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)

Winston Fools Me Today

I thought Winston was going one step forward and two steps back when the day started. I found out later he had me fooled the whole time. In this case I was happy to be fooled.

I had the feeling by the way he acted, he may have tweak his back last night around 9:00. He went from moving around a lot to the point of being very still, quiet and immobile.

By that I mean he was back to gingerly lowering himself to his stomach, one short choppy step at a time. He does not lay on one side but lays down on his stomach. He did that every time since the 9:00 pm mark, when he wants to lay down.

Another thing I have noticed just this morning is each time I go to pick him up to carry him outside ... he lowers his head. Before, head up, tilting his head back to face me and even sometimes wagging his tail.

After the official start of the day at 7:39 am, I had propped open my storm door as usual so I could take him outside. Yesterday he was almost to the door on his own by the time I turned around. With the rolled t-shirt under his hips he charged across the carport floor.

Today have being fed kibble, the prednisone and water ... I took down the gate and he just sat there looking at me. As a test only, I said "come here" to see what he would do. Almost any other time except last Saturday, he would have come forward dragging his rear legs. Today nothing, not even an attempt.

When I went over to pick him up, he lowered his head. Outside I couldn't tell if he had peed or not. I sit him in the same spot in the backyard hoping he can cut down his steps in attempting to smell that specific spot that all hounds look for. Yet, he took off for to one of his spots at the other end of the yard, with his rear legs dragging behind him. Stella was concerned and followed him with her eyes all the way. I noticed when closing the door that he had peed while I carried him back inside.

Stella's eyes followed him the whole way, until I went to pick him up and bring him back inside. She then escorted us back into the house safely.

Last night around 7:00 pm, he was moving to rub each side of his face on the blanket and moving enough I thought he was about to attempt to roll over on his back when he laid over on one side. Now he hasn't done that in many years based on his chest and stomach development but it was that type of motion. He was moving a lot. Even laying on his side on his own was something he had not really done too much of since his injury.

Maybe he over did it, thus the step back in improvement this morning. He has been sleeping since I put him back down. We'll see how the day progresses.

About 9am Stella and Sadie wake up from their after breakfast nap. They are excited about going outside. Once again Stella's tail whips and hits Winston's metal collar that he wears only when I need to attach a leash to him (daily walk). What made him excited yesterday ... he did not make a move this morning .. continue to lay on his side.

After a trip outside cut short because Stella wanted to eat the dirt in the yard pushed up by yard moles, Winston had only moved his head to the other side. Maybe he is just in a normal sleep like he was this time yesterday. He lays there as Sadie stands next to the gated area looking down at him.

I had read before giving Winston pedrisone what the side effects were. In fact in the past he has used prednisone for a very short period of time after he 'tweaked' his back. I forgot that "lethargy" is a possible side effect. Maybe this is what is happening since he has just started his Pedrisone schedule on his 3rd dose.

I made another attempt to give Stella and Sadie some exercise outside while Winston was asleep. They started playing immediately but stopped suddenly when they heard the St. Bernard barking from the house across the highway and a little north of me.

I find out a little after noon Winston was only sleepy and was resting this morning - nothing wrong with him. How do I know that? Around noon I drove downtown to pick up my call in order of Spicy Hot Beef Combo plus 3 egg rolls. As soon as I stepped inside the house Winston was sitting at attention with his nose in the air. Since I did not let him out of his gated area while I ate lunch, he split the corner of the box and gate and came scooting across the linoleum floor toward me, right between the legs of Stella, while sliding under her ... thinking he might get a taste of what I was having.

Back in his area he went for his own protection. Stella was prancing around excited and unconscious of what was around her or under her, thinking that she was the one that would get a taste of the spicy beef combo.

Soon after I finished just a 1/3 of the dish they gave me ... he was whining to go out. He "rode' the t-shirt under his hips from his blanket to about 10' into the field .. where he dump both tanks successfully.

Besides this, Stella has been coming over to my desk chair or the couch, wherever I am sitting .. whining, then laying her head on my arm before she lets out her howl telling me she would like to eat early today even though it's only been 4 hours since breakfast. She is a hilarious dog, and has a great personality.

This afternoon was so nice outside I couldn't stand the thought of staying inside with 3 days of rain ahead of us and temps finally dropping to normal in the low 30's. I decided after Winston was in the yard he could do whatever he wanted. Whatever makes him happy. It is just too hard to keep him confined.

He took off for the wooded area and by the time I could catch him he was headed over the edge into a small gulley.

I leaned under the small tree branches, picked him up and carried him back over to his spot. He spent most of the time sitting there enjoying the beautiful day. As proof here is a shot of my thermometer inside the carport .. so it's 60° in the shade.

It's Christmas where are the snowflakes?

The other two bloodhounds did a little relaxed recon mission, low energy workout.

Stella was a little disappointed as I lectured her about the feeding times and that they would not be moved to an hourly thing like she requested. Breakfast and lunch will be served at the same time every day, not every hour.  :)

I realize this post is pretty long ... probably too long ... but when the day starts at 3:09am and you don't get back to sleep I guess that lead to more things to write about.

A beautiful day in the "tropics" of southern Indiana. Although I see from my post dated last year on the 29th I mentioned the photos were taken Christmas Day with an unusual high temperature of 41° in 2014.

Day 7 - A Little Rambling & A Winston Update

Well sometime in mid-afternoon yesterday Heidi came over to me and let me know she was thinking about going outside for a little bit ... if I would open the door for her. If I had not stopped her on her way back to the door to go inside, that "little bit" would have been about a minute in actual time.

With some coaxing she turned toward me but decided at the last minute, sunshine or no sunshine she would not be going out into the yard. Remember last fall I talked about her 70° limit. At the time I said that jokingly but I am beginning to wonder if that is pretty accurate with her.

