Our Pets – Page 2 – Green Acres Kennel Shop Blog

Complementary Medicine – Tikken – Vaccines, Aggression, OCD, & Homeopathy

< updated 22APR18 >

This article is part of a larger article, Trends in Training – The Evolution of a Pet Care Professional, which describes my development as a professional dog trainer and our involvement with holistic veterinary medicine. You can find the entire article at: http://blog.greenacreskennel.com/2008/04/19/professional-development-trends-in-training-the-evolution-of-a-pet-care-professional/

In April of 2000, our Golden retriever Tikken went to her veterinarian for her annual examination and received a two-year rabies booster. At the time, Maine law required a rabies vaccination every two years even though the vaccine was labeled as effective for three years.

It was in July of 2000, when my sweet, cuddly Golden Retriever suddenly, and without warning or provocation, transformed from Tikken to Cujo, just like Dr. Jekyll turned into Mr. Hyde. One moment all of our dogs were lying calmly on the floor as my wife Paula watched television. Suddenly Tikken just exploded and within seconds she had ravaged Crystal, our Pekinese, causing the loss of Crystal’s left eye.

While we had seen a few small signs of “irritability” in Tikken over the past couple of months, the apparently unprovoked nature of this attack, and its severity, led us straight to our veterinarian for a thorough check-up, including a complete thyroid panel and behavioral assessment. Her thyroid was abnormal, but not in a manner which suggested the need for medical treatment. However, based on the advice of the veterinarian, we started Tikken on a course of Clomipramine. We also began a strict management protocol with the dogs. Unless we were present Tikken was separated from all but one of our older dogs, Shed. Tikken and Shed had bonded closely when Tikken was a puppy, she was always very respectful of Shed, and they were similar in size.

We noticed increasingly anxious behaviors by Tikken. Now she became overly excited at mealtime, and became enraptured by any shadows or moving lights. These behaviors became so obsessive that I could not even distract her with fresh meat when she got caught up in a shadow or flickering light.

Seeing no improvement in Tikken’s behavior, our veterinarian recommended a consultation with Dr. Dodman at the behavioral clinic at Tufts University. They recommended we put Tikken on a higher dose of Clomipramine, establish and maintain a dominance hierarchy, manage her environment, and institute a Nothing In Life Is Free (NILIF) program. We were already managing and doing NILIF and I had concerns about the validity of the hierarchical approach, so we were really hoping for the Clomipramine to work. What we ended up with was a dog that was so doped up that she seldom moved. She still became excited at mealtime and got caught up with shadows and light. She just moved slower. To us she seemed to have lost her will to do anything but lie around.

We were very concerned about Tikken’s quality of life, and with no changes after

six months of the higher dose of Clomipramine, we contacted Dr. Patricia McConnell, a behaviorist we had previously worked with when we were in Wisconsin, for another opinion. After reviewing Tikken’s history, Trish advised us that she had not had much success with dogs exhibiting Tikken’s issues using behavior modification, drugs or a combination of both. She did however indicate she had heard of some successes when treating with homeopathy. We immediately made an appointment with our homeopathic veterinarian, Dr. Judy Herman at the Animal Wellness Center in Augusta.

Dr. Herman diagnosed Tikken with rabies miasm. A miasm is when the body/mind/emotions of an individual manifest signs of the disease without actually having the disease. Tikken was given a homeopathic remedy at the conclusion of the consultation and within eight weeks she was weaned off Clomipramine entirely. We were soon seeing dramatic improvements in her symptoms. Tikken was treated two other times with the same homeopathic remedy over the next few months. We still managed the dogs closely, but Tikken eventually became reintegrated with the rest of the pets in the household. Homeopathy gave us our sweet, cuddly Golden back.

Since Dr. Herman felt that Tikken’s issues were the result of a reaction to her rabies vaccine we evaluated our vaccination protocols with all of the dogs. We have been doing titer tests in lieu of vaccinations since that time, with the exception of the rabies vaccine. Tikken did receive two subsequent rabies vaccines under the guidance of Dr. Herman, followed by treatment homeopathically. When she developed a second immune mediated disorder (pigmentary uveitis) in 2004, we decided to stop any further rabies vaccines, and she now has a medical exemption which still allows her to be licensed.

Paula and I both started to read more about vaccines and become further educated about alternatives. We made the decision to allow our clients to also do titer tests in lieu of vaccines, as long as the tests were done under the direction of a veterinarian.

