The Farm

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ A doggy slice of heaven
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the Farm here & there in this blog.    Well, today I'm going to tell you about The Farm.-Red River Dog Farm.

We've been taking our dogs to dog parks & dog events for years. We started with Galen & Sheba, but it didn't happen to often while we lived in Cleveland as we had the fenced in back yard for them to chill out in.  

All of our dogs have different reactions to being at the dog park. Duchess used to go off by herself & explore. For that reason she loved the bigger parks that allowed her that option. Her favorites were Medina, Kirtland,  &  Huron. She didn't mind the other smaller parks if we were meeting someone there (Oberlin).  She didn't interact too much with others. It was rare if she did. However, when she was OVER it, she would head to the gate & face out. Waiting for us to get the hint. She would have LOVED the Farm.

Athena....Athena thrived at dog parks. She was all about other dogs, running & chasing, (AND BARKING).  She could spend forever at those places.  If a park was empty, she was happy just exploring with her siblings. She got one visit a few weeks before she past & she LOVED IT!!!

Now Peryn & Lada. They are NOT normal. In the beginning, Peryn was all about wrestling with his buddies, but as he soon discovered FETCH & later -the herding ball-- dog parks were a vary different experience.

Peryn & Lada tend to play with each other either herding their ball or fetching a ball/toy.   They're not necessarily into playing with other dogs.   Depending on Peryn's mood, he may allow other dogs to play along. When he's like this, he encourages other dogs to play with his herding ball.    Other times, nope. Don't come near him. He doesn't want to be bothered. 

Lada does what Peryn does.  That is only if she feels secure enough to be away from Mom.

So going to dog parks was more about the room for them to run than playing with other dogs. In fact, busy parks were often a pain as dogs & people would get in their way.   When we arrived with the ball & let the dogs loose, we always had people coming up to us to ask about it.  "They never have seen such a thing". 

Peryn loves parks where he has the option to cool down while he plays (pool, pond, lake). He only uses them for the cool down.  Now Lada, she likes to swim when fetching.   Down side is there are only so many places with water for the dogs to swim.   Medina (when not having issues), Kirtland (too long of a drive, Stow (again long drive).     Finding the Farm was a miracle!

I first stumbled upon their website: https://www.redriverdogfarm.com/ when searching for a dog park that was nearer to us ( closest was almost 20 mins- Avon Lake) and that had swimming.   I was unsure as it was a Member Only place.  Wasn't sure if the fee was per dog or per family. So I held off for a bit. 

When one of our long time Husky friends (met because of Duchess!) told us about it, I was able to ask questions & find out more.   We did our Free Play Tour Visit last July. The minute I saw the place, I knew it was perfect for us. 

• Large area for the dogs to play with their ball or fetch.....CHECK
• Swimming area for the kids in the summer.....CHECK
• Warm shelter for the freezing winter....CHECK*
• Swimming pools for a quick cool off ....CHECK
• Areas to explore & roam...CHECK
• Not having to deal with over crowding...or any people at all ....CHECK
• 15 Minutes from the house (closest park to date) CHECK
• Member Only.  Better care for the place....CHECK
• Extremely nice owners who are making improvements for a better experience..>CHECK!

This place was/is perfect.  They breed Portuguese Water Dogs who are often on the property.  The dogs are sweet & hilarious & pretty much leave you alone.   Even when they don't they're harmless, so there are no issues.

You'll notice I didn't mention Volos.   Volos is in a category all by himself. He's not one to play with other dogs. He's more of a hang by his Momma kind of dog.  When he's in the mood, he'll go off and explore on his own.  He always makes his way back to my side though.   

He's happy to just lay down at my feet or plop himself in front of me begging for pets while I play with the Chuck-It & Peryn & Lada.

My first thoughts when I toured the farm was that I couldn't wait to get Athena there.  Even though her clock was winding down, I knew she would love it. I am so glad we were able to take her there.  She was having a good day, so that made it even more special.

There have been a few downsides I'll admit for full-disclosure--that this day was a one off--but it was enough of an inconvenience to us. We stopped by one Saturday morning during the winter.  A family member & friends were there to play ice hockey & took up most of the parking spaces (being a small member only place, there aren't that many).   We ended up getting stuck in the snow & ignored by everyone on the ice. We were stuck for a half hour before we stopped & asked the next "friend" who showed up for help that we were able to get out.   
Marti & Janet have since laid down more rocks to avoid this happening in the future.  Additionally we have noticed a camera set up on the barn now.  Heard from our friend that they were able to speak to them through the camera.  So I don't foresee this being an issue in the future.

