Other news at Stinkypup is Decker’s radial subluxation. On Monday June 21st, Decker got beat up during a puppy party. Greg wasn’t around, so it was just me who pulled one dog off & hooked them up, pulled another dog off & hooked them up, and so on. I’m not sure who started the fight, but many snouts were involved, including Monkey, Pumpkin, Capella, Spike, Chester, Rocket, Ahab, Zeus, Nikki and Roo. All ten dogs were pulling and jumping and tugging on poor little Decker. Dog fights suck.

After I got everyone back on their chains I fed them, and then tended to Decker’s wounds. She had a couple of puncture wounds, which I shaved and cleaned. When Greg came home he helped me tend to the rest of her wounds. She had a long laceration on her back leg and bleeding puncture wound near her left armpit. We cleaned her up, gave her Rimadyl, Tramodol & Cephlex and put her in the pen. We’ve seen a lot worse, but were keeping an eye on her. She didn’t eat much on Tues. Wed. she ate a little and her wrist began to swell. We put ice on her wrist, which helped the swelling a lot. On Thurs. her entire arm began to swell. We iced it and the swelling went down, but she wasn’t getting better.

On Fri. we brought her to the emergency vet, who thought she just had a bad infection. She gave us Clavamox (a stronger antibiotic). Although the swelling went down, we now noticed she wasn’t bearing any weight on her leg and her wrist was floppy. She was breathing hard (a sign of pain in dogs), but I thought she was just too hot.

On Tues. we brought her to Dr. Flemme at Mt. McKinley animal hospital. Flemme is an expert in canine orthopaedics. He diagnosed her with lateral radial subluxation. He took e-xrays to confirm the problem. We left her at the vet and he was able to manually reduce the injury (meaning put the bones back where they were supposed to be without having to do surgery).

She needs to stay in a crate for 10 days and she’s quite uncomfortable. After that we’ll move her outside to the pen. I already told her she can move inside, but I think she prefers living outside with her sisters. She’s a shy girl.

Decker sporting a $200 cast.

Decker

So, that’s the current news from the StinkyPup ranch. Magic is adjusting to his cropped tail (I still need to take some pics), and of course, we all desperately miss Sam.

Later that night, Greg and I took a closer look at his tail. He had a laceration on the backside of his tail, around three inches from the base. We shaved the area, cleaned it with a water/betadine solution, gave him cephalexin (and antibiotic) and Rymadyl (doggie aspirin), and put him in the pen in the front yard.

Wed. night when we were cleaning his tail, I noticed that it wasn’t painful– meaning he just didn’t have any feeling in his tail. We decided if the emergency vet was open, we’d bring him in. It wasn’t an emergency, but the ER vet is sometimes cheaper than the regular vet, and I was stressed about his tail. Turns out the ER vet isn’t open on Wed., and we opted to not call McKinley or Aurora to have a doc on call look at him.

Greg dropped him off at Aurora this morning. The doc told him that he had circulation in tail (there was blood flow), but he didn’t have any feeling (nerve damage), so the best thing to do is to amputate his tail.

Whaaaaaa!!!! Poor Magic. While Greg is out of town, I may try to integrate him with the inside dogs and see how he does. I’ve tried this before, and he didn’t really want to be inside, but maybe he’ll change his mind.

Another 100 yards, and Nicki suddenly ran ahead. I saw a mother and baby moose cross the path, then the mother ran left and the baby ran right. Nicki ran after the baby. Immediately, I heard some sounds that were a little like goats, sort of “mmaaahhh, mmaaaahhhhh.” Another second or two, and I caught up with Nicki. She was just off the trail, and had grabbed the baby moose by the neck and was shaking it. I yelled “no,” and went to grab Nicki by the collar. She backed away, then bit the moose on the haunch. All the time, the baby was calling, “mmaaahhh, mmaaaahhhh” and was looking at me with big brown eyes full of fear. I heard the mother in the woods behind me, but she was (I think) afraid of me, and didn’t come close.

I caught Nicki’s collar and lifter her off the moose. The moose immediately ran away, and I hooked Nicki to the leash again. The baby was gone, though I could hear the mother moving around in the woods behind me. I yelled out an apology to the baby & mother, and we left. Total elapsed time was maybe 15 seconds.

Although the baby almost certainly got some puncture wounds, I did not see any blood or torn skin. I hope infection doesn’t set in, since otherwise there didn’t appear to be any life-threatening injuries. We passed the same spot on the way back, an hour later, and there was no sign of either moose.

