So, yesterday, Sam and I spent almost 15 hours on the road. That's enough to tire out your average young adult dog, let alone a not-so-young adult dog! Here's the scoop:
7:30am - Get up, take care of business, eat breakfast
7:45am - Get in the car and drive to the airport to drop off Mike
8:30-9am - Arrive at Canine University and get settled in
9-12:30pm - Teach dog agility with Mom by barking my comments (she needs my help, trust me!)
1-4pm - Inspect my barn where Emmy lives. Check on the dogs that I allow to live and visit there. Meet new dogs and explain the rules to them. Do a little mentoring for some people and other animals. Lay in the snow. Bark. Have some snacks (horse manure) and then retire for a nap in the car. Oh yeah, and walk around a whole bunch and hide from Mom.
4-5pm Drive to Akron to teach more dogs.
5:15-9pm - Teaching in Akron. I decided to let Mom teach these classes on her own since she did a pretty decent job in the morning. I napped and meditated in the car and worked on some philosophical theories that I'm developing...
9-10pm - Drive home.
10-10:30pm - Take care of business, eat dinner in the kitchen (walked in by myself), and walked to the stairs by myself when Mom said, "Okay, let's go to bed." Her foot hurt and I didn't want her to have to carry me that whole way. She was very surprised to hear my footsteps on the floor behind her. Hey, she had a busy day, too, it was the least I could do. Sometimes my foot hurts, too...
10:30-11pm - Suffer through snuggling and hugging and kissing and, "You're such a great dog!", and all that crap. Sheesh, can't a guy get some sleep around here? I don't want to sleep on the human bed, just put me on my mat, CRIMINI, it's been 16 years, you know I want to sleep on the floor...
11pm - On my mat at last. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
Even The Most Amazing Dog in the World (and superheros) need to sleep sometime!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Hiding in Plain Sight
It was the summer of 1998 and Sam and I were at the Polo Field Metroparks. I know it was that summer because that was the only summer that Sam and I were alone. Sara passed away in November 1997 and Abby joined our family in May 1999.
So Sam and I were in the big field at the Polo Field and it was a gorgeous summer day. Sam was off leash (again, this is not legal, don't do it :) and I decided to lay down in the grass and enjoy the sun. Sam was smelling and frolicking and, for once, there was no one else around. I decided to call Sam to where I was, so I whistled. Sam looked up, then resumed sniffing. I whistled again and Sam started looking around. I called his name and he started looking around more and then began to trot around. I realized when I focused on his face that he was looking for me at my normal standing height - since I was laying in the grass he couldn't see me. He was looking for a vertical me, not a horizontal grass-height me. This was fascinating so I continued to call and whistle and watch him trying to find me. I felt a little bad (though I wasn't actually hiding), so after a few minutes I sat up. He caught sight of the movement, saw me, and ran over.
One of my favorite moments with Sam followed. We both laid down in the grass and we were facing each other with our chins on our paws. We really looked at each other and I told him what a good dog he was. Such a simple thing. Looking into each others' eyes, laying in the grass. It was a great day.
So, I'm thinking, what in my life might be "hiding in plain sight"? What might I not be seeing because I'm expecting it to look a certain way? Hmmmm.... What might happen if I change my point-of-view or abandon my preconceptions? Maybe what I'm looking for is right in front of me...calling to me...
So Sam and I were in the big field at the Polo Field and it was a gorgeous summer day. Sam was off leash (again, this is not legal, don't do it :) and I decided to lay down in the grass and enjoy the sun. Sam was smelling and frolicking and, for once, there was no one else around. I decided to call Sam to where I was, so I whistled. Sam looked up, then resumed sniffing. I whistled again and Sam started looking around. I called his name and he started looking around more and then began to trot around. I realized when I focused on his face that he was looking for me at my normal standing height - since I was laying in the grass he couldn't see me. He was looking for a vertical me, not a horizontal grass-height me. This was fascinating so I continued to call and whistle and watch him trying to find me. I felt a little bad (though I wasn't actually hiding), so after a few minutes I sat up. He caught sight of the movement, saw me, and ran over.
One of my favorite moments with Sam followed. We both laid down in the grass and we were facing each other with our chins on our paws. We really looked at each other and I told him what a good dog he was. Such a simple thing. Looking into each others' eyes, laying in the grass. It was a great day.
So, I'm thinking, what in my life might be "hiding in plain sight"? What might I not be seeing because I'm expecting it to look a certain way? Hmmmm.... What might happen if I change my point-of-view or abandon my preconceptions? Maybe what I'm looking for is right in front of me...calling to me...