Paula and I felt so strongly about the vaccine issue that in April of 2002 I wrote

Rethinking Annual Vaccinations for the Green Acres newsletter. In this article I disclosed that as early as 1992 veterinary textbooks were questioning annual vaccinations (Current Veterinary Therapy, volume XI, pp202-206: “A practice that was started many years ago and that lacks scientific validity or verification is annual revaccination. Almost without exception there is no immunological requirement for annual revaccination. Immunity to viruses persists for years in the life of the animal.” – Dr. Ronald Schultz, Veterinary Immunologist. In this article, I suggested that minimally clients talk with their veterinarian and ask if titer tests were an option. Needless to say, several veterinarians in our service area were not too happy with me, but I still believe I did the right thing. I felt somewhat vindicated a year later when the American Animal Hospital Association published their new vaccination guidelines which started a move away from annual vaccination.

UPDATED – March 2013

We were very fortunate that Tikken overcame her rabies miasm and remained with us until she crossed the crossed the Rainbow Bridge on February 7^th, 2013 at the age of 16 years and 27 days. It was several months after her treatment with homeopathy before we fully reintegrated Tikken with the rest of our pets; however, she lived the remainder of her life in complete harmony with them and even became buddies with Batman, a rescued cat that joined our family. Tikken did require ongoing treatment for her pigmentary uveitis and eventually also required treatment for hypothyroidism for the rest of her life. We are convinced that homeopathy, tittering instead of regular vaccination, and a raw diet contributed to Tikken’s long life.

Paula, Tikken, Don & Batman - 2012 — Paula, Tikken, Don & Batman – 2012

Recommended Resources

Meet the dogs with OCD by Shayla Love – An article and podcast from June of 2017 discussing ongoing research of OCD. – https://mosaicscience.com/meet-dogs-OCD-canine-compulsive-disorder-people/

Our Pets – Remembering Dulcie

It was a crisp fall day in October of 1999 when I got out of my car to attend a meeting at the Bangor Humane Society. Immediately I noticed one of the staff walking a little black dog that appeared to be a Cairn Terrier. Since Paula and I had been discussing adding a female Cairn to the family, I had to ask about her. It turned out that the diminutive dog was, in fact, a female Cairn who had been brought in as a stray several days ago, and she would be eligible for adoption the following day. The next day I took Paula and the dogs over to meet the little dog, and we decided she was joining our family. Shed, Gus, Tikken, Crystal and Tyler all had a new little sister.

It took us a few days to get to know this new arrival and hence we waited to name her until we got a better idea of her personality. We finally settled on Dulcie because she was so sweet. Dulcie was a very affectionate dog but in true terrier fashion, only on her terms. She loved attention, playing ball, and washing my head; however, she was typically not a lapdog and not one to snuggle for more than a few seconds, although she did occasionally settle in for a close-up with a person, child, dog or cat.

We were aware that animal control had been trying to catch Dulcie for a few weeks, so it was no surprise when we soon discovered she had a urinary tract infection (there’s just something about us, Cairns, and UTI’s – remember Gus?) and was prone to house-training accidents. Although we do not know with 100% certainty, I do believe that she was a pureblooded Cairn, and I have always thought her UTI’s might be why she was apparently abandoned. Like Gus, she had her share of UTI’s, but it was a small price to pay for what she gave us in return

I suspect that before joining our family that Dulcie had lived life as a single dog. Feeding time at the Hanson’s was quite a ritual with four other dogs that were always hungry. Dulcie was originally quite finicky and would only pick at her food, but in a matter of days, she was eating robustly like everyone else. Eventually, she enjoyed a daily apple, just like Tikken, until she got older and then preferred baby carrots. In her later years, Dulcie became extremely vocal at feeding time, and her lack of excitement was an obvious indicator that she was not feeling well.

Paula, Ian and Dulcie - May 2006 — Paula, Ian and Dulcie – May 2006

Gus-Dulcie Sleeping on couch - April 2002 — Gus-Dulcie Sleeping on couch – April 2002

Dulcie clearly knew no behavioral cues and had no training. I immediately enrolled her in our next scheduled training class, planning on training her just like we teach our students to train their dogs. Even though I am a professional trainer, having the regimentation of a class to attend helps make me do my homework.

Dulcie sitting on the deck - date unknown — Dulcie sitting on the deck – date unknown

Sit is one of the first behaviors we teach in class, starting with a food lure and quickly fading to a hand signal. Well there I was, in the first class, trying to lure Dulcie into a sit, and anytime my hand got anywhere near her head, she would back away as quickly as possible – freeze dried liver or not. It was clear that she was hand shy and that I was going to need to take a different approach.

