Tuuli

Yes the damage was discovered after at MOST 3.5 hours. Straight to the Vet ER which we have been very happy with. First our two dogs (the culprits) where one vomitted food, the other nothing but bile. So the third unlikely suspect came in for treatment. ALL are staying at the vet (very difficult for us to leave them with a vet, first time ever away from us or close friends for a night!) Tuuli especially did not approve. The Panama trip is pleasure. 18 of our friends headed to a private surf resort, booked out for my 10th wedding anniversary! Fun, looks like IF I make it I will be at least 3-4 days late. The $1000 treatment per dog is the "starter" based on what lab results come back tomorrow. My "in-the-clear" question was more along the lines of when there would be definitive answers as to what damage was done. Like all medications, Rimadyl is not instantly metabolized. It would take some time for tests/symptoms to develop. Depends of the bio-availability of the medication itself. I wonder if I will "know" within 48 - 72 hours or could now unknown variables present themselves in 5-6 days? I will be gone for 12 days. We will see, meeting with the vet in the morning for more info. Personally I don't have anyone other than my wife who I would entrust critical decisions regarding our dogs with. Like I said before, they are our two kids. Thanks, and glad to hear Solo did well. Cheers, Jaime

Hello all; Looking for hopefully someone with some Rimadyl experience. We had a bit of an overdose today, complicated by the fact that we are supposed to be getting on a plane to remote Panama in 36 hours! We are already stressed about leaving the 2 dogs, even with the best sitters. They are our kids! Three dogs were at our friends house for 3.5 hours. Our friends 45kg Shepard, our 18kg BC and 24kg Border/Aussie. Between them 50 - 100mg (5g) of Liver Flavored Chewable Rimadyl were consumed. We have suspicions of who it may have been, though all three are being treated (starting at $1000/dog!). Stomachs were emptied, no obvious rimadyl, though two had contents and one didn't. The vet seems somewhat casual about our trip and us leaving Sunday early morning. My question is, if one dog consumed all, when would they be considered "in-the-clear?" We understand worst case scenario's and such, and while I understand there are no hard and fast rules, I am wondering when (if) I should get on a plane. I will not be in Panama and allow someone else to make critical decisions for our dogs. Will we have a good idea of the seriousness within 24-36 hours? Does it take longer to manifest some of the complications? Of course we will be meeting with the vet again tomorrow morning before a decision is made, though as I said, our vet seems to think that anyone else would be perfectly capable of handling the decisions/care. Thanks in advance, and oh ya, Merry Christmas. Jaime, Eeva, Tuuli and Sisu (with partner in crime Thor)

Spoke with the vet. Concerned, but barely. Said that the behavior is easily attributed to the steroid injection. Typically a little gets out of the joint space, and Tuuli must be pretty sensitive. She mentioned if we did a steriod injection again we would take this into consideration. She said DO NOT give in to her food drive. Feed her all the veggie's she will eat, but not more kibble. We will probably go with the crock-pot chicken method, I like that, and she will LOVE that. More specifics on that? She seems better today. I took her flying and she just crashed (slept!) like a log, good sign. I wasn't very clear I see upon rereading the post. The other BC is our rescue, not a foster. We could never give her away! She has her issue's but is just coming to understand that this is her forever home. She just passed her Good Canine Citizen test! We are so proud of her. I'll let you all know how Tuuli progresses. This isn't going to be easy, I can tell you that. But we are committed to getting her ready for summer running and hiking. Cheers, Jaime, Eeva, Tuuli and Sisu

Yikes, Our 4.5 year old girl Tuuli has developed neurotic behavior following a chronic injury. Call is in to the vet... Tuuli has had a limp for almost a year. Seems to be front-end. Sometimes there, sometimes not. It was hard to pin down. She bears weight on both front legs, very little limp. We ran her into the ground last week and finally got a yelp out of her in the left shoulder. The vet thinks bicep tendinitis. Our vet (who we love) is very active with her dogs, former racing kennel and Iditarod musher. She knows sports injuries well. She has a similar a BC that had the same problem. We are going with the AGGRESSIVE non-surgical treatment at this point. Our other vet at the same practice had her BC with the same ailement undergo the surgical route with a specialist in Colorado. They are pretty This means 3 5-minute walks per day, Rimadyl 50mg PO twice/day, acupuncture, a cortisone injection last Friday, and starting laser therapy and underwater treadmill next week. Since the general anesthesia and steroid injection she has gone nuts. Non-stop panting, pacing, her communication bark at bizarre and inappropriate times, CAN NOT eat enough, always looking for food, she will park on her food bowl and bark as well as suck up any old crumbs she can find on the floor. Thoughts? Could the increase food drive be steroid related from last Friday? Is she just nuts from going from totally active trail running dog to couch potatoe dog? Medication issue? We also have the 2 year old BC Rescue from the PNW Border Collie Rescue that is now getting all of the special attention (runs, etc) and we are trying to make sure we give Tuuli lots of special "non-active" dog attention. Thanks in advance, love to hear some of your thoughts. Hopefully I will hear from the vet soon! Jaime & Tuuli

