Maggie was diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma on her left knee. She had amputation done on October 20, 2009. Four days after surgery she had a low grade fever and was off her food for two weeks! Trying times.. I am grateful and so pleased with how she is progressing now.
I had the absolute BEST time last night with Maggie in Rally practice – I just had to share! Reminded me sooo much of when we did agility together 🙂
I set up a Level 1 course – Maggie hasn’t done a course since our trial the first part of May. The first run, I did her first before her little sister, Haley. Maggie been lazing around all day – she doesn’t like the heat and I can see it works on her more now being a Tripawd. I know how it drains me…so I can understand why it would drain her more being on three legs vs. four.
She did everything I asked but my ‘agility thinking cap’ came on and our 2nd run was awesome! It’s funny how even in Rally I see the differences in how I run each dog….I’m more “up” myself for Maggie vs. more “calm” for Haley…same as it is/was in agility.
Maggie’s 2nd run was soooooooooo much fun! She loves it so much when I really interact with her more and am not some sort of robot that thinks she should be doing all the work 😉 Then after, we tugged and played in the grass just the two of us with no tormenting sister(she was in the kennel being a good girl 🙂
We had a blast…yet again, made me choke up and glad she’s still here to enjoy playing together!
Enjoying a walk in the woods - no I'm not eating that stick!
Signed,
A very happy and proud Mother, Tracy, to Miss Maggie Moo ~ aka the AgileCowDog 🙂
Not much happening here in Northern Maine but thought I’d share some photo’s and a video of me(and my little annoying sister!)
Did you know that I am part Beaver? I like to take chunks of wood and I chew on them and spit it out as I go…aren’t I just a talented dog ~ maybe I do have a little Beaver in me! See that little pile off to the side of me? JUST like a Beaver…
Here’s me tugging a toy with Mom. Do you think what I really want to tug on is my bratty big mouth sister?? 😉
Last night, me and Mom went on another walk in the woods! Yahooo!!! I hope she plans on taking me more cause I’m impressing the heck out of her! In Mom’s words:
I took Mags for another very short walk(10-15 minutes) on the woods trails..she got her hill work in. She is so wonderful to watch in the woods on rough terrain. Hippity, hop..doing so great & being so agile. I got to the wooden bridge..it is made of spruce logs laid down for a bridge…there are gaps between the logs and Maggie being her agile self with FOUR legs could always walk across it and never get her foot caught nor did I ever worry she would. But when I got to it, I told Mags…we can’t go across Mags…not anymore…I’m afraid you’ll get a paw stuck with your Tripawd gait. So we turned around…
She’s such a great dog on a flexi-leash…or skijore line when she could skijore…listens to ALL my commands – “Whoa”, “easy:, “let’s go”, “this way”…..all with ease and never an argument.
She wanted to go longer but I didn’t dare with it being rough terrain/hilly-ish. We’ll shoot for longer, later… She is so beautiful to watch. I didn’t get a video of course…forgot to bring it.
Signed, her very proud Mother, Tracy…
Here’s a picture of me walking on ‘safer’ terrain off leash..
Well, that’s all from this neck of the woods….Keep on truckin’ ‘ Tripawder’s!!
Last night, as I took Maggie for another woods trail adventure(of which she handled with style again!) I had emotions come back to me that haven’t arisen it’s ugly head since she was amputated 7 months ago.
As I watched her so easily do her “tripawd trot” and look so beautiful and appear so healthy, albiet on 3 legs, I was very saddened again as to WHY, WHY, WHY did this happen to my girl??? WHY??? Maggie started out as a pup getting very good Wysong kibble, then I gradually added raw meat to her kibble to eventually switching her over to premixes(Honest Kitchen, Urban Wolf, Sojo’s) with raw meat added. She has had nothing but the BEST foods all her life! And to top that off, she has had very few vaccines in her lifetime and never, ever flea/tick preventatives – only natural stuff for those bugs! I have done, what I thought, was the best I could do for her to keep her healthy. But alas, she gets soft tissue sarcoma in her left knee 7 months ago and have to amputate her leg. She has NEVER been overweight, always fit all her life – competing in agility for 8 years. WHY!?!??!?!?!??!