There are several ways to teach a dog a behavior like sit. I usually start using a food lure. If luring does not work and it is a normal behavior that the dog would do on their own, I just wait. When the dog sits, I click and treat the behavior, thus “capturing” the behavior and building up a reward history. Now, anyone that knows me knows that I have not been blessed with the virtue of patience. I tried watching Dulcie extensively for several days, and the little sweetheart never sat once while I was watching. Clearly, another strategy was in order.

Having completed my first 5-day chicken camp with Marian and Bob Bailey the previous summer, I decided to consider how they would address my training “project” with Dulcie. I knew that I could shape the behavior with successive approximations because I had shaped countless behaviors with other dogs, always by the seat of my pants. This time, I decided to do it like the Bailey’s; with a training plan, collection of data, and adjustment of the plan based on the data.

My first discovery was that I could not start by teaching sit. I ended up adjusting my plan and started by teaching Dulcie to touch the palm of my hand with her nose. I had a near perfect “touch” behavior, on a verbal cue, within 13 sessions. In a short time I also had her sitting on cue as well, and from that point on Dulcie was an avid and apt learner. I am grateful that teaching Dulcie to sit required that I take a data-driven approach because it taught me the value in doing so. It also taught her that training is fun and further strengthened our then still developing bond.

I love teaching people how to train their dogs, but with my dogs, I can be rather lazy if a lack of training is not causing a problem. In that sense, Dulcie was a dream dog in that she was causing no problems, so most of our interactions with her were all about play. Her biggest role in the Green Acres’ training program was as a demo dog for me or some of our instructors in training.

While my original goal was to have Dulcie become a therapy dog like Tikken, as I got to know her better I changed my mind; it did not seem to be a good fit for her. However, Dulcie contributed to many other dogs becoming therapy dogs, either by being the “test” dog in classes or at an actual test.

Dulcie - Please help us, help the Bangor Humane Society — Dulcie – Please help us, help the Bangor Humane Society

As a Bangor Humane Society alumnus, Dulcie became our spokes-dog when Green Acres Kennel Shop would assemble a team to walk in the BHS Paws on Parade. More than one advertisement and t-shirt bore her image.

Being quite photogenic, Dulcie was a spokesdog for us on many occasions and was an early fan on Game of Thrones, especially the Stark’s, even before HBO.

Dulcie - Winter is coming! — Dulcie – Winter is coming!

Dulcie - Winter of 2007 — Dulcie – Winter of 2007

In 2001, Dulcie traveled to New Jersey and Intergroom with Paula and Shannan.

Intergroom is a 3-day tradeshow, conference, and competition where Dulcie made her debut as a model in a grooming competition. Shannan placed 3rd in the Rising Star Competition, Handstripping class, with Dulcie. Dulcie was less than thrilled with the crowds, so we honored her request and allowed her to retire gracefully from being a super model.

Like Gus, Dulcie was obsessed fetching tennis balls, but unlike him, she would give it back. If you did not have time to play, she would grab a ball, carry it up to the top of the stairs, toss it down the stairs, chase after it, grab it, run back up the stairs and repeat. She also became an expert at training our staff members walking through my office to stop and toss the ball for her every time they walked through. Eventually, we decided the tennis ball had become an addiction – she was getting too demanding and too worked up – and had to stage an intervention. Dulcie readily learned that playing fetch occasionally was wonderful. I think it was more difficult to “untrain” the staff she had trained so well.

Dulcie and the ball - date unknown — Dulcie and the ball – date unknown

Dulcie - Please throw it again! — Dulcie – Please throw it again!

If you look closely at Dulcie’s face, you might think “Sea Otter,” at least Paula and I had that thought more than once. It was certainly reinforced by Dulcie’s habit of lying on her back with a ball in her paws.

Dulcie - Sea Otter-1 — Dulcie – Sea Otter-1

Dulcie - Sea Otter-2 — Dulcie – Sea Otter-2

Dulcie would occasionally attempt to play with Batman, our cat, but he would always respond with a “hiss” and sometimes a swat. Then there were the times that Batman would try to get Dulcie to play, or he would try to clean her face like he does with Tikken, and she would respond with a growl and bark. If the two of them had ever gotten on the same schedule they might have become great friends, but alas it was not to be; rather they contented themselves to coexist in the same household.