Friday, February 18, 2011
Oh Happy Day!
Yesterday when I came home, I went upstairs to where Sam was spending his time and as I came around the corner and saw his face, he saw me too and HE WAGGED HIS TAIL!! I couldn't stop watching it and smiling and telling Sam how happy that tail wagging was making me... For a week or so, I have so been hoping that he might wag his tail when he saw me - and then he did!
This has not happened in over a month, maybe two months. Sam's tail wags sometimes (like when he sees dogs at the barn) and also when he barks at the cats sometimes and, of course, sometimes when he's eating. However, he had not wagged in recognition since early January, I think. It's not that Sam doesn't know us or still love seeing us, we're pretty sure that he is still recovering sensation in his hind end due to a relatively long term subluxation in his neck.
We do "tail therapy" as I call it several times a day (I gently lift Sam's tail and hold a little tension on it as I move my hand from the root to the tip of his tail). During "tail therapy" Sam's tail usually begins to wag and continues for a while. The time that his tail stays wagging has been increasing and if you visualize a dog wagging their tail (or watch your dog), you can see many small muscles in their very low back activating and also they often need to compensate their balance slightly as the tail moves from side to side. So as Sam's tail wags, he's doing a "workout" of those muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels that might have been asleep for some time.
Here's to wagging tails!
This has not happened in over a month, maybe two months. Sam's tail wags sometimes (like when he sees dogs at the barn) and also when he barks at the cats sometimes and, of course, sometimes when he's eating. However, he had not wagged in recognition since early January, I think. It's not that Sam doesn't know us or still love seeing us, we're pretty sure that he is still recovering sensation in his hind end due to a relatively long term subluxation in his neck.
We do "tail therapy" as I call it several times a day (I gently lift Sam's tail and hold a little tension on it as I move my hand from the root to the tip of his tail). During "tail therapy" Sam's tail usually begins to wag and continues for a while. The time that his tail stays wagging has been increasing and if you visualize a dog wagging their tail (or watch your dog), you can see many small muscles in their very low back activating and also they often need to compensate their balance slightly as the tail moves from side to side. So as Sam's tail wags, he's doing a "workout" of those muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels that might have been asleep for some time.
Here's to wagging tails!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
The Ugly Fruit
In November 1997, my dog Sara passed away at the age of about 5 years old from kidney failure. The illness was sudden and her passing was devastating. She had been my soulmate for the entire challenging three years that we had been together. I called her my Borderline Collie or my Underfoot Shepard when someone asked her breed. Sara was a challenge and a delight and Sam lived happily in her very large shadow and was perfectly behaved.
That morning after Sara died he was standing by my bed looking me in the eye (the bed was low :) and wagging his tail and smiling. Sampson was not quite three years old then and he taught me his first of many important lessons - "You've got to get up. You've got to go on. You have to let me out and feed me." In his inimitably cheerful way he was forcing me to move on. He had loved Sara very much and then had let her go.
That day we went to the Polo Field where we used to go with Sara and the dogs would run and frolic off-leash (which is not legal, so don't do it :). That day Sampson picked up an ugly fruit (an Osage orange) about the size of a softball and brought it to me and then I threw it and he brought it back and he did this over and over and over again. It was the first and last time that Sam has ever played fetch. I don't know why he did it, but I suppose in his own young dog way, that was a sign or a gift or a lesson or something for me. I do know that I have never forgotten it. Every fall when I see those ugly fruits littering the road, I remember our one game of fetch in 16 years and how he took care of me for a while - even though it might have looked like I was taking care of him...
That morning after Sara died he was standing by my bed looking me in the eye (the bed was low :) and wagging his tail and smiling. Sampson was not quite three years old then and he taught me his first of many important lessons - "You've got to get up. You've got to go on. You have to let me out and feed me." In his inimitably cheerful way he was forcing me to move on. He had loved Sara very much and then had let her go.
That day we went to the Polo Field where we used to go with Sara and the dogs would run and frolic off-leash (which is not legal, so don't do it :). That day Sampson picked up an ugly fruit (an Osage orange) about the size of a softball and brought it to me and then I threw it and he brought it back and he did this over and over and over again. It was the first and last time that Sam has ever played fetch. I don't know why he did it, but I suppose in his own young dog way, that was a sign or a gift or a lesson or something for me. I do know that I have never forgotten it. Every fall when I see those ugly fruits littering the road, I remember our one game of fetch in 16 years and how he took care of me for a while - even though it might have looked like I was taking care of him...