Ugh. Then from being very sad and bawling last nite for a short stint, I then got angry thinking WHY my dog. Why not the neighbor’s dog who has NEVER been well cared for like my dog! WHY!?!? One day, I was trying to convince a co-worker that he should switch his Lab pup over to a better food than Iams and he said why, your dog got cancer…alot of good that good food did. Point taken. Pretty hard to give a “good food speech” when I don’t have good evidence to show for it, huh?!? Maybe I should just feed Walmart brand foods and pump my dogs full of vaccines and chemicals and they’d live a healthy, ripe, old age(with four legs). I know, I’m being stupid saying that but…………
Then the emotions quickly changed to once again, having “happy tears” and a smile on my face for Maggie as she went for a swim, well, swim for her is at least going in up to her belly for sticks 🙂 This was her first time in the water since amputation! I didn’t dare throw the sticks too far…I don’t want her to hurt herself(yes, protective Mother that I am). She LOVED it. I LOVED it. I LOVE her. Yes…I am damn happy she’s still here….but I still wonder what in the world did she do to deserve all this! ? What did I do wrong for her?!?
To end this miserable feeling sorry for my dog blog, here’s a picture of her doing agility 🙂
Stowe, Vermont NADAC Agility Trial, August 2005
And a photo of her on her FIRST hot dog roast in the woods – we were celebrating Maggie still being here with us after amputation 🙂
Maggie wants the hot dog on that stick!
Do other Tripawd pawrents feel like I did last night? Even after so much time has passed after amputation? Am I the only crazy pawrent that still has feelings of what went wrong? What should I have done differently for Maggie to have avoided this happening to her?
I am soooooooooooo happy she’s still here with me but I still have so many questions in my head…that I guess I will never have the answers to…
Well, it’s a lazy & HOT Sunday evening…so Mom is lettin’ me blog 🙂
A couple weeks ago after my debut in Rally Obedience, I got some presents in the mail…a High In Trial ribbon and a plaque! Is that cool or what!? Here’s a picture of me, Mom and my ‘goods’!
This weekend has been sooooooooooooo hot and soooooooooooooo buggy! You see, we live in Northern Maine and in the Spring after it heats up, these darn little BLACKFLIES come out with a vengeance! Holy CowDog! are they a nuisance! But me, I’m the smart one of the bunch cause I seek out the coolest and least buggy spots around the yard. I was in my doghouse when Mom and little sister, Haley, invaded my space!
This morning, before it got too darn hot, Mom took me for a walk – we decided to go on an adventure! Only she forgot her camera so no proof other than my story 🙂 I really haven’t walked much on the woods trails…Mom has been worried it might be too much for me. Well, as usual, I proved her wrong! The trail was a bit hilly and rough ground but I was a sure footed AgileCowDog that I am! 3 legs or 4 – no matter to me! I did my lovely Tripawd Trot over low trees, through mud holes and up and down small inclines. My Mom was almost in tears again…what is up with her? She made me take frequent breaks and I wanted to just keep goin’! She short cutted the trek though…she’s so afraid I’m going to get tired. Well – I proved to her I could handle that short jaunt, so she told me we’ll try another woods adventure soon 🙂
That’s all from this neck of the woods! Stay cool AND steer clear of those darn blackflies!!!!
Maggie – aka Maggie Three Paws – my new nickname 😉
Guess what! Guess what! I was a HIT at Rally Obedience this weekend!! And I don’t just mean that I was a hit as in a cool dog to watch but HIT also stands for HIGH IN TRIAL!!! Me! I was the bestest of the weekend! Can you believe that?!?!?! Well, I can..cause I AM pretty full of myself at times and this was a time where I thought I was a pretty darn cool Tripawd showing the world that YES! indeed, I can STILL rock in a ring! 🙂 Pffttt….who needs four legs anyway?! Look at me perform in Level 1…I earned my title getting three qualifying scores for my RL1 title! And then I got a fourth one to go toward my Excellent title in Level 1!