Due to her early housetraining issues with us, we started off with Dulcie sleeping in a crate at night, a place she was obviously very comfortable. Often in the mornings she would get to spend some time in bed with us as we were waking up. If I was still sleeping, one of the first things she felt compelled to do, was to lick my bald head. This became a regular ritual, and sometimes she would climb on the back of the couch to do the same thing. In spite of her frequent over-exuberance, Dulcie also instinctively knew when to restrain herself. I often cite her behavior as an example of how well dogs can read us. There was a day when I had a crushing migraine, the type where any light or sound makes you flinch. I spent the day in bed, and Dulcie was right there at my side, snuggling and not bouncing off my head. I guess she did know how to snuggle; she just had to choose the time.

Two of my favorite photos of Dulcie show her washing me head as I sit on the couch. I had one of them reproduced as a caricature by Jim George of “Draw the Dog.”

Dulcie - Just Hold Still — Dulcie – Just Hold Still

Dulcie - There thats better — Dulcie – There thats better

Dulcie and Don by Jim George of “Draw the Dog”

In January of 2010, Dulcie was diagnosed with Cushing’s disease. This was a frightful prospect for me as my very first dog, Trivia, had developed Cushing’s disease when she was older and only lived a few weeks after the

diagnosis. Thanks to the care and guidance of Dulcie’s veterinarian, Dr. Mark Hanks at Kindred Spirits in Orrington, we were able to enjoy Dulcie for another 20 months.

As time progressed, Dulcie developed some minor cognitive dysfunction (doggie dementia). This started occurring when I was traveling, and Paula would put Dulcie in her crate at bedtime. Within 5 to 30 minutes, she would start barking anxiously. Paula would let her out of the crate, take her downstairs and let her out to go the bathroom and then take her back upstairs. Often she would do the same thing again within a few minutes, eventually settling for the night. Since this was not a regular event, we did not worry about it excessively. Last December and January this barking behavior became much worse, and we saw other signs of cognitive issues such as general confusion and incontinence, Fortunately, Dulcie’s homeopathic veterinarian, Dr. Judy Herman of the Animal Wellness Center, found a remedy that cured this behavior.

Last week Dulcie seemed more out of it than usual and only ate once over three days on the weekend. When we took her in to see Dr. Hanks this morning, he found a mass encircling her intestine and we made the difficult decision to help her across the Rainbow Bridge.

Dulcie, you came into our lives unplanned and endeared us in an instant. You made quick friends of our staff and all who visited our home. You entertained us with your antics and made us laugh, and even made me giggle when you regularly insisted on washing my head. You knew as much about creating a bond between human and animal than any person or animal I have ever met. You truly were a sweet treasure; you will be missed, and I know that you are now happily romping at the Rainbow Bridge.

Don Hanson – August 29^th, 2011

Dulcie through the fence - August 2000 — Dulcie through the fence – August 2000

Don and Dulcie - January 2007 — Don and Dulcie – January 2007

Don, Dulcie & Tikken - JAN 200 — Don, Dulcie & Tikken – JAN 200

Don, Dulcie & Tikken at play - JAN 2007 — Don, Dulcie & Tikken at play – JAN 2007

Louise, Don, Batman, Tikken, Paula, Dulcie and Thelma - NOV06 — Louise, Don, Batman, Tikken, Paula, Dulcie and Thelma – NOV06

Thelma, Dulcie, Don, Tikken, Paula and Louise - Fall 2009 — Thelma, Dulcie, Don, Tikken, Paula and Louise – Fall 2009

Don, Dulcie, Paula & Tikken - JULY 2010 — Don, Dulcie, Paula & Tikken – JULY 2010

In Memory of Gus (1991 – 2004)

It was 18 years ago yesterday, the Saturday before Easter, when Paula and I walked into a pet shop at the East Towne Mall in Madison, WI and met Gus for the first time. We had a new home and decided that it was time that we add a dog to our lives. We had been advised against getting a dog from a pet store; however, when we walked in we told ourselves we were “just looking.” Paula’s boss at the time, Dr. Warner, had recommended we consider getting a Cairn Terrier. Since neither of us had seen many Cairn’s we wanted to at least see if the store had one that we could look at.

At 12 weeks of age Gus was already extremely cute, with lots of personality. Food was a major focus even then. Out of all the caged puppies, Gus was the only one with his muzzle buried in his dish eating, while every other puppy was trying to get the attention of the people in the store. We played with Gus in the introduction room and he was very alert and very interactive with us. It was at that point that I started calling him Gus. He just looked and acted like a Gus to me. Gus had helped us reach the conclusion that a Cairn Terrier was the breed for us, but we left him in the store because we did not want to get a pet store puppy.

