Health/Behavior Journal

Early AM- Winston's first "potty" of the day was at 6:45am. He did both duties and came right back in to my room. My nurse reported that he seemed relaxed and normal. There was no straining to go to the bathroom. Winston was a little thrown off by my new shower (first time using it w/ him home) but after a few seconds he laid down on his bed across the room. He ate 3cups of Nutro for breakfast around 8:15am, and got another "potty" break which he defecated for the second time. He has been normal all morning.

First Day Home!

Well, yesterday around 2pm I received word from Palmyra that I could come to pick Winston up anytime between 5 and 7pm. Although they were unable to give me any word about how the tests went, I was nothing less than ecstatic to get my boy back! After a long day of errands we finally made it to the vets office. I think that the five minute wait to get him was the longest wait of my life. Dr. Clemens arrived with a shrug and look of confusion. The test results show that nothing is wrong with SSD Winston. Everything came back fine and that leads him to believe that it is behavioral. In saying that I will be going back to normalcy. Although Winston will be working full time again there are a few changes that we are going to make. Incase the urinating was by some chance a behavoiral act, he will be tethered to my bed for a week or so, as well as only pottied when I offer and not at his own discretion. I will also up his food again, brining his total to three cups plus treats. I will also make a point to journal his behavior daily. When the vet tech brought Winston back I was overwhelmed with the same feeling that I got when we met. He was so excited that he leaped straight onto my lap instead of his polite calm up onto my footplates. He continued to go back and forth between Laurel and I and wiggling his entire body. I gave him his new duck and he immediately settled and the best part was his wagging tail for the remainder of the evening. Winston isn't much of a tail wagger, so I love when he does.

7/19/06
Winston pottied when offered twice between 8pm and 11pm. He was relaxed and followed me from room to room. He was allowed free range during the night and followed the "nurse" command twice. He was reportedly a normal "Winston" from midnight - 8am. I will update my nurses on the new protocal tonight.

7/20/06
early am- Winston was eager to eat this am and finished his old amount of food in his normal amount of time. I will up his food tomorrow morning via his bowl and today through treats. He has slept on his bed and responded to commands normal all morning. I will offer him a potty break at 11am again. I would also like to try to get him dressed and out in public today. We will begin tethering tonight.
early pm- Winston pottied at 11am when I took him out. It was average amount, brighter yellow, no straining. While outside to potty at 11 I did a difficult "nurse". No one inside knew I was practicing which makes it much more authentic. He ran up the yard, across the deck and barked to get someones attention. He did not seem to mind running after urinating and there were no obvious stress signals. We took a walk (1/2 the distance we usually do) around our neighborhood. I offered him a potty before we left, he did not take it. Half way through the walk I noticed him showing signs of needing to potty so as soon as I got to a field I let him go. He went a small amount, less yellow, no straining. After arriving home he "spoke" to get attention so that my sister knew to let me in. He will not drink now that we are home though. He is panting and it was certainly warm out. He rests but follows me from room to room.
evening- Winston was incredibly excited to get. He worked as I expected after having a 2month break. He didn't "potty" at Barnes and Noble but we had no accident. When we got home I took him outside and he pottied before coming inside to get a large drink. He slept in my room with me and was normal during our dinner time. Around 6:30 we got ready again and went to the Pottery Works. He "pottied" outside before entering. He was very normal the entire evening. We had to wait outside for an hour in order to move a car that had my conversion van parked in and Winston was patient the whole time. We did some training for "Where's Laurel?". He seemed to not feel well once we got back to my house. He did potty but immediately afterwards his ears went back and he ran into the house. He found a toy and got onto the couch.
late pm- Winston spent the night beside my bed. His last potty was 11:30pm (he only urinated). He was calm and slept the entire night.

Another Night At Palmyra

Yesterday Palmyra called to inform me that Winston had to stay at the clinic for another night of testing, with the possibility of two or three more nights.  She told me that she was unable to give me much information about the results of the previously performed tests other than the doctor is concerned and needed to run more.  Winston was schedule for two tests to be performed last night and this morning.  First being a water deprivation test and second being an ATCH to test of Addison's disease as well as a disease that I had never heard of.  They said Winston was resting comfortably (i'm sure they say that to everyone) but that he had a hard time when I left yesterday.  I am trying so hard to stay busy and not think about everything.  I'll call around 2 o'clock today.

