The Thinking Dog

A blog about dogs who think and problem-solve.

[thethinkingdog]

Orly Meets Her Match

Orly Meets Her Match

Ever since Orly hit early adolescence, I have been looking for a playmate for her who matches her play style. (Secretly hoping that if someone played with her as roughly as she goes after Cali, that might convince her to tone it down a bit …) I have found her! Spirit is our house guest while her dad deals with some health challenges. Spirit is four and a half years old, but otherwise could be…

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

Energy Boost Ethics

As I mentioned several weeks ago, Cali is taking magic mushrooms (not that kind!) to boost her immune system and slow tumor growth. Between the mushrooms and the chemo, Cali is still — as far as we know — free of large tumors. She also has a lot of energy, which she wants to expend — incessantly — by playing with her flying disc. What she wants, specifically, is for me to toss it so that she can…

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

Better Than Therapy

You’ve probably heard that dogs can smell fear — that is, they know if you are afraid of them by your scent. It’s increasingly accepted that dogs can sniff out all kinds of physiological changes, ranging from detecting tumors to identifying when a diabetic person’s blood sugar is dropping to cuing in on impending seizures. So it’s not exactly surprising that your dog can tell if you are stressed…

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

Dog On a Mission

Dog On a Mission

Cali’s ready; where’s the bus stop? A special, brilliant dog passed away recently: Eclipse, the most famous passenger to regularly ride Seattle buses. Eclipse, a fun-loving black Lab mix, took herself to the dog park on the bus a couple times a week. She’d board the bus near her home … and somehow always knew where to get off. Like most Labs, she loved her playtime. Unlike most, she was…

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

Freedom!

Maisy, Cali, and Orly love visiting Packer Meadow. Here, they enjoy the spring camas flowers. I love watching happy dogs running free. Letting her run and run and run is also the only way I can get Orly tired enough that she calms down … for a very short while. So, over the summer and fall, we’ve gone on lots of dog adventures to places where dogs can be off leash. This can be tricky, since many…

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

Orly Is 1!

Orly celebrated a significant birthday over the weekend: She is 1 year old! All grown up … I wish. The day started off in typical adolescent-golden fashion: She wanted to go see her friend next door, so she decided to dig a tunnel under the fence. Hmmm. That resulted in an impromptu rinse-off by a very annoyed human. All that happened before breakfast, so there was still a lot of time for more…

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

Checking In on Cali

Checking In on Cali

Cali is done with her first round of chemo, so I thought I’d give everyone an update. She did really well with the first two infusions. A little tummy upset, not wanting breakfast the day or two after; some indigestion. Tired. But she rallied after a few days and was back to her usual appetite and energy levels. Most important — even on the “down” days, she was cheerful, silly, and playful. The…

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

Unacceptable!

To say that Cali is a “good eater” and not at all fussy about food and treats is to vastly understate. Which is why I was astonished when she rejected proffered treats recently. We have a hierarchy of treats. This is an essential element of training and motivating dogs to do the right thing. The harder the “right thing,” the better the treat. High-value treats — treats that dogs will…

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

They Dig It!

I recently had extensive landscaping done in Cali’s yard. In naive hope of keeping the dogs out of the new beds, and to provide them stimulation and fun, I had a digging pit put in. Don’t get me wrong: They love it! It just doesn’t keep them out of the beds … or keep them from digging in the lawn (at least not yet). The digging pit lets them follow their noses to find buried treasure. It is fun…

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

All of My Dogs Have Been Geniuses. Yours Too?

All of My Dogs Have Been Geniuses. Yours Too?

Jana, my first golden retriever, knew the names of many items Who remembers Chaser, the border collie who learned English grammar? Chaser’s first moment of fame came from the recognition that she knew the names of more than 1,000 toys. Her dad, Dr. John Pilley, meticulously documented her training. He then demonstrated that she could apply different verbs to each toy (e.g., bring, take, give) and…

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

Zest for Life

(more…)

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

Orly's First Camping Adventure

Orly’s First Camping Adventure

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

Clear Scan Is Great News!

Clear Scan Is Great News!

Cali had her post-surgery follow-up liver scan, and the vet saw no tumors! That is fantastic news, because dogs who have tumors large enough to see on an ultrasound (a half-centimeter) generally have a very bad prognosis (a few weeks). With hemangiosarcoma, no visible tumors does not mean no tumors. There are almost certainly hundreds or thousands of tiny hemangiosarcomas all over Cali’s…

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

Cali's Magic Mushrooms

Cali’s Magic Mushrooms

Cali is fighting her hemangiosarcoma with magical mushrooms. No, not that kind of mushroom! At least, I don’t think that turkey tail mushrooms are hallucinogenic … They reportedly do have properties that both boost the immune system and slow the growth of tumors, though, and have been used in Eastern medicine for centuries. A small study on dogs with hemangiosarcoma found that turkey tail…

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

Cali's Bucket List

Cali’s Bucket List

As we wait for Cali’s next ultrasound, we’re filling in the time doing things on Cali’s bucket list. For example, we head to the river to play in water almost every day. Deeper water for actual swimming is a little more tricky. I’m trying to take Cali to a little spot nearby a couple of times a week, but I can only manage it when Orly is busy elsewhere. Aside from swimming, much of Cali’s bucket…

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

Cali's Village

Cali’s Village

It takes a village … to care for an aging dog. One of the things I like best about living in Missoula is the wonderful community I have here. I tell myself that it extends to Cali (and now Orly) as well; in truth, it’s their community, and the kind members are welcoming to me as well … Cali recently had some unfortunate medical news. She had had an ultrasound where the vet saw suspicious lesions…

View On WordPress

[thethinkingdog]

Cherry Season

Orly tries to figure out how to eat a cherry It’s the tail end of cherry season in my yard. I’m providing this hyper-local report because cherry season in this part of Montana is just getting going, but the cherry tree in my yard is done for the year. And I did not get a single cherry. The birds and squirrels got most of them, but Orly and Cali had their share too. Cherries are not great for…

View On WordPress