During the next week we visited two local Cairn breeders and were not impressed with the dogs they had available. One was clearly a puppy mill and the other breeder only had a 5 month old, who was a bit too high strung for our tastes. While she was going to have a litter in June or July, we were impatient and wanted a puppy sooner rather than later.

Gus as a puppy - first bath — Gus as a puppy – first bath

The following weekend we went to the Humane Society looking for a dog, butjust could not find that special dog for us. We decided to stop by the pet store to see if they had anything new. As we walked back to the puppy cages, we saw him. Gus, was still there, as cute as ever, and on sale! After another visit with him in the introduction room, we were hooked. Gus went home with us on April 6^th, 1991.

We wanted to raise Gus properly, so we went home with a crate, the appropriate chew toys, and copies of those “bad” books we no longer recommend. Gus adapted quite well as Paula and I read all we could about how to have a great puppy. He was not terribly brave about new things, he barked at trees and the packages that UPS left on the deck, but did wonderfully with the neighbor children. He loved sitting on our laps and playing with his pink, squeaky, hedgehog. We would roll on the floor laughing when he would really get it squeaking and then stop and sing to it.

Gus’ was an AKC registered puppy, even though he did come from a puppy mill. As such, he we had the option of registering his official AKC name. We came up with Laird Gustav MacMoose, an appropriate sounding name for a dog of Scottish descent.

We recognized the importance of training and enrolled Gus in a puppy kindergarten class with the local kennel club. It was at our very first class that the instructor told me to “alpha roll” Gus because he was trying to be dominant, and that was why he was not paying attention to me. Not knowing any better I followed the instructor’s advice and instantly had a terrified puppy on his back, thrashing about, growling and showing his teeth. It was at that point the instructor told me I must now grab his muzzle firmly and hold that mouth shut. Stupidly following her advice I tried to do precisely that when Gus taught me his first lesson. As I reached to grab his muzzle, Gus quickly and firmly sunk his teeth in the palm of my hand, causing me to immediately let go as I dripped blood all over the floor.

Sadly, our first night in puppy class setback the relationship between Gus and me for some time. We both had to learn to trust one another again and one way we did that was with rousing games of fetch up and down the hallway. Gus loved retrieving tennis balls, and when Paula or I would get home from work he was ready to play. I had a friend who was a member of a tennis club, and they gave us a bag full of tennis balls which we presented to Gus out on the front lawn one afternoon. We dumped all of those balls out on the lawn and he became enraptured with all of the fun spread out before him.

Early on Gus also discovered the joy in stealing. It started with socks and other things from the laundry basket. He would snatch something and then parade up and down in front of us, tail held high, just hoping we would play his game and chase him. When we got smart and started ignoring this behavior, and keeping stuff off the floor, Gus started stealing from unsuspecting visitors. More than once we had a repair person in the house and Gus would come parading past us with a screwdriver, a box of matches or something else he had snagged out of their tool box.

I can still remember Gus’ first thunderstorm. He must have been between 16 and 18 weeks old and was trembling, and acting very afraid. Since I didn’t know better, I sat with him on the kitchen floor, holding him, petting him, and talking to him in soothing tones. We made it through the first storm and after that he was still reactive but no longer trembling. We had one of the few dogs who rather than trying to hide from the storm, wanted to kill it. He would run from one end of the house to the other, barking, trying to find whatever it was that was causing all the ruckus. Gus would do the same if here were outside except he would always be looking at the sky trying to find his quarry. Nothing seemed to resolve his desire to kill the storm, so our move to Maine, where storms are much less frequent, was a blessing. Gus continued to react to thunderstorms until he was treated with acupuncture for his epilepsy when the reactions just stopped. Whether there was a connection or not, we will never know.

Gus checks out a beer in the laundry basket

Gus never missed a meal or the opportunity to snag something that looked remotely edible. As a puppy he would cache some of his kibble. We lived in a bi-level house, and he would put a piece of kibble in the corner of each stair. He also did the same with rawhides, trying the hide them in the cracks around the cushions in the chairs.

We brought Shed home in the fall of 1991, as a friend for Gus and as help in keeping the little monster in line. The two of them became fast friends and every evening after dinner Paula and I would sit in the living room and watch Gus and Shed romp and chase each other around the sofa. This became to be known as the “Puppy Races.”