This first video is my very first run! I did four for the weekend but we didn’t get my very BEST run of a perfect score of 210! I made NO mistakes to get that score! 🙂 My other scores were 199, 204 and 204 out of 210. Not too darn shabby for this 3 legger, eh?
Everyone was sooo impressed with me…saying things like I was so inspirational. Me? Inspirational? Can you imagine that! Another person said she couldn’t believe it had only been 6 months since amputation and how well I was doing. I told her to tell my Mom that cause she’s always been concerned about me being behind the ‘eight ball’ in recovering 🙂 And then there were PLENTY of people crying….WTH?! What in the heck were they crying for? Apparently, I had some effect on those humans!!!
And here’s a picture of me with my perfect score of 210 BLUE ribbon! (no video of that run – boohoo!)
Blue ribbon for a perfect score in Rally of 210!
Not sure how much Rally I’ll do…my Mom is concerned about me not being able to sit so much. I only did 2 runs per day and I handled those purty good, Mom! She’s thinking about putting me in Veteran’s class where the courses are shorter and there is less sitting for us Veterans(not to mention 3 leggers). So I’m up for more adventures!
My life seems to be getting pretty busy…I have LOTS to talk about on my blog 🙂 Here’s my adventures from this weekend!
Mom took me and little sister, Haley, to town for groceries…but first she took us each for a short walk at the Park. This is the second time I’ve been to the park. It was the very first place I walked after my surgery. The park was quite busy…kids and adults…no one really seemed to notice me? Aren’t I pretty? How come no one notices that I only have 3 legs? Or are they ignoring me on purpose? Are they afraid of me? Or, or, or? But do you know who noticed that I had three legs? A mentally disabled person noticed…as she walked by me, she said to the other person she was with “that dog only has three legs”! I guess I just found it interesting I didn’t turn heads for having three legs? Maybe that’s a good thing, though, huh? We don’t get to “town” all that often…where we walk it’s deep in the North Maine Woods…the only thing that sees us are deer or moose or a partridge! Hahahaha! They don’t seem to notice I only have three legs either though! Guess they’re too busy trying to run away from my huge bark at them!
Yesterday, Mom and I went up to my great bud’s house! It was a surprise visit as we were gonna go to the golf course but there were people playing golf on MY course! Imagine that. Guess it’s no longer early Spring when no one is there…another year gone by for golf course walking… So, we stopped by my friend, Woodie’s house. I really like Woodie… Here’s a couple pictures of me on their trails…
A squirrel!! A squirrel! I hear it but I can't see it!! Let me at 'em!Three Good Legs to Stand On!
Here’s a video of Woodie and I playing….he’s about the only dog I love to play with! Typically he never runs…he likes to wrestle. Me, I like to play chase…but much to my surprise…he takes off running! Holy CowDog…that sets me off chasing him!!! Wooohoooo Woodie! But then I wanted to be the “chasee”….I prefer to be the chasee…that’s how me and little sister play…but then Woodie lost interest…oh well, it was fun while it lasted! 🙂
And today didn’t start out too great. Mom decided she was gonna give me a “B-A-T-H”…. Oh crap. I REALLY hate those now that I only have 3 legs. You see, the Tech that Mom helped give me a bath after my amputation scared me really bad…I was so scared getting a bath in that big metal tub and I was scrambling and slipping…while Mom tried to hold me. I know, I know, I didn’t help any but SHIT, I was scared…I just had a dang leg taken off! So, this is the 2nd time Mom has given me a bath since amputation. Before this, I’d hop right in the tub on the cue “time for a bath”…but nope, I ain’t doin’ that no more…too darn scarey…even with a rubber mat Mom puts down. So Papa had to lift me in the tub today…I was so scared shivering and whining…I know…can you believe ME…being scared?!?!? Three legged has caused these issues that I have scared of slipping. After Papa got me in the tub, Mom got in with me this time and I felt soooo much more at ease with her in there with me. I didn’t slip at all cause I didn’t struggle with her in there with me. She fed me some treats to help me feel better during it and it helped a little. Mom says she’s gonna make it into a clicker training session to get me desensitized to that stupid bath tub. But I’m really nice and white and clean now! And smell good too 🙂 Phew…glad that got over pretty quickly!
