The Katzke Dog Diary

Henry’s independence has continued to grow over the past week or so. Exercise has helped him (and me) and having Eo under better control has helped both of them. There hasn’t been food involved, but they haven’t gotten aggressive except during playtime in a while.

Eo, by the way, is pretty much “healed” from the surgery, and now we need to start the physical therapy recovery process. I’m allowing her to be mobile but keeping her on Tramadol for the time being so that she can get used to moving around again without constant pain. I’d like to start

I dropped Henry’s prozac dose from 55mg/day to 40mg/day last week. This week, Henry has wet his crate two or three times, but that used to be a twice-a-day thing. It’s not. His water consumption is up, which means that he’s probably stressed during the day. There aren’t any chew marks on the inside of the crate as far as I can tell, though.

As Henry becomes more independent and in general happier, we’re having to train some things that previously came natural. For instance, off-leash heeling. He comes well when called (because he knows he gets a treat, duh!) and will generally stay close, but without the ever present anxiety if he gets too far from me, his hound dog nose will now sometimes take over and he’ll get lost in la-la land. I might have to train a heel. Other than that, the basics of the obedience stuff that Jennie taught me have stuck even though I’ve been horrible about practicing them while I’ve been out working on the garden.

(Wherein by “Less Painful”, I mean for both human AND dog.)

Among other things, Henry is afraid of having his nails clipped. Yeah, go figure — my guess is that it was a very traumatic experience for him in the past. All the traditional “solutions” (which I’ll cover below) were out — I can’t operate a dremel within his hearing, I previously could not grab and hold one of his paws without him doing a full-body fish-out-of-water thrash to free himself, and god forbid I touch one of the nails themselves or try to hold one of his toes.

His claws are black, so it’s easy to “quick” them — clip the part that has the soft tissue and veins in it. (This hurts.) He doesn’t chew on his nails frequently, so it’s easy to hit the sensitive parts. After six months, his claws finally got long enough that it couldn’t be ignored. I started two months ago with conditioning, and can now trim Henry’s nails one paw at a time without him complaining or struggling (much). That’s huge progress! Of course, Henry is also an extreme case. Eo will let me trim all four paws with only the distraction of a small smear of peanut butter.

There’s a few things that can take the place of a regular nail trimming, or that can make it easier without any effort from the owner. A nice afternoon of chasing tennis balls in a cul-de-sac or concrete area can grind off enough claw to be a “trimming”. Most groomers and veterinarians will offer nail trimming services, but these can be expensive and (in my opinion) traumatic for the dog — what’s worse than someone holding you down and doing something painful to your hands? Or worse, sedating you so you can’t resist and cutting your fingernails so far back that you bleed from under them?

Henry is proof that nail trimming CAN be a pleasant experience for everyone. You can condition a dog to be perfectly OK with having their nails trimmed. I even use an oversized pair of human nail clippers, so it takes a while … I like to go slow, a little at a time, because of my dogs’ black nails.

Deconditioning

Before you can condition, you need to remove the negative association with handling paws, toes, and nails. It’s easy if you take it a “little bit at a time” — spend five minutes a day, and be patient and persistent without being pushy. Grab some treats (I like Zuke’s Mini Naturals for this kind of thing, but regular old peanut butter, lunch meat, and other things your dog likes out of the pantry will also work well) and lay down on the couch, carpet, or some other comfortable place with your dog.

Start out by grabbing a paw, and then giving them a treat. When you can do this to all four paws as much as you want without them jerking back or running away, start lengthening the hold time before you give them a treat. What you’re doing is positively associating the stimulus of “s/he’s holding my paw” with “ohai,food!” … I should note here that if your dog isn’t food motivated, you might need another approach. I have hounds. They’re always food motivated. Again, you’re doing this for five-ten minutes at most per day. Go slow and easy. If they’re not receptive on a day and you can’t get the right response, go back as far as you can and try to set them up for some sort of success… even if it’s just laying there next to you while you poke at a paw.

If you have a clicker or use clicker training, you can also click-and-treat — the “go slow and give treats” training is the same principle, but just doesn’t use the clicker because I don’t have three hands.

When you can handle their paws at will, start making your handling smaller. Go for the toes. Spread them, play with them, handle them, examine them. They’re pretty fascinating constructs, and the webbing is very sensitive and kinda neat. This is a good opportunity to check for sore spots, too. Don’t forget the dewclaws if your dog has them. (Eo’s front ones are actually attached to some tendons, which are scary. That dog is already too smart. She does not need opposable thumbs.) Keep feeding treats for new milestones of holding a toe — one second, two seconds, three seconds.

