Shayna’s scar check, night training, and our howling contest
Above video: This is the second time in recent months that we did Shayna’s training on a cool night on the tennis courts. But the first time (July 29, 2012) was a period of high anxiety and emotion, just before I took her in for the lab work to determine if she was a candidate for the surgery she had on 9/4/12. This time, it was pure joy, because she is healing so fast. I start off with scenes of her incision, then she snaps into action, and retrieves 15 toys by name, lickety-split.
Shayna and I get into a howling contest:
Since adopting Shayna in April 2002, I’ve heard her bark perhaps 40 times. She whimpers when she’s excited about something, such as when we’re driving and she knows we’re going to the lake for a swim, and when she sees other dogs that she’d like to say hello to (or rough up, depending). But on whole, she exercises her right to remain silent.
Then, a few months ago, I was watching a video of a dog (I think a Husky?) was vocally replying to her parent’s howling… and it was hilarious. I decided to try it with Shayna, and it was so funny, but also, inspiring. It meant a new avenue had opened up for us to “communicate.”
On Sept 12, we were at our wonderful holistic vet Dr. Raab’s office, so she could evaluate Shayna post-op, and design a course of follow-up therapy, now that we know what the tumor consisted of. During the wait, I decided to try this again – and ended up taking this 1:10 video:
