cardriocanine

[cardriocanine]

Seven months old!

Oh my sweet lil pupper is getting so big. I just went back and reread all my previous posts, and I am re-proud of how far he's come in such a short time.

We have a very consistent schedule (for the most part). We get up at 5:30 (he makes sure of it). I go to the loo, get dressed, and get him outside for his potty break. We go inside, have breakfast (2 cups of kibble and 1/2 can of wet food). Outside to poo, and then in the car to daycare. He now gets in and out of the car on his own (yay!).

He's at daycare until about 6:30 PM. I get him, make his dinner (2 cups and 1/2 can again), and then out to poo. When we come inside, we go directly into the kitchen so I can dish up mine and T's dinner while Onyx lies on the tile like a little angel. I grab a frozie and then we all go upstairs and Onyx goes to place while T and I sit down to eat and watch TV. Onyx gets freeze-dried liver pieces and his frozie while we eat dinner. After that, it's cuddle time until about 8, when he falls asleep. At 9, I wake him for a potty break, and then we go into the room. He's been sleeping out of his crate for about the past week or so, and does marvelously with free sleeping on his cot.

On the weekends, during the time he'd normally be at school, we do training, we play a LOT of fetch, I fill up his pool and let him play, and we go on walks.

His walks are so nice, now that he's learned loose leash walking. He sometimes gets a little pully, but it's rare and it's only for a moment. We do take breaks so he can stop and sniff stuff, I don't require him to be in Heel the entire walk, but we do practice it sometimes, like when there are people or other dogs out, I will make him heel just then so he stays controlled and doesn't try to go play. I also take him across the street to see my brother and nephews when they're home.

I don't know how much he weighs right now. I might take him to get checked this weekend because I am curious. He's big, though. I'd be surprised if he were under 66 pounds, to be honest.

The cat is much cooler with Onyx existing, now. They don't really fight, he doesn't try to nibble her, and they will frequently lay next to or near each other. When he's lying down, the kitty will go sniff his feet and lick his ears. That's a huge improvement. He's also a bit intimidated by her; if she's in his bed, he'll sit just outside it and look at her, then at me, and then back to her as if to ask me to make her move so he can lay down. Cracks me up.

Also, she doesn't like his treats, won't eat them even if offered to her when he's not around, but she likes trying to catch them and knock them away from him, which also cracks me up. In this picture, I'm throwing a dried liver to Onyx, and kiki comes from outta nowhere to snag it, the little booger.

I had a Service Trainer group I was ready to move forward with to help with the prelim stuff with service dog training, but after some intense research, I decided that I wasn't going to go with them due to some issues people have had in the past.

So that's pretty much where we are. He's not the little runt at school anymore, he's doing so well with his manners, and I just love him more than I could possibly say.

Until next time, please enjoy this selfie with my big ol baby who likes to be the center of attention in and out of pictures lmao

[cardriocanine]

The training, one month later

So Onyx has been home from his training for about a month now. All I can say is wow.

He was a great dog before, and don't get me wrong, me doing his training was going well, but I am kinda a novice at it all things considered.

His trainer is a wonderful woman, and we get along famously. I talk to her constantly, and because she works at the daycare he goes to, she continues to enforce his training on a daily basis. His more commonly used commands includes things like Sit, Stay, Down, Heel, Here, Drop It, Leave It, Middle, Break, Free, and Place. She has made sure that everyone at his daycare uses his threshold commands along with all the others, so he's getting constant reminders on how to properly behave not just from me, but all those that are closest to him.

Being able to loose leash walk him is a dream, and I am SO thankful for it. And the Middle command? OMG I love it. I don't have a practical use for it yet, but I get such a dang kick out of it!

But the most evident action he does that comes from his training is his Down Stays. When I go into the kitchen to make dinner, I place him in a down stay. He doesn't budge until he's given his free command.

For example, in this picture, I am standing there with two handfulls of cooked chicken breasts as I plate up our very yummy smelling dinner. Previously, before training, he'd be glued to my leg to get a bite. Now, he just sits and gives me the cutest doggy eyes until he's told he can get up.