Monday, February 7, 2011
Undeterred - Volume 2
So when I came home from the barn today, Sam was in the living room on the hardwood floor near the bottom of the stairs. Undeterred. Who knows how long it took him to get all the way across those 12-15 feet of hardwood floor? Who knows how many falls and get-back-ups? And what was he planning to do about the stairs?
Fast forward a few hours and I carried Sampson upstairs and put him on the bed. He sometimes likes to be on the bed for a while, sometimes not. I went and took a shower and I heard him bark a few times. When I came back into the bedroom - he was on his blanket on the floor. Undeterred. Who knows what made it critically important that he get off the bed NOW and onto his favorite sleeping place? Who knows how he had the courage to jump/climb/fall from the bed to the floor knowing that his hind legs aren't always reliable?
Undeterred... Go as far as you can, don't worry about the future, be motivated, be persistent, be undeterred.
Fast forward a few hours and I carried Sampson upstairs and put him on the bed. He sometimes likes to be on the bed for a while, sometimes not. I went and took a shower and I heard him bark a few times. When I came back into the bedroom - he was on his blanket on the floor. Undeterred. Who knows what made it critically important that he get off the bed NOW and onto his favorite sleeping place? Who knows how he had the courage to jump/climb/fall from the bed to the floor knowing that his hind legs aren't always reliable?
Undeterred... Go as far as you can, don't worry about the future, be motivated, be persistent, be undeterred.
Undeterred
As I sit here and write this, Sam has just gotten himself up to standing from lying down and is walking unassisted across the blankets we have laid out for him. Every couple of steps he looks back at me. Every couple of steps his tail wags a few times. This may not sound amazing to many of us, though I just realized that Sam has fallen at least three to four times already this morning. He remains undeterred. Sam does not think, "Hmm, I'm 16 years old, I'll just give up." or "Hey, upstairs isn't all it's cracked up to be, I'll just stay here." or "What's wrong with me? Why can't I walk?" or "What will people think of me if I fall down?". He wants to go somewhere, so he gets up and goes as far as he can. Sometimes he falls down, sometimes he lies down intentionally and still he remains... undeterred.
Now he has fallen (really a not-too-gentle lying down) and is barking at me to help him get up on the hardwood floor - UNDETERRED... If I don't get over there quickly enough, he starts trying by himself - UNDETERRED.
There is so much I still need to learn from Sam... Gotta go, he's barking :)...
Now he has fallen (really a not-too-gentle lying down) and is barking at me to help him get up on the hardwood floor - UNDETERRED... If I don't get over there quickly enough, he starts trying by himself - UNDETERRED.
There is so much I still need to learn from Sam... Gotta go, he's barking :)...
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Leapdog
Today, Sam and I played Leapdog all the way across the living room. Leapdog is a simple game. All the equipment you need is a hardwood or tile floor, at least two blankets or mats, one or more people, and a dog. The game begins with the dog standing on one of the blankets or mats. The person (or people) then take the other mat-like object and place it in front of the dog and stand on it so it doesn't slide on the hardwood floor. The person stands with their back to the dog with legs spread apart and the dog then proceeds to walk onto the new mat-like object between the knees of the person. Once the dog is fully on the new mat-like object, the person repeats the process. It is possible to go great distances using this method, though if you are in a hurry, there might be other ways to try :) When you reach your destination, the person and the dog win the game. It's fun, really!
Go ahead, play some Leapdog!
Go ahead, play some Leapdog!
Sam's Saying of the Day
"The difficult I can do today. The impossible will take a little longer." (Billie Holiday)
Six weeks ago, difficult was sleeping for more than a 1/2 hour and impossible was standing up to eat. Then we began to sleep many hours without needing a "check-in" and could stand up for meals with a little help.
Three weeks ago, difficult was standing up from lying down and impossible was walking unassisted. Sam is now often doing both many times a day.
Now, difficult is walking on hardwood floors and impossible is climbing the stairs. Who knows what's next?
For me, difficult is helping without interfering and impossible is staying present to the miracle that is Sam while knowing that "to everything there is a season"... I'm working on it...
Six weeks ago, difficult was sleeping for more than a 1/2 hour and impossible was standing up to eat. Then we began to sleep many hours without needing a "check-in" and could stand up for meals with a little help.
Three weeks ago, difficult was standing up from lying down and impossible was walking unassisted. Sam is now often doing both many times a day.
Now, difficult is walking on hardwood floors and impossible is climbing the stairs. Who knows what's next?
For me, difficult is helping without interfering and impossible is staying present to the miracle that is Sam while knowing that "to everything there is a season"... I'm working on it...
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