-rays show nothing in the foot, and that her hips are nicely formed and healthy.

The GA and suspected reactive episode at the vet have mad the poor girl very quiet since I picked her up yesterday afternoon.  The last couple of weeks, we have done some RP and leash walking around the yards, so I’ll keep up with that. The toe is a soft tissue injury which the vet said heals slowly, and to allow only “yard exercise”. So walking on lead is in- and I’m keen to get back to daily outings. All we have to do is avoid the cantering and jumping stuff.

My initial plan is to get further along with mat games and RP, introduce finding her mat and take that on the road. One of the things that was in the CU DVD set was that it is good for a dog to have an expectation that when he comes out of the car, his job is to find his mat / station. I also need to start taking Amika everywhere with me and leaving her in the car (now that the sun isn’t quite so fierce). The staying in the car thing takes practice.

Having the all-clear on Amika’s hips means I’m not starting to think a lot about the upcoming tracking season, and to a lesser degree, scootering. I basically have a month to get ready for tracking- which means lots of staying in the car with distraction, and coming out going to mat. Lots of RP.

I haven’t been worrying about working with other dogs for the moment. My experienced trainer has suggested we see a behavioural vet, but I’m going to put that on the back burner. Once again, I need to put the training stuff into place. I have way more ideas than time to try them all, so I am going to narrow it down to making the world much more predictable and “in control” for Amika. To do that I’m going to use all the mat work stuff. I also need to introduce her to going out in that controlled framework. That should keep me busy for a while!