I miss my old man...

Overnight studies at the Palmyra

After a long weekend of lots of indoor potty accidents my anxiety for today's visit was very built up.  Winston had lost another pound and I was ready to meet Dr. Clements.  Luckily the wait was short and Dr. Clements was wasting no time in listening to my problems.  After explaining the past 8wks to 12wks he immediately decided to begin a 24 hour segment of thorough tests. He is redoing all of their studies as well as running an EKG and an ultra sound.  When I asked when he would like me to schedule the tests he told me that there was no time to lose and that he would be starting them right away.  Leaving Winston was much harder than I expected it to be, but I know not only has Winston been there before, so has every other SSD. That's all for now, i'll update as soon as I hear from the vet.

Sick Boy (part 5)

Well, Winston had his x-rays and appointment at SSD's vet scheduled for the end of next week when our plans changed drastically. This morning on our walk he was sniffing the ground obsessively. This is NOT like Winston even when he has to urinate badly. I stopped and told him to "Go Potty" so instinctively he squatted and I immediately noted straining. To no avail he went at most a tablespoon. His urine was very dark. I hoped he was just marking a spot in someone elses yard and attempted to carry on our walk. About 5 feet up the road he started signalling that he had to "Go Potty" again, so I offered him another chance in another yard. Once again he strained and only a few drops came out. The third time that this happened I called my local vet and turned towards home. They said they wanted to see him immediately. After calling them I called Palmyria, SSD's vet and they moved his appointment up to this monday night. My local vet did a chest and abdomen xray as well as cathetorized him to check for a blockage. Everything came back clear, but he still hasn't urinated. He is home and resting now. This is going to be the longest three days of my life...

Month Update

Well in the past month Winston has been acting fine and has only had one accident. He has had a hard time because of all of the fireworks but luckily our friend Sam reccomended Rescue Remedy as a relaxent. It has been working wonderfully! Winston seems to be much more relaxed and calm but still able to work. My vet said this was an excellent option as well. Because Winston has been having accidents we do not go out in public very often. We will not go to hospitals, grocery stores, or anywhere that pottying isn't very close to the door. We did go out to lunch a few weeks ago which was a perfect photo oppurtunity.



Other than that this month we have been spending a lot of time outdoors.



We took a few trips down to a creek near my house.



We also spent a week at the MDA's Summer Camp in philly, PA with SSD Ross, CPL Dylan, and SSD Sequoia.

Sick Boy (part 4)

Yesterday (6/4) wasn't a very good day for Winnie. We had a really great weekend with SSD Sarge (pictures to come) and decided to go visit SSD Owens for some play time like we do every few weeks. Winston is the mellow one out of the crowd and was acting like his usual self wondering around. About 4o'clock Winston had one of his shaking spells from a storm that was coming in. It didn't last more than a minute or so and he seemed to shake it off (literally) and, to my surprise became excessively playful. He took a toy and began running and trying to get Owen to play. I am running the behavior over and over in my head trying to pick out nervous signs and I can't find any. His tail was wagging but not excessively, he was throwing the toy up and catching it but not growling or shaking it. It seemed to be very normal play behavior. He within seconds for the first time since the day I got him, dropped the toy, and urinated. I was baffled. He has never done that. He is GREAT with telling me when he needs to go out, and he was offered a potty before we entered about 1hr before that. He did not go potty but wasn't interested. Laurel took him outside to potty after he stopped and he went again a LOT. He laid in the hall noticeably upset the rest of the afternoon. While cleaning up the urine we noticed traces of blood. This morning my vet simply asked for another urine sample, which i'm waiting to hear about.
Today Winston is very mellow and seems extra tired. His water intake and pottying have been normal. He's barked at cars like usual and has normal color in his gums. I am waiting to hear from the director of SSD about what she thinks.

Sick Boy (part III)

Well the bloodwork came back fine leaving us with no answer as to what is going on with Winston. One other bit of the puzzle that has been added is that Winston lost about 4lbs in a little less than a month. Now this wouldn't concerned me had I not been giving him a little more than a quarter cups more food a day. The vet discussed many reasons weight loss could have occured and i'm pretty sure it is anxiety related. All things included, we're going to do another weigh in, in one month, as well as xrays. I've also decided to up his food a bit more. Other than that life's been busy but nothing new to report. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods, oh and everyone send positive thoughts Willow's way as it seems her and Winston are both not feeling so well these days!

