When we go to the dog beach, we typically go to the Ponce Inlet dog beach. There is another dog beach, however, in New Smyrna Beach. Both beaches actually flank the same body of water and while you can see each beach from the opposite side, it is not like you can swim there. The drive to New Smyrna is a lot longer. So our quick beach trips are normally to Ponce Inlet.
Since a recent storm washed away a lot of the access to the Ponce Inlet beach, we opted to go to the New Smyrna dog beach. Sadly, when we got there, we realized it was much too hot for a pug beach day.
At our house it was warm, but did not seem to hot for Henry. By the time we got to the beach, though, the sun was really beating down. It is a longish walk to the beach from the car, too and with each step it just kept getting hotter and hotter. We considered that maybe once we actually got to the shoreline, though, perhaps there would be a breeze and the water would cool Henry and take the edge off the now blazing heat.
But when we got to the beach, there was absolutely no breeze, the sand was still warm and the ocean was still as warm as bathwater. Poor Henry was a panting mess. And somehow, on one of the few steps Henry even took walking to the beach, he stepped on sand briers. 3 of them! And two of them were really big and super sharp. Immediately Henry started limping and and tried to walk on 3 paws simply because he could not walk on 2! He had two briers lodged in one foot and a third stuck in another.
All around the trip to the beach was simply a fail. There were 2 good points, though. Henry enjoyed his car ride and we didn't get stuck waiting for the drawbridge either way.
With the onset of cooler weather, upped meds and just general pug appetite, Henry cannot lay off the desire to eat and follow smells.
When he could see, Henry never considered that his food bowl came from the fridge. But now that he is driven by his nose and not his eyes, he realizes that his food is stored there. And even if is not time to eat, if he is nearby when the fridge door opens, he needs to poke his little nose in there. Following his nose, however, is the whole rest of his body. This makes it tough to close the fridge door when he has inserted himself in there once the door is open. He reminds me of a teenager coming home from school with the munchies trying to decide what he is going to snack on.
There was a moment in the video where you may notice that he gets a little off track. When this happens we will put our hand in front of his nose so that he can again pick our scent and keep forward progress. This trick almost always works. If it doesn't work, its usually because he is off track for a different reason. When there is "some other reason" then it is usually an indication that he needs to be picked up and redirected or picked up and carried. In any event, Henry may not have gone through war, but that is not to say that he has not fought some tough battles in his day.
To all those who have served our country, we appreciate you giving of yourselves so that the rest of us can have our lves, freedom and civil liberties. OBP supports vets!
Today's ASK OBP questions come from Christie, who asks why the name "Owned by Pugs" and from Martha who asked if the OBP peeps had dogs growing up and if we were always dog lovers.
The name Owned by Pugs came about as sort of a play on the pets as property view. We're not big believers that pets are property, they are family to us. Playing off that idea, we thought that if anyone owned anyone in that situation it was most likely the pug. After all, pugs seems to have a way of making "owners" putty in their paws, so it seems funny to flip that idea around and say "I'm owned by pugs", rather than "I own pugs".
Peep 2, also had a couple cats and a dog as a very small child. By kindergarten, however, the dog was already blind and elderly and was lost in a car accident. The cats lived another few years but after that Peep 2 was petless until college when Peep 2 rescued a cat (who sadly did not live very long). It was shortly after that when the OBPS became a family with Lou C the rabbit, Cupid the Cat, the boys ( Benjamin & Henry) then Luna and Sol.
While as children, we both would consider ourselves pet people (and probably more dog than cat people) but without parental consent, we would not be permitted to actually attain an animal. (Although peep 2 did try to be a pet rescuer as a young child without parental consent once in a while).
Our morning, pre-work ritual always includes driving Henry somewhere to take a short walk. This helps tire him out and ensures that he will most likely sleep all morning until Grammy comes to visit him.
For a while, we had been driving to City Center and walking there. But after a few months of doing this every weekday, Henry quickly grew tired of City Center and he was no longer motivated to walk. I guess he had smelled all the smells.
So, we changed things up and started taking him to the Pavilion each morning for his walk instead. The Pavilion isn't so much of a park as it is an open air shopping mall. It's a bunch of shops, but there is also a walking path that is just under a mile in length.
And the good thing about this walking path is it is full of motivation for an aging, blind pug. A steakhouse is at one end. And once you pass the steakhouse, you are headed towards the smells of movie theater popcorn. After that there is an overwhelming burger smell from the two dueling burger places.
While this seemed like a perfect way to get Henry to walk, the only hitch in the plan is that none of these places are open in the wee hours of the morning when we go there. Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of smells, but they aren't quite as motivating to Henry as they would be during prime business hours.
