Prepping for our first ever Barn Hunt trial!

[okaygreatthanks]

You can do it at home and inside if it's bad weather, or outside if it's nice!

This is exactly why we started on scent work – it rains 8-9 months out of the year here, and he's a typical rain-hating dobie lol.

If you think you might trial in Nose Work one day, I wouldn't go with a down on odor either - most nose work teachers advise a natural self taught alert that they will do. Biggest reason is once you start advancing, the hides can be high or completely inaccessible so the dog can't "point" to it in a down. The easiest and most popular is the head-swing and looking at you which they will do naturally once they know a paycheck is coming for finding the hide.

Good looking out! He does the head swing and makes eye contact after he paw alerts, so I'll try to capture and reward that behavior specifically and see if we can phase out pawing for essential oil.

 

[Ravenbird]

This is exactly why we started on scent work – it rains 8-9 months out of the year here, and he's a typical rain-hating dobie lol.

 

[okaygreatthanks]

Welp, I have a bit of a disappointing update here.

Our problem-child has been having yet another epidermic episode – this time with two skin tags that have been growing quite quickly on his legs (one on the front right paw, one on the back left hock). He'd been gnawing on the front one so much that it was bleeding and starting to look like a lick granuloma, and he ripped the rear one open during a barn hunt clinic last week, to the point that blood was running down his leg.

We've had him in a cone for the last month while he's not in immediate sight (ie, crated for naps/sleeping at night) and it hasn't helped much with keeping him from the front one...he just uses the cone as a bulldozer and does more damage. Since we can't risk another antibiotic-resistant staph infection (he JUST got through the last one, with only one viable antibiotic option), we decided to have both skin tags removed this past Monday. The back one was able to be frozen off, but unfortunately the front one had a pretty substantial base, so it required excision and stitches to close up. Our vet is sending everything out for pathology, because as he said, "It's Remy! He's a 'skin dog', so best to rule everything out". That's our boy, lol...in for a penny in for a pound.

Since running with stitches is an automatic DQ, we had to withdraw him from the trial. I'm bummed for all of us. I know he would've been more than capable of getting a Q, but hey, we have more time to practice once we can get back to it, and we'll be better prepared for the next trial.

In the meantime, wish us luck with keeping him calm! Gabapentin be damned, he's ready to go at all times and already used the cone to nudge at his front stitches earlier today and make them bleed, so after conferring with our vet, I'm keeping that paw wrapped in a loose dressing when he's crated. What a guy!

 

[obbanner]

Gabapentin be damned

AJ was on Gabapentin for a while. He was fine in Obedience but was too mellowed out to search in Barn Hunt. He was back to working again after a few weeks to get the Gabapentin out of his system.

Sorry you didn't get to run. Good luck for next time!

 

[JanS]

Oh boy, wishing him a speedy recovery...

 

[okaygreatthanks]

AJ was on Gabapentin for a while. He was fine in Obedience but was too mellowed out to search in Barn Hunt. He was back to working again after a few weeks to get the Gabapentin out of his system.

Sorry you didn't get to run. Good luck for next time!

Thank you so much, we’ll be excited to get back to hunting! Good to know about the Gabapentin — until the stitches are out, I wish it would mellow Remy a bit more!

 

[okaygreatthanks]

Oh boy, wishing him a speedy recovery...

Thank you Jan!

 

[Ravenbird]

So sorry to see this - hope he heals quickly and you can get back to work, um, I mean play!

 

[LifeofRubie]

First off, not sure how I missed this whole thread! We haven't done any training or trialing, recently, so I love living vicariously through y'all

And what a bummer you had to withdraw but our pets health is top priority.

Do you live in an area where you have lots of opportunities for training/trialing?

 

[okaygreatthanks]

So sorry to see this - hope he heals quickly and you can get back to work, um, I mean play!

Thank you, we hope so too!

Do you live in an area where you have lots of opportunities for training/trialing?

We are super lucky to live about 20 minutes from a barn hunt facility — we usually do a weekly clinic there, and that’s where this particular trial was being held as well!

 

[LifeofRubie]

Oh, nice! Competing on home turf is always fun!