So on to better things to do than a bath today! We went for a long ride in the woods…sight seeing…way up in the woods where we’ve never gone before. We had a hot dog roast with Papa’s parents and sister. I, of course, got pieces of hot dogs! We went for a short walk too but just the ride up there is enough exercise for me balancing standing up lookin’ out the window to be sure I don’t miss any wildlife! But I’m gettin’ a little smarter and laying down once in a while to take a break from all the sight seeing…(well, Mom has to convince me at times to lay down)..
Where's all the moose?! Here moose-y, moose-y, moose-y!!!Me & Little Rugrat Sister Haley - can ya' see her?
So, not too shabby of a weekend…I was a little tired from the ride but I haven’t needed any pain medication forever!!! Now that the snow has left, it surely has helped me get stronger and get out and get more outside time rather than being stuck in the house all winter long.
Well, that’s all from this neck of the woods….keep on, keepin’ on!
Me & Mom have had two really nice walks this week and she’s just feeling like she needs to write in my blog AGAIN this week! Sheeesh…..she’s such a yakker lately! So here goes…I’ll let her have the keyboard now….
Maggie LOVES it up to the golf course….we have been taking her up there in the Spring before the golf season starts, since she was just a baby(2000)…probably she was 6 months when she first went up there. There was still ice on the pond that day…she was loose…she walked on the ice and what I was scared of…happened, she fell thru! She was just near the edge…I freaked out and told my hubbie to go in there and get her!!!! In the meantime, Maggie just stayed put…never moved…must of been cold! He got her(it was only knee deep or a bit higher but she was only 6 months old!)…. We’ve never forgotten that day and since then steer clear of the ponds in the Spring.
Then there’s the Canadian geese that are at the golf course alot. When Maggie was a bit older…I have a picture of her sitting up there just staring at those HUGE birds…with her ears crossed in the middle of her head…yup, they stayed that way for longer than I thought…so long I was worried her ears would stay that way! That was the day she learned to also chase geese.
She loves to RUN at the golf course….wide open spaces – so much fun for her to run and stretch that greyhound-like stride out. And we have little games like tag…I tag her actually and then she tries to bomb me 🙂 And there’s painted steel markers in various places and I taught her many years ago to do her agility contact behavior of nose touching them by me telling her from a distance “go touch” and she races to the plate and nose touches and waits for me to throw her a treat…
She and I were having so much fun tonight…I was doing a few sits and downs with her…and we just stayed there for a few minutes soaking up the sun while she layed down and she showed me her belly..oh and got some well deserved treats of course… Maggie my treat monster!
So….yup, I cried during our walk…out of happiness seeing her soooo happy!!!! I didn’t realize until later, that it was also her 6 month ampuversary during that walk…what a great way to celebrate it!
And then our walk tonight, once again, I got all teary eyed for Maggie. We went on a trail that she hasn’t been on since well before last August. That hit me like a rock… She was again, soooo happy….smiling away…doing her Tripawd jog that she does with grace and style…just soaking up all the smells! It’s so easy to see Maggie’s emotions…she wears them on her sleeve….and when she’s happy….WOW…it just makes ME so happy for her!
I’m hoping to venture on other trails with her now that the snow is gone…hoping to take her a little farther each time… I just LOVE to see her so happy and enjoy the little things….the little things that count the MOST now.. After all she has been through, I just want her to enjoy herself …. because she oh so, deserves it.. She’s a good girl and deserves a better year this year than last year…
After a LiveChat on Tripawds.com with Dr. Waldman this month, I’ve gotten Maggie back on track with her PT work. We’d been slacking off a bit with the better weather now and have just been taking walks. Dr. Waldman said that walking is NOT rehab and that Tripawds need to have a strong core….so along with some stuff I have gotten from video’s I have by Dr. Chris Zink and Debbie Saunders, I also decided to buy two FitPaws balance cushions after the chat with Dr. Waldman.