Also, yes, he did wear a leash in the house at all times except for when he was in his play room or when he was sleeping. It was part of his boundary training (that's me, not his trainer). He's allowed into all areas of the house except for the cat's bedroom and my step mother's bedroom. She's quite elderly and lightweight, and I don't want him going into her room and accidentally hurting her by trying to love on her. But the leash was more to make sure he didn't wonder downstairs while I was not there. He also had his leash on while in the back yard doing his business. Our fence is getting replaced and, while the back yard is closed in, if he were to jump on a fence panel it would likely go down. Because his recall didn't really exist until after his training, he wore a leash. Of course, if we were playing in the back yard, I didn't have it on him. Like if he was in his pool or we were playing with his flirt stick or ball he wouldn't, but otherwise, he was pretty much always tethered to me.

Just over a week ago, we stopped using the leash except for when going out front. He's in the house without it, he goes out back without it, he goes downstairs with me around my stepma without it. He doesn't jump, and he doesn't go into the two off-limit rooms. He has tried to stick his nose in them, but I remind him with a "No. Onyx, Here" and he'll come right to me.

Onyx is an absolute dream of a dog. He's got manners, he's funny, he's cuddly, he isn't reactive (I can clean his eyes while he's eating, I can move his bowl while he's snout deep in it, he sees other dogs regularly, he plays nicely with the cat), and he's just the most precious baby ever.

I am so thankful I had M for his training, and that it was at his daycare where they can continue working with him. Pretty soon, he'll stop going to daycare full time, once we start his alert training in full, but for now, the whole setup is going wonderfully

[cardriocanine]

Poor Onyx got pretty sick...

Well, it's been a minute since I've posted, hasn't it! This'll be a longer post, so buckle in if you care to listen... This post will be about poor Onyx's health (he's fine now, FYI), I'll do another post about his actual training and how he's doing with it.

Onyx came home from his board and train on 4/29. His trainer, M, brought him to my house so we could go over everything in-home.

The very first thing I noticed was that he was THIN. Like scary thin. M had messaged me while he was still in training, about a week and a half before he came home, that she was taking him out of the daycare playtime sessions he was doing every day. He'd still get outside play time, just not with his friend group. She said it was because he seemed tired and she felt that his training schedule, paired with all the excitement and running around during playtime, was taking it out of him. She also said he was looking thin, so she upped his food amount from 5 cups a day to 6. When she brought him home, she said she had upped him to 7 cups a day. And he was still soooo thin. She is familiar with GSDs, as is the owner of the facility who participated in Onyx's training. And they know, as do I, that GSDs have a tendency to get 'lanky' around 6 months old, their bodies grow longwise and it stretched them out. But this was more than I was ok with.

Onyx was so happy to be here, he was his usual loving self, and I was over the moon to have him back. We went over all his training commands, actions, and enforcements. She illustrated, I repeated the steps, and after taking him on a loose leash walk around the neighborhood, we were done.

The next day, I took him to daycare (though I would have much rather have him with me, I missed him so) because I had to work. When I picked him up, he was a lot more tired than usual (pre-training). That night, he was just worn out. He didn't eat much of his food, and didn't touch his frozie.

By the next morning, I was quite worried. His stools were pure watery liquid and he didn't want breakfast, either. I made the decision to call out of work and take him to a vet; his if I could get him in, or a pet ER if ours didn't have room. I was able to get him into ours and took a stool sample up with me. He weighed in at 58.6 (which was not bad). They took his liqipoop to test and did an exam on him. The doc agreed that he was looking too thin, but for the most part, everything else checked out ok. They ended up finding parasites in his stool. I can't remember the exact name of them, but she said they are transmitted by a dog eating either rabbit or deer poop. Some dogs aren't affected at all by the parasites, but some (like Onyx) are. In my area, we do have both rabbits as well as deer, so it made sense.

So we started him on two medications; a pill and a powder that goes on his food. He is now done with both and has solid poops again!

