Training Log Archive: Lori

Running with Presto after lab! It was around 80 today, which is like deathly hot for Berkeley, and Presto was DRAGGING up the hill. It definitely slowed us down a bit, but I guess I got some extra strength training in? Otherwise, a pretty nice run, and Presto was a much happier pup on the downhill. The flowers are really quite excellent right now!

Normal abs while Presto acted like a rug and panted a bit.

Normal stretching.

I haven't really mentioned anything about this, but Presto started losing muscle mass in his right leg about 8 or 9 months ago, and the leg was doing weird shaking things when he would stretch. Also, occasionally on really long hikes, his foot would drag in an unsettling way towards the end, and if he sprinted he would then refuse to use his right leg at all for a few minutes.

I initially just thought it was part of getting older (he's 11 years old...), but eventually decided to take him into the vet. The vet took some x-rays and things, and said he had a bit of arthritis in his back and something called lumbosacral disease, which apparently can eventually cause paralysis and incontinence. After discussing options, I decided to take Presto to physical therapy and give him glucosamine for a bit to see if he would improve.

Dog physical therapy is pretty adorable, I have to say. There are a lot of treats involved, so Presto found it highly enjoyable. He did lots of balancing on 2 legs on wobble boards and stretching and getting pushed over towards his right leg and walking on an underwater treadmill.

He improved pretty noticeably over the past couple of months, which is awesome! When he started PT, his right leg had a circumference of 31cm and his left leg had a circumference of 32.5cm. Now both legs are 32.5cm! Yay! We're going to stop going to the PT vet to see how he does over the next couple of months, but now I have to actually remember to do his PT exercises without the looming PT visit to think about, so I think I'll log it.

Today he did some cookie stretches (clearly the best stretches).

C • Presto PT 2

Running with Presto around Berkeley! I was getting ready for a seder tonight, when I realized I forgot to get lemons at the grocery store yesterday. I could just go quickly to the grocery store, but as long as I was going to get outside for a bit, I figured I might as well turn it into a run. Presto was kind of tired from yesterday, I guess, so he was dragging a bit, but otherwise, the run was super nice. I also managed to acquire lemons. Success!

Normal stretching after lots of cooking.

Running with Sam and Presto at Briones! Gorgeous! Briones is super nice when the grass is all green :-). Today was a good day for animal sightings. Aside from the usual cows, we saw a herd of goats, a pair of coyotes (maybe juveniles?), a red tailed hawk, a lizard, 2 snakes (one really big one!), and several turkeys.

Towards the end, Sam pealed off to take a shorter route home, and Presto and I continued to the end of the loop. Presto and I hit a cow traffic jam where a bunch of cows decided to sleep on the trail. They had calves with them, and Presto is overly interested in cows, so we went off-trail to sort of sneak around the cows. The cows were not impressed and started snorting at us, which Presto apparently could care less about because he decided right in front of the cows would be the best place for a bathroom stop. I was a bit concerned about getting mauled by a cow, which seems like an ignominious way to die, but luckily the cows were never worried enough to actually try to do anything to us.

Otherwise, the run felt good, and I was glad to be out and about in the sun!

Stretching back at home.

Running with Sam and Presto after lab! I got out of lab a bit later than I'd planned today, but that meant I got to run right at sunset, which was nice. Sam's knee is bothering him, so he only ran with us for the first 5 or 6 minutes before turning around. Presto was quite displeased when we went a different direction than Sam, and dragged the rest of the way up the hill. He decided it would be ok to go a normal speed on the downhill, though :-). The view of the sunset across the Bay from the top of the hill was gorgeous. Fog was coming in through the Golden Gate and just the tops of the bridge suspension supports were showing. And the sun was setting just over Mount Tam. Really nice evening!

Normal abs.

Normal stretching.