Two days earlier, I had seen a mother and adolescent moose about a mile further up the trail. After the incident with the baby, maybe 15 minutes later, I saw at least one of the moose in the same area as the earlier day. So, there were at least three moose out that day. I think the baby was 3-5 weeks old. Not much bigger than one of our dogs (maybe 70 pounds?), it had a full coat of hair. It was standing fairly upright and had substantial legs, versus newborns that are very spindly, and seem to not be standing fully upright.

This was a nature encounter I would rather have not had. It looks like I’ll be keeping dogs on the leash, even when we’re in the deep woods. We did hear report of bear sightings in Chena Lakes, which is at the other end of my run if I do the fully 12-mile loop. Plus, there are wolf signs. Many pheasants, squirrels, and hare. Plenty of distraction, and some associated dangers.

Asa is a very difficult dog to catch, so we’ve been leaving him free to roam in the dog yard. Monday the 16th, I went for a short 7 mile mush and Asa followed us, sometimes running behind us, sometimes in lead; he was having a great time. On our last stretch before home we encountered a neighbor who is known for having “alligator” dogs. An alligator dog is a dog who attacks a passing team.

As soon as we encountered the team, they pounced Asa. My neighbor managed to get his dogs off of Asa, I passed with my team and saw that Asa looked okay (no blood, he was running) and then stopped to see if his team was okay.  His responded, “your dogs passed on the wrong side! That’s why this happened.” I immediately took off and thought, “What a jerk! His dogs attacked mine, I stopped to help, and he’s yelling at me.”

When we got home, I couldn’t catch Asa to check him out, but he appeared to be happy and healthy. He may have had a slight limp.

—

The next night I took the “A” team out for a 12 mile run. I didn’t want to take Asa as a free runner because I wanted Chester to go, and I didn’t want to have two loose dogs. At the last moment, right before I was ready to leave the yard, I caught Asa. Greg put him on his chain.

I told Greg he should go ahead and have a party (meaning let the remaining dogs off), and I’d catch the ones he can’t catch (Simba and Rattles) when I came home. When I got home  and brought my team into the yard, I saw Simba and Rattles running around. Simba had a scratch on his snout and there was some blood in the snow.  I found Asa hiding in a private section of the dog yard and he had been beaten up quite badly, but not as bad as we have seen. We brought him inside, and decided that he didn’t have to go to the ER vet and we’d bring him for stitches in the morning.

The next morning, we dropped Asa off at our vet. I mentioned that Asa was Higgs’ brother, and it would be interesting to see if Asa had the same heart condition as his Higgs. One of the docs listened to his heart and said, “Nope. Asa’s heart is steady and strong. It’s nothing like Higgs’ rhythm.”

Around 1pm I got a call from the vet. “Hi, this is Dr. xxxxxx.”
I said, “Hi. How’s Asa?”
He said, “We lost him.”
I responded, “Okay.”
He said, “No, it’s not okay.”
He started to explain what happened and I was in too much shock to listen, so I told him I’d call him back. I tracked Greg down at work, and we drove to the vet’s office.

None of us know what really happened. The vet himself was surprised. They had given Asa some anesthesia. He began to wake up. They gave him a different type of anesethia…the gas kind. He was on a heart monitor. Everything was fine and the doc was almost finished, “two stitches from being done,” and Asa’s heart stopped. They couldn’t revive him.

Asa, we miss and love you!

Asa (left) and his brother Higgs

Luke also went for a vet visit today. The vet wasn’t sure if he has a torn muscle or if it could be having back problems. Instead of doing ex-rays right away, the vet prescribed Methocarbanol (500mg every 8 hours). Methocarbanol is a muscle relaxant. Luke’s back thighs are very muscular and super tight.

Higgs and Luke added incredible strength to our “A” team. They are both big dogs (70lbs), who usually run in wheel and carry the team. With Rocket & Decker (a great leader) on bed rest due to a shoulder or wrist injuries, and Asa off the “A” team because he doesn’t like to run without his brother and he doesn’t like to run with Greg, we are left with Nikki, Chevy, Ahab, Capella, Zeus, Spike (who has harness rub on her chest), and Roo (who can’t run more than 100 miles). Soooo, my secret plan to run the Chatanika 200 and possibly the Quest 300 isn’t looking good this year.