Sick Boy (10 days later)

The next am (5/16) Winston held half of his breakfast down and was eager to eat. He's been (temperment wise) fine since the 15th. On Monday (5/22/06) I took in Winston's "healthy" urine sample. Tuesday I got a call from the vet who seemed concerned. He was now requesting two more urine samples. These were to be the last potty before bed time and the first in the am. I brought both of those in yesterday (5/25) and after talking with my vet (who was questioning how often Winston had water available?) we have decided to do a series of bloodwork. He's pretty convinced that something is wrong with Winston's kidney's. He said they aren't breaking down the density of his urine properly. We're going to be scheduling that appointment today, and i'll be sure to keep you posted!

Sick Boy

About two years ago Winston was "leaking" after urinating. His urine sample came back a little off, indicating an infection and he was treated successfully with antibiotics. This morning we had an interesting set of events.
Our morning routine has gotten really great, Winston knows to sit on his bed until he hears my seat belt click! That is his release to get excited about eating breakfast. He's allowed to prance and do his little happy dance then until his bowl is down. He has never missed this routine - in five years. If he is anywhere else in the house when he hears the click of my belt he RUNS to me. Like any other lab would anticipating breakfast. This AM he did neither. When I called him, he didn't come. I went looking for him to find him doing a "potty dance" by the door. Obviously let him out and waiting for him to come back. When he did so he was lethargic and not excited about breakfast whatsoever. He seemed to be breathing heavy but not panting. I called him to walk along with me into my room where I feed him and even after getting his bowl he hardly perked his ears. I decided to hold off and see what he would do if I left the room. He has never allowed me to forget to feed him. He'll drool and cry and dance when I walk near his bowl if he hasn't eaten. This morning he slept. I gave him about 40 minutes before I called my vet - who asked to see him asap. It was 1hr between the phone call and getting there - Winston alerted to go out 5 times and urinating 6. I got a sample simply because they "might" need it. He was remotely playful when he saw the cows in the field behind our house and ate one piece of dogfood as a reward for helping me. 15 minutes before we had to leave (about 5 after that treat) Winston started vomiting, so we got in the car and headed out. After his examination (temp fine, color fine, no abnormal masses, no abdominal pain) the vet checked his urine sample and found that again the levels were off. He gave me something in case Winston vomits again but sent us home for 24hrs. If he is still lethargic or urinating excessively tomorrow am they will run blood work for kidney and live problems. He said they are all very rare but something is causing his levels to be off. If Winston IS better in the am, the vet wants me to wait a few weeks until Winston is back to himself and bring in a healthy urine sample to compare to.

Sigh. He's resting now beside me...

Ruffwear

Winston and I spent time at Susquehanna Service Dog's latest transfer this past week. This group was very vocal about appreciating my input in relation to actually living with an SD. I have to say I was very pleased with Winnie's behavior! Cindy Williams our Training Coordinator and I discovered that we both want to do obedience with our dogs! We plan on getting together to start in a few weeks! She'll be doing it with her dog, SSD Oliver. Anyway, i'm very excited about that!!

I've gotten some new products that i've been meaning to update everyone on! About three weeks ago we received our first order from Ruffwear! They offer a discount to all IAADP service dog team members! Anyway, we got some basics such as the ever so tiny and handy dandy portable water bowl, called the Trail Runner, and the 25 cup food capacity tote called the Growler Cinch Top! Both are by far the best quality products that i've seen!

I'll finish this entry later - for now we're going shopping with the family! This will be SSD Torino's longest day out! Wish us luck!

Never Get Too Comfortable!!

