17 posts tagged “dog”
I usually post this on Sunday, but as I am working on Sunday I am pretty sure I wont be doing any running, though I might do some on Sunday evening.
Teulu curled up round one of the planters this morning, and yes we have had a lot of rain, hence the mushroom in the planter....
Not that much.
Running is improving slowly. I tend to try to downplay anything except big improvement, but I am seeing a slight difference. I'm managing hills better, and distance. I need to work on some speed, and also controlling speed again, as I seem to be just all over the place when I actually look at my pace. I'm enjoying it a little more as well.
Work is interesting. I've been asked to extend my contract and I have agreed to do so. I had been asked a few weeks ago, but then didn't hear anything more about it. Then yesterday I literally lost my temper with a Physician who was being un-cooperative. One of the biggest parts of my job is to advocate for the patients. In this case I was helping another nurse's patient (Other nurse was getting a new patient settled). And all the doctor could do was harass me about this and that and the other thing. I do not know why, but he really pushed my buttons. Luckily the Charge Nurse was there, and seperated us. Later the Charge said he didn't believe I could get that angry. He said I actually scared him a little. But, in the end, the Doc was spoken to, and straightened out. And it was acknowledged that while I can be apparently nasty, at least its over as soon as its over. I don't stew over workplace stuff. Its just stress.
Oddly, after the big blow up the Manager came by to tell me she still wanted me to extend. Essentially she let it slip that she needed one traveler and she preferred me to the other one thats there. I confessed to losing my temper with the Doc and she responded "Good for you...he probably deserved it" So, i guess for the moment I am Golden.
Teulu does not love the heat. He has somehow developed a nice hot spot on his hip. :( I'm going today to get him a new Elizabethan Collar to help it heal. And some oatmeal soothing bath, which I hope will make him feel better. He is still cheerful and tail wagging, but...I hate the hot spot. I always feel as if I am not entertaining him enough.
My New Camera has Shipped!!!!! I am very very excited. When it arrives, I will be posting tons of Florida Photos.
I decided to run the New Mexico Half. Even though its at altitude. I miss my friend, and maybe I'll get a chance to say Hi to her too. The course is pretty flat, so I wonder what that means with all the hills I am ploughing through here in Clermont.
Apparently, I am not eating normally, though I could have sworn I eat like most other people. I'm a little freaked out about this...which is a good indication of a problem. Will see this Nutritionist on Friday and see what she has to say. Food is fuel, but...sometimes its a bit hard to get enough fuel...and other times I have more fuel than I need...I hope this gets sorted out, but I am sort of afraid that I'm going to have to "be different" and I am not sure I'm ready for that.
with all the trouble I had with my old computer, i never got around to posting my Photos of Mt Ascutney Vermont.
sooooo. Here we are at Mt Ascutney in August.
We started out on the Futures Trail and essentially hiked up and up and up.....as is the common feature I realise of most New England trails.
We started at 7am, and you can see the doggie was full of Pep!
I did a little running on the trail primarily because he was raring to go. I wanted to let him off leash but I was unfamiliar with the trail and unsure if there would be other people on it, so he stayed on the leash...
Much to his dismay.
On the way up, we enjoyed seeing all sorts of natural things including this woodpeckered log...
and this Indian pipe, which I put in admitting that it isn't the hottest photo ever...
We eventually got to the top, breathless and dripping, as it was a looong hike uphill!
I took a lot fewer photos because it was a very strenuous hike....I later found out there is an asphalt road to the top, and then you only have to hike say 1 mile or so, but that was later and my car was at the bottom!
Teulu has been having a good time at Grandma and Grandpas. Here are a few uneduted shots...My mom says not to post them, but I am going to anyway!
Oh I haven't been blogging about running, mostly because I didn't have much to talk about. I ran the 4 miler ont he fourth of July and since then I have been slacking off incredibly. I had a hard time when I moved, and I now realize that since I will be traveling every three months it's going to be important to put myself on a more strict schedule especially during move weeks. If I was moving say once a year it would be less of a big deal.
Because I am not living in a place with a backyard, exersise for the dog is imperative....
SO I have been taking him along running with mixed results. He likes to run and easily adjusts to my speed. He has finally pretty much stopped the stopping stock still and allowing me to run into him. He distracts me because I have to pay attention to him as well as all the other running stuff that one pays attention to (stride, footfall, breathing...obstacles in the road.) On the other hand, he sometimes veers dramatically and rapidly off course to pick up a rock, which is very annoying and if I am not paying attention I run the risk of being pulled down.
