Tonight (4/25) was the first lure coursing practice of the season for the Greater Twin Cities Whippet Club at the Crystal Airport location. This is a much closer practice field than what seems like a 3 day drive to Farmington.
I'm guessing over 20 whippets showed up on this fine late spring day in Minnesota. Yep, it was in the lower 40's with an on again-off again rain...which felt like sleet at times. Probably because it was sleet.
I froze my ass. I'm just glad I decided to bring the dogs winter coats before leaving the house.
Pont still has yet to get over his car sickness issue. I'm just glad I made a purchase earlier in the day. I got a portable pet kennel since it can fold to less than 2" thick when not in use. Cool idea. And it actually did go together "in seconds" as the label promised it would.
On the way there, Pont threw up a bit. I don't know what is with this dog and being in a car. I'm just glad I had the new kennel.
Pont did well his first time on the lure. He was at first startled by the movement of the lure, then decided to tag along and check this thing out. On his second run of the night, he took out after the lure right away. Mission accomplished for Round One. Pont will chase the lure.
The old vet, Glynis, knew what was up as soon as she saw dogs chasing the lure when we first arrived. It has been easily five years since she last participated. Probably seemed like days to her.
Glynis screeched with delight each time she saw the lure and the dogs giving chase. And then she got to run once. Just once, as she is almost nine and as I stated at the beginning, mighty cold.
She ran 200+ yards in nothing flat. Showed no signs of the Frisbee muscle pull from a few weeks earlier and finished strong.
On the way home, Pont threw-up what seemed like all of last weeks meals. Again, thanks to my favorite purchase of the day, the van was saved and the kennel easily cleaned out and disinfected.
Now, if I can just figure out this car sickness thing before we have to make that long trek to Farmington, we'll be set. I'm listening to all suggestions at this point.
Posted by maasx003 at April 25, 2005 09:26 PM | TrackBackFor the vast majority of dogs, car sickness is related to stress rather than the motion of your car. Some say that your dog's most powerful memory is of the car journey that took it away from all it ever knew to be safe and secure, namely its litter mates and mother. So from a very young age, car journeys are often associated with bad things.
# First, get your dog used to just being in the car, without it going anywhere. Everyday, leave them in the car, (well ventilated and not in the sun), for up to 30 minutes (building up slowly). Ensure they are comfortable and have a bed in which to sleep during this period.
# Do this for a week and then start to do very short journey's (5-10 mins) with a really positive experience at the end of it - usually this would be a nice walk or a ball game in the park.
# It's a good idea to have someone else in the car during these initial journeys. This person can sooth and distract your dog during the journey.
# At the end of the return journey, create just as much fuss and play a short game.
# Gradually build up the length of the journeys up to about 30 minutes. If your dog is sick during a journey, reduce the length of the journey such that it ends before they are sick. Build the journeys up again.
# When your dog is able to do 30 minute journeys without stress, anxiety or sickness, you are pretty much there.
Thanks Mike. We have tried most of this already. We really noticed it when we traveled home with Pont after purchasing him. I expect being separated from his family was hard and he just associates the car with that. I figure it will go away in time as we continue to work on it.
Posted by: Brian Maas at April 26, 2005 08:27 AMWe finally gave up and traded off our small Ranger supercab pickup truck this week. After being thrown up on repeatedly on the way to puppy conformation training class, and no way to crate him in the truck inside, I had had it! We got a 2005 Toyota Matrix (AWD)...and when I emailed Corvette and Pont's breeder, Kay, she answered that "Maybe now Corvette won't throw up on you!" Nuff said?! Sigh. Time should help I think. The more "fun" they associate (i.e., lure coursing, etc) then they should outgrow this. I hope....We have one of those "Nylabone" folding crates which sounds similar to yours, and I'd love to get him one of the fabric tent type crates, but MAN, they still are chewing, aren't they?? Corvette has to his credit this week: One sandal, a table leg, and various rawhide bones.... I just say "You can't HELP it, can you?" Puppies....gotta do what puppies do.
Posted by: Sue Hendrickson at April 27, 2005 07:18 PMSue: I really like the new portable pet kennel. And it's easy to clean! I just know I'm sick of the whole car thing. I even tried to let him sit in the car while Glynis ran her practice run and he had big, long drool hanging from his mouth! I'm at wits end and I seriously don't know how I will make it to Farmington if this keeps up!
But we'll keep at it and hope that it stops. I know that when we do make a trip to Farmington for a meet I will not be feeding him UNTIL we actually get there!
Posted by: Brian Maas at April 27, 2005 10:01 PMBrian:
Hang in there...good idea to restrict food and water. I'll be taking Corvette to a practice run with Kay and the crew on Sunday. It's only about a 15 mile drive, so we shall see what happens with crating him. I'll bring his uncle Tigger along, too. The one time we did not have an up-chuck incident was of all things the 2 and 1/2 hour ride to the GTC Whippet club match in Feb. I had Tigger along, both dogs were loose in the little pickup "crew" cab, and no problem. So, I am assuming it's reassuring to have the older dog along. Good luck! Sue, Sean and the crew
Posted by: Sue Hendrickson at April 28, 2005 09:48 PMSue: Have fun at the Polish Fun run. I'm tied up doing some extra work so I won't be there. I'm sure Pont would have loved to see his brother!
Posted by: Brian Maas at April 28, 2005 10:10 PMBrian:
I just hope Corvette decides to chase the bunny...I'll let you know. See you in July anyway! Sue
Posted by: Sue Hendrickson at April 29, 2005 10:00 AMSue: I was worried about Pont chasing the bunny...but he did just fine. Corvette will too. We'll have to let them run together during one of the fun puppy events.
Posted by: Brian Maas at April 29, 2005 01:23 PMHi,Brian:
Well, although the weather is colder than a witches....today too, Sunday, we had a fun Polish run. Corvette and sister Echo did the straight down and back with great glee, (running alone...too early to put them with another dog....) Echo was especially keen. It was her first try, and she really caught on. Fun to see the light bulb go off...We tried Tigger (8 years) who as usual, has to get really creative. Sean was at the end of the straight line with Kay. But, as usual, Tigger won't run...he's killed 3 bunnies in our fenced yard, and sees NO reason to chase a plastic bag...sigh. I released Tigger, and he took off after the "fake" bunny, and Sean said later that Tigger was thinking: "Get the bunny, get the bunny, hey, there's a TREE..." and off Tigger went, to happily mark a couple of trees. After he relieved himself, Irene said later on, "Do you want to run Tigger again?" and I just looked at her dubiously, but said "Ok, it's my fault he didn't get to go potty first, so let's try it again." Well, Tigger is just not gonna do it. He'd rather cruise the crowd (which luckily was just several "Northwind" whippet folks and a couple with various cute dogs that ran like crazy (Parson Rusell terriers, etc)...Sigh. Those little dogs were going bonkers. Anyway, Sean is thrilled that "his" puppy Corvette ran 3 times, and seems to like it. Take care, and have a good week! Sue
Posted by: Sue H at May 1, 2005 05:31 PMHi,
Don't have any suggestions about the car sickness, but it appears you have a good deal of suggestions. Came across your site in search of Minneapolis Whippets. We have a rescued greyhound and are thinking about adding a whippet to the family as well. Your dogs are so cute and lively and your site is great. We have so many questions for you. Where is the frisbee park? Where did you get your whippets? We live in Minnetonka near medicine Lake. Look forward to hearing from you.