Lessons Learned at a Waterfall/ Waterfals for everyone!

Well, I have had waterfalls on my mind, so I wanted to blog on it!

We visited the mother of Michigan Waterfalls, Tahquamenon Falls, in July when we camped in Mackinaw City. Truth be told, we were motivated by the fact that there is a micro brewery in the park, and and micro brewed beer is a bit of a hobby for my husband and me.

But I also had fond childhood memories of visiting the falls, so after dinner and a beer, we decided to walk to the upper falls. It was a beautiful evening to see the falls. It was peaceful and very zen-like. Until we hit the actual falls.

See, there were very odd looking steps that you had to climb down to get to the viewing platform. It is well-known that some retired racers have a hard time with stairs, because, quite simply they have never been exposed to them. In puppy classes we do environmental conditioning (have the dogs go through tunnels, or walk over platforms) so they learn to navigate unusual environments with confidence. But Kharma didn't have this type of exposure as a pup. She was on a training farm for race dogs, where the schedule and environment are typically pretty consistent.

I didn't think it would be an issue... she does the stairs in our house every day and night. But these stairs were grates. They sounded different, looked different and felt different. Her nails weren't getting an traction, and she felt completely insecure.

So the dog I always describe as the "confident one" froze. Sparky, my freak job, didn't even bat an eye lash at the scary death trap. But then of course, he had been through lots of environmental conditioning as a pup. And boy did it show. So he went ahead with dad, while my daughter and I stayed with Kharma

So I tried to coax her down. I knew it was bad when she wouldn't take Spam. She was shaking. And then I was in a dilemma. My 3-year-old had run ahead, and I couldn't see her. My dog was frozen. So I had to make a choice... be a good mom, or be a good dog trainer.

As a trainer I would NEVER pull and yank any dog in a fearful position. This is known as flooding. And to put it in perspective, if you were afraid heights, and I pushed and yanked at you until you were on the edge of the Empire State Buidling, your fear wouldn't be cured... and you wouldn't be loving me much at all.

But Mom trumps dog trainer, and as I was yelling for Lily to stop (which REALLY didn't help Kharma's mental state!). I had no idea how far ahead her father was. I was yanking at Kharma to move, which was doing nothing but creating tension at her neck. So she was REALLY stressed, but I just wanted her to physically move.

Just then a group of ladies were coming up the stairs. One must have had training experience because she told me I needed to stop forcing my dog down the stairs immediately. Of course she was right, but again, I am back to the big choice of being a good dog trainer and a good mom. If I hadn't been panicked, I would have been embarrassed (and would have never told them in a million years that I train dogs for a living).

Luckily, my friend Kathy came up from the falls to let me know that Lily made it to her dad and offered to hold Kharma so I could go down and take a look.

Khara wouldn't budge until I got back to her, and then she ran up the stairs like a pup. Sidenote: these picture were taken after I determined the kid was safe.

So here is a picture of my scared pup, and the big scary stairs. And a tip to anyone that plan to take their dogs to Tahquamenon Falls to find steps to practice on first... make sure they can see through them... perhaps on bleachers. Kharma does our carpeted stairs every day of her life, but the grated stairs were a whole different ball game as far as she was concerned.

However, in just two weeks we will be heading up to our beloved Keweenaw Peninsula. The house my grandfather built and my mom was raised in is just about our favorite place in the world, and we haven't had a chance to go in almost 3 years! And the best part is we will be doing some great waterfall hunting. My mom recently sent me a link to a site that describes waterfalls throughout the Great Lakes Region.

We can't wait. It has been two month since we have camped (although we won't camp here, we will stay at the family home), and we are itching to get on the road!

Great Link for Dogs Visiting Mackinac

I wanted to post this commet on the front page, because this link is great:

"Hi ya,

There is a great site for everything dog related on Mackinac Island, Mackinac Island Dog & Pony Club. Most shops are fine with canine visitors and there are three pet friendly hotels on the Island too.

