Writing in the time of SARS-Co2

It’s been over a month of the stay-at-home order since the disease Covid19 has caused a pandemic. We’re in NYC the epicenter of the disease in the U.S. I think I may have contracted the disease as well but, fortunately, I only suffered a fever, headache, body aches, and the loss of smell and taste. I’ve fully recovered except for my ability to smell. The world is still very neutral to me through my nose and while I can taste and identify sweet, salty, bitter, sour, etc. without the smell food does not taste the same. I miss enjoying food, I miss enjoying a simple cup of coffee in the mornings. I’ve decided to start olfactory training once my essential arrives. Hopefully, this smell retraining will have me back to normal.

There’s still no vaccine, lockdown is still in effect, but things are looking better little-by-little. Life with Jimmy hasn’t really changed much, we still go on long walks, still train, and our life with him at home is as it has been. The only thing different is that more people are outside walking, jogging, cycling, etc and so his exposure to people in the mornings has been more frequent and his ability to cope with people popping up has much improved. Another difference is we’ve made friends with a dog named Raisin, a 5-year old female. We have been allowing them to run in our local high-school football field and it has been awesome! Their play dynamic at the moment is all about chasing than wrestling. I can’t wait to see how their relationship develops over time.

As the weather warms up we’re going to expect to run into many dogs. Last week we ran into 10 dogs and Jimmy was able to keep his composure for all of them which was awesome! Today we only ran into 3 dogs but also great maybe his testosterone level is dropping now that he’s older and other dogs are finding his smell less intense and that he’s also less intense in his response. Anyhow, still inconclusive and needs more supportive evidence 😀

I have been enjoying our mornings together a lot more, our off least walks by the water, our fetch games, over slow strolling for him to sniff about it has all been marvelous. I think we’re growing together just fine and at the moment I’m not too concerned whether he’s going to be reactive for life or not. I mean I want to help him overcome his reactivity so that he is comfortable with himself and not so that I’m comfortable with myself if that makes sense. Here’s a photo of James Robert.

 

Not Slacking

OK it’s 2020, I promised myself to write more and I can’t believe it’s been several days already since my last post so definitely not a good sign! Anyone else has this problem? Any tips to help push oneself to write daily? I remember being able to write and write and write and now it’s like pulling teeth.

So, in other news, Jimmy used his buzzard the other day and we were just so thrilled. I have to remember to continue to add more verbal communication with him as we start to introduce more words to the board. I’m just so thrilled that he is looking more and more at the board. It hasn’t come naturally yet but I can see him mentally referring to the word-board already.

Last week my partner left for Miami. It was a rather abrupt trip and I think Jimmy felt the stress. That night he vomited and the following morning it was followed by some stress diarrhea. He hasn’t had this for a long time and after some careful thinking, it may also be linked to the stress of looking for a mate. I’ve seen a change in his behavior I mean he was interested in females in heat but before it was only if they were present. He was curious but now his drive for them, when he has found a scent of them, is tremendously strong to the point where he is continually seeking them out. I think this drive may have driven him to become stressed. I’m not sure it will get any better soon. I’ve also asked around and from other people’s experiences, it doesn’t seem like it will go away either. We’re seriously considering neutering him at this point because it doesn’t seem fair for him.

This week has been exciting I have started to volunteer at our vet’s clinic. The vet is going to hire me as a part-timer so I’ll start working at the clinic twice a week beginning in February.  I’m super excited I think it’s going to open so many new learning experiences for me. I get to see behavior and health at play. I’m also thinking of some research questions that may help me build up my application into vet school. I’m really grateful because, I’ve known this vet since 2013 and I’m so familiar with the neighborhood, and I’m so familiar with the staff already. It’s going to be a fun year — I hope!

 

 

Here is Plato’s man

“Plato proposed that humans were the only creatures at once naked and walking on two legs. Diogenes brought a plucked fowl to the lecture room, setting it loose with the words, ‘Here is Plato’s man.'”

