Taj Really Running For The First Time!

This was Taj's first time off leash since he broke his leg a year ago.  Mom was in her "happy place" as Taj sprinted on Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester, MA. Success! 

Rumi At 3 Weeks Post-Op: Simple Dog Healing Powers!

Rumi is doing very well.  So well in fact he thinks he is "all better" now and life is back to normal.  Video to come shortly.

Thanks to Roberta for the great selection!

Bandage Removal Day for Rumi

Woohoo bandage removal today - leg doesn't look too bad! Some old blood stains, but good circulation and Rumi of course slept right through it and is still sleeping.

Deja Roo & Mr. Taj update

Flyin' high on tramadol or just Roo being Roo?

Well you all aren't going to believe this but Taj's brother Rumi broke his front left leg in a freak accident last week.  As much as Heather can tell, Roo probably was trying to get up onto the deck by jumping four steps instead of walking up - typical saluki!  She thinks Roo lost traction on one of the steps and his leg went through the back of the step where there is no riser that would have stopped his leg.  The trajectory of his jump and the momentum he was carrying combined to cleanly snap both bones in his leg.  What unbelievable bad luck for Taj and Roo in less than a year!

ouch!  

Thankfully, after a successful surgery at VOSM (same place where Taj had his), Roo is back home resting comfortably under the watchful eye of mom.  We'll get more into his surgery and progress  in later posts but the clean break meant Roo only needed a plate bone plate to help him heal rather than the complicated fixator rings Taj had to endure.

on the lookout with my awesome leg!

Speaking of Taj, he is doing excellent-yay!  Thanks to Heather's dutiful care of Taj, he is walking normally and has been slowly building up muscle and strength with long walks and, when he can get away with it, zoomies in the back yard.  He is not allowed to run flat out yet, partially due to the weather and finding an appropriate location nearby to let him loose (not in the woods!); probably a beach.
-Rich

Ride time with Richie

Something is Missing!

Can you spot what is missing?!
Sorry for the no-posts: everyone here is transitioning.

These pics are of Taj at rehab!

quit measuring me!

quit bending me!

quit stroking me!

What's this kid stuff?  I used to be able to jump onto counter tops standing still!

how did you know I just *love* water

mommy you will pay for this

...plotting... scheming...

Week 13.5: The Good, the Bad, and the just plain Icky

We have 2.5 fixator weeks to go - and it can't come soon enough. We'll start with the good. The good is that Taj is putting much more weight on the leg again. We walk quite a bit longer - relatively speaking - still only 10 minute breaks but now it's mostly walking instead of standing and sniffing and looking around. His spirits are up, and he tries more 'dynamic' moves with it (e.g. leaps, spins-arounds, trotting - all of which I have to reign in). He's feeling much better.

The bad. His system isn't doing the best on the antibiotic (if you know what I mean), but that ends today (last two pills!).

And now, the icky. The past couple of days he has had significant hair loss on the one side of his leg. I will attach a few pictures (for education purposes) below, but if you are a hyper queezy person - you will want to jump to the next post (and not click these pictures to zoom in). I am pretty much immune to most grossness factors now. My guess is that this is due to a number of factors: 1) I cannot bathe the leg thus dead skin cells have been building up, 2) the salt solution I use to clean it is slightly abrasive 3) he has gotten to the leg to lick it a bit at night (beat the comfy cone - back to plastic cone). It look much yuckier in these photos I think than it is in reality. Regardless, I decided to call the VOSM techs for advice.

Icky hair loss

Close up icky-ness

The technician said that the reasons above are likely and that also with fixator cases towards the end of the fixator period - the leg can start to slightly reject the fixator - meaning (good news) it is due to come off soon! This means that the leg will become much itchier for Taj and the skin may feel slightly harder or courser to the touch. I am supposed to monitor the leg for inflammation (and/or being hotter to the touch), swelling, any pussy discharge, and any increases in lameness. Lucky for us (aside from the ick factor), Taj doesn't have any of those symptoms.

Not so much on the front of the leg...

...but a LOT on the outside.

She also warned to keep him from licking it 100% of the time -if possible- the next week. Sad for Taj but this means back to full-time muzzle wearing. No fun, but it's the home stretch! He still sleeps most of the day anyway. Dr. Christopher is gonna take a quick look at the photos I sent down to confirm everything is ok, and if so, we're just waiting for our 16-week (and last fixator) re-check on 8/18!

Poor Mr T., back to 24/7 Muzzle

Rumi keeping us entertained

Week 12: A Rumi Interlude

I've been trying to make a point to have some special time with Rumi since everything has become Taj, Taj, Taj. We've been to a few conformation handling classes, and I've taken him for some dog park trips and on a special hike.

I had the chance last weekend to shoot up to the Nita Nee (State College) Kennel Club shows for some show practice. This was our second show, and at our first show (in April) in Harrisburg, there weren't any class dogs/bitches.

Rumi relaxed and me intensely concentrating; 
his rear feet are back a bit too far but I'm learning!

Over the weekend, there were about 13 saluki entries on Sat and about 14 on Sun. I had the chance to meet a lot of saluki folks! I really appreciate all the advice and encouragement that people gave me. I am a total newbie to showing and Rumi's breeder (Deric @ Z'bee's) is in Michigan so it's been challenging. You can learn some things by email - but a lot is "live" experience.

My special boy - lining up for judging

We got a third on Saturday and on Sunday we got first and reserve winners dog (to a Major). Rumi was very well-behaved, I was very proud of him! I am working on getting him better conditioned (he has a little bit of weight to lose - it's challenging with Taj being out of commission). I am trying to learn the hang of handling - much harder than you would think!

Poetry in motion

I loved watching all the different types of dogs (lots of diversity in this breed) and really am grateful for the tips people kindly offered. Rumi is such a good boy and seems to tolerate the show ring well (even with his 2-second attention span), but I think his real passion though is in connecting with people.

Me learning that I need to let out the lead more...

 I have done some therapy work with him (he's a registered therapy dog with Keystone Pet Enhanced Therapy Services - I nicknamed him "Thera-ROO") and after Taj gets better, I plan to resume doing lots of therapy visits.

Paying Homage to Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi - The Dreamer

I love to watch Rumi move - he is very graceful. Rumi was named after the Persian Sufi poet - Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi. I chose his show name as "Z'bee's Homage to the Dreamer" with Rumi being the greatest dreamer and writer of beautiful poetry that pays homage to living life in the moment. His name is also a play on his personality. Rumi is a talker. He loves to chat and his favorite sound is a repertoire of various "Roo, Roo, Rooooos." One of his tricks for therapy work is that I will look at him and say, "Now, what's your name?" and he will let out a loud, protracted, straight from the lungs, "ROOOOOOOO." :)