Mary & Sally the Mackinac Island Coonhound"

Thanks Mary & Sally!

Q&A on Mackinac Island

I am so sorry that I am really behind on my blog! We have been so busy that we haven't been camping in almost a month!! And I haven't even caught up from our July trips. But I wanted to address a Questions posted on one of my entries.

"Hi-
We are considering going camping with our two older dogs. We went only once before iwth them to a state forest campground. But how do you use ferry and go into shopping district with the dogs. I mean you can't go into the stores with a dog, or the restaurants. "

Great question! Here is my answer:

The ferries allow dogs on, so that isn't a problem.

We went hiking and letterboxing on the island, we weren't much into the shopping or dining. I went into two shops while my DH held the dogs. And we had a picnic lunch.

However, a friend of ours has brought his dog the island several times and just eats at restaurants with outdoor seating. He said they even bring the dog water and treats. Here are the ones listed on dogfriendly.com as being dog friendly:

• Cannonball Drive In
• Euro Garden Cafe
• Feedbag
• JL Beanery Coffeehouse
• Lakeside Marketplace/Freighters Deli

Cool Canine Campground!

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. Things have been extra busy! I have also been trying to organize my pictures from Mackinaw City so I can post more stories. If I put all the info in one post, it would be too long and no one would read it.

SOOO.... I promise more will come later. But, I wanted to share a link to a place that I found online and I am in LOVE with this idea. It is a campground that caters to those who camp with their dogs. Four Paws Kingdom is in North Carolina, so I may not ever make it there myself, but what a fabulous idea!! I think I need to own a franchise in the Upper Peninsula! Not only do they have several fenced dog parks and agility courses, you can sign up for a dog walking service if you want to go sightseeing, and plenty of other amenities for our four legged friends.

More on Vita and water dangers

Since we just returned from a trip where my dogs were in water a lot, this story stuck a chord. This last weekend, my dogs were in the Great Lakes, which is safe from blue-green algae, but I will be studying what danger signs to look out for.

Click here for a story that was published in the Flint Journal about Vita.

Mackinaw City, Part 1

Well, it's almost been a week since we have returned home from our five day camping trip, and I am just now starting my updates! But I found lots of great things for families with dogs to do.

Today I will talk about our campground, the Tee Pee in Mackinaw City. It was GREAT. I was a little worried as we were driving up to it, as it was right smack dab in the middle of a row of hotels. I thought there was no way we would feel like we were in the great outdoors. But, I was pleasantly surprised! It was right on the shore of Lake Huron, with a view of the bridge. The sites were nice and big too.

There were a ton of dogs at the campground, but not once were we approached by any that did not have an invitation.

And the dogs were allowed right on the beach. This picture shows Sparky wading in Lake Huron. Beautiful! We took the dogs to the beach to watch the sunset and to watch the kids play. I could have stayed at the campground the whole time, and been happy.

But, in Mackinaw City there is too much to do. The campground is within walking distance to the shopping district, perfect for dog owners. And the ferry lines will come pick you up and bring you to the docks. Dogs are also allowed on the shuttles and ferries.

In the next few days I will talk about all the stuff we did that made my dogs sleep for 3 days straight!

Water Dangers

This is from an e-mail forwarded to me by several people today, and I had never heard of this, so I wanted to alert anyone I could:

"On Monday, June 25, 2007 I took my healthy 9-month-old Border Collie, Vita, swimming at approximately 6:30 p.m. Vita and two other BC's spent about an hour and a half diving off the dock, chasing the Water Kong, and running around. The temperature that day was just over 90 degrees, but none of the dogs looked particularly winded or hot.

Vita emerged from the water and looked as if she was going to vomit. She threw up lake water three times. I wasn't particularly concerned as she took in a lot of water from retrieving and swimming so much and had seen other dogs do that in the past without complications.