By adding strengthening activity to our Tripawder’s(or any dog!) exercise, it has many benefits:
Improved reaction and control of their body
Increased trunk and core strength
Stabilization of weak areas
Improve balance and awareness of the body’s position in space
Increase range of motion of joints and lengthening of muscles
Here is Maggie on the FitPaws balance cushions. I bought two to put side by side so I could get her entire body on the cushions. I have her do reps. of “sit to stand”; reach for treats to shoulders and hips; walk over cushion; front or rear paw(s) on cushion and reach for treats; and manually rock her front to back and side to side.
And here is Maggie with her front end on the balance disc. Obviously, she cannot get her whole body on this disc. By putting her front end on and her reaching for treats high, that puts the weight on her rear end, helping to strengthen it. This disc is alot harder for her to balance than the cushions.
And this is Maggie doing Figure 8’s around two cones. The closer you put the cones together, the tougher it is for the dog. This is another strengthening exercise.
And this is an older video of Maggie doing cavaletti’s…another strengthening exercise. I made a new video last nite but I can’t get it to load correctly 🙁 Sorry this one is dark – I’ll have to tape her again doing them to get a better video.
After Maggie does a PT work session, I do range of motion stretches with her three legs. Dr. Waldman also pointed out to be sure to do hip extensions on the remaining rear leg often. I can only assume due to a rear tripawder not being able to really stretch out and hopping with leg underneath them most of the time.
Dr. Waldman suggested doing 10-15 reps per day of various standing exercises such as these, on an unstable surface like the FitPaws cushions. She commented that walking is NOT rehab…core strength is the key for mobility issues. Tripawder’s should only walk 10-15 minutes at a time, 2-3 times per day.
I hope I am quoting Dr. Waldman correctly! She was a great help in kicking my butt in gear to getting back to Maggie’s rehab…she said it needs to be done long term.
Hope these video’s are helpful! Maggie loves to do these ‘tricks’ for treats!
I have been wanting to show everyone what my “job” used to be before becoming a Tripawd. I started doing Agility back in 2001. My last competition was in the fall of 2008(we never do agility in the winter) because I started having problems the Spring of 2009. The problems first started as muscle problems – tight lower back and sore left groin area after jumping up for a ball….to then a possible ACL tear in my knee, to the worst of the worst…CANCER and amputation of my left rear leg by the fall of 2009.
But let’s show you some bright things to talk about – AGILITY! 🙂 Here’s me and Mom doing an Elite Regular course in Dummerston, VT back in October 2007. This was one of the last qualifying rounds I needed to finish my MEDAL Championship title in NADAC agility! How do you like those weave poles! Am I awesome or what! Rahhhh!
And this is THE last qualifying round I needed to finish my MEDAL…. Wrentham, MA – Elite Chances class.. You’ll see orange survey tape markings on the ground. My Mom couldn’t go past those tapes on the ground to handle me thru the course! And then, when you see me WHOA! on the dogwalk…my Mom said to me WHOA!….I said HUH? You’ve NEVER said that command on an agility course?!? That’s my SKIJORING command! So I stopped dead in my tracks! After all, I DO know what the word means Mom! Soooo funny….she was afraid I was gonna miss a paw in the “yellow zone” at the bottom of the plank…cause if I hadn’t put a paw in the yellow…then I would of NOT qualified missing our chance of finishing that MEDAL Championship title! But in my usual style, I finished the course in grand style, wouldn’t you say?
So that was my past “job”…..I could still do three classes that NADAC has – Tunnelers(all tunnels), Weavers(tunnels & weave poles) or Hoopers(all hula hoops)…but my Mom says the only one she would even consider me running now on three legs is Hoopers…that’s the only safe one for me. I am taller than a tunnel, you’ll see I have to duck to go thru them…it would be pretty tough on me physically. And Weavers…forget that…that would be WAY tough for a large dog like me…it’s tough even with four legs! So, what is left is Hoopers….I may try that some time this year…but me and Mom can play Hoopers at home and have just as much fun 🙂
So….now a look into my future….I will be debuting in what is called Rally Obedience. It is far less stressful on a dog’s body…especially a Tripawd like me! Although it does have it’s ‘taxing’ things for a 3 legger….like lots of sits are required, so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do much of it as sitting is often hard for me to do…so we’ll see what my future holds as far as competing…but here’s a practice run to see what Rally Obedience is like. It’s sort of a combination of agility and obedience. You follow a numbered course and do what each station’s sign says to perform. That could be sits, stays, downs, pivots, stands or turns. In the upper levels there is also jumping…I will be able to do that with the jump height dropped for my disability! So….we’ll see if my future will have Rally Obedience competitions in it….I will try my “paw” at it May 1st & 2nd!