At some point, you should make sure the nail clippers (whichever sort you choose) are out and visible. You don’t want THEM to be an indication that something bad is going to happen. You can just have them out, lay them on the ground next to you, and make them a part of the ’scene’ in your dog’s mind.

The last step before you get to actually using the clippers is to grab and hang on to the claws/nails themselves. Squeeze them. Tap on them with your fingers. By now, your dog should get used to being handled in this way — and be happy, because it means FOOD and ATTENTION! Henry took three weeks to get there. Eo let me on the first day.

The Tools of The Apocalypse

Yeah, clippers. Dogs hate ‘em. There’s three mechanical styles that work well to greater or lesser degrees, and you can also use a Dremel.

Full Disclosure: As usual, these links are Amazon Affiliate links. Anything I make from you buying something from Amazon gets turned back into treats for the kids, and some of the treats also go to a rescue I volunteer with.

Personally, I’m a cheap bastard that uses a pair of wide-jaw toenail clippers to do the dirty deed on my dog’s claws. I like them because they’re easy to manipulate, I already had them for my own use, and they take off a little at a time (to avoid hitting the quick) and let me clean up the edges easily. Some of Henry’s nails are narrow enough to clip just by turning the clippers sideways.

The quick is the soft tissue in the middle of the nail — which in a human is under the nail. I’m sure you’ve gotten something jammed up there before, like a splinter or paper or something, and cut yours before. You KNOW it hurts. The other two clipper types are scissors and guillotine clippers; I don’t prefer these because it’s too easy to take off too much in one chop when you’re dealing with dark nails. You’ve just gotten your dog happy to have his nails trimmed! You don’t want to ruin that by hurting them! The guillotine can also leave extra nail material on the outside if it isn’t exactly sharp; this can be removed with a scissors or other type.

Dremels are another popular way to trim claws. Using the drum sander attachment, you’ll be able to take of just enough to avoid quicking your dog. Some dogs greatly prefer this. Mine are afraid of the noise the Dremel makes, and I haven’t gone through the effort to decondition them because they’re already receptive to using the nail trimmers.

Introducing the Trimmer

When your dog is comfortable with you handling it’s claws, you can introduce the trimmer to the environment. Sometimes, a dog with bad past trimming experiences will get up and run when they see the trimmer. You can lure them back with treats, or you can just place the trimmer farther away and slowly get them used to the idea that it’s not going to jump out and bite them if it’s just in your hand or on the floor nearby.

Before you start trimming, you’re going to also want to desensitize them to the trimmer touching their claws while you hold the paw. I did this with Henry and Eo by tapping on the claw with the trimmers. It simulated the hold-and-jerk that the trimming process itself will do. And on top of that, it’s painless. And did I forget to mention that after every tap there’s a treat? Of course there’s treats! If you’re using a dremel, get them used to both the sound and the closeness and weird smell of the tool first. Some dogs have no problem with it. Others (like Henry) will be in the next county before you can turn the tool off and set it down.

The Dirty Deed: Trimming

Hard part’s done. Now it’s all downhill. Again, go slow if your dog is cautious. This took a day or two with Eowyn and took four+ weeks with Henry. We still trim one paw every other day with Henry because he’s not yet used to sitting still for more than that.

Cutting a dog’s nails is easy. Just use your trimming tool to remove the nail material without hurting the dog. If your dog has white nails, it’s REALLY easy — just trim the white part without getting into the pink part. At first, after each snip, I treat. Then, after each nail, I treat. You can slowly back off the bribes. Eo prefers a smear of peanut butter on the floor or a plate. (Oh god, I’m turning into one of one of THOSE dog owners, letting my dogs lick things off the floor…)

When you’re cutting a dog’s nails with dark nails, you definitely want to go slow. When you start to see a pale bit in the middle between the flaky white soft tissue on the bottom and the dark surface of the nail, you’re getting close to the quick — stop.

I try and leave “finished” edges — with the toenail trimmers instead of a file. That way the nails stay blunt longer and don’t catch on things.

A few other tips…

The shorter you keep your dog’s nails, the more the quick will recede. This means that you can keep the nails even shorter. Trimming frequently will help greatly. I like short nails because they don’t catch on rugs and things like that, and don’t make annoying clicky noises on the floor.

If you do nick the quick and it starts to bleed, you can use a styptic pen or some flour or cornstartch. I try not to nick the quick that badly, because it hurts.

Again, go slow and take it easy! Having your dog happy to have it’s nails trimmed will make it go ten times faster and easier. And it might just save you money at the vet or groomer.

I haven’t seen this story much in the mainstream press, but apparently former President of France Jacques Chirac has been hospitalized after his dog mauled him.

Would you like to guess the breed?

