Winston Is Following The Rules With Sadie's Help

One thing all this rain has done for me is find me a better spot to photograph the field/horizon across the highway. I don't always post them but I have been taking a photo of that field across the highway every day. Until today I had been standing in my driveway. Then I go to the corner of my house and shoot back across the field.

It's just interesting to see the daily weather changes after you put all of those photos in sequence. So with the rain I started taking the photo just beside the steps to go into the house. That turned out to be even a better angle, capturing what I wanted in that photograph.

Things seemed to change for the better after the mid-day meal was fed to all the hounds. I guess if they don't mind eating 5-1/2 hours after breakfast and then not again for 18 or 19 hours until the next morning ... I won't either. Stella did her daily begging for food at that time so I fed all of them.

Winston was excited enough that he decided he was going to scoot across the floor from his blanket to the location his food dish use to be when he was healthy. To keep Sadie or Stella from backing into him and stepping on him due to their excitement, I stretched the gate across the blanket area and fed him on the other side of that baby gate.

Normally he likes to go outside right after he eats. So we did that today. With the t-shirt under him, and his tail wagging, he walked really fast toward the yard and peed even with his hips elevate. I picked him up to carry him back inside and he fell asleep within 5 minutes ... as long as I covered him with the hound sleeping bag ... a cheap Coleman.

I also changed the 18/55 lens on the D3200 and attached the 55/200. I could then take photos of his blanket area without leaving my desk chair in another room. It wasn't that I didn't want to get up, but the other way the hounds would either stop what they were doing or Winston would wake up, stand up or whatever and ruin the shot.

So here is a sequence of Winston this afternoon. All the movement of the sleeping bag are made by Winston moving around.

Stella wanting to play with Heidi but she is barking at him - 'big deal' she says

Sadie moves in closer to watch over him

I hear a dog shaking, the sound of ears flapping. I look up and Winston has escaped the sleeping bag and has that look of needing some water. He drank a lot of water, I moved him back on the blanket and he was back to sleep within 10 minutes.

He is following the rules today -- LOTS of sleeping. He did get up a few hours later for some water, went outside and emptied his tanks. One thing I have noticed today, he knows when I am putting on the rolled towel under him that he is going to get to 'go' ... so he leaves before I can get the t-shirt in the proper position.

Water - Water - Water - I need Water!

Late in the afternoon, with a light rain that just never let up, Sadie and Stella were getting a little bit of 'cabin fever'. They finally decided they needed a little play and I made sure they didn't get near Winston's non-gated area. All worked out well - take a look.

I didn't see it happen but right after we finished going outside before it got dark, Sadie decided to slide around Winston and sneak in between Winston and the wall. It's almost 6:30pm and they are both now asleep.

It's been a long slow day here in the tropics of Southern Indiana ... but a quiet one.

A Quiet Sunday Morning For The Hounds

I guess blogging has become my relief. I have been blogging more than ever this past week. I don't have a desire to read, nor watch ballgames, movies and anything else. So these blog posts may continue to be more than once a day with photos.

Sometime around 11pm Saturday night I rolled out my Thermarest pad, sleeping bag, a pillow next to Winston's blanket area as I had done the past few nights. Every night he had been sleeping for hours by the time I felt like sleeping and I didn't want to wake him up but wanted to be able to hear when he woke up needing water or to go outside.

It was different though last night. Pad or no pad I could tell the floor had not been kind to my aching bones as I slowly laid down on the Thermarest Pad. The bluejeans rivets are not the best things to sleep on. Yet, I have to be able to go at a moments notice when I wake up in the middle of the night with Winston. About the time I caught myself complaining I just thought of Winston's situation ... case closed. I still loved the thought of sleeping in bed though as I dosed off on the floor.

Around 1:09am I had the wake up call. I never know what makes me wake up when I do. Winston never yells or cries in pain. I just wake up and he is sitting up staring at me. That means he wants 1 of 2 things or both ... water ... go outside. In the past week he has decided to lick his lips over and over ... I take that as "give me water ... a lot of water".