 

[Kaiser2016]

Aww poor Remy! He is totally pouting in that cone shot. That he’s using the cone to scratch at the sites is such a Doberman thing - too smart for their own good! Could you turn the cone upside down and see if that helps? So that it’s facing down like a lamp shade.

Do you have pics of the tags? Kaiser has one too, also on the hind leg, it’s like paw pad material, and the vet said he’d only remove it if it became bothersome. I had no idea they could have deep roots. Always something to worry about with these guys Anyway, I spray his with Vetericyn and it shrank a tiny bit. You should definitely do the same once the stitches are out and he’s off the meds. My fear is that they grow back. Did your vet say anything about that?

 

[okaygreatthanks]

Aww poor Remy! He is totally pouting in that cone shot. That he’s using the cone to scratch at the sites is such a Doberman thing - too smart for their own good! Could you turn the cone upside down and see if that helps? So that it’s facing down like a lamp shade.

Do you have pics of the tags? Kaiser has one too, also on the hind leg, it’s like paw pad material, and the vet said he’d only remove it if it became bothersome. I had no idea they could have deep roots. Always something to worry about with these guys Anyway, I spray his with Vetericyn and it shrank a tiny bit. You should definitely do the same once the stitches are out and he’s off the meds. My fear is that they grow back. Did your vet say anything about that?

They are way too creative! I hadn't thought to flip the cone like a lamp shade, but I did end up using one of those donut things lower on his neck so that it pushes the cone farther forward – he's not able to get as good of an angle to scrape it against his front paws with the double-stacked contraption.

Vetricyn is my go-to for wound care! Kaiser's skin tag does look a bit like Remy's; attaching a pic of what it looked like before he really went to town chewing and licking it (it wasn't ulcerated/bleeding at this point...unfortunately I didn't take pics of that.) We wouldn't have opted to remove it if it hadn't become such an obsession for Remy, so I totally agree with leaving Kaiser's if it's not growing/bleeding, and he's not interested in it.

Our vet didn't say anything about them growing back, but I know they can (ugh!) Let's hope that isn't the case, especially for the deeper one!

 

[Kaiser2016]

Omg the watermelon donut He does not look happy about this development!

That’s exactly what Kaiser’s tag looks like. So far he doesn’t care about it so I’ll keep my fingers crossed he doesn’t snag it on something!

 

[okaygreatthanks]

That’s exactly what Kaiser’s tag looks like. So far he doesn’t care about it so I’ll keep my fingers crossed he doesn’t snag it on something!

Remy’s pathology came back with both skin tags being papillomas! I’m guessing he picked up papillomavirus from puppy preschool, since that’s around the time these skin tags started growing, and papillomavirus is more likely to present in puppies with immature immune systems. Yet another reason I wouldn’t do puppy preschool in the future!

Apparently they can be prone to ulcerate/bleed on their own, but our vet said that they typically don’t come back after surgical removal (if I understood his explanation correctly, the surgery creates an increased immune response to the virus and thus is better able to fight it off).

Kaiser’s may just be a skin tag that looks similar, but I thought I’d share this info just in case you do see any changes.

I’m just happy it’s nothing malignant, phew!

 

[JanS]

I'm glad it's not serious and that it was figured out.

papillomavirus is more likely to present in puppies with immature immune systems. Yet another reason I wouldn’t do puppy preschool in the future!

That's why I've sort of kept our pups to themselves lately too. There are just too many things they can pick up with their little immune systems.

 

[Kaiser2016]

Kaiser’s may just be a skin tag that looks similar, but I thought I’d share this info just in case you do see any changes.

Thanks for that info! We are monitoring it in case it changes. Knowing it could be papilloma is a bit worrisome since it looks like it spreads, yikes, shouldn’t have googled

 

[okaygreatthanks]

Thanks for that info! We are monitoring it in case it changes. Knowing it could be papilloma is a bit worrisome since it looks like it spreads, yikes, shouldn’t have googled

Oh no, I didn’t mean to worry you! It’s hard not to consult Google sometimes. Our vet said that in dogs with healthy immune systems (ie, not Remy’s frazzled puppy immune system lol), they are usually isolated to one area…so if it *does* happen to be a papilloma, it’s probably unlikely Kaiser would get anymore since he’s a healthy adult. Especially if the Vetricyn is helping shrink it, that seems good!