But there is one place that get Henry no matter what time of day it is and if they are open or not. Its the ice cream shop! No matter where we park at the Pavilion, Henry always find his way to the ice cream shop and stands at their front door. I never knew it, but he must have quite the sweet tooth!
The only thing that can top a long stroll, smelling all the smells near the ice cream shop, is if the trash guy comes. There have been numerous occasions where Henry has stood safely on the side and "watched" the trash man empty a dumpster into the trash truck. His nose goes a mile a minute! The trash guy turns all the smells upside down and its just one of Henry's absolute favorite things!
We almost forgot! On our adventures in St. Augustine (during Pugs In The City) we drove past this school. It is the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. Well, of course, we had to pose Henry in front of the sign! If we were to send Henry to boarding school, this is where he would thrive.
Don't be fooled by how well Henry gets around! He can only see light and shadows. He is such a smart cookie that he has mapped out a lot of familiar places in his brain, but bring him somewhere brand new and he's back to bumping into stuff (even if he is more ginger in his approach now). And while he can hear, his hearing is both dull and selective.
In any case, we had to capture this on camera. As a side note, on our train tour, they shared that Ray Charles attended this school way back in the day! #Can'tEvenThinkOfAGoodHashtag!
While we have referred to Henry's brain and cognitive issues as Doggy Alzheimer's, there is no officially recognized Canine Alzheimer's disease (at least that we know about). However, we have been researching cognitive disorders in dogs as we are starting to notice more and more oddities in Henry's cognitive behaviors. For some time, Henry has been suffering from sundowners. By definition, sundowning is a syndrome in Alzheimer's patients of recurring confusion and increased agitation in the late afternoon or early evening. A sundowner is one who sundowns.
Henry expresses his sundowning by the nightly routine of pacing, needing to go outside to potty (or pretend to potty), wandering and "staring" at walls. He started doing this around the time he lost his siblings, lost his vision, had cancer and then his day of seizures. We can't peg exactly when it started, but it did start slow and got progressively worse. However, we made accommodations that helped him improve a lot in some areas. Even though he still sundowns, he is not as bad now as he was in the beginning.
In our research, we have discovered an acronym that helps owners recognize cognitive issues with their dog. The acronym is DISH.
D: Disorientation. Getting stuck behind furniture, trying to get out wrong side of a door or appearing confused.
I: Interactions as in altered social interactions. Dog appears out of it, doesn't respond as well to commands.
S: Sleep disturbances. Increased sleep during the day and decreased sleep at night. Pacing, unexplained restlessness, especially in the evening or at night.
H: House soiling
For us, it is hard to confirm these elements where Henry is concerned. This is mainly due to Henry's blindness. Henry gets stuck behind doors and furniture all the time. How do we determine what is caused by blindness vs cognitive disorder? For social interactions, what is to say he is not responding to commands from stubborness, dull hearing or dementia? He has separated from us in the sense that Henry could literally have been pet for HOURS and now we are lucky to get 5 minutes of cuddling at a clip until he becomes fidgety and antsy to escape the love. The study indicated that like Alzheimer's in humans, the canine version can leave the dog not knowing or recognizing his pack (dogs or humans). When this is the case, the dog can then become aggressive since he/she feels as if he/she is surrounded by strangers. That is probably the scariest aspect that we have "to look forward to" should Henry live long enough to get to that point.
#WorstNightmare #TearyEyed
As for the house soiling. We can knock on wood for that one! So far, so good. He is still diligent about going outside. Should Henry lose this function due cognitive or medical means we will manage, but we will know that he did all he could to do his business outdoors. He is a master in the potty department. He has always outshined his brother Ben in that area!
To see in print that we are not alone in this and seeing that there is research behind it feels so validating. I am sad for the other dogs and dog owners, but I think that there is a huge world out there that doesn't believe any of this and thinks that we are crazy.
Our research has turned up a few different medications and herbal remedies that have been shown to help. But it is so tricky with Henry and his multiple conditions. For example, one treatment is in a oil based form. Well, the oil version is not good for his IBD and poor protein absorption. Another medication has had good results, but is only effective for up to 6 months then it stops working. That seems good but then we wonder after the 6 months does the dog just revert all the way back to what he would have been without the meds? That must be a shock to the dog and the people.
We will do some more research and talk to our general vet and try to contact his Neurologist. Our neurologist has a really strong understanding of side effects of certain meds and interactions with other meds. We want to be sure to give Henry the best he's got left. And we know first hand how degenerative Alzheimer's is in people. It would be tough to watch Henry go through each phase of the disease. For now, we will continue to study up and consult and see if there is something better than what we are doing. We just try to keep him on his routine, keep him calm and give him the things we know make him happy (especially car rides!)
Have any of you experienced this type of scenario in your dog? Seen doggy dementia? Have any advice? Here are the links for further reading:
