Agility Training Part Two

It's been over a year since we took some agility classes. We only went through a series of classes and had to stop due to financial and health reasons (Maya broke her tooth). I thought about going back several times, but hesitated, because, the group of classmates are much advanced and I can no longer join them, and most importantly, neither Maya nor I were having fun.

Don't get me wrong, the trainer was great. She competes with her dogs and won so many titles. She focuses on the foundation and makes sure we take every step carefully so the dogs or handlers won't have any bad habits. However, that's just not for us. Maya was relatively young, and all she wanted to do was to greet other dogs or sniff around, so for an entire hour of sit and stay, I had to keep pumping treats into her mouth. For me, I felt frustrated handling the only out-of-control pup, while all the other dogs sit nicely and stay quietly on command. It was a torture for both of us.

Fast forward a year, a relative of ours opened up a doggy gym, Zoom Room Belmont, in our neighborhood. I decided to give agility another try and signed up for some classes. This time around, it is much better. In the eyes of many agility enthusiast, we are probably doing it all wrong, because we skipped a lot of the foundations and went straight to using the equipment. However, I don't care and this works for us. For half the price I paid for the "formal" training, we had a full hour of fun and exercise. If someday I really want earn a title with her and have to face the consequences of "bad habits", I'll bang my head then. For now, competition is a plus, but not a must.

Another reason I like the place, is because the classes don't come in "series". After purchasing a pass for certain amount of classes, I can go to any classes as long as Maya passed the prerequisite (or evaluation). We then advance to the next level when we are ready. No need to wait for classmates or felt left behind. It works well for someone like me, who may need to travel or have occasional crazy work schedules.

There was a related discussion on the forums a while ago about training. I didn't participate since I usually stay away from online arguments, but I agree with some members who said that we should set realistic goals and that life is too short to be frustrated over training a dog.

We took Maya to her first class a few days ago, and was pleased to see her having so much fun!

Maya's first class and her fluffy classmate

Three Dogs in the House

Over the past week we've been looking after Caspian, who was adopted about a year ago from a local rescue. We weren't so sure if he'll be okey to be left at home during the day, especially when he's in a new environment, because he had some separation anxiety. However, he did well with Maya when we were out, though he sometimes gets over-excited when we return. He doesn't like car rides much and would get too nervous. I was debating whether to bring him along when I took Maya to see Dr. M. Poor Caspian threw up on his way back.

Halfway through Caspian's stay, Tachi joined the pack as well. We were a bit worried, since it's our first time having three dogs in the house, and that Tachi never met Caspian before. We were careful and brought Caspian outdoors to meet with Tachi first when she arrived. After a short walk together Maya joined in, and as soon as they were let off-leash, the three were playing like crazy. Maya and Tachi both know Caspian is smaller, and played much gentler with him than with each other.

The biggest challenge was to walk the three dogs at the same time, because they have very different potty habit: Tachi likes to stay on the road, and only jumps on to the grass area when she really has to go; Maya likes to sniff around the grass to find the "perfect spot"; while Caspian likes to walk by the bushes so he can keep marking. Imagine me tangled up in 3 leases when they all want to go separate directions.

Monthly Expenses: April 2013

April 2013

• Vet & Medical: $481

TOTAL: $481
YTD TOTAL: $735

Vet & Medical

This month, all the expenses happened in the vet & medical department. We started some new treatments with a different holistic vet, and the two visits cost us $175 and $85 respectively. 

We also got a blood test done with Hemopet, which costs us $155 for the blood test, $56 for the regular vet visit to get the blood drawn, and $10 for shipping the blood sample.

Yes, it's a bit crazy... Sigh...

Busy Weekend

Maya had a super busy weekend. On Friday evening, we went to Zoom Room Belmont to check out the classroom. Maya had a lot of fun trying out the agility equipment as well as tasting some yummy treats. Zoom Room Belmont's owner is good friend of ours and we are so happy to have a doggy gym in the neighborhood. We'll probably start taking some agility classes in the up-coming weeks.

On Saturday, we went on a hike with a group of Shiba Inu owners. Maya met her old friend, Tachi, and made some new friends. She was even out-fluffed by a long-coat Akita! We met the Akita's owner on Facebook through Tachi's owner, and later realized that our dads were coworkers, our sisters were kindergarten classmates, and I used to hang out with her sister at our dads' office when we were kids. What a small world!

On Sunday, Caspian came to visit us. He will be staying with us for the next week while his parents go on a vacation. He was a bit nervous when his mommy left and kept looking at the door, but he adjusted pretty well afterwards. This is our first time looking after a non-Shiba, and boy they are different! As oppose to Maya's aloofness, he's such a cuddle bug with 110% recall. This will be a week with lots of hugs and kisses.

Thyroid Test Results

Maya's Thyroid test results came in on Friday. Not sure if I should feel happy or not, everything seems normal. Her T3 is lower than normal, but they don't think it's thyroid related.


The actual numbers:

	Result	Specific Range	General Range	Unit
T4	1.70	1.40 - 3.50	0.80-3.80	ug/dL
Free T4	1.00	0.85 - 2.30	0.55 - 2.32	ug/dL
T3	15.5	30.0 - 70.0	30.0 - 70.0	ug/dL
Free T3	1.90	1.60 - 3.50	1.60 - 3.50	pg/mL
TgAA	<1		<10	%

Besides the thyroid test, I also ordered a few more tests, including Heartworm, Complete Blood Count with Differential, and Chemistry Panel. Most of the results look good but there were a few numbers that landed out of the "General Range". Even though they all had an "ok" next to them, it's always a bit worrisome to see abnormal numbers:

	Result	General Range	Unit
Sodium	156	139 - 154	mEq/L
Potassium	7.3	3.6 - 5.5	mEq/L
Na/K Ratio	21	27 - 38
Chloride	125	102 - 120	mEq/L
Lipase	75	77 - 695	IU/L

The assessment from Hemopet:

"Thyroid levels look good overall here so there is no evidence that thyroid dysfunction is contributing to Maya's itchiness. Low T3 level is most likely due to a non-thyroidal issue. The rest of the panel is normal. Recommend annual retesting."