As for his feeding, he still wasn't overly keen on finishing a meal. I ended up getting him canned food to supplement and entice him. The instructions for that food was, if feeding only canned, like 5 cans a day! Instead, I give him 2 cups of dry food in the morning with 1/2 a can mixed in, 2 cups of dry food in the afternoon for lunch, and 2 cans dry with 1/2 canned in the evening. My boy has fattened right back up! He LOVES the canned food addition and it made a huge difference in his eating immediately.

So now, he's put his weight back on, he's back with his energy, and he's doing great.

This was the afternoon on the day he came home:

And this was yesterday, 2 weeks later:

Do I think they mistreated him or that they are to blame for him getting so thin? Absolutely not. While he was in their care when it happened, it is a solid 95% certainty that he got that parasite here at home; we frequently get bunnies in the backyard. I fully believe that he got it before I sent him off, and it just took a few weeks for him to show signs of it. That, mixed with the fact that he did in fact have a growth spurt (he was a longer boi than when he left), was just bad timing. Of course, my first instinct was that it had to be something from while he was away, but after my rational mind returned to me, I knew that was unlikely. And as for his liquipoops, I will say that those started after he got home, too. His first two poops after M brought him home were not liquid. If they had been, I would have been more persistent in thinking they should have seen more than the weight-loss and tiredness and should have taken him to the vet or called me to take him, but the stools were normal when he first got here.

I really do think it was all about timing.

[cardriocanine]

My boy is coming home today!

I am SO excited to get my furbll back! His trainer has sent me pictures and some videos, including his visits to local stores like Lowes and Walmart. He was doing so great in them!

My next step with him is to practice all his new things at home when it's just him and me. I will then introduce him to my alert actions so he can understand what those are for when we begin our alert training/scent training.

Alerting:

I'm still leaning towards his "ALERT SOMETHING IS WRONG" action as a forceful boop. Originally, I thought a bark would be the alert, but if my Chiari's is really bad, that'll be terribly painful. And if my heart is racing like mad, that might scare me and make it jump higher. I don't want to do "paw" because we do shake for funsies. I am still slightly considering a bringsal, but that will require I have one on all his harnesses and collars because we all know if I don't, I'll end up forgetting to put it on at some point and that will make it harder for him to alert me if that's his method. I absolutely don't want him to alert me by jumping on me because biggieboi™ is likely going to be at or over 100lbs. So all things considered, I am fairly sure I'll go with boop alerts.

Tasks:

After that will be task training, before we move on to Alert event training. I'll need him to bring my meds, a bottle of water, my phone, and/or my blood pressure cuff. For this, there will be distinct cases/bags for all but the water, and they will be kept in a central location at home (and possibly on his harness when we're out; his harness has velcro pouches where we can store light stuff). I'm considering getting scratch-and-sniff stickers in different scents, or spray scents like vanilla, wood, bacon, etc. for each of the bags, to help him tell everything apart quickly.

Of all the pictures I've gotten of Onyx while he's been away, I'm pretty sure this one takes the cake!

[cardriocanine]

Week 1 of Training Camp, done!

From Onyx's trainer:

His training is going really well, like I said before with him having a good obedience foundation week 1 has been very easy and fun for the both of us. I have noticed some reactivity while he is on leash, it's only happened a handful of times, and I was able to re direct him easily and quickly, if things progress with the reactivity I will change gears and focus on that. I am not extremely concerned about it at this point due to the fact it was easily redirected and corrected, but did want to keep you in the loop as far as that goes. Please let me know if you have any questions about that! Otherwise, everything has been smooth sailing for him, leash walking is going great, down stays, and recalls. We also started on his middle command which he really enjoys! My biggest struggle with him right now is the distractions of his friends, he loves them so as you can imagine hes very focused on them! We are having a great time together and he truly is such a sweet dog, I am excited to work on his continued progress! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns! 

I asked for clarification on his reactivity... it's that he gets distracted when he sees his friends and wants to go play with them. The trainer tells him "No" and gives him a command, and he immediately corrects.