Not Pit Bull. Not Mastiff. Not Bulldog. Not GSD. Definitely not Ridgie. Not terrier, not large breed, not even a medium sized breed. The dog *is* a hybrid, but not a mutt. Not Dachshund, although you’re starting to get close in size. You’d be half right if you said Poodle, actually.

Nope. The 76 year old former Presiden of France, Jacques Chirac, was “savagely” mauled by his Maltipoo. I demand immediate breed-specific legislation to outlaw these vicious beasts…

You can tell my dogs are from the south. They don’t respond to “get out!” or “get back!” — they only respond to “GIT!“

Our motto with Henry is “A little bit each day”… actually, with Eo’s hips, that goes for her too right now. We’ve overcome a big struggle for Henry: his toenails.

They’re long. And they’re hairy. They click and clack and they’re very sensitive. A month ago, he wouldn’t let me even hold his paw to trim them without a major tug-of-paw battle that usually ended up with me having trimmed a sum total of two nails and the two of us having skated across the entire wood floor in the kitchen and the living room (the entire length of the house sometimes!) as he struggled to get away and I struggled to hold on to a paw long enough to get ONE snip of the trimmers. It’s clear that, along with everything else, nail trimming day used to be a traumatic event for poor ol’ Henry. (If, on his limited nutrition diet, he even managed to grow more nail regularly.) His nails are black, and I can imagine that he’s been quicked a lot.

And don’t even start with me about the joy of nail trimming with Dremels. The second he hears the Dremel box, he’s hiding.

We started doing one claw a day sometime about three weeks ago, with a treat after each “snip” — and now he’ll sit still for an entire paw, as long as he gets a treat after each nail. He knows where the bread is buttered! Pushing him too much will still set us back, though.

I’m planning to keep up a regular routine/rotation of doing one paw every other day for the next month or two. Not having a giant fight on my hands with a wiry, springy 55 lbs dog every time I want to touch one of his paws is a giant bonus in my book.

Today marks six months since I pulled Henry out of his previous living arrangements. One full quarter of his life.

What’s weird is that he seems to have realized the difference, too — in just the last two or three days, he’s become far more independent than he had been before. I’ve been sick, so my sleeping schedule has been all disrupted. Last night, he was asleep on his nice, soft bed in the office/computer/sewing room, and I actually had to *call* him to bed.

That same dog that I had to call to bed? He once ate his way out of a crate when I was out of the house for ten minutes. He had a nervous breakdown if he can’t see me or can’t get to me, even with other dogs and people around. He’ll sometimes blow a gasket if I walk to the mailbox and the blinds in the front of the house are pulled.

But he’s getting better. It’s been four months since we last had to deworm him. It’s been three months since we solved the last of his health issues and he started pooping solid. It’s been over a month and a half since Eo last took a swipe at him because she was hurting. It’s these little milestones that make a rescue. It’s being able to mark the calendar and smile that makes life with a “rescue dog” into a life worth living at any cost.

Welcome home, little lemon brain.

Eowyn’s nickname when she was a little puppy was “Munch Rat” because she chewed on EVERYTHING. She’d chew on furniture. On parts of the house. On walls. On furniture. On pillows. Towels. Bedding. Her food dishes. The inside of the crate. Other dogs in the house. Before she came to live with me, she even once ate my ex-girlfriend’s Battery Operated Boyfriend. (Phone call: “Do you know what YOUR dog did?”)

Finding toys that she stays interested in and can’t destroy in minutes is difficult. It’s basically limited to Kongs, Rawhides, and a few others. There’s a few web stores that offer dog toys in wholesale quantities, but you usually have to buy some absurd quantities (well, yeah, wholesale!) or a set dollar amount before they’ll even take your order, much less give you a discount. And then there’s shipping to pay for.

I joined Amazon Prime this month because it offers free 2nd day shipping on any orders you make for a year. The tradeoff is like Costco — you can buy cheaper bulk quantities of stuff, you can get things a dollar or two (or more) cheaper than you would at a retail store, and you can sometimes find a wider variety and/or backorder without dealing with retail stock-outs. Just be aware that not all things are sold by Amazon Prime, so you might have to pay shipping on some things if you buy them through a 3rd party — and some of the 3rd parties have some serious shipping costs.

Disclaimer/Full Disclosure: The following Amazon URLs have my Amazon Affiliate code embedded in them. If you click them and then purchase something, I will get a share of the purchase price of the things you buy. You will not be charged anything extra. If I do happen to get some, I immediately turn any money I get back into dog treats and split them between my kids and a foster rescue, so you’re really helping the pooches if you do click through. Thanks!