As soon as I came to my senses, I hear it raining so hard that it is pounding the roof. I clicked my phone for a time .. 1:09am. I remember how there was so much water the night before when he tried to go outside. I was tired, it was early and it was raining .. My thought process as I tried to wake up was ... I'll give him water but there was no way I was going outside just for him to stand there looking for a spot that he could not get to while it poured rain.

Field is just starting to flood, it will get worse pretty fast

I was hoping he would break his "house rules" of almost 12 years and pee inside. I was prepared for that and on weather days like this I hope he would. I had placed a sheet of 6mil plastic under his first blanket to protect my old and worn carpet. I have plenty of blankets to rotate clean ones when needed.

He wouldn't go.

Slipping the t-shirt under him, we head for the door that is still closed. He was walking and wagging his tail as we moved forward. I stopped him at the door, hurry to get the storm door propped up using the slider mechanism ... it is raining so hard I can barely see my fence only 32' away. As usual, when it's raining during his healthy days ... he heads right, around the parked Mini Cooper to the front area of mulch, under the overhang and pees. I don't know who was happier, me or him ... even at a little past 1am.

I decided I wanted to sleep in bed not on the floor when we came back inside. After packing 'his' sleeping bag, a small garbage bag to lay under the sleeping bag for 'just in case' on the bed ... I was asleep in less than 10 seconds after hitting the pillow.

When the hounds woke up around 7:09am, I felt great after almost 6 hours of solid sleep ... on a mattress. It was great! I'm good for another week.

Winston waited for me to get my shoes on, turn on the lights, let the hounds file out to the yard and help him down off the bed to start the walk to the yard. He made it all the way through the house, down two steps and out to the yard non-stop. Since he knew it wasn't raining, he made the left turn around the parked FJ and headed for the yard. He didn't take time to look for a spot ... he peed as soon as he felt grass.

Food, water and meds were fed and ingested without hesitation and then he packed it in for a morning nap under his sleeping bag. I can tell the Pedrisone is making him more thirsty and that leads to more peeing.

Sadie and Stella have picked up on the new routine. Everything is the same for them except the excitement and playtime after they eat. They use to do a little easy-going wrestling inside .. but some how they know something is wrong with Winston and if he is sleeping ... they are sleeping.

Eventually Stella will start chewing on her array of favorite bones ... Sadie will sit and look at Winston as the 'nurse in charge'. Heidi???  Normal routine for her ... sleep ... sleep ... sleep.

Sadie is really concerned ... sad, about the situation and has been since the start 

Winston seems to be in good spirits this morning but he is peeing more than he has the past week. I wonder if the Pedrisone has really kicked in. More thirsty is a side effect, which leads to more water drinking and it has to come out sometime. With another 24 hours of rain forecasted, I have brought out the Columbia hooded rain jacket and we will stand outside as long as Winston wants ... unless it's a downpour.

He does perk up when I ask him if he want's to go outside. You'll notice his right rear leg is straight out. It will not bend and I've noticed during my massages it has not bent in the past few days. It will flex at his ankle. Hard to tell with legs that short but its right above his paw.

At halfway through the day, Winston has been pretty restless this morning. He can't sleep. Sleeping bag on and off. Outside trips and then nothing. I wonder if the laser treatment has activated some bladder issues and restlessness.

As you can tell we've had a lot of rain in the past 18 hours.

With a lite dropping of rain, Winston snooped around for a spot and eventually peed quite a bit as I held his hips higher to give him enough clearance. Ground clearance is a tough objective if you are a basset hound.

Stella is timid around Winston, somewhat cautious and a little confused. She wants to touch noses with Winston but has a slight fear to be close to him. Sadie was in the searching mode but sprinted back to the house as soon as I picked up Winston to return inside.

At least it's still warm at 49° this morning. I think I would trade high 40's and rain for sunny and mid 30's here in the tropics of southern Indiana. That will be happening in a few days.

As I post this Winston has been sleeping soundly for the past hour.

Winston Receives 1st K-Laser Treatment

I decided since there is really not a definite end date to Winston's situation, there was really no need to start the title of every day's post with "Day # -" anymore. I mean that counter could go into 3 or 4 digits long ... who knows?  If we were doing a 7 day diet ... that might make it different.

