Mojo had her 4th physical therapy appointment at Back on Track yesterday. She has definitely gotten used to the idea of going there and looks for new friends to meet (both human and dog) and loves Dr. Shaw. Dr. Shaw works with Mojo, giving her treats and teaching her new "tricks" (they are really new exercises). She also works on limb and spine manipulation which Mojo believes is her massage time. Sometimes Mojo gets fussy with the range of motion palpation that Dr. Shaw does, but with some petting distraction from one of the techs she settles right down. This time Alicia helped out and did a great job keeping Mojo focused.

We learned some new exercises that Mojo, of course, is picking up quickly. We are now working on strengthening and providing flexibility to her hocks (ankles). She has to do a complicated sit pretty to stand (balanced - no cheating) and then down to a sit. The Cheez Whiz works great at home! She is also learning to back up, stepping one leg at a time. This often times turns into a couple of sits but she is getting it. She's got her ramp exercises down and even the uphill sit is good with minimal spotting from us. Michael does the best with her with her obstacle course. We are using the frame from our bed (did I tell you we took it out so she could get up on her own?) and it's the perfect height for her. I usually just have her walk through, which she does quite well, but Michael has her turning and going over one foot at a time. She's a star and will be ready for agility any day now!

The last part of physical therapy is the underwater treadmill. The first time she did it she really didn't get it (or like it) and by the last time she was having fun playing in the water. She'll walk on the treadmill (without cheating) as long as there are treats in front of her. The funniest thing is that she'll walk, take the treat and ride the treadmill while she chews and then walk forward again (double time) to get the next treat. During breaktime it was attack the water playtime again and she was having a blast. Michael was there to document the event and Mojo was glad to show off. We even got pictures of her playing with a squeaky fish which was pretty funny. She did get some exercise and found some time to workout a little. If only we could have so much fun at the gym!

Next appointment August 18th.

   

Mojo had her 3rd physical therapy appointment with Dr. Shaw last week at Back on Track. She really is improving well and we've given up the funny orange band for her legs and are now focusing on her core strength. She had her third round in the underwater treadmill which is always an adventure. This time she was not terrified. In fact, in her I-love-life kind of way, she decided it was actually really fun (but she was not really into the walking part). You see, we discovered on our trip to Northern California that Mojo loves tiny movements. In fact they make her crazy! On the beach she would watch the little rocks (sand) move when she jumped forward and she would try to "get" it. And then she'd jump again and more sand would move and again and again until she was running like a crazy dog! The water wasn't much different. One splash and water droplets and bubbles would appear and she would try to "get" them. Then she would splash more and there would be more to get until soon she is living it up in the water completely ignoring the fact that she is supposed to be walking. Well, at least she wasn't bored and trying to ride the treadmill backwards instead.

sitting pretty, to develop her back legs

sitting downhill on her ramp

Her new exercises are more of a challenge for her. We have an obstacle course and she plays "bull in the china shop" and knocks stuff over but she tries. If things are spaced out far enough she does better. She also has to do inclined sit-stands which she is more than happy to do facing downhill but uphill she has trouble. All of the sit commands in the world just can't convince her that she's supposed to really sit! She does better with some spotting and I think we are getting somewhere on that front.

Walking to work has been a bit of a challenge as well. It's a little embarrassing to be seen "dragging" my poor 3-legged puppy down the street. (Yeah, these people didn't see her running crazy on the beach!) We live on a busy street and starting off is tough for her. I think she may be really worried about the cars judging by her injuries and her being found running down 82nd Avenue. So it goes like this. We get down the driveway and she sees the first car. She sits and watches it go by. She gets praise and asked to walk again which she does and then the next car comes (after a few steps) which she has to stop and watch. Sigh...it can take awhile to walk a block. Once we get into the neighborhood things are good and she moves more freely as long as there are no people. Even if she sees people on the opposite side of the street she is convinced that they want to come see her so we must wait and watch them until they pass!

She is a lot of fun and even DeeDee is starting to like playing with her sometimes. DeeDee certainly does enjoy it when Mojo has to do exercises because she also participates in the cookie handouts. Mojo is also an Olympic snuggler. Her favorite thing to do is sleep and she is even starting to respect personal space just a little bit and keep her nose out of my eye but lounging across my body is still fair game. Her latest schedule is: Wake up. Go outside to potty. Do exercises. Eat breakfast. Go potty and then it's back to bed for a snuggle with Michael until he gets up. She does have it rough.

Last week Michael and his friend Dragan were riding home from work when they found a large yellow lab sauntering down the middle of Glisan St. Quick thinking they stopped and called him over, and being a friendly yellow lab he was happy to say hi. They called Sarah, Dragan's wife to come pick up the lab, named Framus to come give him a ride to the clinic. Michael called the number on the tag but there was no answer so he left a message.