Well, lets see. For years i've been incredibly strict with who does what with Winston, and when. The more people that are "in his life" so to speak the harder, theoretically, it is for him and I to have a solid bond. The line is fine on how much to regulate and the one thing I have always been caught up on is this: When Winston is told "nurse" it is because I need help, pretty quickly. 9 times out of 10 I am in pain and need repositioned. When the person comes in, the first thing I have them do is "treat Winston". Now, there is a Rubbermaid container that I store Winnies food in, everyone is told either a big hand full or a small hand full with verbal praise. This is probably done twice per nurse shift, so even new nurses get the idea quickly. Now, i've been torn because if I follow the rules strictly, I should, by all means, have the nurse bring the food over to me, and then I would give it to him myself. I'm not going to lie, it's laziness that causes me to have my nurses treat him while i'm asleep/in bed. Anyway, I paid for it. I've got this nurse that has continually made comments about how he looks too thin and has been pushy and said things like "Are you sure that you fed him this morning?" Yes, I'm positive that my Labrador would never let me forget to feed him. So, Monday morning I have him "nurse" and when she comes in, I remind her to "treat Winston". Now, this is probably her, i'd say 6th or 7th shift so i'm pretty confident that she knew what to do. She didn't understand what I said and I had to repeat myself a few times. I ended up saying "I need you to give Winston a few pieces of dog food as a reward for getting you." The next thing I know...[Disclaimer: If you are anything like me in a training SD/handler aspect you may want to brace yourself, or sit down. I hear his measuring cup scoop out food and before I could say anything, she DUMPS IT INTO HIS BOWL AND WINSTON STARTS EATING!!!! I pulled my covers down and closed my eyes and said "Please tell me you did NOT just feed him!!!!!!!!!" She continued to rant that I said to do it. Well, whatever, it happened, I put it behind me and continued on. WRONG IDEA. I should have went over board in attention to him. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, hoping it wouldn't matter. Lets see, since then Winston has refused his leave its (small things, and big - went upstairs and ate the cat food!!) Broken a ton of stays (which were going so well!) and opted to watch whoever else is around when I give him basic commands before follows through. So, today, we've got some great treats and we'll be spending lots of time together going "back to the basics".

Lesson Learned - You can never be too thorough or strict with people and your SD.

Therepy Dog Winston <3

My family is amist some very trying times right now, and in attempt to help my aunt out we offered for their youngest, Dani, to stay the weekend with us. She spent the weekend playing with all of the dogs and hanging out. I was delighted to see how Winston took to the situation. Like i've said before he isn't a very social or overly friendly dog. He is sort of a loner and likes his space. Well, all of that went right out the window this weekend. He was glued to Dani. He followed her EVERYWHERE. Had to sleep at her feet, or on top of her.



He still worked for me and made a point to "check on" me, but it was very obvious to me that his priority this weekend was Dani. The first night he slept half way between us, at the bottom of the stairs that led to her room. The next day, he was laying on the couch with her when a friend of my mom's boyfriends came inside. Winston about had a cow. This man has been around for two years at least once a week. Winston leaped off of the couch barking at him. Obviously I ended the behavior and put him in a "down/stay" back on the couch. It didn't alarm me until I noticed that the ENTIRE night Winston insisted on following this man's EVERY LAST MOVE. Even if it was just with his eyes, he didn't let him out of his sight. He promptly laid on top of Dani and held her down.

I've had Winston for four years now (almost five) and I have never seen him bond with someone like this. It is truly amazing. Dani is going through a lot right now and although she isn't showing it to us, I think Winston can sense the toll it is taking on her.

Classic Look From Winston

Winston often appears as if he is thinking that he is better than this. This what? Oh take your pick. This dog, this puppy, this common task, this location...the list goes on and on. I have finally captured that thought in a photo! I was trying to get him to "Watch Me!" for a cute picture outside, and he was more interested in watching the bus. He turned his head toward me and I swear he is such a snob!!

Proof!



Love always.

"Nurse!"

I'm suffering from a pretty bad respiratory infection that has caused me to lose my voice. This morning my mom and nurse were in the kitchen, and couldn't hear me calling for them. So, I sent Winston out to get them. Apparently they were not thinking because they kept saying "What?? What do you want Winston???" and then they opened the back door and told him to "Go out and go potty!!" Apparently Winston finally stood his ground and wouldn't go out. He usually does! He instead ran back into my bedside and put his head down. I gave him another, more excited "Nurse!!" and he ran back out into the kitchen to try again. My mom and nurses conversation continued as they made a comment about how he is being so weird. So for a second time Winston came back to my bedside, head down, and waited for what to do. This time when he ran back out there someone realized what was going on and came in! He is such a great dog. You'd think after this many years i'd stop realizing that over and over. I swear he just gets better and better though!