We recently made the leap from 1 to 2! We have a 3 year old BC who is VERY much the alpha of the house. We had been looking for some time to add a second and were terrified of her reaction. We found what appeared to be a sweet 8 month old from a BC Rescue in Washington (Molly). My wife flew to WA from AK to meet Molly and the foster mom. She ended up bringing Molly home and we have been TOTALLY happy and excited about the new addition. Our incumbent is getting along great with Molly (now Sisu), though I will caution you that two is more work than one. The biggest thing is finding someone that can watch the dogs if you are away. We are VERY particular about our dogs. We don't board them. Period. We rarely travel without them, though if we do (did) finding someone to take care of two dogs to our high standards is harder than someone who will watch one dog. Good luck with your decision!

Hey, I have a question regarding a 8-9 month old Border Collie. She has joined us from a Rescue in Washington State just two weeks ago. She is sweet, smart, and is getting along will with our other BC. But she has just picked up a new trait. I will be calling our Vet first thing this am, but wanted to hear what your thoughts are. She has had probably 1 accident indoors the total time she was with the foster family. We brought her to Anchorage (where it is -10F right now) and she was great. 1 week in to her life here we had her spayed (complete uterus removed). When I brought her home from the Vet and general anesthesia she immediately pee'd in the yard (unusual, she pees in the park) and continued to pee 5-6 times on a short walk. No big deal I thought, hasn't pee'd in 12-15 hours. No obvious blood in urine. Now she has had two accidents in the house, and she continues to pee an atypical number of times on walks. I will hopefully collect a urine sample for the Vet this morning, though hard at -10F! Thoughts? Idea's? Any chance it relates to the spaying since it happened at that time or mere coincidence? Look forward to your responses. Jaime & Sisu

Thank you for the posts and advice. My wife Eeva heads to Seattle on the 26th to meet Molly and see how things go. Who knows, she may be coming home with the girl on the 29th! Our biggest concern remains Tuuli, but the words we have heard are encouraging. As for chasing bears, NOT OUR IDEA! I don't know why she does it. As I said, she is affraid of moose, but black bears just seem to be fun sport. Not good if you ask me. She LOVES fishing as well. I think last fall she pulled 12-20 salmon out of a creek while I was fishing. Poor things, we kept having to kick the little buggers back into the creek and didn't get too much fishing ourselves! We have thought of working with Tuuli in SAR work again. What we ran into the first time was a lack of motivation. Ours or the dogs? We need to work that out. Time will tell. Thanks again for the input. Jaime

We are currently in the "interview" process for a new 7 month old rescue BC from the Seattle area. Check out her link and follow the You-Tube link to her first herding lesson recently. http://www.pnwbcrescue.org/show_bio.php?Im...&DogId=2360 Lots of logistics for this long range adoption, but they are really working with us. I am so happy about how thorough this process has been. Our current situation is a VERY active house with my wife and I and our 3 year old BC in Alaska. We ski, run, hike, ski, hike, run from moose, chase bears, rolled in Beluga whale carcass this morning, bike (slowly with the dog) every day. We have what our BC owning vet says is the mellowest BC on the planet, possibly because we shower her with attention and activity. We have a HUGE concern though. My wife is active in Snow Science and Avalanche training/rescue. We are also active with local SAR. We are seriously considering with the full support of the local SAR Dog program of entering this potential dog into training for operation SAR work. They are excited about having us. How do we make sure to keep our incumbant dog from becoming too jealous? She is VERY attached to mom and dad, travels with us everywhere, sleeps with us and OWNS us. With the huge committment of training a SAR dog, what will we be able to do so that she knows she is still #1? My first thought was to give her her own job. We are headed to a herding evaluation on Saturday for potential herding lessons. What else can we do? Look forward to your comments. Thanks in advance. Jaime, Eeva & Tuuli

Thank you.