The above quote is probably one of my favorites in 2020. Currently, I’m reading, “Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?” It’s written by, Frans de Waal, a Dutch-American ethologist, and primatologist. I enjoy his writing very much it has humor and leaves behind the snobbery of someone that has many years of experience, research, and knowledge of how animals think. I’m sure he would say he’s not an expert on that either and I’m sure we humans can never fully get down to understanding other species I mean we hardly understand our own kind. The book so far is such a joy to read and I would recommend it to everyone. I mean I would even recommend folks to read it to their young ones.

Meanwhile, Jimmy continues his bed rest.

It’s the 4th day of rest for Jimmy he has been doing great no complaints or feeling of restlessness. His limping has become less and less he’s putting more weight on this left shoulder. This morning however he requested to go out early, his stomach was gurgling a lot. I took him out and we walked for a little more than an hour around the neighborhood but again at his pace and allowed him to sniff as much as possible. His stomach did bother him but once he was able to eliminate he felt better. I think it was the new biscuits that I’ve baked for him it contains a lot of fiber a little more than he’s used to. We were on a biscuit binge the night before — he and I that is — I don’t mean to promote my own skills, but the biscuits were pretty darn good!

He came home I fed him his breakfast and we practiced a little more of our mouth opening routine. He’s understanding the concept a lot better these days and once I get him to open wide I’ll add duration. It’s going to be a challenge, but we have to start brushing soon. I don’t think this routine would necessarily be used for brushing but having him be comfortable with his mouth being opened and prodded might help make the concept of brushing less stressful.

Do you brush your dog’s teeth and how comfortable is your pooch with it? We brushed before when he was much younger but stopped and we regret stopping! I mean Jimmy’s 4 years old now his teeth are not bad but we’re seeing some tartar and we need to get that under control ASAP. So if you have a puppy now please start as soon as you can and continue so that your puppy grows up with great dental hygiene.

Yesterday’s Vet Visit

The visit was a success there were no other dogs scheduled and we had a nice walk to the vet. It took us about an hour to walk to the vet; we intentionally walked slowly allowing him to sniff as much as possible. We saw a few dogs along the way. It also helped that it was a gloomy day so most people stayed indoors.

At the vet, he was a little over-aroused but still took treats from the vet tech so he wasn’t over the top. He was happy to beg for treats too which was a good sign, but he was antsy waiting since he kept getting up and walking around. I obliged his exploration I know most folks would prefer their dog to remain in a stay position but since there was no one in the waiting area it was perfect to let him explore. I don’t find it helpful to make an anxious dog compliant to commands during anxious moments. It is a new place and allowing him to explore helps him more than harm.

When the vet was ready to see us in his new exam room Jimmy was excited to enter and be handled by the vet tech. He was also begging the vet tech for more treats, which the vet tech kept in his shirt pocket. The surface of the examining table was steel so made for a less comfortable rest. He did sit and lie down on his own, but when he was needed to be moved it was not as comfortable. He drooled a bit during the drawing blood segment of the exam. It may also be because the doctor couldn’t find a vein at the first try. The rest of the exam was less stressful at the end we couldn’t find out why he was limping, we did order a Lyme disease test to be done just in case since stiff joints are one of the symptoms of Lyme. Jimmy received all of his updated vaccines and a full blood panel test was ordered as well. I can’t wait to see the results I hope all will be good. He is also 64.4 lbs he gained 6.4 lbs since his last visit 1.5 years ago. The vet said he is in good shape though so not to worry about the weight gain.

We left the vet with some goodbye treats and a cute photo. We also had a nice walk home lots of sniffing and when we got home he went straight to bed. We also had another moment for Jimmy to vocally request for water and me pressing the buzzard.

Another Moment Missed

This morning we decided to give Jimmy a break from the park. I called his vet at 10am to make an appointment, unfortunately, the vet is still on vacation so our appointment has been scheduled for tomorrow at 1:30pm.

