Titre test

Last week, I took Flash and Jesse to have their titre tests! And yippee, both Flash's and Jesse's tests came back as fine and having enough immunity. I am so glad as I really didn't want to vaccinate Jesse! So they only need the lepto this year.

3-way match Surrey/Billingshurst/SEDTS

We had yet another match (and the last this year)today. Jesse was running in Beginners. Yet again, Jesse did very well... I was particularly pleased with the recall and even more so with the retrieve, which he did very nicely!

We came 2nd out of 6 dogs! What a little star he was.

Our rosette board and trophy shelf are getting fuller:



And later on in the day on our evening walk, I took this picture


And on 1st April, I took these to test my new camera

2-way match Culverstone

We had the yearly two-way match in Culverstone yesterday. Jesse was entered for Beginners. And we came 2nd (out of four dogs). We are well pleased. I am really looking forward to the start of the show season soon... where we will hopefully do well in Beginners as well.

Update

We have not had any further incidence with Jesse and Troy since the last one in February. There has not even been a hint of a problem! I now think that perhaps he didn't swallow his tablet that morning as even just missing one tablet can cause such an incident.

Jesse has also been on his diet of turkey mince, sweet potatoe and peas for many weeks and is doing very well on it. Poos are mostly fine now, he only vomits if he eats something he shouldn't, his dandruff has gone and his coat is gradually recovering with a bit of sheen on it even! Good stuff.

On Sunday, Flash, Jesse and I did another obedience workshop with Kay Raven. It went really well and both Flash and Jesse are coming along very nicely! Well, we'll see whether we can bag another win perhaps in Beginners at the obedience match at Culverstone on Sunday!

Bits and pieces...

Jesse decided that having a go at Troy when Troy came into the kitchen whilst I was preparing food was a good idea. Luckily I could separate them immediately and told Jesse off! This incident happened last Thursday evening, and made me decide to bring Jesse and Flash along to college at the week-end after all. I didn't want to risk any incidents whilst I wasn't there. I left Dylan at home with Troy and Cornel.

I have also changed Jesse's diet yet again. After the raw mince only produced slopppy and occasionally bloody poos, I stopped that. Although I did realise that Jesse's dandruff had completely disappeared. So it looks like he is allergic to rice too.
Since then I put him on cooked turkey mince, potatoes and peas. This firmed his poos up, but he was still a bit itchy, though the skin (which had just started with the scabs again) cleared up. I have now moved him to cooked turkey mince, sweet potatoe and peas and so far, so good! No dandruff, coat looks quite nice and very little itching! I think we might be onto a winner here! It would be so nice if this problem could be finally sorted out for good.

Of course, I also need to talk to Mark again re thyroid and whether he has talked to Jean Dodds yet.

At the week-end, Flash, Jesse and I went to college (Karen was on holiday). Fellow students couldn't believe the difference in Jesse's behaviour and also his whole demeanure! He hardly barked at any of the dogs, even in the kennels when all the dogs shouted at him. He went up to everyone happily to say hello with wagging tail... whereas last time they saw him (in October last year), he would just sit apart and not be interested in anyone.

So it was a fabulous experience and I am glad that other people see the difference as well, probably even more than I do actually.

T4 Test results back

I talked to Mark today re Jesse's test last week. The T4 is still really high (in the 80ies and 110s), but Jesse is symptom free and absolutely fine. He has shown no aggression, he shows very little insecurity/anxiety around children, no resource guarding...

So Mark has decided to contact Jean Dodds to get some further advice on the test results. I am looking forward to hearing how he got on.

SNOW!!!

Snow, snow, nothing but snow. What a beautiful day! (Can't go to work as no public transport, cars etc.). Love it... and so do the dogs.

Win in Beginners - 8-way match!

Today, Jesse and I went to an 8-way match with South Eastern Dog Training. This is a match of 8 clubs competing against each other. Each class consisting of 1 dog from each club.

We were entered for Beginners competing against 5 collies, a GSD and an Airdale terrier.

Jesse only went and came first! I am so proud of him, he has done so well. What a start to the new obedience year.

Jesse approached a toddler today.... and didn't growl!

I think this was the first time ever that Jesse approached a young child... He went right up to the toddler (parents were fine with it) and was curious about him! No growling, no insecurity! What an improvement!

I just realised that I never updated on Jean Dodds reply etc. Jean Dodds replied that the high T4 is probably a false reading due to the antibodies... (she even reckons that the 15.4 was higher too than it actually was). I talked to Mark the next day and also forwarded him the correspondence! He agreed to put Jesse back on the 0.5 mg/day!

Since then, Jesse has improved again! No further aggressive outbursts, no resource guarding and see the above with the toddler! His coat still needs longer and he'd been itching quite a lot, though this has eased off and almost stopped again over the last few days.

Thyroid test

Jesse had another thyroid test on 17th December. The T4 came back as being sky high now. So Mark has advised me to half the Soloxine dose, which I am doing now. His coat seemed to go drier though and I am not sure whether this is the right dosage; however, the T4 really are very high (133 compared to the 15 - 40 normal range).

I have contacted Jean Dodds with the results to see what the American Cocker Spaniel normal range should be and to see what her interpretation of it all is. I will then let Mark know as soon as she gets back to me.

In the meantime I will give Jesse the lower dosage as recommended and will keep track of things.