Cesar Millan is suffering quite a lot of very scientific criticism and probably will either change or fade away. Positive trainers are more vocal and there are a lot more of them since accredited schools actually teach positive training based on behavioral research done at universities around the country. Positive training has moved from theory to fact, and dog owners are reaping the benefits of less stress and better relationships with better behaved dogs.

But what about me?

Kody and I now have a little strip of back yard and all of our journeys outside are off leash. We only go about 50 feet but one thing I’ve learned about Kody is he doesn’t like walks, he’s more than happy to go back inside and usually has grabbed a pine cone to trade for a treat once we get in.

Occaisionally when it’s warm he wants to stay outside. This means me sitting in a patio chair and him laying on the patio calmly watching the kids laugh and scream and play in the pool. He loves to watch them. This is the dog that used to bark at everything.

We “brush” Kody’s tooth with the crown every night. Right now I just rub it with my finger but it’s getting easier every time. This is not just Kody learning but I’m learning the best way to reach in. We’ve been making progress for months but its not the kind of thing you can rush into. Eventually we’ll use a toothbrush, but no rush. By the way, Kody loves this. As soon as he’s had his dinner he’s gesturing that he’s ready to have his teeth brushed. When he knows it’s going to happen he runs around like a puppy. So I know I’m doing it right. It’s a bonding time.

Life is pretty smooth. I never thought I would appreciate a dog so much. Every day I have at least one moment of complete awe at how awesome he is.

Kody and I have been working on brushing his teeth. I had tried a few methods of doing this in the past but none of them really worked out. But now I have a new method that’s working great.

In my right hand I hold a hot dog bit and I put that hand under Kody’s chin to gently hold his head. Then at first I just put my left index finger quickly in his cheek and touch a tooth. Then I pull my finger out and pull my right hand from under his chin exposing the treat so he can eat it.

We repeat this about five times every night. We’ve progressed to rubbing a back tooth before giving the treat And while he’s still a little nervous it’s a game he likes and he always comes over on his own to play. That’s important. We keep the sessions very short and very easy. I make progress slowly but surely. I haven’t even thought much yet about how to introduce an actual brush, but I’ll know when Kody’s ready for that.

Then as a grand prize for participating Kody gets a rawhide chew when we’re done. I really like the fact that we’re learning to brush Kody’s teeth and it’s actually fun for him.

Since the walk he’s been a wild dog wanting to go outside to collect pine cones (a game we play) and sprinting all over the house with wild abandon. He’s even getting excited about getting his teeth brushed which right now is just me touching his back teeth with my finger and then giving him a treat. We’ll add the toothbrush later.

The trips to the dentist were difficult in a whole different way especially the second trip where he was more stressed than I’d ever seen him. After the surgeries there was plenty of healing time where Kody seemed uncomfortable. After the last surgery Kody had diarrhea for three days and I feared I’d have to take him to the vet. That cleared up and just now things are getting back to normal.

Having said that, tonight Kody really wanted to go into our bedroom. I normally keep the door closed to save on heating costs. He went in to show me that he had pooped (firm poop) on the floor this morning after I had gotten out of bed but before I closed the door. I’m guessing it happened when I was in the shower. I just sighed and picked it up. After the diarrhea he stopped pooping, and then he started having big poops. I guess that his schedule is just all messed up because he literally has not done that even once since he’s been potty trained. Oh yeah, there was one time with diarrhea after he ate some horse poop and he went to the same spot to do it.

What’s ironic is that even through the three days of diarrhea Kody managed to let me know when he had to go and didn’t have an accident inside even once. That’s pretty good sometimes even for a human who’s sick! So I know it must have been pretty urgent.

Of all things, firm poop is the easiest to clean up so it’s no big deal.

But it emphasizes the point that it’s been four weeks of emotional and physical pain for both of us. I’m tired.

Then he started chewing on it kind of gingerly, and then he seemed to get into it and was definitely chewing with the new crown with no problems.