I decided to take the moment to do some free shaping. This time we set up two stools in front of his favorite chair. Our goal is to have him use the stools to step onto his chair to prevent him from jumping onto his chair. It took him 11 minutes to complete the goal and we both enjoyed it. In general, Jimmy is a calm guy not going to the park for one day won’t turn him into a wild doggie, but it’s always nice to be able to provide him with indoor activities to pass the time. You can watch the whole process here.

We managed to remain calm throughout the day and I took him outside for a short walk around 2pm. I was very relieved that he did not fight me to stay outside but happily obliged to go home. His limping seemed to have improved so that was a good sign that it was probably just a sprain from playing with Sandra. Anyhow, we will still go to the vet to check on other things and probably get updated vaccines, etc. We haven’t seen his vet for almost two years. Our vet has moved to a new location, hopefully, there won’t be too many encounters tomorrow and our visit remains as peaceful as possible.

On another note, this evening while I was preparing dinner Jimmy requested water but still vocally. My hands were busy with prepping and I didn’t get to go to his board in time.  I also wanted to film Jimmy vocally requesting for water, but I couldn’t either yet another moment missed. My partner was there but after he repeated the word, “water,” he pointed at the buzzard which was not part of the process. Jimmy went over to press the buzzard and we poured water for him. After he drank Jimmy stood in front of us for a little bit and went to his word board to touch the buzzard on his own and walked to his water bowl. At that instance, I let out an excited scream which also excited Jimmy and he returned to his bowl but did not drink. I’m not sure if my excitement thwarted his plans or it was just a fluke, but I’m excited to see where this will lead us.

First Day of 2020

We went to the park this morning per our usual routine. Last night’s NYE get together with Sandra was lovely, Jimmy and Sandra played a lot but there was a moment when Jimmy got up from rest with a limp. So now we have to worry about a limp that coincidentally also occurred last year. Hopefully, this is only muscle soreness from rough play and will go away.

The park was quiet Jimmy doing his sniffing (video of Jimmy doing nothing but sniffing) which at a point he spent roughly 4 minutes at the same spot sniffing something very interesting whilst I carry on a conversation with myself about sniffing. I don’t think the folks that have altered their dogs understand the difference in sniffing of an unaltered dog, particularly, males.

It got me thinking about how we get our information — we get it via language. We read or listen to the news, we talk to our partners, friends, co-workers, teachers, etc. to gain information. I mean, of course, we also get it with body gestures, and maybe subconsciously via smells too. But mainly through some kind of verbal or written or sign language. Dogs, on the other hand, get their information mainly from smelling the world. So while we develop our oral/written communication since whenever it was that man started using language the dogs have been doing the same via their nose. I felt as if we think somehow verbal speech or written language is superior but to get information simply from a whiff of something is pretty darn advanced if you ask me. The only caveat is we’d have to get down and sniff, might be something of an inconvenience, LOL.

This self-conversation got me thinking of a research I read about the heritability of smell in rats. The parental rat (father) was trained to fear a cherry-blossom smell called acetophenone. These rats then had pups and it turned out that his pups inherited the same fear towards the smell of acetophenone. Mind you the pups were not raised by dad so there was no way that they were taught by dad to fear the smell. So does it work similarly in dogs? Have the dogs been inheriting information of a variety of smells over thousands of years? I mean that’s pretty awesome, right? Humans have to learn a language but maybe for rats, and dogs and other creatures they just inherit information.

In other news, the day before yesterday was the first time Jimmy pressed the button with his nose to indicate “water,” but I don’t think it was his understanding but rather him copying what I was doing. Jimmy went to his bowl, looked at it and barked. I asked him, “Do you want water?” I went to his board and pressed the buzzard, which he then followed me and also pressed the buzzard and I dispensed water for him. It was exciting to see our first session in action. I’m excited to see more.

Oh and if you’re here for the link to Patricia McConnell’s post about sniffing the link is here.