Framus arrived at the clinic and was greeted with cookies and a cool bowl of water. He thought we were pretty cool. We pulled out our microchip scanner and got started on the phone calls. First we called the microchip company to give them the number and get Framus's family's information. The phone number from the tag was the primary contact so Katie left a message there and called the alternate contact number. It was Framus' aunt. She told us the story of her brother being new in town and living near where Framus was found. She was really nice and told us to call if we didn't hear from Framus' dad.

So, we took turns petting him and hanging out with Framus until the phone rang - it was Framus' dad! He got our address and came on down. Seems that someone left the gate open and Framus decided to take himself on an adventure. Framus was happy to see him and got a ride back home.

Microchipping is done by placing a small readable chip (the size of a grain of rice) under the skin. The chip is scanned and a number comes up on the reader. The person scanning calls the company that made the chip, gives the number and gets the information. The needle for microchipping is rather large so we prefer to microchip under anesthesia or sedation but many pets do well awake. We typically microchip pets when they are under anesthesia for their spay or neuter surgeries. We  did just microchip two cats heading to Amsterdam while they were awake. The brother cat did well but the sister had a difficult time. We had to use a Feliway covered towel to wrap her up in and microchip her quickly after a failed attempt. It was difficult for all involved but it was so fast.

The microchips we use are made by HomeAgain. They are a great microchip manufacturer that uses a patented technology so the microchips are less likely to migrate from where they are placed. They also have a wonderful program that gives a central place to call if your pet is lost. When you call, HomeAgain will blanket a 25 mile radius faxing the lost pet poster to all veterinary hospitals, shelters and pet stores in the area. The registration also includes $3000 in insurance that covers injuries while the pet is lost, calls to the ASPCA Poison Control, and a way to make lost pet posters to hang in the area. The program is free for the first year when your pet is microchipped at our practice and then is $14.95 a year. The fee for microchipping is $50.

 

Mojo's car seat... watching the redwoods go by

I suppose technically this has nothing to do with the clinic, but since it involved Mojo travelling I thought some of you might be interested.

We drove down to Westport, CA in Mendocino County last weekend to meet Kristin's family, and took the dogs. DeeDee is a veteran traveller and camper, but this was Mojo's first road trip, and first night spent in the great outdoors. We only camped one night, but it was in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park, and it was really beautiful there.

We also stopped at Navarro Vineyards and Anderson Valley Brewery while we were there, and since the tasting area at Navarro had some outdoor seating we were able to hang out with the dogs. They both did a little wine tasting - many of you may not realize just how much of a palate DeeDee has. We all thought the wine was great, but she said she's tasted better liquid in a toilet bowl - maybe this is a species thing?

taking in the bouquet...	tasting like a pro...	uh, not very impressed...

 

They both did great in the car, and Mojo helped to further prove our favorite axiom... "All Dogs Love the Beach!" Overall it was a great weekend, nice to get away and see family, and spend some time tidepooling and hiking in the redwoods.

Mojo and DeeDee tearing it up on the beach!

Once again, I took LOTS of pictures, and I've posted the ones from this trip on my flickr account if you're interested.

 

 

 

 

EDIT (MJS 7/7/08) I wrote this early *last* week, but never got around to publishing or announcing it. So, it's a week out of date. We've just returned from the trip mentioned at the bottom of the article, so I'll post about that in a couple days.

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Last weekend some friends let us use their cabin up near Rhododendron for the weekend. I left early, Thursday night, and brought all my computer gear - the whole system! Two monitors, keyboard, surge protector, etc. I've found that I can really produce a staggering amount of work if I'm alone with no distractions.

Kristin didn't get up there until Saturday evening, so for the first couple days it was just me and Mojo. It was her first time experiencing nature!

We hiked to the Salmon river, chased squirrels, chewed up a lot of douglas fir cones, and split firewood. Overall, I'd say I was better at splitting firewood, but she beat me at chewing up douglas fir cones. But I gave it my best effort!

As you might expect, she did a couple of faceplants trying to navigate the irregularity of the natural world, but she's unstoppable! She can plow face-first into the dirt and shake it off while she's moving, like nothing ever happened. The excercises and therapy we've been doing under the direction of Dr. Shaw from Back on Track seem to be helping a lot - Mojo's looking a little more surefooted, and a little less bent and bowed. It looks like at the very least we've avoided the need for an immediate surgery (hooray!) although someday as she ages she still may end up needing surgery for her hips. But, we'll take it as it comes - and for now, she's one happy puppy!

I also managed to complete the first (alpha) release of our clinic's custom software , which we'll use for client and patient tracking, appointment scheduling, exams, invoicing, reports, etc. (for those of you who don't know, my "real job" is developing and integrating computer systems) Kristin and I both have been pretty unimpressed with vet software we've seen in the past, so we're making our own. More on that next week.

This weekend we'll be travelling with the dogs, so we'll keep you posted on Mojo's outdoor adventures.  Since I take a lot of pictures, I decided to post a bunch from last weekend on my flickr account, so feel free to browse them there.