Then as proof that things were back to normal he got bored and stopped chewing and tried to get my attention. With bully sticks he always preferred to chew next to me instead of by himself and would wait until I was available to chew them. I assume that same behavior will transfer over to the rawhide as well. I’m finished working and off to hang out with him now and watch some TV, so we’ll see.

He is giving kisses now, so that’s a good sign.

He gets very concerned about the leg where they put the IV in, I think mainly because it’s just something different. I hope that tomorrow he’s feeling his usual frisky self. I have some nice rawhide chews for him to enjoy and I’m sure he’ll love being able to chew again.

Here’s the downside. Dogs are very smart and they can pick up on signals very well. Kody often knows I’m leaving the house before I do and runs to his crate. I think Kody has noticed the signs that he’s going back to the dentist tomorrow and he’s really bummed about it. He won’t give me kisses and he’s just very nervous and wants to stay close to me. I think the final obvious sign was when I removed his food and water dishes (he can’t have food or water 12 hours before.)

I guess it makes me glad that it’s happening so soon. Although he doesn’t realize it, tomorrow will be a piece of cake compared to the root canal, or at least it should be.

Post Root Canal – Pre Crown Food

If you’re a regular reader you know that I cook Kody lunch every day and give him kibble from a Canine Genius every evening which he has fun with. But Kody can’t have kibble again or anything crunchy until he gets his crown, so I need to give him soft food in the evening too.

I went to the store and bought high quality canned food for the evening. As I guessed, Kody didn’t like it and barely ate it, eating just a little at a time then leaving it. I wouldn’t want it either, even though it’s very high quality food, it’s covered in slime and it smells like, well, dog food. So I’ve decided instead to cook for Kody in the evening as well. It doesn’t take me long, so it’s not really a big deal.

The only reason I didn’t do this from the start is that I was concerned about nutrition. Kody just gets beef and rice for lunch, so I was concerned such a simple diet would cover his nutritional needs. Luckily I needed to make a fresh batch of the frozen rice balls I pre-cook for Kody’s lunch and decided to mix in some vegetables. To do this, just start to make the rice in the rice cooker as usual add the rice and the water up to the correct level. Now that you have the right amount of water for the rice, add some chopped vegetables. I added carrots, celery, and mushrooms this time for Kody. Be sure to avoid onions and garlic as those are highly poisonous to dogs.

When the rice is done, there are cooked chopped vegetables mixed in. I scoop out the rice balls with vegetables, freeze them, and that will add a few vitamins and minerals to the beef and rice with very little extra work.

Tip: You can add a lot of chopped vegetables, more than you would think. They get smaller as they cook, so what looks like a lot of vegetables when you put them in will cook down to a reasonable amount. The rice also grows doubling the effect.

Also I finally found out how to cook brown rice properly in a standard rice cooker. You just put two “cups” (rice cooker cups) of rice in and instead of filling water to the two mark, you fill it to the three mark. Brown rice comes out perfect. Tonight I made some brown rice for me just to try it out, but in the future Kody will get brown rice too. Brown rice tastes better than regular rice and it has a significantly more nutritional value and it’s one of those magic foods that fights off everything from diabetes to cancer.

Finally, I also bought chopped chicken breast in Kody’s dinner since his dinner is usually chicken kibble. This may surprise you, even buying free range organic ground chicken breast (and organic vegetables), this dinner ends up being cheaper than the canned food.

Kody loved it and had the excited reaction I would expect him to have when presented with good food. Whatever people may tell you, dogs, like humans, prefer real honest to goodness food.

I’m not really cut out for parenthood. I’m a good parent to Kody, that’s not the problem, it’s just that I’m so sensitive and it really kills me to see him hurting and not be able to do anything about it. I’m just hoping he heals up soon.

For every medical event we’ve had, I’ve done the right thing for Kody. But it’s so stressful for me. Today I had to ask myself, do I care too much? I don’t think I do, but at the same time I need to figure out a way to care without making it painful for myself. I have a simple but high standard: treat Kody with respect and care for him the way I would care for myself, nothing more, nothing less. Kody is a being, not an object.