Demo's & Therapy Work

Today Winston and I went to visit my old highschool. Aside from the fact that I had a wonderful time seeing all of my old teachers, the day turned out to be GREAT. Three classrooms wanted demo's! Two of them were IU-13 and Winston did wonderfully. At the end I undressed him and he was so wonderful with the kids. He even did a gentle "up" onto one of their laps and surprisingly enough STAYED while he was pet. All in all a great day for him. One thing that I was interested to see was that Winston didn't show any signs of remembering my HS. He did react to one teacher that I was close to, but other than that he showed no signs of remembering it. Oh - one more thing to note! At one point we found ourselves in the hallway during period switch and he was freaking EXCELLENT! It was so cramped he was walking behind me a bit, and he ignored everyone!! That's all for today!

Shedding MANIA & Paws Abilities '06

I took advantage of the 70 degree weather today and brushed Winston for awhile. I can't believe how much he's shedding. Oh, and where in the WORLD did this dander come from? He's never had any before! I am thinking about starting him back up on some supliments.

I was so pleased w/ Winstons general behavior at Paws Abilities. He responded 99% of the time to my voice only! When Laura got a minute to come see him, he turned into his old happy silly puppy pants self. It was such a kodack moment, and guess who didn't bring her camera! He is honestly the perfect SD to me. After a few minutes of being allowed to socialize he stopped on his own and went back to maintaining perfect eye contact. He is such a great dog.

He has been a huge huge huge brat about me training the puppy. Instead of locking him in another room while I work w/ him, I've been cutting his breakfast in half and giving it to him in his Busy Buddy with some nice frozen peanut butter to hold it in longer.

New Foster Puppy!

Last night we went to pick up SSD Torino our new puppy!

Winston is so funny with puppies. He gets whiney.



My mom and I are going to be keeping the puppies training and photos in his own blog. Anyway, time to go to the bus stop! (Winstons new favorite place!)

Interesting Point

Last night I was suffering with a terrible headache, and when it finally subsided, I got very hyper. Tammy and my mom and I started cracking jokes and laughing non stop. I took an ugly cat stuffed toy from the daycare and tried to get Winston to play. To my surprise, he went crazy with it. He started running around the house, from one couch to the other and waiting for me to tell him to "Go find Grandma!" at which point he would sprint across the house and leap on her. Tammy later said that in her year and a half of working here she has never seen him so "playfully out of control". I laughed and said if i'm in a crazy mood he seems to loosen up a bit. It was then that Tammy said something and made a connection that i've never made before. I am a pretty serious person. To some, I am incredibly serious. If you've ever met or been around Winston, he is exactly the same. Maybe he follows my moods more than i've ever noticed before.

Mister loves to work, and knows when play time is appropriate. Just like mom.


Winston a few weeks back, ignoring all of the toys around him to retrieve a glove for me.

Winter Blues = Lack of Updates

No, no, no. We can't blame my laziness on the Winter. I will recap with a photo entry though!

Winston and I had some lovely friends stay for a few weeks over the holidays.



Winston (as some of you know) is not the most playful chap around town. He also is not always very fond of other dogs. I would go as far as to say that he generally "tolerates" having other dogs around. He's never been aggressive, but rather anti social.

That being said, Winston's closeness to Max Fisher, is quite the exciting happening.





Winston loves going to the bus stop for one of our daycare children. It got to the point this fall that he would pull ahead for most of our walk if I said "Where's Maddie??" He stands at such attention looking down the street, waiting for the bus. We went up a few weeks ago for the first time in months.



We went to Joni and Dave's with Christina and SSD Ross and eee, I was so proud of him. Dave wanted to get a photo of all three of the dogs, so he put them in a sit/stay.

Apparently he didn't release them because when I walked over about 10 minutes later, Winston was sitting there still and alert.

Not much else to write about. We've been going to Matt and SSD Owen's for poker. Winstons only mission is to get the larger than a lab stuffed dog and curl up on it. Haha, he wasn't so sure about their grandfather clock the first day, but that wasn't an issue after the first few kongs.

We're getting our new foster puppy next week! I'll definitely post pictures then! Until next time...