Scott and I did recon the day before on the snow machine, to confirm the trail was in, and check out snow conditions. We were doing a 20-mile trip, from a parking area at Mile 42 on the Steese Highway. The trail was in, and had been used a few times within the past week. Snow was sufficient, and the cabin was nice and had plenty of tie-out room for dogs. (The Bureau of Land Management web site hadn’t been updated since December 16, when the trail had not yet been assessed by BLM staff.)

Scott contributed two of his dogs, Nike and Panda (short for Pandemonium) so that we could either have one team of 10, or two teams of 5. Ilana wanted to take Chester, so decided to ski in with Chester as a ski-jor dog. We got to the trailhead around 10:45 Monday morning (as the sun was rising), and Ilana started skiing a few minutes afterward. I left about an hour later, and Scott and Maureen left an hour after that (it takes awhile to get dogs bootied and harnessed, and the snow machine’s sled packed, but we had guessed I would be the slower team). This trail is uphill for about 7 miles — not often steep, and sometimes flat or slightly down, but mostly uphill. Ilana made excellent progress, and had gone almost 10 miles by the time I caught up with her, an hour after I started.

Trail conditions were good. Ilana needed to keep Chester close, so that he didn’t get caught in a trap. Trapping is legal on this federal land, as long as there is signage indicating there is trapping going on (there was). It’s legal on state land, which was the first 7 miles of the trail, without any signage. We saw, and smelled, multiple traps which were often just a few bandwidths off the trail. Yech.

Skiing was challenging for Ilana, and she got blisters early on. I passed Ilana, then Scott passed me. A little while later, Maureen passed me, too. I arrived in camp around 3:00 pm, a little more than 3 hours after starting. Scott and Maureen were there for about 1/2 hour before me, and, surprise! Ilana arrived within another hour. We bedded the dogs in straw, snacked then fed them, and gave them a little rubdown.

The cabin, like others in the White Mountains, requires a free advance reservation. It was snug, with sleeping room for 6 (or more, including a loft). It came with a dual-fuel Coleman lantern, a propane stove, and a wood-burning barrel stove. We stoked the stove and got comfy for the evening. As often happens with winter camping, we were all starting to fall asleep over our dinners by 6:30 pm, but rallied and had a game of Cribbage and some conversation. Still, we settled down by 9:30 or so. Scott had some barkers, so it was tough to snooze soundly all the night through.

I fed the stove before bed, so the cabin stayed reasonably warm all night. Probably close to 50F at dinnertime, then barely below freezing overnight (we left some water out, and it did not ice over). People started getting up by 9:00 am, and after a leisurely morning we were on the trail by 11:30 am. I was the lead team again, and was not passed. I made it back to the parking area by 2:00 pm, about 1/2 hour faster than the trip in. There were fewer Asa shenanigans on the way out (though there were some).

One of the nicest parts, in both directions, was watching the incredibly long sunset, with the moon rising. The sun was setting to the SSW, and the moon was rising almost directly opposite, to the NNE. The moon is nearly full, which means (by definition) that it’s opposite the sun. But from the hilltops, with really long twilight and dawn, we got an unparalleled view of this celestial display. The weather was perfect: clear, with lows around -12F and highs on the hilltops of maybe +15F. We encountered just a couple of people on the trail, who appeared to be workers doing some trail maintenance. The cabin logbook, though, showed that the cabin had been in constant use for the past few weeks.

For the trip home, I took Chester with me. He free-ran for the first 4-5 miles, where we hadn’t seen signs of trapping. After that, I put him on an extensible leash, and kept him close to the sled. Ilana rode in the snow machine with Maureen. They arrived just a few minutes after me, and Scott got there 1/2 hour later. We packed up, and drove home. All the dogs seem to be happy, healthy, tired, hungry and uninjured. Tracey, our dog sitter, had taken care of the home gang. Tomorrow, we’ll be back on the trails of Two Rivers.

Last night Greg headed out for a run with 9 dogs (Chevy, Nikki, Roo, Ahab, Higgs, Asa, Spike, Zeus, Capella). His plan was to either run a 17 or 23 mile run– a typical run for us. We’re down to nine dogs because Decker has a front leg injury (I’m speculating elbow), and Rocket has a front leg injury (I’m speculating wrist).