He's doing his B&T at his daycare facility but has his own space for his work. He does get a few times during the day to go play with his usual crew, but he spends a lot of time with the Trainer for the 1:1 sessions. Those sessions are in a gated area away from the others, but he can still hear them in their space.

This picture cracks me up. It looks like he has a giant head and a puppy body.

I miss m'boy, but I'm so glad that we have this option.

[cardriocanine]

Bad vet visit, great picture, and FOURTY-FOUR POUNDS

I messaged Onyx's vet to get his monthly trio meds (flea/tick/heartwarm) and they said they need to weigh him to make sure they give him the right one (which I expected). I said I'd bring him in Saturday for that since he didn't need a regular exam. They then informed me that they no longer are open on weekends. They keep banker's hours.

As a customer-based employee, I remember how much I loved working at a place that was banker's hours, but as a person who can not take time off from her contract job, I can not bring the pup in those hours. I work from 8 to 5, which is exactly their hours. I'd have to take an hour and a half off to bring him up to get weighed, and that would cost me almost $100 from my paycheck. There's no way I can do that.

So I decided to start him with a new vet. Banfield has weekend hours, and has extended hours during the week as well. I figured that was perfect and set him up with an appointment over this past weekend. It was to be at 12 and specified "In-Room", which I thought was odd because, like, what is the other option? In the middle of the lobby?

I did get a call to confirm his appointment and all was well. So I take him up there and the woman at the counter tells me that it will be for a drop-off visit.

I live 35 minutes away if there is no traffic. So a 70 minute drive round-trip and they wanted me to make that twice? Without having told me?

When I tell you I was irritated...

No, I'm not dropping my dog off for a vet visit. Not even thinking about the added amount of drive time, why in the WORLD would I have a vet visit with my dog and not be able to be in the room with him and the vet? It's not like taking a car in for service. I refuse to not be in the room to see and hear and ask all the things.

The only good thing to come out of that was that I did get to weigh him and he is 44.1 lbs as of yesterday.

But really, I mean, c'mon.

The woman did say that they overbooked their weekends to do these drop-off vet visits, and she confirmed with the vet that they couldn't see him right then (at the time of his appointment).

So I guess the hunt for a new vet continues :/

But on a great note, here's a picture of my beautiful lil beast from our outside playtime on Saturday! HE'S SO FREAKIN GORGEOUS!

[cardriocanine]

Puppy teeth :(

When I went to pick Onyx up from daycare the day before yesterday, they said "OH! I have a gift for you!". I thought it was going to be his leprechaun pictures (which they did also give me), but no. No no... it was his first lost BABY TOOTH! They realized he had lost it, cleared the play area where he was, and hunted until they found it. They presented it to me in a ziploc bag.

Then last night after he came home, I found ANOTHER baby tooth.

Y'all... my baby is growing up!

At daycare yesterday, they did a painting event and man, I just love this place. It was so cute.

On a totally different (and gross note), I had given Onyx a healthy chew treat. One of those that takes like 20 minutes or more to eat. He's been squishybutting since then. I think we're going to have to just hold off on those entirely. Other than the squishybutting, he's perfectly fine (his pee is normal and a good color, he has all the energies in the world, he's in a sweet puppy mood as usual) so I'm sure it was the treat, but here I go, helicoptering again.

Also, he's taking to using his cot only as a pillow these past few days, and it cracks me up!