Since I don't know how to read the numbers, I guess I'll have to consult the vet to see if there's anything that needs to be done.

Blood Sample Shipped

Thyroid problems seem to be more an more common among dogs these days. I have read about quite a few Shiba Inus that have hypothyroidism, and a few also showed symptoms of itchiness. I seriously thought about the possibility many times that maybe Maya also have thyroid disorders, but somehow always dismissed the idea. Our past few vets have never brought it up as well. 

During our first appointment with Dr. M, she noticed a few symptoms that could be related to thyroid issues and wanted us to get a blood test done. If it really is hypothyroidism, it could be an easy fix with one pill. If not, at least we can rule it out. Though most vets can run the test, she suggested us to send the blood sample to Hemopet, which is also recommended by many forum members, since they have a much more complete and breed specific database. 

Because Dr. M only does house visits and she doesn't have the equipment, we had to go back to our regular vet to get the blood drawn. Unfortunately, it's been over a year since our last visit, so we had to go in for a formal office visit. After 10+ minutes of not-that-useful chat with the doctor, he agreed to help draw the blood. The good news is that they didn't charge me anything extra. As always, Maya took it with a stride and I was off with two small vials of blood/serum after a short wait. Even though the receptionist told us before the appointment that they will package the samples for me, they only provided a small box and an ice pack. I had to do some DIY packaging on my own.

At the FedEx store, the guy was shocked when I told him I'm shipping dog blood. It took him a while and a few phone calls to make sure it's something they can accept. However, it was my turn to be surprised when he quoted me $59 for over-night shipping. After some debate, I opted for the $9 2-day shipping instead. Fingers crossed that Maya's precious blood will arrive safely at Hemopet tomorrow.

[Edit 5/1/2013 10:40] Just got an email from Hemopet. Looks like the samples have arrived with no problems.

Whole blood and serum samples

Wrapped in bubble wrap

Printed forms and blood sample in a ziploc bag

Added an ice pack

Wrapped in a towel and in another ziploc bag

Tucked in a box

New Treatments

Maya's itchiness has been getting worse over the past month as the weather got warmer. We've decided to stop going to the previous doctor, because 1) he kept trying to sell us stuff, 2) he's been asking us to go through Maya's history every time we visit, which doesn't feel good when being charged by the time spent, and 3) he turns my ideas into his suggestions. I just felt like not trusting him and there isn't much he can offer anymore.

Black eye and hot spots showing up again

Over the winter, I was looking into a new treatment call NAET and found a local vet, Dr. M who provides this treatment. Unfortunately, she only does house visits and we are out of her service zone. We exchanged a few emails and she kindly gave me suggestions even without seeing us our charging us. A few weeks ago, just when the itchiness got worse, a friend moved out of his apartment and agreed to let us use his empty house for an appointment. To my surprise, Dr. M spent a good amount of time reading through my blog before her first visit. This not only saved me a lot time going though Maya's history, it also gave me a good first impression. No matter the treatments work or not, at least she shows that she cares and not just in for the money.

Waiting in an empty apartment

During the first appointment, we spent some time talking about Maya's conditions and the treatments we've tried. Like the previous doctor, Dr. M also thinks that Maya has blood deficiency and some inner wind imbalance. She agrees that the Dang Gui Yin Zi (當歸飲子) we are currently giving Maya is good, but we should also add in more Si Wu Tang (四物湯). She also suggested to get Maya's thyroid checked, just to rule out the possibilities of hypothyroidism, since some of the symptoms are similar. (More on this topic later in a different post.)

After all the talking, we got started with the NAET treatment. NAET (for humans) in short, is to put little bottles of allergen against the body and check if the body gets weak, which means the body thinks the allergen is something hostile. Then the doctor will do some massage while the patient holds the bottles to let the body accept the allergens. Well, up to this point, it's weird but kind of makes sense. However, when it's applied to a dog, it feels even more like voodoo...

To test whether the allergens weaken Maya, I would put one hand on Maya and another on the doctor while she touches the bottles and pushes her own fingers backwards to test the strength. Once she found the ones that may be problematic, she would put the bottles against Maya's body and massage me while I touch Maya. It would have made a lot more sense if the massage was done on Maya instead of me, right? Anyways, the allergens found are Parasitic Worms, Gallbladder, Program, and Mammary. The doctor said it's not important what they are, since they were all "cleared". None of the food, pollen, grass, or dust related allergens showed up.

Allergens that "weaken" Maya

Another treatment we tried is acupuncture for balancing Maya's "Qi". Maya was a chap and didn't even wink when she got poked by 7 needles. She also stood still for a good 10 minutes while we waited. After the treatment, she was really sleepy and dozed off right by the doctor's feet. She spent rest of the day sleeping as well.

Acupuncture

A week after the first appointment, we met the doctor for the second time. Since my friend's apartment is no longer available, we met in a parking lot and had the treatments done in the trunk of my hatchback. So far it's been a week after the second visit, and we haven't seen much improvements yet. As for the cost, the first visit was $175 for 1.5 hours and the follow-up was $85 for half an hour. No, it's not cheap. Though I do have some doubts, I'm willing to have a few more visits. I really wish we can see some results or find some answers with her up-coming blood tests.