I took the ZZZ team (Red, Monkey, Punky, Bruno, Phanty, Rattles, Simba, Peetie, Sam) for a 7 mile run. When I came home from the run, I let all of the remaining dogs off for a party while I scooped the poop and tried to massage Decker and Rocket. I wasn’t expecting Greg home for another hour or so, but all of a sudden I saw Chester’s red blinky light at the gate. I ran up to open the gate and Chester escorted Greg and the team into the yard. Asa and Higgs were both in the sled bag!

Greg told me they were okay, and gave me details on what happened. Soon after leaving the yard, Asa decided he didn’t want to pull and began backing out of his harness. Greg put him in the sled bag– where he was content. Greg wasn’t too surprised, considering his past relationship with Asa. Soon after putting Asa in the sled bag, his brother Higgs started backing out of his harness. This was extremely unusual behavior. Higgs is a super-champ. He’s just run 33 miles two days ago. He’s a hard working guy. He began dipping snow, and then collapsed. Greg stopped the team, and ran over to Higgs, ready to give him mouth-to-snout resuscitation. Higgs was alive, and Greg carried him to the sled. Higgs fought Greg as Greg put him into the sled bag. Higgs apparently thought he was fine and ready to go. Greg shortened his run and came home. Both Asa and Higgs were happy and seemed healthy when we unclipped them from the bag. Higgs was panting a bit, but this is normal for him.

The temperature was 6 degrees above, so I don’t think he overheated– he never has before. It could be sled dog myopathy. We’ll need to get his blood tested to see.

But Decker has a sprained wrist, and has been off training for over two weeks. We’ll ease her in again next week. She’s a champion lead dog, and seems rather depressed to not be running.

Simba got pulled off the “A” team last season, due to a persistent shoulder injury. So, we eased him in this year, and included lots of stretching and massage. But no luck: the injury is still there.

Roo is good for training, but only pulls for 20 miles or so. After that, she can keep up, but doesn’t work. Definitely more of a sprint dog.

I was worried about Asa (he’s getting older, and had a persistent resistance to running with me, last year), but he and brother Higgs are still pulling strong and true.

The most recent loss is Luke. We are not sure what’s going on, but he did poorly on Saturday, then on Sunday simply wouldn’t pull (he was getting tugged by his neckline). He is sort of limpy, and sort of looks constipated, and we are not sure what’s up. We’ll let him keep resting for a few more days before visiting the vet (we have not had a week without at least two vet trips in 5 or 6 weeks!).

So the current “A” team (in the typical pairs we run them in):

Chevy, Nicki
Ahab, Rocket (who I’m not that sure about…he seems to overheat)
Capella, Zeus
Higgs, Asa
Roo (good spunkiness, but limited miles)
Spike (used to run with Luke)

We might get Phanty trained up. He’s only a yearling, and really doesn’t have much of a clue about anything, but seems to have potential. Also, I hope Decker will get back into training again. Bottom line is that today, we have 10 “A” team dogs, and maybe three others (Decker, Phanty, Luke) who might get back onto the “A” team.

Fight(s) #1

• Nutok vs. Monkey: Nutok attacked Monkey while Monkey was still on her chain.  Nutok lost. The attack most likely occurred as a mini fight in the middle of the night while Duke was getting beat up by his brothers and sisters. Nutok ended up getting a bunch of stitches all over her body.
• Chevy (?) and/or Ahab (?) vs. Duke: Duke lost;  He got stitches in his eye, on one of his paws and inner thigh.

Fight(s) #2

• Everyone vs. Duke: Several days after Duke was feeling better, he was jumped by at least eight dogs.
• Nikki vs. Monkey: While Duke was getting beat up by everyone, Nicky decided it was time to kick Monkey’s ass. Monkey ended up with a puncture wound in her armpit.

Do-It-Yourself Vet Care

We try to do a lot of vet care ourselves. We’ve learned a lot over the years, but sometimes make poor decisions. We treated Monkey’s puncture wound as if it were a puncture wound on another part of the body (i.e., head, thigh, forearm). The usual treatment is antibiotics and flushing the wound 1-2X a day with a water-betadine mix).

After several days, it was clear Monkey wasn’t getting better. She was getting worse! I took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with subcutaneous emphysema (aka subcutaneous crepitus).  Since the placement of the wound was under the armpit, there was no muscle or fat to block the air from coming in. Monkey was filling up with air!!! When you pet her, she felt like bubble wrap.

Treatment for this was easy. The wound was sutured and she continued on her dose of antibiotics. She healed we’ll and no longer feels like bubble wrap or looks like a balloon.