After the third time throwing up, she lay down and closed her eyes. Her tongue was hanging out of her mouth and I began to suspect she may have heat stroke. I immediately placed ice on her stomach and checked her gums. They were pink. I took her temperature which was 101.9, still normal. I then called my Vet who said these conditions did not indicate heat stroke and said I needed to get emergency medical attention right away.

Vita was not responsive and when I picked her up to put her in the car she was limp and her eyes were still closed. Her breathing was slow and her heart was racing. I arrived at the emergency clinic only a half hour from the time she showed signs of distress. The ER Vet asked me what sorts of things Vita had been doing all day. I explained that she was crated as I was gone for the latter part of the afternoon and that upon coming home, the only other place she went was to the lake.

Vita's eyes were fixed and dilated and the Vet suggested there was already brain damage. After administering an IV and oxygen, the Vet called me in and said Vita was not responding and that it appeared that she was suffering from some kind of toxic poisoning. Her heart rate was 200. He mentioned that he had recently seen a couple of dogs who died from Blue Green Algae Toxicity. I told him that the lake had what appeared to be algae blooms on the surface of the water. Neither of the other two dogs showed any of the signs that Vita had and that neither dog took in as much water as Vita apparently did. We decided to put her on a ventilator overnight and give her a "chance" to pull through.

When I got home I did a Dogpile.com search of "Blue Green Algae Toxicity in Dogs" and found some very disturbing information.

• Blooms can occur at any time, but most often occur in late summer or early fall. They can occur in marine, estuarine, and fresh waters, but the blooms of greatest concern are the ones that occur in fresh water, such as drinking water reservoirs or recreational waters.
• Some cyanobacterial blooms can look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface of fresh water lakes and ponds. The blooms can be blue, bright green, brown, or red and may look like paint floating on the water. Some blooms may not affect the appearance of the water. As algae in a cyanobacterial bloom die, the water may smell bad.
• Some cyanobacteria that can form CyanoHABs (Harmful Algal Blooms) produce toxins that are among the most powerful natural poisons known. These toxins have no known antidotes.
• Swallowing water that has cyanobacterial toxins in it can cause acute, severe gastroenteritis (including diarrhea and vomiting).
• Liver toxicity (i.e., increased serum levels of liver enzymes). Symptoms of liver poisoning may takes hours or days to show up in people or animals. Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting.
• Kidney toxicity.
• Neurotoxicity. These symptoms can appear within 15 to 20 minutes after exposure. In dogs, the neurotoxins can cause salivation and other neurologic symptoms, including weakness, staggering, difficulty breathing, convulsions, and death. People may have numb lips, tingling fingers and toes, or they may feel dizzy.

Vita had indeed exhibited salivation and signs of weakness, staggering, difficulty breathing and vomiting.

At 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 I called the Vet and was told that they took Vita off the ventilator a couple of times during the night and that she was not breathing on her own. I told him to discontinue the procedure and to let her go.

I called the DNR here in Michigan and was told that Blue Green Algae didn't usually appear this time of year and I told the agent that the conditions were that of late summer in Michigan, very hot for the last two days and reminded him that Blue Green Algae can appear at any time. He told me not to panic or to alarm other people. I told him that had someone else panicked, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.

Later that morning I found out from a neighbor that her two young boys had vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps last week and her Doctor suggested she bring in a water sample. I do not know if she did or not.

I also talked to a woman from a neighboring county whose neighbor's dog ingested a lot of water from a pond and died suddenly a couple weeks ago.

As of this writing, Wednesday, June 27th, I have not heard anything from Michigan State where I took Vita for a necropsy and toxicological panel.

For the time being, I would strongly suggest you watch your dogs when swimming in small lakes and ponds as the potential threat of toxic poisoning from Blue Green Algae is prevalent. Had I known that algae of any kind was toxic, you can be sure my dogs wouldn't be swimming anywhere and that Vita, whose name quite ironically meant "life" in Latin, would be alive today.Missing you more than you can imagine.

May you rest in peace, Red Top Vita09/05/06 - 06/26/07

Bob Tatus
Fenton, Michigan

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