Skye at Agility

I took Skye to agility training today after several weeks and she went totally giddy. She loves it so much and was so excited. I must find an agility class in Norfolk for her.

Just a cute picture

Just a picture I took a couple of week ago at Addington Hills

First ever show... St. Edwards

On Saturday, I took Skye to her first ever show. I had no intention of working her (and indeed it was confirmed that she wouldn't have been ready), but we had a great time training and enjoying ourselves. I didn't expect miracles from her, she does get distracted much quicker than Jesse and puts less energy into things (unless it's agility and searching LOL), but she didn't do too bad. Her recalls and retrieves were actually quite ok and she did her stays nicely. So overall, I was very happy. Heelwork however is a very sore point... lots more work to be done on that.

I'll see how this season goes, perhaps get a session or two of private lessons from Kamal and then make a decision whether we persevere with obedience or whether I will concentrate more on agility and/or gundog work with her, which I know she would adore! We'll see...

On Sunday, I taught the spaniels something useful by getting them to search for my keys. LOL

Thryoid Update

Well, when I took Dylan to the vet yesterday, we discussed Sky's thyroid issue too. As there is some improvement (perhaps 20%) but nothing drastic (and at this point not enough to warrant a life time on medication), Mark said we should increase the dosage drastically (seeing also how high Jesse's thyroid levels needs to be to function normally). So he went from 0.3mg to 0.8 mg for a month to see whether that makes a difference.

This could make Skye hyperthyroid of course (and I have to be careful with that as it could induce anxiety which would increase Skye's aggression), but we will monitor closely and see what happens and then go from there. If it helps, then fabulous. If not, then I will accept that it's a genetic issue and not a thyroid one.

I gave her two whole of her tablets yesterday which made it a total of 0.6mg, and from today she is on 2 x 0.4mg to make up the 0.8mg she is on. Watch this space.

Here are her last results from the last thyroid test a week ago:

ENDOCRINOLOGY

Test Result Alert Units Reference Range

38.8 nmol/L 13.0 - 51.0

And here's some pictures I took over the week-end of the naughty one (who is not so naughty anymore at all). LOL

Sleeping beauty!

 

Two sleeping beauties!

Upside down dog

Right way up dog

Thyroid and vaccinations

Well, yesterday we went to the vet's. It was Ian. He took blood from her for the thyroid test, I need to call them today for the results. Skye also got her vaccinations, which luckily seems to have had no adverse effect on her at all (other than being a bit grumbly when we got home due to the stress).

Titre results

Well, two out of the three diseases are low now for Skye: distemper and hepatitis. As distemper is now even lower (the reading is just 7) than it was last year when it was already low, Mark recommends to vaccinate and I agree. So when we go back for the thyroid test in a month time, I will get her a booster sorted out.

Re thyroid: I am not sure whether it makes a big difference with Skye now being on soloxine. She isn't very grumbly in general at the moment and there have been a couple of moments when I was pleased that she didn't grumble... but right now, I can't see enough difference in her behaviour yet to say that it is definitely working. It's only been just over a week, so will definitely observe another month of course when her thyroid test is due.

Thyroid

Well, Skye had another thyroid test. The T4 is a little higher at 21, but still well below the top half range that a young dog should be. After a chat with Mark, he agreed to put her on a trial of Soloxin for a couple of months. So she is now on 0.3mg a day (that's less than Jesse who is on 0.5mg).

Skye's aggression issues were well under control and not a problem at all anymore at home, but in new more stressful situations, she can still be quite scary... e.g. in training school with a new dog, at Karen's (where she was over the week-end) etc. So we will see how she gets on.

She has been on Soloxin since Monday evening and she hasn't had any growls (other than her usual "chatty" growls) since then... probably just coincidence, but nonetheless encouraging.