But the truth is, no doctor is ever going to be good enough, smart enough, or gentle enough for me. The process is always going to be scary for Kody at the time he needs comfort the most. I hate this, but it’s a fact.

I have a friend, David, and we have a similar logical way of looking at the world. When we need to buy something we just want all the facts we can get. God help the poor car salesman who has David as a customer. He will ask every question, all of which will be reasonable, but none of which the salesman will be able to answer. “Does this bluetooth transfer music from my phone to the car stereo and from which phones? You don’t know? That’s reasonable, but do you have the specs? No? Well, how am I supposed to make a decision?” That would only be one of David’s 100 questions for the salesman. He doesn’t necessarily expect them to know everything, but he does expect them to know where to look and to be able to get to the answer eventually. But the salesman knows that he doesn’t really have to answer all the questions to sell the car, especially if he knows David wants it.

I don’t care so much about cars, but I want a reasonable yet comprehensive understanding of the medical procedures that my dog will undergo. I want to know how he will be processed before, during, and after the procedure. How do you keep his mouth open? What drugs do you give him? What if he barks in his holding cage, how will you handle that? What’s your overall theory with regard to handling the fear of your dog patients? (They probably don’t have one, but I would if I were a veterinarian.) I know better than to ask these questions, especially when there are only two dog dentists in my area and I don’t want to tick them off. But that leaves me feeling very vulnerable. I don’t know what they’re doing to Kody or how they treat their patients. In many ways I don’t want to know because I don’t have a choice but to use them. At the same time when Kody comes home and is not feeling well and his cheeks are swollen, I have to wonder, is this normal or the result of an accident or negligence?

It’s not that I think Kody’s doctor has made mistakes, it’s just that Kody’s in pain, and I don’t know if he has or not. That’s the issue that keeps me up at night, at least until Kody is feeling better. But what I have to accept, for my own sake, is that although it is reasonable to question Kody’s treatment, I’m never going to get an answer. Ugh… that’s the fun process of coming to terms with things that aren’t in our control.

Having said that, if you have a dog that has had root canal surgery, please post a comment with your dog’s results and details about his recovery. This will give anyone dealing with this a place to see what they might be able to expect.

Kody could best be described as traumatized followed by drowsy. He can walk and jumped into the back of the car but I think both the post stress and the medicine are making him very tired.

Physically, he has a little patch on his leg shaved for the IV. He coughed every once in a while after I first picked him up. Both of his cheeks are still a little swollen but the doctor says that will fix itself pretty quickly. Kody doesn’t need any medicine after the surgery, and should be mostly pain free without it.

I asked the dentist, “What’s the hardest thing Kody can chew on going forward?” He said rubber toys like a kong would be the hardest thing I would want to give him.

We also had a discussion about rawhide. They sell CET Enzymatic Oral Hygiene Chews for Dogs at my vet and the dentist had them too. The medium ones I would use are about 2″ x 3″ rawhide. I asked the dentist if it would be OK if Kody swallowed these.

His feeling was that it was fine. He has seen dogs come into his office after swallowing the knotted end of a rawhide bone and seen it under x-ray expanded a bit and the dog still passed it without surgery. It’s not a good idea to let that happen, of course, but the point was that a 2″ x 3″ single sheet rawhide chew doesn’t present a very likely worst case scenario. He gives his own dogs chews like this and allows them to swallow them.

This is a big relief to me because even though these won’t last as long for Kody as bully sticks, they will definitely be better at cleaning his teeth.

Speaking of which, when Kody gets his crown placed I will also have his teeth cleaned. It was only a hundred bucks more which feels like a drop in the bucket at this point. Then I will start brushing his teeth daily.