[cardriocanine]

Medical Alert Dog Commands

As we are getting closer to Onyx's SD training, I have been instructed to put to get a list of alerts, tasks, and behaviors that I would like to have included in his training. I know there are things he would possibly be able to do that I haven't even thought of yet, so I am still doing some research on ways others with conditions similar to mine use their dogs for. I figure it makes the most sense to keep everything in one place, and since I post on here a few times a week, this will be my designated place :)

Alert to sit down

Alert for blood pressure

Alert for heartrate

Alert for CSF

Retrieve medication from pack/bag

Retrieve water from pack/bag/cooler to take meds

Bring help (find a person, bark, hand them his leash, and lead them to me)

Brace head when lying (after CSF alert or sit down alert)

Pressure/grounding while I am in a sitting position

Pick up on command or dropped item

Find Dad (to go get my husband if something is going on)

Cover (lay on top of for vertigo/fainting)

Bring BP machine

Alerting to Changes in Gait/Balance

Clear a path

[cardriocanine]

That glowup, tho

We are at 20 weeks old, now, so it's time for a "Onyx through the months" post

Born: 10/31/2024

Recent Picture: 03/23/2025

[cardriocanine]

This weekend's activities

This weekend, we did a few fun activities. We went on a store-outing. Onyx did fantastic. Even with many people and other animals around, he listened to direction more than 85% of the time. He did want to pet every human, but most of the time, he'd show interest and listen when being told to sit or lay down.

We went on a longer-than-usual walk. He was very pully for part of it and by the time we got home my stitches in my stomach were on fire. It was not a very positive experience, but one that we will work on. His desire to pull was mostly when we got back to our street. He knows how to get home and was ready for the cool tile and bowl of water. Most of the time, when he'd start his pulling, we'd dead-stop. Sit (and get rewarded for sitting), and then start again. That'd help for a few feet, but then he'd pull again.

I also pulled out his dog-bath hose and nozzle in the back yard, as well as his pool. I'd put some water in the pool and then squirt him a bit. He loved it; he's an absolute water baby. I didn't do a full bath on him, but I did clean off his belly which had some gunk on it. He played in the pool for quite a while, and then ran around for a bit until he was dry. He proceeded to take a great nap when we went back inside.

I was feeling poorly and ended up having to watch TV in bed (which I never ever do, typically), and he decided that meant it was bed time so slept from about 7:30 PM until 5:30 this morning. He's going to be all energy today!

We didn't get a lot of training time in this weekend on account of how craptastic I felt, but I did make sure he had time and toys with which to exercise. I also pulled out one of his favorite puzzle feeders and let him go to town with it. He does so love his puzzles!

Anyways, I got some lovely shots of my babe. I'm always so in awe of how big he's gotten in these couple of months.

[cardriocanine]

Why are you going to a b&t rather than training your dog yourself?

This is an excellent question.

For his basic training commands, I have done all of those here at home, and he's done remarkably well with them. Now that we're starting to move into the more intermediate and advanced training, I want to be sure he is getting the best and clearest training I can provide to him. That, paired with the frequency of my medical episodes these past few weeks, is why I decided to have someone that is better skilled, trained, and certified do his more advanced training.

In doing his training myself, some items are more trial and error, or a learning curve for us both. I don't mind that, and he seems to genuinely enjoy our training sessions at home, but it means that his progress will be at a slower pace than with a professional.

I kind of think about it like my own training for software engineering. I went to school and got a degree in that field. A few years after I had graduated, I needed to learn a new technology and a few additional programming languages, so I learned those on my own. While I was successful in my self-taught education, it was at a much slower pace than my formal education. Part of that was an available-time issue (in school, I had set aside hours a day to learning, whereas when I did it on my own, the education had to compete with time for work, house stuff like cooking and cleaning, and other distractions) and part of that was because I had to search around for the right way to do things as opposed to having a professor in front of me that I could leverage for additional information, answers to my questions, and rubber-ducking things off of. There was also the fact that I didn't know all the things I didn't know.

SQL, for example, was a completely different syntax and environment, and even usage than I was used to (C++, VB, etc). I bought books and watched videos and researched online, but for quite a few things, I found them either by accident while reading up on something else, or after I was done 'learning' and was using it and came across something. It wasn't as focused as my schooling was, and it was more fragmented.

It seems similar to how training goes at home vs. with a pro. The pro already has a wealth of knowledge they can draw on, and has honed their skills over the years they've done advanced dog training.

So I guess in a nutshell, keeping my overall goal in mind (Onyx as my service dog to improve my quality of life and potentially save my life); speed and skill are really the main factors to why I chose to do a B&T.