While the above happened, the family member also had the dogs running all around un-attended & a few of them continued to bother Peryn when he attempted to herd his ball. Dude was not happy.  The others continued to bark at ours & made playing on their own a bit difficult. 

This all was a 1-time thing & each visit we see more improvements to the Farm. 

One more caveat. The neighbor tends to shoot his gun at times.  So if your dog is extremely reactive to noises like that, be aware.   We lived next to a gun range in the last house (in fact we can still hear it at times) so the sound of gun shots does nothing to them. They still carry on as if it's a normal day.  
Volos---the sweet neurotic fluff ball is not a fan.  So he tries to hide in or near the barn or in my arms.      Most times there isn't any, so we have no issues.

Overall, this is the preferred place to go if you & your dog prefer the quieter side of parks or prefer to play by themselves (Or their pack).   
At most, I've been there when 4 others families were there.  No issues what-so-ever. My dogs did their thing, weren't bothered by the curious dogs that wandered over.    Most times we're by ourselves.   It's large enough with a small number of members to make it a pleasant visit. 

Did I mention the barn? The course equipment? The toys?  Yeah.  There is a barn for the human's to rest in, keep out of the sun or cold. It's heated with a picnic table to rest at.  A beverage or two.   

If your dog is into running agility courses, there is equipment there for that. Need a toy to play with, a bucket of toys is right outside the barn.  Your dog doesn't swim? A small pool is available for them to cool off in.  Human needs to use the restroom, a "nice" (can you call the nice) port-a-potty is near the entrance. 

They had a Lure there when we first signed up that was supposed to be getting fixed. I really would like to try that, so maybe one of these days it'll re-appear. 

To view their page & find more information, click the picture below.

 

 

Degenerative Myelopathy-The Reality

 In all of my blog posts regarding Athena I have described Athena's journey.
There is a difference between reading/hearing about it and living it or experiencing it.

This video is 24 minutes or so. It's essentially chronicling Athena's life from adoption to her battle with DM.   
This is what she lived & how she was until the end.

Two things......

 Let me describe the insanity that is going on in my home right now on this rainy Friday night.

Dogs went to day care today.  Approximately 9+ hours.    They come home and immediately want to begin playing.

After dinner, Peryn & Volos headed straight to the basement to play their little "games" or whatever it is they do..bark at one another. 

Lada--I bought a small shooter to use upstairs ( I got tired of touching wet balls).  Unfortunately it takes the small tennis balls.   SO we begin to play with that. She immediately loses one ball.  Finds the other and then Volos comes flying back upstairs because he's decided he LOVES this new blaster.   
So both of them are fighting for the balls.  He takes the one squeaky one and I find one of the originals that came with the blaster.

However this ball is dead. Broken open, felt peeling off, & the blaster will barely hold it.  SO begins the shooting of the orange "ball" that they fight over.  If Volos gets it, Lada then runs to the basement in search of the yellow squeaky one.   If Lada gets it, it's clash of the...errrrr it's a rumble.

Meanwhile, Peryn is in the basement doing....whatever...  I can't tell you what because he's not making a sound.   He's not rolling his herding ball nor is he holding a squeaky toy. So who the heck knows what he's doing.   

Lada comes back over to me, expecting me to shoot off a ball, but she's failed to bring me back one.   SO I have nothing to shoot....well I do but I don't want to open those balls yet.    We get up and go to look where one is. Volos is sitting there at the entrance of my office and just breathing hard staring at the steps....why? NO Clue.   
Lada then runs to the basement to look for the ball which is actually in Rich's office.   
More running around and I get the ball back.    
Shoot it off  and then nothing.   Silence.  I look down, Lada is waiting for me to shoot off a non-existent ball. I head to the foyer, at the bottom of the stairs, standing and looking up is Volos.  He comes flying upstairs and then Peryn pops his head around the corner to let me know he exists.

Currently all 3 are sitting around me in the living room. Peryn whining at me for....I have no idea.  Lada keeps pawing the blaster. Volos nudged the blaster.   I'm trying to tell them I need a ball to shoot.   They aren't getting it.....

Well, here we are 2 weeks since we said good-bye to Athena.   It was hard.  I miss that sweet girl.   She never deserved everything that happened to her.  However if a dog was going to get that crap, she would be the best candidate because she was just sooo happy.