I asked the dentist what a good process was for training your dog to let you brush his teeth. He said, first to put a little wet food on the toothbrush and just let the dog eat it and chew on the brush for a little while. Then stop the session and give the dog a special treat he will only get after getting his teeth brushed. Continue to do that for a few days or until they seem comfortable and then add in kind of touching the tooth brush to a single tooth the way you would want to hold it for brushing. And then stop the session and give the special treat. Over time you’ll be able to truly brush your dog’s teeth.

You never stop giving the special treat after brushing but eventually the dog will basically come and sit with you to have their teeth brushed and then be happy to get the treat. Classic positive training.

I’m just glad Kody is okay. He’s laying beside me in a deep sleep and it feels good to know he’s taken care of. My energy has also come back having put this behind us, or at least the hardest most painful part. I feel like I’m breathing easy for the first time in two weeks. At this point, if feels very worth it to have spent the money on this.

Like with humans, they make an impression of his tooth after the root canal which will be used to make the crown which will fit on top of what’s left of the tooth. That will take a couple of weeks for a lab (a laboratory, not a Labrador, unless I’m mistaken) to make and then we’ll go back in for the crown to be placed. This doesn’t take very long, but I believe Kody will still need to be placed under anesthesia.

If the tooth is too damaged to do a root canal, they will pull it. If there’s another tooth that needs work, they are going to call me. I hope there isn’t.

I’m definitely emotional about this, but my most major feeling is one of relief. Finally Kody’s going to just be okay again, and that is a major weight off my shoulders.

Going through this has really made it clear to me how different people’s feelings are about dogs. I knew that before, but when you have something like this happen, you have a reason to hear people’s opinions on the subject. There are quite a few people who would do the same as I am doing. Then there are dog owners who could afford the root canal, but think it’s way too much money to spend. Their relationship with their dog seems to be more about “ownership” and cost, rather than care taking or guardianship. Although, I have a feeling if some of these people were in the same position they would change their opinion on the matter.

I’ve also heard stories second hand about people who aren’t dog owners who seem to have no emotional reaction to dogs at all. This is always a bizarre thing to me. Luckily these people really don’t want to own dogs (why would they?), but it’s so strange to think there are people that don’t feel the love of a dog.

For me, I can’t imagine making any other decision, although I am very sad about the cost, of course. I will get insurance so that I don’t have to deal with this again. My primary concern now is how much Kody is going to dislike being left at the vet. Of course, there’s no alternative, but it still makes you feel a bit guilty and worried. I hope they are gentle with him and patient with his probable barking. I am looking forward to things being back to normal for Kody and me.

I’ve heard from lots of people about dogs and doctor bills and everyone says the same thing: it’s worth it. I wasn’t in doubt about that so much, but it gives me comfort to know others have had similar challenges and made it through happily.

So now that I’m calming down, I can see that Kody’s trying his best to be happy. At the same time, he’s not as likely to play and every once in a while I can see that he’s in some sort of pain, so I’m really looking forward to Monday.

But I want to post this, just in case any of you feel from your dog root canal experience it’s super expensive, I’m also going to call around to make sure, but after looking online, it unfortunately seems about right.

• Root Canal: $1,400
• Crown: $1,100

Adding a crown is important for Kody because he took some off the side of the tooth and the crown will add that area back which will deflect food away from the gums which will prevent decay.

As with humans, these are two separate procedures done on different dates. Many dogs can get away with just a root canal. The point of the tooth would still be missing, but the tooth itself would be fine.

Adding a crown is important for Kody because he took some off the side of the tooth and the crown will add that area back which will deflect food away from the gums which will prevent decay like the natural tooth shape would. Also, adding the crown will allow him to chew as he did before using the tooth. Of course, he won’t be allowed to chew on such hard things anymore, but he’ll still have softer safer chew toys.

The doctor did explain that extraction was an option that wouldn’t make me a “bad dog parent”. Kody would still be able to do basic chewing on that side of his mouth because there are more teeth around that area. But an extraction is expensive too, about $900, although the vet quoted a little cheaper price. I just feel like I should do what I can here since Kody is so young. I don’t take the cost lightly, that is a lot of money and while I have the money, my income with a new business will not cover it, it’s coming out of savings.

