An update: April 2010

I’ve been taking progress for granted. For quite a while we have been doing at least a walk per day 6 days a week. Some of our reactive dog classes are better than others, but everything is so much better / easier than it was. Tracking season started again two weeks ago, and Amika has done some fantastic tracks, and even grabs the article and gives it a quick shake / toss as she goes by. My lead handling hasn’t suffered due to lack of practice either. So that’s all good.

Last weekend, Amika chased a cat in the back yard. The little sod was stalking my hawk (who was inside her aviary, thank goodness) in broad daylight and saw the people and the dog and ignored them! Amika shot in after it as soon as she saw it, and went around the back of the aviaries where she’s not usually allowed. She tumbled the cat but it made good its escape. Amika however, ended up with a hole in a knee and a broken claw.

The knee was superficial enough for a band-aid type dressing and has healed well. The claw (the outer keratin sheath) came off at the first change of bandage a couple of days later. Given that the pulp or quick of the nail is attached to the toe bone, I ended up spending $200 for the vet to rebandage and send me home with antibiotics. I was furious with the way they treated her. I put the first bandage on her un-restrained. They took her out the back for 15 minuted, tied her mouth shut and who knows what else. She came back into the consult room overheated / dehydrated with a mark across her muzzle. I really hate the way vets abuse trust.

The upshot is that we have a very bored dog. No walks and two weeks off class, and now we’ve missed tracking. It’ll be time for a bandage change later today (I am SO not taking her back to the vet to pay for another round of abuse). I am hoping that dog nails regrow faster than bird ones, but my guess is that she’ll be back to doing walks, classes and tracking wearing a bandage and a plastic sock for quite a while. I’m going to try to appreciate progress as it is happening. She certainly hasn’t learnt much by sitting around the house this week.