From those photos she looks like she has been gaining some of her unexpected weight loss back from last summer. Those toenails are being cut today no matter what nor how much she resists.

Since Stella showed up August 30, seat availability in the living room has been at a premium. Musical chairs are usually a nightly game. There has never been any fights but the two bloodhounds pout if there isn't room on the couch. In Sadie's case, also the large chair.

Recently Heidi decided all the action is out here in the living room at night ... not off alone in the dark sleeping. So she has decided that as long as there is a blanket spread out across that ottoman that is her seat.

Now Stella is a different when it comes to pouting. She is more determined than the other hounds and usually one way or another in the end she gets her way and her seat. She will use different strategies. Her favorite is to stand in front of the couch, glare downward squinting her eyes and go into her statue mode. She will never look up at you in this strategy. I am expected to move the other hound out of "her" seat.

I don't always do that ... so she has two options.

She can and at times finds a place on the floor to lay. She is never in that spot long before she comes back into the statue mode, squinting again and not moving. Or ... she gets drastic and demands me to yell "stop", "get down", "Stella" or even some words that are not good for public viewing. What would she do to get that kind of response from me?

If there is an area on the coach as small as 4 inches by 4 inches, she visions herself in placing all four of her paws in that space and use her butt to sit on the offender, thus they move. Another favorite is she will JUMP up over the offender to stand over them or sit on them until the other hound wakes up and tries to move.

Now ... before the pet police come after me, those last two moves are stopped before they happen 99.9% of the time. They have happened at least once ... otherwise I would not be able to describe them to you, would I?  :)

But with Winston gated on the blanket in the corner, Sadie and Heidi on the chair and ottoman ... Stella has the space next to me all to herself.

Over the years I have found they only prefer the furniture mostly in the winter months. Obviously they go by seasons in their analysis and not by outside temperature. 51° on Christmas morning in the Midwest is not winter. So they must be using seasons to base their decisions on.

Winston Update

Yesterday started out being a good day starting at 6:00 am and continued up through and past 11:00pm. He might have tweaked his back a little around 9:00 pm but did not yelp, or moan at that time.

From the time he woke up officially along with the other hounds around 8:30 am until 3:40 pm, he did nothing but sleep, drink water, go outside to dump his tanks, eat lunch, go back to sleep. He didn't lay anywhere but on the floor inside the gated area on the corner of the living room.

My spreadsheet to track his movements or issues is color coded red for improvements and blue for negatives. All of yesterday was noting but red notes scattered throughout my notes.

• Every time we went out I put my taped rolled t-shirt under his hips and as he walked ... he was wagging his tail!!!
• Before I could stop and carry him down the two steps into the carport he was already down those steps and was 'prancing' toward the backyard with me holding his hips up.
• Unlike Wednesday, he only whined when he wanted to go outside. He seemed to be turning more to his left and right to lick his tail.
• While I was rubbing his rear leg, in the muscle portion, his leg flinched going from a bent let to one straight out ... stretching it as if it felt good. When I stopped he looked at me wanting more.

So what happened at 3:40pm?

I decided since he has been sleeping so well that the spot on the corner of the living room in the middle of all activity in this small house, he would not be move to the closet area I had set up, or to the bed, or the couch. This gated blanket area was his place for recovery.

Well at 3:40 pm Sadie, Stella and I tried to sneak out of the house for a daily walk through a saturated field from all the recent rain. When Stella's tail swung and hit Winston's choke collar that was hanging on a door knob, that woke him up and he KNEW what we were doing ... going on a walk. He only wears that collar on daily walks to trips to the vet when leashed. The three of us tried to get out of the house fast, closing the door behind us and then I heard it .....

Winston was barking to go. It's the first time I've heard him bark since the back problem started on December 19. He is not a barker to begin with unless it's missing a walk or joining the other hounds in demanding dinner.

By the time we got back he had calmed down enough to be laying down but when he saw me as I glanced in the door window to check him, he immediately moved from laying to a sitting position and his ears perked.

As the night got longer he started to move into some positions he had not been able to. Like laying on his left and right sides. For the past few days he could only lay on his stomach. He was able to turn and move either direction on his blanket while in the past few days it was only to his left side.

Then about 9:00 pm I noticed he was sitting still not looking at me or the other hounds, just staring into space. It was at that time I think he may have tweaked his back someway I didn't see because I was sitting on the couch.

After that he was back to gingerly lowering himself onto his stomach, one front paw at a time. He decided it would be really nice if he could use my sleeping bag. His patented move is to nose his way under the bag, turning inside to curl the bag around him and taking it from you, before dropping into a sleep position. Last night since he was having a hard time moving after 9:00 pm, he did the nose dive and laid straight. If you follow the tail showing on the left you can see the outline of him under the sleeping bag.

He did return it to me when it was time for sleep.

He did sleep soundly though until 3:09 am, when he woke up, had some water and we went outside. I decided to carry him since it was dark and early in the morning. He dumped all his tanks in the back yard. In one of his efforts I pulled his tail off the ground out of the way and I swear he raised his hips and stood every so slightly on his rear legs!! I hope I am not wrong on what I thought I saw.

We came back inside, he laid down and went back to sleep. Of course when we got up to go outside the bloodhounds sleeping in the living room now, heard us and escorted Winston and I to the backyard. They also returned to the house and was back to sleep in record time. 

The hounds fell asleep and I was wide awake. One of those deals you know if you stay up it will catch up with you eventually later in the day but at the same time a cup of coffee would taste good even before 3:30 am.

It was 53° today at 3:09 am here in the "tropics" of southern Indiana.

Merry Christmas !

Merry Christmas

from the hounds and I