No matter what my competition future holds, my Mom says she’s soooooooooooo happy I’m still here to be able to play with her and just enjoy each other’s company. If anything, I can go for a R-I-D-E with her and my little sister to the competitions and be the mascot! 🙂
It’s been quite a while since my last update! Geez, Mom figured I’d better give an update on the going’s on here in Maine!
The snow is finally gone….yahoooooo! I can finally move around much easier now and not have Mom at my side worrying if I’m gonna fall on the ice. I have been getting lots of outside time now..and that sure is a good thing, cause I’ve gotten stronger by just being able to ‘hang’ in MY yard 🙂
A couple of weekends ago, Mom, little sister Haley and I went to Wag It Training Center where we have played before..this time it was some new ‘games’ that Mom’s friend has invented… I got to play too! I really showed everyone how Tripawds RULE! They were some impressed with me…and WHY wouldn’t they be?! Aren’t I just the coolest dog on the planet? I think so! The first day, I ROCKED! I was so strong and did everything my Mom asked me to…sits, downs, wraps around cones, hopping thru hoops, 180’s, stays and even a little perch work to prove to all them 4 leggers that YES indeed, this 3 legger CAN do perch work!! Ha! I showed them that I ROCK!
Sunday, I was a bit tired and weak…but really I was only showing it by having really slow sits…a few I didn’t really want to do but Mom lured me with food….so I can’t resist that! I didn’t get to work that much that day cause I was just too tired, Mom said…so I “hung” out alot…which is fine by me too…cause I’m the world’s best hang-er-out-er dog too! 🙂
My Mom’s friend that has invented the Wag It Games told everyone while Mom and I were standing there in the ring that *I* was the incentive behind the “Heart Dog Program”! It’s for disabled dogs…so they can compete too! My Mom started to shed a tear on that….she’s such a gush! Me….I was just proud as a peacock!!! Tripawds RULE I say!
So, Mom and I came home with some ‘homework’ for me….we’d been slacking up a bit on my Core Work program that we’d been doing all winter…cause I’ve been able to be outside more. But after the Live Chat with Dr. Waldman at Tripawds.com and after my slow/weak sits on Sunday’s run thru’s at Wag It, my Mom said that I’d better get back on track with my “Core Work” and she got some more ideas from Dr. Waldman.
Our next event is in two weeks! We go back down to Wag It Center and I am debuting in APDT Rally Obedience! My Mom tells me that I ROCK at heeling…that I’m better than little sister and she’s been at it longer than me! I told her, OF COURSE I’m better! he-he 🙂 So, hopefully, I’ll get my ‘core’ stronger so I can do some really fast/pretty sits for Mom to be proud of. But she told me she doesn’t really care…she’s proud of me no matter how I perform…she said she’s just happy that I can travel with her again and just ‘hang out’ for all she cares!
Here I am doing one of the new Wag It Games called Shadow Skills – it’s like Rally Obedience but has bits of Agility handling in it as well as Freestyle moves – very cool! Can’t wait to try it again the end of May at their FIRST official Trials for Wag It Games.
Today, we went for a R-I-D-E in the woods….probably one of my favoritest things to do….I hang my head out the window while my Papa drives slowly and I scan the sides of the woods roads for wildlife. I saw a partridge…but that was about it. My Mom took these pictures on my short walk…I couldn’t understand why she took me on such a short walk but she explained to me that it’s cause I stand up the entire time riding up on the bumpy woods roads and that is alot of exercise just me balancing myself on three legs. Oh Mom….I know, I know…you’re the brains and you know when I should rest…ok, ok…I’ll believe ya’ this time…
Big Ears Maggie with happy smile 🙂Do we have to turn around? I wanna keep goin’!
Well, that’s all from this neck of the woods! Until next time….keep on, keepin’ on!
