Billygoats and Sensitive Thugs…by Lisa Harmon

Hey, a new picture…I actually took one! Kenai waking up the nose, 18 mo
Kenai had a lovely wake up today; he got to go out to the kennel just as the sun was coming up. He’s suddenly not a “morning person”, and has started giving me trouble about eating his breakfast. Lunch and supper is never skipped, but breakfast is being left in the bowl regularly now.
I thought some nose in the grass time, a little exercise, might just stimulate his appetite. He ate. Then refused to even go to the field, let alone poo. So he’s full of it today, and I’m teasing him about being full of it. He backtalks, I tease some more, he gets huffy and gnaws the devil out of his new bone. Stinker!
At least he ate…he can’t exactly go without the calories. When he starts losing weight Kenai can drop a pound or more a day. Maybe I should take him down to 2 meals a day? He gets 6 cups a day spread out into 3 meals. He’d be hungrier in the morning with just 2 meals, in theory at least.
His brother is the total opposite. BB eats like a shop vac. Little bro is getting 8-8 1/2 cups of food a day, and is looking some better. Most days I can only see a rib or two. There’s more muscle on his chest as well. Still, that’s a lot of food. Piglet.
Oh, and BB has a new meaning: billygoat boy. He’s taken to head butting, like some bony sack of silly. I don’t mind when I’m sitting down and it’s part of playtime, but Billygoat Boy phwumps ya if you’re not moving to the kitchen fast enough to suit him.  He’s something else, that pup.
BB stands for many things, by the way; bent bottoms, bugger boy, banana butt, baby boy, and now billygoat boy is added to the list. He has so many nicknames, I can hardly remember them all anymore–he does a goofy every 20 minutes and usually gets a new moniker at least once a week!
OT, I’ve come across some good links about Lyme disease, some of which are symptom lists, and some are studies the of persistant and recurring bouts of active illness my doc refers to as chronic Lyme. http://www.lymeinfo.net/lymefiles.html Here is also a good link about the treatment. http://www.lymenet.org/BurrGuide200810.pdf 
Lyme disease patients can experience symptoms such attention problems, short-term memory loss, depression, panic attacks, personality changes, mood swings, and/or learning disabilities. That’s what’s driving me bonkers right now, in addition to the fatigue and pain.
A link to medical summaries for the neurological effects, http://www.lymeinfo.net/neuropsych.html  
Yeah, I know, the blog is supposed to be about Kenai and his training, but Lyme is a rotten, insidious infection so I’ll stick this under the heading of public service announcement. Ya’ll be careful, use your repellants, okay?
When it comes to Kenai’s training, I’m gonna have to start over with the name games and such: a couple weeks off and we’re back to square one. We took my brother off life support last week, and he’s still lingering poor guy. At least he’s not suffering in any way. He’s got some great nurses.
When he does pass away and the funeral is over, I’ll take another week or two to rest. All the walking and going places the past 19 days…I’m outta juice and on the pain pills again. I’ll gear up and get back to work soon, returning to our usual schedule of play, feeding, practice, and outings.
It’ll probably take a week or two to get Kenai over his sads and sorrows. He’s been crated so much, and had very little run time or attention. He’s a sensitive thug, my wee papoose, and been swinging between cuddly and pouty. Aww. Poor sweetie. Things’ll get normal soon.
Posted in Kenai Tagged: chronic fatigue, dog behavior, great dane adolescent, littermates, Lyme disease, nicknames, ticks, veterinary care