Despite my poor showing for the past 3 months with running, I had an amazing day today. I decided the cold/flu or whatever has really run its course so I was going to run. I took teulu down the RR tracks, which has an advantage of being essentially flat (To be fair I did start the run on a significant hill as I always do, but I figured flat for recovery wouldn't be too bad.) and it is soft. In some places the sand on the sides of the track was not packed well and I was bogged down, but overall it was a good run.
About 1.5 miles into it I had an amazing discovery! My left leg did not hurt for the entire run!!!!!!!!!!!! I was having a difficult time with breathing since I had been sick so i didn't note it right away. My left leg has hurt since about May 2006, sooooooo this was waaaay cool. I have been running with the pain primarily because the last MRI showed that my stress fracture was healed and showed no other damage. I think it was not the achilles, but some other minor tendon. About 5 years ago I got a severe case of tendonitis in my right leg and it did take about 6 months of not running at all to heal it...
So, here's hoping I don't get the pain back with a vengance. I feel the slightest twinge, a few hours later, but it isn't like it used to be. Perhaps giving up running for my cold helped my leg heal. It's a strange sensation to be able to strike the ground without pain.
My big goal now is to get 5K ready again, and then do a few ten K's I keep thinking about a Half Marathon and a full, but I am not training with proper intensity for either, soooooooo we'll see how the next few weeks come along, especially if I get a contract out west....the high altitude is going to just kick my tushie!
Lest anyone feel that their puppy is singlehandedly got all the unusual behavior (I'm thinking of I love Eyore here)...
Teulu today had a special, somewhat dangerous moment, which was my fault. :(
I ran early this morning and was gone for about 2 hours. When I came home I found he had obtained a new bag of Kona coffee, slit it open and attempted to consume it. I must have left it in the bag from the store on the floor last night. Of course one pound of coffee...make anyone ill, and it had made him vomit (all over my nice beige carpeting). Caffiene is not so good for dogs. SO I called the vet who advised just watching him. So of course he is quite a bit more active and panting like crazy this afternoon. Doesn't seem worse for wear, ut I really do need to be more careful about not putting stuff away right away.
Well, after being a bit frustrated with ON Assignment and their apparent problem with my Pooch....
I mean, who could not love and adore this fellow?
he's not like
I spoke with some of my friends who are currently traveling with their dogs.
I got a referral to SunBelt. I called today and had an excellent chat with my friend's recruiter. She immediately suggested a small Critical Access Hospital in New Hampshire for the summer. While discussing things with me, she emailed the hospital about the job, and they responded enthusiastically. So, I right away faxed some stuff to her, and we shall see. She was much more attentive to my interests and needs, so I'll probably be sticking with them for the most part. She also seemed more honest. She was not bubbly or enthusiastic, which I would have preferred, but considering how bubbly and enthusiastic I can be, I probably would work better with a recruiter who is very level headed.
After that I used the Runner's World Race Finder to look up races to run in New Hampshire. I was happily surprised to see several, and several longer than 5K, which is good inspiration for me. It's also close enough that I could head over to Canada, or Connecticut or Maine on days off.
I discovered to be eligible for rehire here I need to give a full Month's notice, so I'll be here in the Triangle until at least July 6th. This does give me time to do the July 4 race I wanted to do, and a little more time to sort of organize myself.
I'm feeling a little better about the traveling, and just a bit frustrated that I'll be stuck at the hospital for that much longer. On a bright note, Each day I work I earn vacation pay. All the Vacation Pay will be paid out to me upon leaving, and currently I have accrued about 1 month work of pay, so not too shabby for a "parting gift".
So, I suppose things are looking up. Until a contract is signed, I'm still not doing too too well....
I am so excited about Teulu that I thought I'd post a little update on him.
He is now doing very very well post neutering accident. I finally took the plastic cone of indignity off of him this morning and he seems to be doing fine without it. He also rolled on his back at one point today and I really felt bad...he has at leat 20 stitches, all absorbable, in his "area". But its all healing well with no swelling, no infection at all.
But the change in his behavior is nothing short of amazing. Teulu has always been extra-active. I have had some days where I just did not know what to do with him. I have a very large back yard, but, as he is a Golden Retriever, he wants to be with people all the time, so just letting him run in the yard wasn't really an option, he ended up playing brick and barking psychotically all the time, disturbing my neighbours quite a bit. i was beginning to feel a bit like a failure. Before Teulu there was Delilah a type A female Rottweiler Shepard Mix, then Eli, an adorable jack russel terrier who required tons of exersise, then Scooter my forever pal, a shaggy shelter dog who lived for forever... and they all were fine. I had some initial problems with Delilah- she was my first dog as an adult, but with some help from the humane society where I adopted her, and many odebience classes, she turned out to be the best dog anyone could have. She died of Lymphosarcoma. So, I really was getting concerned that Teulu was being such a butt-head at times. Tons of people were giving me crazy advice (Put him in a harness, get him a shock collar, get him a puppy (ha!) etc etc etc) And I knew they all thought I was just somehow misguided. I've read all the books on dog training and psychology since I was about 10, so I was just flabbergasted by my sweet Golden Retriever's odd behavior.
