Dually works(sort of)

  I have let him work a little the last couple of days. Mostly it was driving the sheep out to a pasture or driving them back, but today I let him sort and gather a couple of times and then I put him in the house.  He came back out still up and peppy and tonight he was playing toy with me and seems fine. I think this is how it will be for a while.   Tomorrow we are going to pick up some goats in Ct and I will take him with me and he may have to load them for me. I will take Edge for back up.
   I am spending way more time with Dually which means when he does go I am going to be completely lost without him. He is going in the car with me shopping and sitting next to me on the couch and generally not out of my sight.  I am not comfortable leaving him outside like a mere dog with Edge and Kip anymore.

    Ok fun times.  When I came home from Tenn I got stopped for speeding in Va.  BAD  BAD  BAD place to get stopped.  I had punched the acelerator to get by somebody who was slowing and speeding up in the passing lane and I wanted to get a head of him so it was longer than the 5 secs it would take to pass and I came over a hill and a cop was right there. He said I was going over 90. I had no idea.  He gave me a ticket and told me it was an arrestable offense and gave me a court date.  I sent the ticket in and put my head in the sand until yesterday when I got a pamphlet from a Va lawyer which said big trouble if I don't pay attention to this. LIke jail, huge fine, insurance points, suspension of license.  F'g Great.  more stress. Now I have to hire a lawyer in Va to try to get this reduced.   I am such a criminal.  Ask anybody.

DUALLY

 We saw a cardiac Dr at Tufts today. She was very nice. She was not the one I was scheduled to see but that one had a family emergency and I was given the option of putting off the appt till tomorrow and I did not want to do that. 

     The test came back negative for Chagus.  I asked if it were possible the test was wrong. They said no, so I do not have to retest or to test Edge.  They did a kidney function test and everything came back normal.  So he remains on the meds and we up the elanapril to 2x day.  He can do anything he wants to do.  Short of letting him run full out I will see what he is up for. He is social in the house and not hiding behind the furniture. He is begging for my food(not his).  I am getting him to eat his food by mixing it with my homemade chicken soup.  He loves it, but it still does not always mean he will eat without coaxing.   He picks up the ball at night and harasses me in the house. He is whining right now which usually in the past means he is bored and he is not getting enough exercise.   So tomorrow I will let him work a little. 

His prognosis remains the same. Severe heart disease and it will kill him eventually and they dont' think he has a very long life ahead of him. If he dies while working sheep then what better way for him to go doing something we both love. 

He has a huge heart and might have killed himself for me at Finals. I was lucky he did not die in the arena.  What a great boy!  I would take a clone in a heartbeat.  He has always been an easy dog in every way.   I hope I have some quality time with him.

worrisome

   I walked Dually out to sheep tonight and he drove them  back to the barn.  He was walking and I was behind him. His rear legs were crossing over quite noticeably when he walked. I have also seen him stumble in the rear. Chagus can affect him neurologically  too.  Great f'g great.

Dually gets a new ball

Dually started taking heart meds on Tues of last week. All week he moped around and hid in corners or on the stairsteps.  Weirdo.  He would not interact with me or the other dogs and when outside he followed me around and when I stopped he stopped and more often than not layed down.
     Sunday he started to feel more normal. He came out of the corners and started acting like good ole Dually.  Today he has been playing ball with me in the house with a new ball I bought him this morning and when outside he is out ahead of me trotting around and acting relatively normal.  All good stuff.  When I leave the house to go in the car without him, you can hear him having a fit until I leave. 

     The lasix is making him pee more.  Last night I closed the porch door which meant he got me up twice to go outside.  I guess I will be heating the porch until I leave for Fla so he can get out at night.

    Good news, I went to my dentist today and he was able to save the crumbled tooth that I just had a root canal on.  He put a screw in it and built it up so he can make a crown for it.  Of course this tooth is going to cost me twice as much as it should have.  yay. 

     I signed up for Netflix because I still don't have a dish receiver 2 weeks after I have gotten home from Nationals.  Geez.  At least I have something to watch and I am watching the series Madmen.  I started it a few years ago when part of it was free on Amazon Prime.  I had to stop watching when they wanted to charge me per show. 

Cardiologist called

  I had a list of questions. She  was very good about answering them. 
If it's a taurine deficiency then it's reversible.  (not likely)mostly seen in cocker spaniels
If it's Chagus then we can treat but only 10% chance he will live longer than 6-9 mos.  He will either have a massive heart attack and die or get slowly worse.
They see this is dogs that have had Parvo and he has not. 

He was good today and his resting respiratory was down to normal, But tonight he is acting weird even for him.  quiet and lying down and not happy.

He did however eat a good dinner an hour ago.  He really likes the chicken soup mixture I have made to mix with his kibble.  I hardly have to beg him at all to eat.   He gets highly offended when I have to give him pills. Maybe he is mad about that.  The dog can hold a grudge.

yesterday and today

I spent all day watching Dually yesterday.  And talking on the phone.  I'm kinda of  a wreck.  Like I said, a death is much easier to deal with.

Today I spent the morning watching him mope around the house.  I decided to take him out and let him be a dog.  So I let all the dogs out and they ran out to the gate and then they ran out to the arena and waited for me to say " ready set go".  I had to draw the line on that game.  Dually picked up toys and played a little and trotted around and played a little keepaway  with Edge.  He had some fun . We stayed out for about 1 hr and then he wanted to come back in the house and lay on the stairs. Not sure why that is his choice spot, but I guess if I am upstairs I have to go over him to get down and if I am downstairs he can see me fairly easily from that vantage point and also if the other dogs come in they ignore him on the stairs.

Not sure what the new normal will be but I am not enjoying the ride.

all day at the vets

  Dually and I left at 730 this am to get his first ultrasound at my regular vets.  I waited for him  and afterward my vet suggested I take him to a cardiologist but we could not get an appt for a few days at best so we went to Tufts emergency dept.  I got there at 10:30 and just got home at 5.  Long day for a tired and stressed Dually dog.    They did another ultrasound and I never did get to talk to the cardiolgist, but a senior resident took care of us. I think that is what she was. 

Anyway the diagnosis is the same. Heart failure and he will not live long. They put him on meds and told me to keep him quiet.  I countered with " WHat's the point if he's going to die anyway he might as well die doing something he loves.".  Jan said I would " do the right thing" but damnit I don't know what the right thing is.   This is really tearing me up  inside.  I can't save him but can I put down a dog that can still wag and smile and love me?  When I go outside with  him all I see is what he can no longer do, not what he can do. He wants to work and he wants to be with me and he is upset when he is denied those things.  Is it fair to him?  

When Ebony died, she was sick for a long time before I put her down.  It killed me.  I would race home from work to see if she was still alive.  It's way easier to grieve a death and get over it than to drag it out for months or even years.

I'll wait and see how he does on the meds before I make any decisions. I wish I was a praying person. And I really wish Mom was here to talk to.