Air Kongs are a great example. Henry’s learning to fetch. It’s been fun with the Air Kongs because they squeak and are interactive. At certain retailers in my area, Air Kongs can go for up to $17. Amazon has them for $11.10. With the free shipping, it’s well worth saving $6-7. And regular Kongs can be had too — Eo’s favorite snacks, XL Black Kongs, will only run you $15 instead of the $19 that PetSmart charges.

A good example with training treats is Zukes Minis. The local store that carries quality, healthy dog treats will have the Peanut Butter variety from time to time in the six ounce bags for $4.29-$5 per bag — Amazon also carries the Chicken and the nigh-unobtainable Salmon.

When you’re prone to dropping a couple hundred bucks a month on the dogs like I am (between vet visits, flea and heartworm preventative, medications (Henry’s Prozac and Eo’s pain meds), every last cent counts… and between christmas gifts and dog stuff, I’ve earned my Amazon Prime membership back before the free trial’s even up.

Yikes! Henry had a bit of intestinal bloat last night. He’s OK now after a quick application of Gas-X and Pepsid AC (both of which are available over the counter, and both of which are OK with my vet). I didn’t realize that smaller dogs could get bloat though, and I’m really only familiar with it while taking care of Jennie’s Swissie, Mouse.

Bloat is basically gas — but left unaddressed, it can mean gastric or splenic torsion, which usually creates internal bleeding and can mean quick death for a dog. Large breeds like mastiffs, great danes, and swiss mountain dogs are especially prone to it. If you have a large dog, it pays to be prepared for bloat. Here is one link, and here is another — assemble a bloat kit before you need it.

In Henry’s case, it wasn’t that severe. The spell started out with hip hiccuping and vomiting into his mouth — and then swallowing it back down. He still had an appetite and would still drink water. His abdomen was swollen, but not to the point where it was as tight as his ribcage. He was whining a little bit and looking away from me, and any time he put his head down to sleep he’d burp and vomit, so he was having to hold his head up. I called Jennie up to get her take, since she deals with this constantly — we checked his capillary refill rate, and his gums were normal, unlike the time that we discovered Eowyn’s allergy to Previcox, and his heart rate was normal without any lethargy, so I wasn’t worried about internal bleeding or torsion. She suggested just treating with Pepsid AC (famotidine) and Gas-X (simethecone) and seeing if that helped.

And it did. No vet call required, and no harm done. If it hadn’t, you can bet I’d have called the vet right away and would be bundling Henry off to the doggie ER as fast as we could go. He’s sleeping peacefully right next to me right now with his head buried in the pillows I’m leaning against!

I’ve got the sniffles. It’s been an all weekend kind of thing, and staying up for KM’s roast apple pork shoulder on Saturday night didn’t really help any. I feel dehydrated, my nose is running like a faucet, my lymph nodes are all swollen up, and the rest of me is just plain blah.

We didn’t do much this weekend, but tonight was Eo’s first walk since the hip surgery. It’s cold out, and I waited until an hour or two after her dinner to make VERY sure that the Tramadol had taken effect before we went outside. I walked Henry around the block to get his wigglies out, and then we grabbed Eo and I walked her just holding her collar to make sure she was putting weight on the back legs. We only got down one door and then across the street and down three before she started letting out a little “peep” with each step, so we turned right around and went in — but it’s a start. We’ll slowly start increasing the distance a little bit each day.

Henry’s coming along really well, but it’s so easy to confuse him if I don’t have the right idea in my head. I can tell him to “get close”, but if I’m not leaning back, he doesn’t get close enough to get the treat and has to scoot forward on his butt.

To try and make training more of a “habit”, I’ve scattered pouches of fruitables around the house, and we’ll dive into random training sessions all of a sudden. I also am using Zuke’s Minis, lunch meat, and other stuff for longer training sessions. I’ll try to do one longer session a day where we try hard to make doing something ten times a whole lot of fun, and then we’ll do random “checks” using the fruitable caches around the rest of the house.

A few Doolittler posts about canine hip dysplasia, since we haven’t talked about it in a while —

• Hip dysplasia in dogs: Thoughts on incidence, treatment and prevention
• Hip dysplasia in dogs (part 2): The real cost of diagnosis
• And then this past weekend, 101 PennHIP vs. OFA: Better medicine vs. better marketing — this is mostly for the breeders or purebred fans in the audience, since rescue mutts don’t really need OFA’s!

Eo’s doing fine, by the way, and I’m increasing her mobility a little bit day by day. She’s putting weight on both legs, her incision is nearly healed, and we’re just about to start doing actual PT next week. On the other hand, it’s obvious she’s still not a happy camper — she snapped at Henry for nothing for the first time in a month though, but he’s fine — I got her before she got him.