Since the neutering and subsequent events, he has really calmed down. He still likes to go for walks, and bark maniacally at bricks, and attempts to crawl in my lap at times. He still jumps more than I'd like. However, all of this has been reduced a great deal. Teulu is now capable of being in the same room as I am, and laying down with or without a chewie. Prior to this, he would hang out with me for about 30 minutes and then end up in the crate because I had to write out bills and he was attempting to crawl into my lap. Now he will easily lay down with some direction. Goldens, like many larger dogs are a bit slow to mature, so i expect quite a bit of puppy behavior to keep happening (for example while I was showering today he decided to explore the trash can in the bathroom, something he hasn't done in forever). But I love the fact that he can now self-regulate a bit. His next step is to get used to P.
I would like to say that I do not recommend neutering as a "behavior control measure". Teulu was neutered because while he is a purebred, he is, in my opinion, inbred and doesn't need to reproduce. (I still think he's a nifty fellow though!) I did not expect him to change very much with the neutering. If a dog has been poorly trained or is not geting enough exersise neutering will not correct this. I have a tendency to blame things on myself, so I had expected his issues to continue in great detail and vividness. Instead, I now have a decently behaved puppy who is still learning things and he's so much fun to be with.
Yay Neutering. Yay Teulu!
Goodness me. My poor poor Teulu. Rarely do I write about my poor puppy but today he gets an entire post.
Teulu is about 14 months old. He's an inbred Goldren retriever. Thus he has both stomach isues and also skin allergies, and an inability to be still. As the vet says, he is always exuberant. I've explained that she can call him over-active to me, I don't mind. He is about 75 pounds of exuberance now, very handsome, but quite excitable. He jumps when he plays on other dogs and people. Usually the dogs don't mind it, but at his weight the people do (As they should). inaddition, he has a special game he made up himself called "brick"
where he drags a brick and pushes it with his nose. Then he begins to bark incessantly at the brick. Brick has caused my neighbours to not like me so much...so I tend to try to remove the bricks from the area as much as I can. On days when he only gets say 1.5 hours of exersise he wakes me up every two hours at night...
Despite all of this, I am rather fond of him. He is extraordinarily handsome.
Although I am sure he wouldn't win too many prizes at a competition. Anyway. I took Teulu in on Wednesday to have his Neuter. We were thinking that reducing the testosterone available to him may calm his activity level slightly. I know that Neutering is not a total answer, but I don't want him to reproduce, and it may be part of his extreme activity.
So, I dropped hyperactive boy off at the Vet Wednesday. Wednesday evening Dr G. called and said that all was well with him and that I could pick him up on Thursday after 9:00am. He did have a little staph infction in the skin, but that was going to be easily taken care of with amoxicillian. At about 11:45 at night the phone rang, i figured it was P so I just kept sleeping. Turns out it was the Vet.
Teulu had HUGE watermelon sized post operative swelling. So. He had to have some drains placed to drain out the blood. Apparently there was a lot of blood and drainage. The doctor very kindly said it would be best to keep him at the vets because the drainage is quite messy.
Today Dr. G called and said she though it would be best to ablate part of his scrotum...I said, ok, whatever they thought was best. She agreed to allow me to pick him up on Sunday as I work on Saturday...
This afternoon, I get a call from Dr. G again. The Senior Vet got a bit worried about blood loss, so decided not to open the area today, and take a wait and see approach. Now, they want to run a Complete blood Count to see if he'll support the surgery.
Apparently he;s got a big compression wrap on and is in a padded cage. They seem to be fond of him, so I'm not worried. Mostly now, I'm worried about the bill. I wonder what kind of doggie he'll be when he finally comes home. I feel a little bad I seem to have set him up for this traumatic experience. I should have had him neutered earlier.
On the bright side. Dr. G says he looks fabulous, in great shape and not overweight. She also feels that he is also over active, so it isn't just me who is overwhelmed by him. When he recovers from all of that, I plan to take him to puppy class. He knows his commands, but I want him to have experience meeting people...He seems to do fine not lungeing at other dogs, but boy people....he loooves people.
I miss my dog!