There are cons to it too, of course. I don't get to see my baby for 4 weeks, my anxiety, the cost... but he already knows the environment and the trainer, and the pros just seem to outweigh the cons in this situation.

Thank you for your question, Anon, and please do feel free to comment if you have further thoughts or questions on the matter.

[cardriocanine]

Training progress and a birthmark

Last night, when Onyx laid down on his cot, I noticed something in between the pads of his left front leg. I went to go remove it, and realized it was a hidden patch of pure white hair. It's about a third of the diameter of a dime, but for some reason, I ooohhh'd and awwww'd over it. He has a minuscule white birthmark spot and why do I love that so much?

His training is going great. I have started teaching him 'Lean' in our sessions. The goal is that he will either lay down across my lap if that's where I indicate, or if I indicate my chest, he will lean against me to add pressure. This will be great when my heart rate is through the roof, plus it feels cozy and nice <3

He's taken to it well enough, but like with any new command and any puppy, he doesn't wait for the cue quite yet. He knows that leaning on me will earn treats so he tries to do it a LOT. It's cute and I only provide treats when I cue it, but I'm always just so amazed at how quickly he picks up these things.

He will go for his month-long training session soon, and as sad as I am about that, I'm really happy to get him into a well-trained companion state.

This will be the foundation for his Service Dog training. It will teach him everything but the actual alert/service portion of his needs. It will allow him to ignore distractions of other dogs, people, noises, unfamiliar places, etc. His training will also include all off leash and lead requirements. Once he's done, we'll go for his Good Citizen testing to get that finished.

Yesterday he had storytime at school. He went out in the shade with one of the handlers while she read him a book. He was such a gentleman, even licked her fingers for her to turn the pages lol. I really do adore his school. They are very kind and loving people with the dogs and the dog-parents alike.

[cardriocanine]

When did I turn into a helicopter mom for a dog?

I have kids. Two, to be exact. I have two kids and I was never a helicopter mom. I was always present, and I always oversaw what they did all the way up until they moved out, but I let them be them. I let them learn from mistakes and I offer guidance when needed/requested. I didn't freak out about every scrape and bruise and moment.

But with Onyx? With him I feel a tiny bump or scratch and I'm helicoptering af. I could say it's because "kids can tell you what's wrong or if something hurts, but pets can't" and that's true. And it makes sense. But I felt a bump on him the other day and was ready to take him to the vet.

It was a clump of his food that had gotten into his fur. It took me all of like 4 seconds to move that massive amount of fur out of the way to figure it out, but my first instinct was DOCTOR!

It's not a trauma response, I've had many pets in my life and none have died young (knock on wood it never happens), and while I am a planner, I'm not a sky-is-falling crazygirl. But with him, I constantly look for something to be off. It's exhausting.

He leaves for training in about 2 weeks. I haven't gotten over my feelings about that, yet, either. What if he gets sick? What if he gets hurt? What if what if what if?

I AM NOT AN ANXIOUS PERSON! I don't get why this is so constant.

Ok, so I am a bit of an anxious person, but it's usually not like this. I'm like a practical anxious person. I imagine a list of the most probable things that could go wrong so I can plan for them in the case it does happen. But this feels like I am just reaching.

I'm going to go shower and get out of my head for a minute.

In the meantime, here's Onyx with his oversized tennis ball that cracks me up

[cardriocanine]

Intensive Training procured

Yesterday afternoon, I put the deposit down on Onyx's intensive training program. He'll be gone for a month, and I am already sad af about missing him. He grows so fast; I can only imagine the difference I'll see when I pick him up.

He goes in on April 1 for 4 full weeks. When the training is done, I'll get my side of it, where they'll work with me and Onyx as a team. He'll learn everything while he's away, and then we'll work together to personalize his commands and skills specifically with me.

During that time, I'm going to take 2 weeks to go to Colorado. I was supposed to go up there last year, but I ended up canceling my flight the day of departure because it turns out I was having a heart attack. So, you know, best to stay here and deal with that. Going on this trip will make it a bit easier to be away from him, I know, but still... I'm going to miss my lil buddy.