Working as a Firefighter I am continually distressed when responding to house fires where an animal has perished. Once again while working a structure fire the other night the family informs us that they have a dog and cat in the residence. While we always search for people and animals in a primary and secondary search, pets can be hard to locate as they tend to hide during fires. This time we found the small dog, evacuated, and performed CPR and ventilations enroute to a Pet ER. It looks like this dog may survive. Unfortunately that is the exception. Has anyone attempted to train their BC to respond to a smoke detector alarm? The best thing for a pet to do would be to exit the house through a pet door. If not on option, going to the front door and lying down immediately to the right of the openning side of the door. In 90+% of fires we enter through the front door. If a pet were right inside the door we would notice immediately (hopefully). I would be curious to hear your thoughts on this. I think we will start training today! Thanks, Jaime, Eeva & Tuuli

Just curious what resources or groups are in the Mat-su area that I could contact regarding sheep training for Tuuli. I had a number for a woman on Farm Loop Road, though I hear she has left the state. Thanks in advance, and look forward to hearing back. Jaime, Tuuli & Eeva

So I have a question regarding grooming. This is soooo OT that is doesn't concern the BC, though "my" 10-year old princess cat that lives with my mother. We just went to take her to the Spa for a treatment. Very outdoor cat with a pretty big mat in her coat. As we were there I heard some bad yelping in back. It sounded like a nail cut too short or snipped with scissors. No comforting of the pet following that encouter by the staff. Though we did hear several times this very stern "no" and "stop it" from the staff working in back. I politely said that we would like to cancel our appointment and my reasoning. The woman was very defensive stating that in grooming you often have to speak to animals in that tone to brush and groom. She stuck to her belief. I personally knew that my cat was already terrified and didn't want someone that would treat her in such a manner grooming her. Was this unreasonable? Groomers out there, is it better to be stern or use positive reinforcement to modify that grooming behavior? I am pretty sure I will be writing a letter to the owners, though wanted to make sure I wasn't unreasonable. Thanks and sorry for the OT posting. Jaime, Eeva & Tuuli

Thanks for you help and also sharing the similar thread. Very useful infromation. I think I will try Burt's Bees stuff that came recommended.

Oh the summer fun in Alaska! The mosquitoes are really bad this year and as I am getting bitten myself towards insanity, I am wondering if I should take precautions with Tuuli. She is definitely getting bitten, but should I be concerned about her wellbeing? I.e. her snout is full of tiny mosquito bumps. Anybody else have experience with this? Tuuli, Eeva and Jaime

Our 8 month old has been very lethargic now that we have "hot" weather (75 degrees) after the winter months in Alaska. Tuuli also has not been eating much at all. Some of Alaskan huskies get shaven in the summer months. Would that work with a BC? Any other ideas how to make the pup more comfortable? Tuuli, Eeva and Jaime

So Tuuli has been sneezing and rubbing her nose for about 2-3 days. She is congested sounding when she wakes up, and has had a decrease in enegy levels. Today she threw up while in my wifes car.....VERY unusual for her. She still wags alot and has had a fairly healthy apetite. It really seemed like the common cold until the vomit. She is 22wks, and has had all the "normal" shots including kennel cough. Any ideas? Anything more to look for? We are thinking of a Vet visit tomorrow morning, overreacting? Thanks in advance. Jaime, Eeva, & Tuuli *sniffle**sniffle*

Thank you for the response. Mom and dad feel much better now. Glad to hear we are flying Alaska Airlines! Good thing dad is obsessive compulsive, so I am sure he will be looking for me. Thanks again for your response. Tuuli.

Quite exciting. Tomorrow night (rather monday morning @ 130am) I get to go for my first flight. Mom and dad are taking me to visit the grandparents in Seattle from Anchorage, about a 3.5 hour flight. They said I have to fly in baggage while they get to sit in the cabin ;( What should I know? I am a 21wk old well behaved girl. They are pretty nervous for me. I have a good crate. I have been told that they will not feed or water me for almost 6 hours before the flight. They said to plan on some "pre-flight" exercise to tire me out. I have my health papers and rabies info ready to go. No drugs is the plan. Ideas on bedding? Insurance? (not that I could EVER be replaced!). A little water dispenser to compensate for the dry, pressurized air? Thanks in advance. Keep your paws crossed for me! Thanks, Tuuli

We just adopted a 10wk old BC/Heeler puppy. She is great. Smart, social, and has us wrapped around her paws. Sounds like everyones BC huh? She truly hates her crate though. We can distract her with a Kong for a few minutes, but then the crying starts, followed by chewing up the bedding. And when we come home hours later.....still cring. If we are in the same room, no problem at all. We give her tons of attention, lots of play time, and try not to let her get bored. We have followed all the suggestions from several books to no avail. Ideas? Thanks in advance, Jaime, Eeva, and Tuuli