As you saw in the earlier post, Winston spent most of the night in my sleeping bag. A little after 8pm he decided he needed to go out for the end of the day tank dumping effort. He did and then came inside and went back to sleep for the night. I traded my sleeping bag for the hounds Coleman sleeping bag, the one they camp with.

Some time around that infamous "3:09 am", he woke me up someway and needed to go outside. Plus the Prednisone will make him more thirsty than normal so he had some water before I carried him outside. With the flashlight on, I could see him not wasting time doing what he needed to do.

He slept solid until the bloodhounds and Heidi woke up at their normal time, sometime a little after 7am.

If you didn't know he was having problems with this back legs you would have thought this morning was just a routine day for him. He looked great this morning. Being gate-less, he walked (dragging rear feet) over to the bloodhound water bowl to have some of their water. I sat and watched from my desk to see what his next move would be, plus make sure that the bloodhounds didn't accidentally step on him. He turned and went back to his blanket for more sleep.

He looked a lot more like himself this morning. Alert, responding to questions, good appetite and mobile. He walked with my help from the blanket to the yard non stop for the first time, as he usually stops to rest before getting to the yard. He seemed pretty strong today.

Everything went smooth today. There wasn't any kind of crisis to deal with. It's only be a week since his back went bonkers with no known reason. The other hounds seemed to have found a new routine as well as me. All the hounds were fed a little after 12:30 but Stella was laying her head on my arm at the computer desk at 10:30 am ... I told her "no way" and she started what I call a soft howl but I think that may be the way she barks.

After that Winston went outside and did what he had to do before the 11 mile trip to the vet for his first K-Laser treatment. He was excited when I asked him if he wanted to "go" and actually started a little hop on his front feet before I stopped him. I grabbed the rolled up t-shirt and we took off for the back of the FJ. I had put the dog bed in the back so he would have a softer ride.

The treatment lasted only about 7 minutes. She said they have seen a lot of very good results with this treatment but of course ever dog is different so there is no date when I might see some improvement. He was pretty happy, wagging his tail the whole time on the table. He wouldn't be feeling anything from the laser.

He basically came home laid down in his non gated blanket/sleeping bag combo and has been sleeping all day and tonight. He will get up on occasion for water and I only take him out if he shows me he wants to go outside when I ask him. He will let me know now that he wants to and will wait for that taped rolled t-shirt to be placed under him.

On two separate occasions this afternoon while outside, while holding his hips up, I turned his paws to the correct position and very slowly lowered him down to see what a little weight would do and if he would try to stand. He did NOT stand but his legs did not collapse under him like they did last Saturday ... that was very encouraging.

It started raining this afternoon pretty hard off and on. Luckily Winston has gone outside when the rain has let up but Sadie was looking for a place under the over hang near the house and Stella didn't care she was standing in rain.

There's to be a dry spot somewhere

Rain doesn't bother her

I almost forgot but remembered I had no photos today of Heidi. I gave her a 30 minute soak in Epsom Salts. I could tell later tonight it really helped her skin that has improved with the dog food change. I think I can start those soaks on a routine basis while Winston is sleeping.

So that's about all tonight in the tropics. It's feeling good to get back to some kind of normal routine.

Confinement & Crate Rest

Edit #2 - After hearing from Contessa, Winston is back to gate-free

(I wrote this post early this morning and waited to post it. Before I posted it I received a comment on "Winston Fooled Me Today" from Contessa. A fellow Apple Computer and LongDog friend. She is also has a nursing background, so she is familiar with these types of issues.

She explains why Winston must be gated even when he starts feeling better.

Her Carmeh just went through something similar in May. 

So I post this with 2nd thoughts after reading Contessa's comments and I am also going to follow her suggestions. Winston will be going back to a gated area.)

Who knew those words in the title could start a discussion online amongst friends as well as one forum I found. In the forum it was a heated discussion ... "strict confinement". A friend saying "strict confinement" while another saying "follow your intuition".

I was asked by a blog reader, a friend ... "why is Winston gated"?

The only answer I could come up with was ... "the vet told me to confine him".

It was late afternoon yesterday when that question was asked. The question opened up my mental department that has a always allowed me to make my own decisions based on analyzed data. That question kept repeating itself in my mind.

Really why???

He doesn't move that much to begin with even when he is healthy.