Her last day

She didn't go down like Galen, Goldberg, or Duchess.  She struggled to breathe at the end.  It was a bit traumatic for me as it was very reminiscent of my father's passing.   
It's just hard.

We never realized how much of our lives was devoted to her.   I'll give you an overview. 

Waking up in the am, I would let the pups out to go bathroom. *IF* she was up, I'd have to go pick her up and carry her outside.  I'd have to stand out there and hold her rear up by the harness and wait for her to pee or poop.   Sometimes it was quick other times I would have to move her around to get the right "spot" in order for her to go.

I'd bring her back in and place her on the bed in either the living room or my office. It depended what time I got up (4 or 5) and what room I was in.  
If she had soiled the bed, I would have to go take care of that.    

I would then hand out their brush chews.    If I was in the living room, I would pick her up and carry her into my office.   If we were already there..no biggie.   

Rich would get up about 6:15 and come check on her status.   Sometimes we took her back out other times she was fine.   He would then go and prepare her morning pills.  

I would then get up and retrieve her bowl and fill it up with water and food.   
If the others were hyper and running around, Athena would be barking at them as they did so.  If not, they all laid there.. Usually Lada curled up beside Athena.

Eventually Rich would take the pups to day care and so would begin the day of Athena & I from home.   She would take naps, but darn if that girl did not have a 6th sense of my leaving the room.  I'd pop back in and there she was up awaiting for me.

Most days she was pretty chill. Other days she would we very agitated. It was on those days that I would take her out multiple times to make sure she went.  She HATED going and sitting in it.  

If I ever left the room for more that 10 minutes, she'd begin barking .  She wanted me to know she wanted to be with me.

Most of the time our days would be boring. WHen I went to lunch, I'd bring her in the living room while I made lunch in the kitchen.  I'd bring her back to the office when done. 

I'd get off work at 2:30 and once more we'd take a bathroom break.  I would then bring her back in to either the office , living room, or bedroom depending on what I had to do. 

A lot of times I'd get on the floor next to her and cuddle with her.   SHe loved being cuddled or hugged.  

On really nice days, I'd put her at the back door to watch people walk by.  She loved watching out the window. 

I'd start dinner and she would watch me from her bed.  WHen the other cames home she would get so happy. Oftentimes she'd lift her front up and swivel around to watch them come in. 

After diinner was her cuddle time with Daddy. Rich would get on the floor in front of the couch and just pet her. She loved to place her head on his leg.  The other crazies would run around and she would bark at them.  She loved her pack.

At 8 it'd be bedtime and we'd take her out one last time, she'd get her pills, and we'd set her up in bed. Her nighttime treat was ice cubes in her water. She loved to gnaw on them. 

Now often during all of this she would soil her bedding and we'd have to wash it.  SO there was an awful lot of bed changing. 

On non-daycare days I made it a habit to take them all out or down to the basement at lunch to let them play.  She'd get 20 mins of cart and running time.   Sometimes I couldn't do it and it would just be a change of rooms while I prepped lunch. 

AFTER work on non-day care days they definitely got Mommy time.  I'd take Athena out and when I brought her back in, put her in her cart. The dogs got excited because they knew that meant play time. Even Athena did. 

We'd either go outside or to the basement. There she would roll around chasing after Peryn & Lada with their ball.  If it was the basement, she would always pee while in her cart and I ended up cleaning up the floor while they played. 

She LIVED for this time.  SO depending on how she was feeling and what I had going on , we'd be down there for 45 mins to an hour and a half.  I may have had things to do, but I let them go.  I knew this wouldn't last long.  Athena playing with her siblings.   

I also used this time as a gauge on how her disease progressed.  
After play we'd come upstairs and I'd place her on the bed in the living room. 

The rest of the evening proceeded like day care days. 

Caring for her became such a part of our day to day life, we never realized just how much we did until we weren't doing it.   It felt wrong and empty at first. 

We're relieved that she's not miserable anymore and that we don't have to wash bedding day in and out, but I would happily put up with that to have her back with me---healthy at least.

The others? Now sure. It is only this week that Lada has gone back to lying on the beds where Athena laid.  She had avoided them since that day...so I don't know if that means she's accepted it & is coming to terms with it  or if I am reading too much into it. 

THank you for all the messages and gifts we received.  Each and every one meant the world to us.  That you guys know what she meant to us. 

So that's pretty much it for now.  The pack and their crazy antics and the hole that Athena left....... Until next time. 

See her spine? She lost so much muscle mass

Closer look at her spine. See her bald spot