He has this thing where, when I get him up in the morning (he sleeps in his plush padded crate), we go outside for a wee, and then into the wetroom for breakfast. When we go in there, I fill his bowl and his lunch bowl to take to school, and then I sit on the ground and he barrel rolls into my lap. It's silly and it is magical and I love it so much. I wonder if he'll forget about that while he's gone? I wonder if he'll forget about me while he's gone :(

I know he won't. I mean, logically, I know he won't, but I just can't help feeling like our bond will have to be remade when he gets home, since he'll only be 5 months when he leaves; it'll mean that almost 2/3s of his life will have been without me (the 2.5 months before I got him, plus this one month).

Ugh, gotta get out of my head about it. This is a great thing, him going to the training. And while expensive, it'll be worth it overall.

I'mma go think about something else, but here's a picture of my sweet son

[cardriocanine]

I could have used an Alert Dog yesterday

I know I still have quite a ways to go until Onyx can be my alert dog, but MAN I could have used one yesterday.

There are two things that I need the alert dog for... Cardiac alerts and Chiari's alerts. The Cardiac is much more important and detrimental, of course.

Last night, while lying down, my heart rate (which should have been around 60-70) was in the 130s. This caused my CSF (Cerebral Spinal Fluid) to skyrocket. THAT caused me to be a bit disoriented. While the last two are bad, a heart rate that high is very bad, especially considering I am on medication to slow my heart rate. That med generally takes me from 150ish to 70ish beats per minute. Since I've already had a heart attack, I am super worried about it. My watch did alert me that my heart rate was too high, but only after 10 minutes. If I had my fully trained SD, I could have been alerted before it hit that level, and I could have taken medication to help.

I have been in a Chiari episode for the past 3 or so days. Fortunately, it's not one of the terrible ones, but it is absolute affecting my daily living.

Onyx is such a sweetheart, and I am in no rush to get him up to speed because I want him to not only be good as a SD, I also want him to be happy as a member of my family. I'm just really looking forward to us getting him all trained up.

Here's a pic of my darling after having some yogurt playtime outside :)

[cardriocanine]

18 week birthday progress pic

Here's his Homecoming vs yesterday progress:

[cardriocanine]

JK on him using the stool to get in the car, I guess

3/6/25 - Thursday I think?

Last time I posted, I mentioned that Onyx did a great job about getting into the car on his own. He did it for 2 days, and now he flat out refuses.

Nothing that I am aware of happened during those two days; no shakey legs, no pain points, lots of praise and treats... he just... stopped.

I'm not supposed to lift anything over a gallon of milk until the end of April. Onyx is 4.5 gallons of milk :/

So yesterday, I tried high-value treats with his stool, but nah. I then pulled out the fold up ramp and the fold out stairs to use with high-value treats and still, nah. He's good until it's time for his back paws to touch the thing. Then he nopes right out.

I had to butt-lift him yesterday and this morning since he refuses. I can feel it, it makes my stomach HURT, and I know that I can't keep doing that or I run the risk of opening up any one (or all) of my 5 incisions or making the mesh pull away from the muscles.

On one of the GSD forums I'm in, they suggested using something I never give him as a treat, like a cut-up hot dog (only the one, because fat and sodium), or some cooked chicken as a super reward. They also suggested that maybe I can see if one of his large-breed friends at school can help show him how. I though that was a great idea, except I don't know the parents and we pick up and drop off at different times. I'll see about Saturday, maybe. Idk.

My plan is to bring the three tools (stool, ramp, and stairs) inside on Saturday and work on training him inside on using them. I'll start with the ramp flat on the ground and have him walk it a few times, and then I'll incline it to have him get on the couch or something, and then on to the bed. The bed will be just a bit higher than my car, so maybe that'll work?

It seems like such a small issue, really, but because of my surgery, it is a really big deal for right now. And unfortunately, I don't have anyone to help with it.