October 2015

There was also another "sub" reason I guess, "to keep Stella or Sadie from accidentally walking on Winston". I could control that though. I am here 24/7.

So we fired a few emails back and forth discussing the pros and cons, as I was getting ready to take Sadie and Stella for an afternoon walk. The plan was to sneak out of the house quietly as Winston slept so he wouldn't see us, feel left out and start barking again. It was hard to do with two excited bloodhounds, that started jumping around when they saw me put my baseball cap on. Save this story for later.

Back to the question.

It got me thinking ... really, why gate or confine Winston when he is basically confined naturally in his later years. He doesn't run all over the house, he might crawl on the couch but he lost his jumping ability years ago. I mentioned in previous posts when he was healthy, his daily routine was to sleep in various spots in the house - get up go outside to pee - back inside to sleep or eat ... depending on the time of day ... and then sleep some more.

Not really much different than now ... except now I help him walk out the house with my taped rolled up t-shirt (vet approved). He 'walks' only a little distance in the yard dragging his hips/legs to the particular spot to dump tanks. (vet approved) I carry him back inside to the blanketed area. He stays there, has all week ... unless he wants on the couch then he will sneak off and stand in front of it for me to lift him onto the couch.

Is that enough confinement?

The only difference is, there would be no baby gate in front of him, no box and small heavy heater to make the 2nd wall of the makeshift kennel. He still gets the same kind of rest, same amount of rest. When I leave the house, the bloodhounds would be shut in the bedroom with the doors closed. Heidi would stay with Winston in the living room.

He looks pretty happy without the baby gate in front of him blocking his view.

It doesn't and didn't then sound like a big deal to me. It was a better deal for Winston and ... he would like it better, seeing he was back in his old routine without having that caged view from his blanket.

Another friend told me to follow my intuition. Great idea and one that I am going to follow.

I received an email from someone that has a dachshund, (NOT Contessa) with the typical long body dog that has back problems on occasion, saying I needed to have "strict confinement" for Winston or I would regret it later. I think most will agree that dachshunds will run inside a little bit more than a 60# basset hound. They will jump higher, run faster than a 60# basset hound inside and outside ... in normal healthy conditions. That breed is not as laidback as a basset hound.

They (dachshunds) need to have "strict confinement". That's a word I also read on a forum I found last night. I did more searching and more reading on what "strict confinement" really meant. I found this to be pretty consistent among people discussing it online:

• A space large enough to stand, turn around and lay down     (check)
• Only allowed to go outside to dump tanks, then back inside     (check)
• Although a 60° sunny Christmas day - Winston deserved to SIT outside & enjoy
• Plenty of rest & sleep     (check)
• That is a normal basset hound day!!!  LOL

So back to the short story of going for a walk yesterday. I decided that would be Winston's first test "gate-less". While the bloodhounds and I were doing the daily walk, Winston and Heidi would have the living room -- NO GATE for Winston. He was on the blanket sleeping when we left.

Twenty minutes later we are back home. Before going inside I glance through the door window to see what he his doing.

• Sitting up straight at attention on the edge of blanketed area    (didn't move even 12")
• Ears perked up when he saw me looking through the door       (alert & happy)
• Tail starts wagging as I and the hounds walk inside
• Tail starts wagging faster when Stella and Sadie trot over to touch noses.

Last night while continuing the gate-less experiment - he laid on his blanket, wrapped himself up in my sleeping bag that I loaned him and went to sleep. That's all he wanted to do - normal routine.

Remember the sleeping bag is only a loan

So when the vet says to "keep him confined, let him out long enough to dump tanks and then back inside to rest" while taking his meds:

• The vet did not know Winston's daily schedule is just that naturally -- plus the daily walk 
• The vet did not know that I am home 7 days a week 24 hours per day.
• The vet did not know that "I" am his gate.

So with that I would like to thank my friend/blog reader once again, for asking the question that got me thinking logically and giving Winston more freedom at least mentally ... and that's got to help in his efforts to recover.

I'll be asking the vet today if that arrangement is okay, as we go in for Winston's 1st K-Laser treatment early this afternoon.

If anyone needs "strict" confinement in the tropics of southern Indiana ... it probably should be me.  (laughing)