Baxter’s Navigator Status

For the past six months, the question of Baxter’s ability to continue traveling as my #1 Navigator in the RV and possibly even competing in future Nose Work/Scent Work trials has laid heavy on my mind. If his problem can’t be corrected – if it’s simply some sort of normal age-related disfunction – can I come up with a feasible work-around? I’d love to hear options if anyone has dealt with this problem in their own dogs. He’s not quite ten years old – that’s pretty young for a Dachshund.

Baxter has been dealing with a mild bladder or urinary tract disfunction for over five years, but for a long time its only issue was a periodic tendency to “leak” a little when he was sleeping – usually in a warm lap … sigh. Blood work and urine tests came back totally normal and he is not diabetic. With our vet’s assistance, we treated it with a mild herbal remedy that simply helped him to have better control. This worked fine for several years.

Last summer, the problem suddenly escalated. Not only was there a recurrence and increase in the urine leaking (seldom while he was awake – it seems to be related to his being completely relaxed), but he needed to go out and potty a lot more often than in the past. When traveling in the RV last summer, I stopped at pull-outs a LOT more often for Baxter’s comfort than my own.

I realized how serious the problem was (not life-threatening, but possibly life-style threatening) when Baxter was in a K9 Nose Work NW3 trial over the summer, and in obvious distress, squatted and peed during an Exterior search. The boy has not made a mistake like this in a search zone in YEARS. I wish I’d recognized his discomfort sooner; I could tell he wasn’t searching with his usual zeal, but caught the signs too late – he literally dragged me away into the grass (I do believe he was trying to leave the search zone), but I didn’t understand and tried to encourage him to return to the search. My bad. He gave me a distraught look, and peed in the grass. DQ.

For the remainder of that trip down to the Kenai, I found myself having to take him out of the RV to potty almost hourly. Fortunately, he is very well house-trained and truly did not want to make a mistake inside the RV, bless his little heart. He would fuss and fuss, whine and woo-woo-woo if I wasn’t quick enough.

I didn’t return home where I could take him to our own vet for over a week – it was a long week for both of us. I had to take him out for a late-night potty break at 10:30-11:00 pm (well past our usual bedtime), and he’d still wake me up needing to go out VERY early in the morning. A couple of times, we got up and went out in the middle of the night. Needless to say, he slept in his kennel that week, rather than in my bed as he would have much preferred – but I only had one set of spare sheets!

The trip home from the Kenai was troubling. We needed to drive through the Sterling wildfire zone in a controlled group with a pilot car. From the time we got into line to wait for the pilot car until the end of the zone where we were released from the slow-moving piloted group was about 1 ½ hours, possibly a little longer. Baxter started whining at Cooper’s Landing (about half-way). I honestly thought I was going to have to pull over and we were NOT supposed to stop. By the time I finally saw the pilot vehicle pulling off the road, Baxter was whining, whimpering and barking in distress. I pulled off right behind the pilot car and stopped. She looked pretty surprised when I popped out of the RV with a very agitated Dachshund who raced to the nearest clump of weeds and barely took the time to lift his leg. He peed and peed and peed … and peed. Ah, the relief.

Come on, Mom! The bushes are just up ahead!

Once home, our vet did another full blood-work and urine panel on Baxter and again it came back completely normal. No infection, no other indication of a problem. We added a chewable tablet that might help and hoped for the best, with no medical arrows pointing to a specific problem. The leaking improved again, but we’re pretty sure that is partly due to the fact that we started taking him out to potty about twice as often as previously.

Baxter seems perfectly happy at this point in time. His quality of life is fine, as long as we are around to take him out regularly. And he seems to do OK when left home alone in the quiet house for up to about 4 hours or so. We occasionally find damp spots on his favorite doggy bed (fortunately easily tossed in the washing machine) if we are away from home more than 5 hours, but otherwise he’s doing pretty good.

Jerry is home most of the time and is pretty good about taking Baxter out when he asks. Baxter has gotten good at demanding that Jerry listen to him. 😉 This has things in check for the time being. But what to do when spring and summer arrive and I want to start traveling again?

On the plus side; I love having both Baxter and Rhonda along on my RV trips. Both dogs love traveling in the RV, stopping at great new sniffy spots along the route and long leash walks at new locations when we arrive there. They are both good company for me and they both love the Nose Work/Scent Work trials that are often at the end of the drive. I think Ronni would miss having Baxter along almost as much as I would if he didn’t come with us.

On the down side; having to stop for potty breaks every hour or so while traveling can be problematic in a large vehicle and takes up a LOT of time. Needing to either stay up late at night in order to take him out for that late night potty break or get back out of bed to do so – AND then also get up super early in the morning (something Jer is fine doing at home, but me – not so much) … well, that puts a damper on my own travel enjoyment – a thought that makes me feel guilty and a bit selfish, but there it is. I DO enjoy sleeping in and having coffee in my PJs while enjoying a pretty view out the window.

