Ready, Set, 2021

2021 — whew.

INDEED!

Thanks to wonderful and generous friends, I have a beautiful selection of masks.

I love articulating my Hopes and Wishes for a new year, but I find myself a bit chastened by 2020.

Okay — we learned the lesson of 2020. We got the memo. Stuff happens — BAD stuff. REALLY BAD STUFF. Life can be taken, changed, and re-arranged. Hope and Wishes — blown up.

Got it.

Claire having laser therapy.

2020 was about learning that we are adaptable. We can do hard things. We can pivot.

The OrthoPets form for Claire’s brace.

Except Claire — no pivoting allowed for her right now!

The mold for the brace is on the way to Colorado — we hope to have the brace in 7 - 10 days.

I am not going to surrender more to 2020. I will keep articulating my Hopes and Dreams. I will continue to wish and plan, even knowing everything can change in a heartbeat — or a misstep.

After all, I am adaptable. So are you.

Claire growing my big dreams and bright stars

Dream Big, my friend, and Happy New Year.

#goodriddance2020

Early and Often?

I have spent the morning in a rabbit hole, reading such articles as:

Mir, Fernando, Fontaine, Emmanuel, Albaric, Olivier, Greer, Marty, Vannier, Florence, Schlafer, Donald H, & Fontbonne, Alain. (2013). Findings in uterine biopsies obtained by laparotomy from bitches with unexplained infertility or pregnancy loss: An observational study. Theriogenology, 79(2), 312-322.

Moxon, Rachel, Whiteside, Helen, & England, Gary C.W. (2016). Prevalence of ultrasound-determined cystic endometrial hyperplasia and the relationship with age in dogs. Theriogenology, 86(4), 976-980.

Schlafer, D. (2012). Diseases of the Canine Uterus. Reproduction in Domestic Animals, 47, 318-322.

Smith, F. O. (2006). Canine pyometra. Theriogenology, 66(3), 610-612.

Veiga, Gisele Almeida Lima, Miziara, Ricardo Henrique, Angrimani, Daniel Souza Ramos, Papa, Paula Carvalho, Cogliati, Bruno, & Vannucchi, Camila Infantosi. (2017). Cystic endometrial hyperplasia–pyometra syndrome in bitches: Identification of hemodynamic, inflammatory, and cell proliferation changes. Biology of Reproduction, 96(1), 58-69.

There were more but that gives you the flavor.

Dr. So and So says that bitches should be bred early and often because repeated heat cycles are bad for uterine health. This gives people permission to breed dogs that are basically puppies — repeatedly.

And they do. When questioned, it is often “Dr. So and So recommends it.”

It is absolutely true that the cycle of bitches can cause cumulative and subtle uterine changes, and sometimes those changes can interfere with fertility — typically at later ages. It is also true that those changes do not usually cause infertility.

In a study of 240 bitches (Maxon, Whitehead, and England, 2016), 18.3% were diagnosed with Cystic endometrial hyperplasia (CEH), which seems to be the most frequent issue caused by the repeated impact of progesterone and estrogen on the uterus in dogs. The incidence was related to age — less than seven percent of dogs under three years of age were diagnosed with CEH but the incidence increases with age to over 50%. Again, dogs with CEH can and do get pregnant.

I will spare you the details but the bottom line seems to be this — breeding a bitch early and often is not really necessary. Uterine health is not going to pot before a bitch is two or even three.

There are some very good reasons to wait — letting the dog grow up is at the top of my list but other considerations include getting the requisite health clearances on the dog and her siblings, and assessing how her parents and grandparents fare as they age.

So that is conclusion #1 from this morning’s reading of peer-reviewed articles — breeding what are essentially adolescent dogs is not necessary (I will offer a caveat that there are rare exceptions in which scary uterine change are happening — I will also note [based on the literature] that may well be an inherited thing).

The second thing I was looking for was any information on back-to-back breedings, which is what I have done with Daisy. I cannot find anything definitive except yes, a back-to-back breeding reduces the hormonally-induced changes in her uterus (pregnancy is preventive). After the reading I did this morning, however, that is just not a significant concern.

Daisy was bred back-to-back (on successive heat cycles) for four reasons. First, there were no contraindications — in other words, doing so would not be bad for Daisy. Second, someone special needs a puppy from Daisy. Third, there is a pandemic and we are home — once the pandemic is done, I will not be inclined to take four months off to create, percolate, and raise a litter. Finally Daisy is really Bethany’s dog and once the little family is in a house with a yard, Daisy will go back to Bethany and Galen; that could be as early as this summer.

None of my dogs have ever had more than two litters — four have had only one litter and some have had zero litters. We breed occasionally but my primary focus is doing things with my beloved dogs, and as all moms know — pregnancy and young ones definitely change the trajectory of life for a while.

Appropriately enough, Daisy blooms when pregnant and she is a wonderful mom. But her pregnancy is Daisy’s second — and last. Limited Edition Puppies, indeed.

The Reality Kaleidoscope

The vet has confirmed that Claire has a torn CCL (like the ACL in a human).

Claire at the veterinary clinic

This happened on Christmas Eve when she and Sparkle were bounding up the stairs from the lower level of the house. Claire fell/tripped/something up the stairs — it was immediately clear something terrible had happened because she was crying and struggling to finish the stairs.

It was awful, as you can likely imagine.

She quickly settled down but would not put any weight on her left rear leg.

I had so many hopes and dreams for Claire in 2020 — I was going to campaign her as a Special and I expected her to do exceptionally well in obedience. The pandemic landed with a thud on top of my dreams.

Take Note, Claire…

I am not unique — 2020 has been a year of exploded dreams and shattered lives. Every single loss is griefworthy — we get to decide what has broken our hearts.

But there is also an element of choice about which aspect of a reality to fix our focus. This is the part I find interesting about 2020 ending with my pregnant dog blowing her knee out.

I acknowledge the additional lost things that were generated when Claire’s pregnancy hormones and a misstep caused her ligament to do something it should not have done; the already packed 2020 Land of the Losses got more crowded.

But we are not required to park ourselves in the 2020 Land of the Losses, counting and reliving each of the heartbreaking losses. We have lived them already — they do not need to be lived and experienced again and again.

Claire will have a custom brace made by OrthoPets to help keep that joint stable and reduce pain. In addition, she will have cold laser twice a week, with her abdomen covered by a protective apron although the laser is centralized to her knee and there is no evidence that laser therapy is problematic during pregnancy (Source: Wilkerson, Eric C, Van Acker, Monica M, Bloom, Bradley S, & Goldberg, David J. (2019). Utilization of Laser Therapy During Pregnancy: A Systematic Review of the Maternal and Fetal Effects Reported From 1960 to 2017. Dermatologic Surgery, 45(6), 818-828).

The unfortunate parts of the stair incident are acknowledged and handled — I do not need to sit vigil.

Two inches and 2+ pounds gained with 22 days to go.

Inside Claire right this minute are small puppy miracles — they exist in the Land of Hopes and Dreams. Why would I want to be anywhere that doesn’t include them?