My Arthritic Dog 8-21-11

After our unsuccessful attempt at Laser Therapy, we went  with back to the studio with our tails tucked between our legs. I  explained to curious clients that yes, her limp was very bad but we had done our best. Two days later, a funny thing happened. My Sammy woke up in the morning and forgot to limp. She was walking slowly, but quite normally! A grossly abbreviated therapeutic laser treatment had accomplished what pills and potions and diet had not! By mid-afternoon, I had made an appointment with the Laser Therapist for the following week. The Therapist was admittedly a bit reluctant at first to allow my pet back in the building, but I promised her our behavior would be different this time! Personally I feel that if someone who works with dogs is not prepared for an occasional deep scratch or ten and some dark bruising that looks like she has been beaten with a billy club, she should seek out other employment. Prior to leaving the studio, my assistant had filled both ends of a hollow bone with organic peanut butter and concealed it in a plastic bag. Upon out arrival, we were whisked immediately into a back room. The Laser Tech (I swear, they are so meek and wary after just one unpleasant experience) peeked around the open door and limped into the room. I encouraged her to pass out our protective eye gear so that we could begin the treatment forthwith. My assistant produced the bone and my dog began licking it as I slid her into position. The Tech, tentatively at first and then with growing confidence, began the circular treatment  with the laser wand. Six minutes later, we were finished and thirty seconds after that we were paying the receptionist $40 in cash. 56 hours later, I let my dog loose in a nearby park and a squirrel taunted her. My "crippled" dog took chase for the first time in months! Admittedly, she was only able to lope and the squirrel would have to be confined to a wheelchair to be in any danger...but I was encouraged nonetheless!  To be cont... 

My Arthritic Dog 8-5-11

The vet poked and prodded my dog. She felt her spine. She stretched out my Samoyeds front legs and then bent them one way and another. I could tell my dog was getting a little anxious. When the vet picked up the dogs tail and stuck a thermometer in, my pet puckered her lips and her eyes bugged out. My old dog looked up at me with that "I AM READY TO GO NOW" look that she gets sometimes. Then she broke for the door. Arthritic or not, she can still pull very hard. I can move faster than her, so I slammed the door shut the remainder of the way long before she got her nose through. We declined all further testing, and waited for the Laser Therapy Tech to get set up in the next room. By the time we got started on her left front elbow, my dog had absolutely had enough! After exactly one minute of a six minute session, my dog started twisting, yowling, and scrambling for the door. As overweight as she was, however, I still weighed a heckuva lot more, and pinned her to the floor. She continued twisting and panting as the Tech tried to resume again, but finally the Tech suggested I let the dog up while she tried to soothe her and treat the elbow by herself. I complied. My 91 pound dog threw the 110 pound Laser Tech across the room with ease and squeezed herself behind a supply cabinet. The session was over. Back out in the lobby, I paid for the vet's exam and they comped me on the Laser Therapy attempt. My dog and I limped (actually, I felt fine) out to the car. To be cont..

My Arthritic Dog cont... 7-27-11

Upon the advice of a veterinarian friend, I began to administer a dose of Meloxicam thrice weekly. My dog's limp disappeared within one week! Six months went by in which my Samoyed demonstrated a relatively normal gait. Eight weeks ago, my dog began licking her front "elbows" and ankles. She slept a lot more. Often, I had to persuade and cajole her before she would go with me for a walk. She no longer came out to greet clients as they entered the studio. She was eating less and less, but worst of all, her limp returned with a vengeance. The  meloxicam was losing its effectiveness, as were the twice daily fish oil tablets. A knowledgable client had tipped me off to a cutting edge procedure involving therapy lasers. I admit that I was extremely skeptical, but have learned to listen to my clients advice and research it further. I explored the therapy from many different perspectives and found a clinic near the studio that offered it. My dog and I made an appointment for an examination by the vet, but upon our arrival they only wanted to examine the dog. My Samoyed tipped the scales at 91 pounds, at which point three employess cornered me to let me know that my dog was morbidly obese. I defended her by explaining that they would be overweight too if 150 people a week gave them snacks. To be cont....

My Arthritic Dog 7-7-11

I have acknowledged it before. My dog is old. She is 10 years and 4 months old. She is large for her breed. She is a purebred Samoyed. I have polled many people who profess to have familiarity with this breed. I seldom hear that one of these dogs lives to be older than 9 or so. When she started going downhill in Michigan, I shipped her down here to Sarasota, figuring to make her last days happy ones. That was one year and 5 months ago. She responded to my 150 clients by "perking up" considerably. Six months ago, she developed a severe limp. It was her left front leg, and it was diagnosed as arthritis.  To be cont...

The Comcast Scam 6-28-11

Apparently, it's becoming epedemic. Not only are newspapers charging much more for much less, but so is my soon-to-be-former cable company. Scamcast...I mean Comcast, shut off most of my channels. They claimed that they were going to improve my service, and I needed a new box. I had basic cable, don't watch much besides CNN and Cool TV (the video channel) during the summer, but let's face it, football season is coming up and I need to get this all squared away by then. When I called for the box, a rep from Scamcast declared that I would need to pay more per month for basic cable...a LOT more. They figured they deserved a $49 a month raise! No need to do the math, I shall do it for you. They wanted another $600 a year to give me the same thing I already had! My next call will be to Verizon to do something I should have done last year...get a quote on Fios.   

Herald Tribune cont... 6-17-11

As I mentioned in the last post, I placed an ad in the fitness section of the Sarasota Herald Tribune and it was a dud. Natually, I then felt a need to do some basic research. First, I wanted to know if anyone was actually reading the paper. I checked circulation figures for 2007. The Herald Tribune, circulation wise, was one of the top 100 newspapers in the country. It had a daily circulation of 118,000. That seemed fairly healthy to me. Four years later, in 2011, the paper's circulation has fallen off a bit. It is down to 83,000! OUCH! That is a 30% drop in 4 years. I think it is safe to say that this is not going to end well. I know what you are thinking...how did my ad rep explain this HUGE rate increase to me...despite the big drop in circulation? It was simple. He said that the advertisers on the weekend were already paying these high rates, and the paper wanted to bring my rate "more into line" with the weekend rates! I asked him if it would have been just as easy to lower the rates of the weekend advertisers, especially given the precipitous drop in readership. He replied the paper had not elected to go that way. I would like to reveal that I read the Herald Tribune on a regular basis and think it is, for the most part, well written and insightful. Unfortunately, like a growing contingent of people, I only read the online version. Next...the balance   

Sarasota Herald Tribune 6-15-11

I used to advertise my business in the fitness section of the Sarasota Herald Tribune. This section came out every Tuesday. A quarter page ad was resonable. It cost me $225.00 and I ran it two or three times a month. For two years, the ads consistently got great results. The ad did not do too badly during this past season, either. In April, I received some bad news from my ad rep. The paper had raised my rate from $225 per insertion to $350!! This amounted to a mind-numbing 64% increase. Did I receive an ad that was 64% larger? Well, no, I did not. Did they propose to place the ad on the front page of the fitness section? No, it would still be buried in the back somewhere. While I pondered this new pricing structure, I okayed one more ad. It came out on a Tuesday morning. Nothing happened, no calls...nada, zero, zilch...just crickets. I decided I had better begin to do some research and find out why...to be continued