Ronni is just the opposite of Baxter. It can be difficult to get Ronni to even think about waking up before 8am many mornings – she loves being snuggly-warm under the blankets and will grumble and groan (it’s pretty cute) in resistance to an early wake-up call – a girl after my own heart. Baxter used to enjoy this too. I’m sure he would much prefer to go back to his old ways. It’s not his fault, poor little dude.

We’ll be making another trip to the vet to see if anything else can be tried. If nothing helps to resolve this problem, I will have to make some decisions. I’m thinking having my cheerful little navigator along is more important than a speedy time-line, but geez … I’m envisioning my next trip to the Kenai. My friends already tease me about leaving for a trial two days early so I can take my time driving. I can just imagine what they’ll think next time.

OK;  leave Wasilla, stop to potty in Anchorage, stop to potty at Girdwood (or somewhere along Turnagain arm), stop to potty along 6-Mile Creek, stop to potty at Cooper’s Landing, stop to potty … OH WAIT! We made it to Sterling! 😊 Yay!

On the bright side, I’m all for stopping to smell the roses. I guess this will give me many “happy opportunities”? I mean, seriously, you have to have a navigator, right?

A Dimly Bright Morning

What a wonderful morning! Not only was it above zero (not much, but hey, I’ll take it) after a week of frigid below zero temps, but dawn dimly colored the eastern mountains across the valley with pale yellowish pink hues this morning just before 9:00 AM.

A 9:00 AM dawn is a highlight this time of year – proof that we are indeed heading the right direction. Could spring be far behind? Well … yes <sigh>, it could and probably will be. But my mood has lifted.

More than likely, cabin fever will be the next emotion to hit. 😊

On This Still Alaska Morning

I found myself reluctant to get out of my toasty warm bed this morning, much less actually DO anything. One glance at the outside thermometer showed the temperature was -24F at my house. Sure, Fairbanks is lots colder, but really, I didn’t care about anyplace except right here. Ack.

Rhonda was curled tightly against my side under the covers. I knew Jerry had taken her outside for a morning potty break an hour earlier – her cold toes digging her way back under the covers upon her return were ample proof, but right then, we were both very comfy.

I finally sat up in bed, pulling the blankets with me since it’s always colder upstairs in our house. Downstairs is cozy, with wood heat supplementing the furnace nicely, even at -20F. But our upstairs heating system has never really been sufficient in super cold weather. Most of the winter is just fine, with plenty of heat coming up the wide staircase to the upstairs rooms. Even in the current cold temps, it’s OK for sleeping since Jer and I both prefer cooler air at night anyway, but for anything else, the upstairs is uncomfortably chilly in severe cold weather. I was wearing a sweatshirt, warm bed-socks and fingerless mitts to knit in bed last night. ☹ It felt apt that I was knitting yet another pair of fingerless mitts.

Jerry, bless him, had brought up my insulated Starbuck’s mug full of hot, aromatic coffee at about 8:00 am (a wonderful habit he got into many, many years ago and one I appreciate immensely, especially in winter), so I immediately reached for the warmth of hot coffee. Rhonda didn’t budge from her warm spot.

I glanced out the bedroom window as I sipped eye-opening coffee. Yep, everything was still white with hoar-frost. Every single branch and twig sparkled in the early morning light. It’s a gorgeous sight and one I generally appreciate for the unique contrast with the bright winter-blue sky. But 4-5 days in a row? OK, enough already. By now, it’s more irritating than unique.

Staying in bed for the day wasn’t an option, so I wandered downstairs a while later for more coffee and the comfort of the woodstove. I was just in time for the dogs to need to go outside again. Oh joy. Boy, on days like this I really miss not having a fenced yard I can simply turn them out into! But nope. We can allow Baxter and Abby to go out and do their business and just keep an eye on them from the door (window), but little miss Ronni needs to be kept on leash. Even in this weather there are mice, voles and other tiny critters and she wants to go FIND them. Chasing after her at -24F was not part of my plan this morning, so we both bundled up and ventured out to the “potty palace” on the front porch.

Yes, I said “potty palace”. Silly name, but it sure comes in handy. The red shade in the photo is only partly the plush red winter coat Ronni is wearing. The rest is due to a red heat lamp clipped firmly over the pen. It was simple to put together and makes a huge difference for our short haired dachshunds during extreme weather like this. Being comfortable pottying outside makes for no accidents inside. Win/win!

We set up an X-pen in the far corner of our front porch, added a tarp to contain birch sawdust and clipped a heat lamp to a 2×4 frame at one end. The dogs trot out the front door, take a sharp turn and pop into the pen. Baxter’s no wuss and will usually still accompany Abby out into the yard as long as the snow isn’t too deep (Jer usually keeps it pretty well plowed or shoveled), but today even he ran for the protected corner. The term “potty palace” is a hold-over from many years ago when we first came up with the idea to help our tiny 7 lb. Miniature Dachshund/Chihuahua mix, Pocket, cope with similar cold weather. Nearly 20 years ago, we dubbed it “Pocket’s Potty Palace” and the name stuck. 😊

I’ve been glad for my long down-filled coat and fur-trimmed hood this whole week and was glad the dogs were quick this morning. Once back in the house, I determined to keep myself busy INDOORS for as much of the day as possible. By early afternoon, although the trees outside showed no indication of changing from their stark, frozen white silhouettes, our temps were all the way up to -13F. Yay, I guess.