The doctor was very nice and I was confident in his skills, but he did one thing I didn’t like. When he went out to get the cost estimate sheets he didn’t come back and instead had an assistant give me the estimates. I just felt I would have liked him to be the one to spend that last five minutes with me and answer any final questions I had, and really, just say goodbye. I though it was bad form. On my way home I thought, That’s a lot of money to spend. I like to be taken to dinner before I get screwed! Oh well, no dinner this time. Kody goes in next Monday.

I guess I should probably get insurance now since Kody seems to be quite accident prone. I’m not sure why I don’t already have it, I guess I just thought how most people seem to go their whole dog’s life without an accident, but then, I am certainly not most people. And when Kody has an issue I’m more likely to notice it and more likely to want to fix it. So insurance, even just for the future is probably the right choice for me.

I’m not thrilled at the wait, but to tell you the truth, Kody seems to be mostly okay. I’m glad to be meeting with the dentist tomorrow because if Kody’s situation is really bad, I’m sure he would probably bump him up.

But it leads me to question, do dogs feel less pain in their teeth? I know that when humans breaks their tooth off down to the root it’s very painful and the doctors bump them up. But for having the pulp exposed, Kody seems to be basically fine. He is on the mild pain medication, Rimadyl, but it’s just doggy ibuprofen, it’s an NSAID.

I’m on human ibuprofen, because along with everything else that’s going on I’m pretty sure I have an ear infection. I have this intermittent sharp ear pain, but the ibuprofen mostly takes care of it. If it doesn’t go away in a few days, though, I’m going to have to see a doctor, too.

This morning I realized I was going to have to step way back and remove as much stress from my life as possible. There was a moment where I realized I was seriously on the verge of a breakdown. Since then, things have been pretty mellow.

Today was a beautiful spring day and Kody and I went for a nice long walk. It was lovely.

However, I just read some good news. Dog root canals are common among heavy chewers and quite successful. The root canal is actually less painful than a tooth extraction. Now that I know the extent of Kody’s chewing, I can make better choices than bully sticks in the future so this hopefully won’t happen again.

Apparently Eddie from Frasier has had seven root canals. There may even be a better choice called a vital pulpotomy available to Kody since the tooth is healthy otherwise.

To tell you the truth, I needed this news. I was really beating myself up about giving Kody bully sticks. No, I didn’t know they could be bad, and for most dogs who are regular chewers they aren’t. But still, as a parent, it’s tough to feel you might have put your dog in harm’s way. Now I feel a little better that this is just something that happens to heavy chewers and this lets us know the extent that Kody chews and we can make this the last time this happens.

From all appearances, Kody seems to be doing much better than I am. But I still can’t wait to get him fixed up again. I love him so much.

We’ll make a call to the veterinary dentist Monday morning and try to get him in that day hopefully, because apparently the pulp of the tooth is exposed which is especially painful. They gave me some pain killer medicine to give to Kody in the mean time.

This is yet another example of how me trying to be a good dog parent has actually hurt my dog. Apparently bully sticks can hurt a dog’s teeth. Or maybe Kody just has naturally weak teeth or maybe there was something particularly hard in the one he was chewing on. I don’t know, but I can’t really trust them anymore.

I feel horrible and I’m angry. I’m angry at all the people who don’t care for their dogs but everything goes perfect for them. I’m angry that Kody is in pain and maybe I’m to blame. I’m angry that when I try to do something right, it seems like it always goes wrong.

To know Kody’s in pain, and has more pain to go through before it’s over, that just kills me. I am the definition of depressed.

Through all these horrible feelings, I’ve had to face one thing. I can do what I can do to help Kody, but when we’re in a corner and there’s nothing else to do, for instance while waiting for the dentist to open on Monday, all I can do is show Kody that I love him, and that actually seems to help. I don’t know how parents with terminally sick children get through it. I feel like a dark hand has reached down and grabbed on to my soul and won’t let go. I can’t even imagine how they must feel.