Adventures in Training the Beagles

Jun 17, 2016

I am picking up a new pup tomorrow (started this Friday)

His name is Jamie, after my favorite show beagle "Ben" who happens to be in his pedigree several times.

We lucked out because Jamie will be 6 months old the week before the National Specialty. Now I normally would not go for the National Speciality to show such a young dog but I am planning to be there any way.

Takes all the pressure off!

He is definitely a conformation dog first even though he has quite a bit of growing to do before we will know if he can get a championship title.

As he grows we will see what else he wants to do.

Yes he will be trained for service dog work too.

Macy and Dulce tried to kill Macy

FYI: Most of this is in pieces on Facebook.

So, I don’t know exactly how this happened, but I have a pretty good idea.  I was getting ready for our Alaska cruise, and was switching purses.  I know I had all the edible stuff higher than Macy can reach when I got distracted and ran a quick upstairs errand.

I come downstairs and find Macy eating Orbit gum.

As always when little beagle girls are naughty, I grab syringe and hydrogen peroxide.  Dulce swallow hers and upchucks.  Macy, drama queen, fits me tooth and nail.

And then doesn’t upchuck.

Well, I run her to the emergency vet, and on the way she produces copious amount of stomach contents, including the chewed up gum.

Emergency clinic people say she didn’t eat enough to  hurt her, especially since it was Orbit, and oh, please don’t do the hydrogen peroxide anymore as they can aspirate.

I learn on Thursday that the hydrogen peroxide can also burn, which is what happened to poor Macy.

She weighed around 15.5 pounds the last time she went to the vet.  Wednesday I was running getting ready of the trip, and noticed vomiting and diarrhea, but didn’t worry about it, as she is a beagle.  But Wednesday night I notice that she is substantially lighter.

So off to the regular vet we go on Thursday as she is not eating.  I recognize only one of the vet staff, and he works with Esmond, not Baber, and Cordias is off.

My first issue – no phone call by 10:00 am telling me she’s been seen and is still alive.  No phone call by 12:00 am either, and am told I will hear from the vet by 12:30.  Tech calls, and reads me the riot act about inducing vomiting by hydrogen peroxide – my response: then we need a safer protocol because beagles are naughty.

I stop by the clinic to check on her on the way home, and she is noticeably  better.   Have a conversation with Dr. Barber, where she mentioned that Dr. Cordias lost her dog while on a  Alaskan cruise.  Well, yeah, I knew that but did you have to remind me.

They give me choices, as they want two rounds of IV fluids and so do I.  Oh, and the evening vet staff is better than the morning – they got told who I was.  Probably the second call when I referred to Dr. Esmond as Kirk – I asked, if Dr. Barber can’t get to her right away, please ask Kirk on her.

Shift her to the emergency vet at the end of the day, then back to them in the morning.  Didn’t really work for me if I am cruising and I want to spend the evening with her to decide if I am going.

Send her home with the IV capped, keep an eye on her and see if you can get her to eat ID, then back to the vet.  Oh, the pet sitter has a taxi service so that works.

So we go home, we spend some time loving each other and by 5:00 am we realize that we both made some mistakes but we love each other, and head out to the cruise.

I’m talking to the vet clinic in the morning and after the flight to Seattle, realizing all the time I can always get on a plane back to Dallas.  I’m also watching Dulce on the surveillance cameras, and Macy after she gets home from the vet.  I have an App for that, and I can look at the dogs anytime I want on the cruise.  I have plenty of people who would go to the house if I see something wrong, and a system to get them into the house, so I feel good about it.

Of course, I haven’t slept since Tuesday night very well, so I am not the easiest person to be with.  But I’m getting there.

And with my knees, I’ve eased some pressure on them by using the wheelchair service. 

Good Dulce

Weight Issues

Argh! Macy is still gaining weight abd Dulce is still kosing. Dulce gets twice the food Macy does and they eat in secured crates!

Argh!

Dulce and Macy updated

First allergy meds is definately the right thing for Macy. she is a much happier dog and more active.

dulce is doing great. no accidents in crate, and no blood in stool. no vomiting either. i use little envelopes to keep track of her pills and and for training last night i put her ID food into the used envelope, cut in a hole and gave her treats like you would a cake decorating bag. basically squirting it out into her mouth and went to cheese later.

i think she is getting better too.

Ear packing

This has never been offered before but basically the vets office did something to their ears which puts medicine in that last for two weeks.

Beagles get ear infections and as a result get very head shy. my husband swears they "hear me" think ears and wont come near me. i think it is because their ears literally hurt.

i really like this and am hoping it helps the relationship since doctoring ears is a daily passtime.

Macy

She is due for her annual. actually moved it up a day since we were here. her ears are infected so those are packed like dulce's as i am tired of dogs running because i have to hurt their ears.

i think we are going to treat her for seasonal allergies. i am already adding local honey to her food. so we are going with 30 days of allergy meds and see if that makes her better.

she is at almost 18 pounds and i want her at 16

$500 and some odd dollars later.

Macy

She is due for her annual. actually moved it up a day since we were here. her ears are infected so those are packed like dulce's as i am tired of dogs running because i have to hurt their ears.

Dulce

Last night at Dog City, she peed pink urine and pooped loose stool with fresh blood.

no urine in blood today, elevated white count and infected ears. she has pooped blood here and peed while we are getting done. they also packed her ears and given antibotics and another med. nothing serious, but man is she elimanting a lot.

she has meds for her bloody stool.

weight is just over 15 pounds and i would like it to be around 16.

think that about covers her.

nothing a few pills won't fix.

First Work Day

I changed our routine as I wanted Dulce to have some time out of the cage. 

I've been kenneling her outside my bedroom in a small cage, though found out last night she got lonely when I was in my office and she did better when she could see me and the other dogs.  I'm not ready for her to be in my office. 

I'm also not ready for her to be in my bed.  If she is like her aunt Macy, she'll pee on sheets and blankets and I also want to make sure she doesnt' chew them since she likes to chew fabric.  She has already learned it is okay to chew on toys, but not the afghans in the living room.  Or did I just move them so she couldn't get to them?

So she's kenneled at night.  I got up at 6:00 am, carried her downstairs (and found poop down there and since she hasn't been loose...), and made everyone go out.  Fed them in cages, and left them in the dog room, loose.  While they were in the dog room, I got ready for work.  Macy wasn't happy and let the neighborhood know that she was not happy with it.  Hopefully, she'll be better tomorrow.

Let everyone go outside one final time before I left at 7:20 or so.

Had trouble getting her to go into the crate and ended up with all three of them at one point, but then I could just fish the extra's out.

We go to our first class tonight -- do I sound ready? 

Put her on my VPI insurance this morning, plan to mail the breeder a check this evening.  Very happy with little Dulce.