We also spent many hours out in our sunroom in McFarland, Shed and Gus by our feet, Gus snagging a cranberry muffin right from my hands. Lap time was also good and Gus liked nothing better than “head nuggies.” What I know about dogs and dog behavior suggests that a dog should hate head nuggies, but Gus couldn’t get enough of them.

The following year we enrolled both Gus and Shed in training classes with Patricia McConnell in Middleton, The classes emphasized training through positive reinforcement and we were all having fun. Paula would work with Shed and I’d work with Gus. We took basic and advanced classes and both dogs did very well. The only exercise where Gus followed his natural instincts rather than my recall cue was when I had to call him through a patch of biscuits scattered all over the floor. He eventually came but not before scarfing up every biscuit.

In the fall of 1995 we moved to Maine, with Gus, Shed, Queenie, Paula’s mom and my mom and dad. Gus seemed to settle in quite well. I enrolled him in many of the Green Acres classes that were being taught by Kate with assistance from me. He eventually became a certified TDI therapy dog.

Gus and Don recognized in the Bangor Daily News for bring clicker training to Green Acres

Gus and I learned another great training lesson in 1996 thanks to our friend Kate. Gus and I were in an Intermediate class which was being taught outside. I was learning to be a trainer and was desperate that he do well. I put him on a stay at one end of our training field, walked to the other end and asked him to come to me. Gus came but he didn’t run enthusiastically, he walked as slowly as he could. After the class Kate took me aside and suggested that I needed to “lighten up.” She suggested I stop the training with Gus and just have some fun with him. That was the last formal training class Gus was in and we spent more time just playing fetch. I did teach him some “silly” tricks later with the clicker and he had a blast. Thanks to Kate and thanks to Gus I started on my path of learning to accept dogs for their unique personalities.

Gus still loved retrieving tennis balls, although due to my mistake in early training he was always a “two ball” dog. You had to show him you were going to throw the ball in your hand before he would give the ball in his mouth. He would have retrieved balls down in the field to the point of exhaustion and actually did so in great pain one day. He just kept going and we had no idea the little guy had broken his toe until a few days later.

On December 23^rd, 1997 Gus had his first Grand Mal seizure and we begin our journey learning about epilepsy and how to treat it. If Gus were a human he would have been into extreme sports. He never did anything half way. When he had his bladder stone, it was huge, his epileptic seizures were all to the extreme. They were extreme in duration and grew to be extreme in frequency. At first, each one was frightening to Paula and me, but as we began to understand the disease we also became somewhat desensitized and learned to cope.

Dr. Mark Hanks giving Gus an acupuncture treatment

When conventional allopathic medicine did not bring Gus the relief we were looking for we began to explore alternatives. Paula went to a veterinary homeopathy seminar and we took Gus to Dr. Tobin for a consult. We continued to explore homeopathy at more seminars, treatments with Dr. Loops, and then treatments with Dr. Herman. We’d see some improvement for awhile, but never to the point where the seizures would stop. We tried acupuncture with Dr. Hanks and actually went about 6 weeks without a seizure. All of us were so optimistic we had Mark install gold beads at the acupuncture points to provide continuous stimulation, but a few weeks later the seizures returned to their quite regular, ten day frequency.

The last year of Gus’ life we also started to see some cognitive dysfunction. He would get confused and wasn’t as playful. He dearly loved to snuggle with Paula and would wake her up sometimes as early as 4AM to go out. She’d let him out and then they’d snuggle on the couch until the rest of us got up.

Gus lived with epilepsy for six years but during his last month his seizures started to get worse. He started to have cluster seizures and need Valium to get them to stop. His cognitive dysfunction was getting worse and more and more he seemed physically exhausted. Sadly I was away on July 10^th, when it was clear the time had come. Our vet and friend Dr. Hanks helped Gus over the Rainbow Bridge in our family room, with Paula at his side.

Gus inspired me to start to learn about dog training and his behavioral quirks caused me to delve deeply into the idiosyncrasies of canine behavior. His unusual and frequent health problems were the reasons that Paula and I both started to explore complementary and alternative healthcare, to the benefit of Gus, ourselves and many others. Gus, you played with us, teased us, frustrated us, and loved us. You made us laugh and you made us cry, and taught us countless lessons about dogs, health and life. You enriched and influenced our lives in countless ways. You were “one of a kind” and will be sorely missed and always remembered lovingly. We patiently wait for the day we can all be reunited and once more we can give you the head “nuggies” you so loved. Like Toto to Dorothy, Gus was our companion on the road to our own personal and very wonderful Oz, Green Acres Kennel Shop. Thank you!