Well, it’s 8:00 pm now and it looks like -13F was our “high” for the day. It’s back down to about -19F again now, so I’m making cocoa and am heading back to bed. I have knitting to do. One warm wool fingerless mitt (hey, we need to be able to text, right?) is finished today, one to go.

Something Old, Something New

Ten years ago, I was living in the same exact house but a completely different life and had no clue it was all about to end.

If I’d been asked how I would describe myself, I wouldn’t have hesitated – I was a writer (purely a hobby, but a fulfilling one), an avid spinner and a dedicated Pygmy goat breeder.

I loved my four dogs and my house cats and I was married to a wonderful man who worked long hours at a job he loved. My days were happily divided between the barn, my spinning wheel and my computer. I was plenty busy, but it was a fun busy.

A few months earlier, I had taken my writing hobby to the next level and had signed on with BellaOnline (www.BellaOnline.com) as their Alaska Editor. Publishing weekly articles for my own site was both demanding and exhilarating – and I was loving every minute of it.

After Jerry’s TBI in September, 2009, I was abruptly none of those things. My goats lived at a friend’s farm for over six months. My spinning wheel sat idle. I stopped writing. Call it a writer’s block, anxiety or PTSD … his accident really threw me off stride. With Jerry in the hospital for two months and then in rehab for over a year, I couldn’t seem to put three sentences together and have them make sense.

I tried to keep the Alaska site going, but it was all just too much. Finally admitting defeat, I resigned as a BellaOnline Editor and concentrated on Jerry’s slow recovery and keeping my own life on as even a keel as possible. That was in 2010.

Eventually, just to have an outlet from being at home, I went to work part time in the office of a local dog training facility and found I enjoyed it. I became involved in training my own dogs in a variety of sports (it turned out to be great therapy for me as a caregiver) and, as Jer became more independent, I put in more and more hours away from home.

In early 2015, I veered off in another new direction and trained to become a Certified Nose Work (dog sport) Instructor. Between running the office, teaching Nose Work classes and training my own dogs, my life was once again full. Completely different, but full.

The TBI changed Jerry. It changed me, too. I’ve mostly come to terms with that – mostly. I’ve even started spinning again. But life will never be what it once was and the future needed to be re-imagined.

Keeping myself too busy to think only worked for a while. A little over two years ago, I felt myself beginning to spin off into an abyss, mentally and emotionally. I was being pulled in too many directions and none of them were headed towards any sort of peace and quiet. I felt a strong need to somehow center myself.

I bought an RV. More precisely, a 27’ Winnebago Minnie Winnie motorhome. Strangely, at first; just having it was enough – it was like my own little escape hatch for when life got too hectic. I’d go out to the RV and just sit in the quiet, knowing I could turn the key and leave.

Soon though, just sitting in the yard wasn’t enough, so I taught myself how to run everything; electric, propane, leveling, circuit breakers, etc. I learned to pack so things didn’t break, to pull into a gas station safely, to set up and hook-up at a campsite, then the reverse. I learned how to back a 27’ RV into a campsite by myself – I was pretty proud of that one.

At that point, it was obvious to me that I needed to GO. The first summer, I was happy enough to take short trips, sort of feeling things out and trying my wings. By my 2nd summer, I was straining at the bit and just dying to get on the road. Once out there, I fought returning home.

The peace and quiet was addictive. Yes, even with two dachshunds. It’s a different sort of quiet – a quiet of the mind. It was a good quiet and it started something inside me healing.

I am sorry that having that time to sit with myself, talk to myself, LISTEN to myself – resulted in my decision to retire from a job I had loved doing for eight years. But it was time, and at least I realized it in time to take the necessary steps to thoroughly train my replacement before going. Without knowing I was leaving the office in reliable hands, I’m afraid the stress would have taken a lot of the joy out of my next step.

What IS my next step? I’m not sure about the future; it will have to take care of itself. But I’m beginning by taking a big step backwards. Ten years backwards, to be exact. I am going to pick up where I so jarringly left off after Jerry’s accident.

I have been accepted back as a BellaOnline magazine editor. Oh wow … deep breath. I am once again the Editor of the BellaOnline Alaska site. You can find my site here: http://www.bellaonline.com

Once on the magazine webpage, go to “Travel & Culture” and click on “Alaska”, or even easier, find the search box on the initial homepage and type “Alaska” in the box. It’ll take you right to me.

I’m already adding new articles, and even better – all my old articles are still there. 😃 I’d love it if you’ll click on signing up for my weekly newsletter at BellaOnline – it does the same thing as this blog – just sends you a quick note that a new article (of mine) is up and a link to it.

I’ll continue to blog as well – as you’ll see, it’s two very different styles of writing. I just wanted to let everyone know what I was up to – and that it’s GOOD.

Happy New Year 2020! May it be a good year for everyone.

Cheers, De