Ramblings

Well, it's been over a month since I've written anything. We've been taking a break from agility, and the weather has been horrid until lately, so not much outdoor training for us.

We did go to the RDOG (Responsible Dog Ownership Day) at Bowness Park last weekend. I took both Blast & Bizzie with me. There were several demos set up, an agility course, a rally course, some frisbee, and some scent hurdling. Of course there were several rescue groups there as well.
Bizzie seems to be feeling so much better, but her naughty side seems to be more prevalent. She's quite the diva & likes to bark to get attention. Will be working on that one! Blast had lots of fun - I did a rally course with him (he's done no rally or obedience) but I think he did better than Boo, who's had 5 lessons! Boo skitters around so quickly, it's hard to reward behaviors at the right time.
Blast also passed the Canine Good Neighbor test (not the official one..).

I took Bizzie & Blast out to the barn for a quick agility run a week ago. Blast ran well for Dante, actually, probably better than he runs for me... hmm... Since I'm still not cleared from the Dr to run, I did some sending with Bizzie & she seems to have her old spirit back.

Other than that, we've been working on some more tricks... Last week I bent over to pick something up from the floor & Blast jumped up on my back! A trick we haven't even practiced for ages.. he's quite the character!

We've entered an agility trial in October, so hopefully we'll all be healthy by then!

New Word - Agilcation

Well, we're all taking a small break from active agility - thus the word agil-cation.
I had my surgery yesterday (just minor), but I can't do any running, lifting, vacuuming, etc for 6 wks. so I have to find ways to keep the dogs busy. Bizzie is taking a break until her back is feeling all better, so we've been doing some tricks. I'm also going to try to do some work to strengthen her core - so if anyone has any good exercises for that please let me know... I have a peanut ball...
Blast & I are always working on tricks, but he needs to run.. and Boo & I just started a rally class. I can probably work some distance stuff with Blast in the back yard, but I'll need to get someone to run him on some courses.

Unfortunately I have to miss some agility trials that would have been fun - will miss my pals in Lethbridge this weekend..

Boo was quite funny at the rally class, hopefully he will settle down a little! He of course needs to learn the basics of heeling, etc...

AAC Nationals

Well, it's all over now. The AAC Nationals was a great time! The largest National event ever! I was happy to be running at all since I didn't think my dogs would qualify. I saw some really great runs & wonderful dogs & handlers - they seem to get faster every year! The judges were great, the volunteers awesome, the weather wonderful, & the venue was gorgeous! My compliments & thanks to the organizers - what a huge undertaking!
My goal for this year was to finish all the runs & have Blast stay with me in the ring.
We completed all of our runs & he did some sightseeing, but always came back to me. He was very taken with a speedy little Sheltie that ran before us once on Sunday & he was glued to the startline still swiveling his head around looking for her while I was giving him the OK to start. Kinda funny, but not really! With all the distractions at a large event like Nat's & the challenging courses, I was very happy with my boy! We still have lots of work to do, but he's come a long way baby! There were 72 dogs in our division, so it was very competitive!

Bizzie had another Chiro adjustment & a lovely massage & she seems to be feeling much better now. I'm giving her 6 wks off any agility training, so hopefully the rest will be good for her.

I think I'm going to try to do some Rally with Boo - he's feeling rather neglected these days & can't figure out why he doesn't get to play agility any more.

A New Adventure

I haven't posted anything for quite a while - it seems only people who comment in Chinese read this blog & I can't understand their comments! LOL!
Anyhow, our Nationals is just 2 wks away & I haven't been doing much with Blast. Just some work in the back yard. His biggest problem is distractions, which is not the easiest thing to work on. We've been working weave pole entries every day.

So I decided to take Blast to the tryouts for Superdogs a couple of wks ago. He did really well & got a "call back". So off to Stampede Park we went! There were of course as many distractions as you can possibly think of! When I took him to the potty area for the dogs, every so often he would see a ride appear above the trucks beside us & of course that scared him. In between shows we practiced & he was relaxed & was able to play ball & did all the equipment - corkscrew tunnels, "log jumps", 24 weave poles, puissance jump, etc. These are all things he'd never seen before.
Then we got the opportunity to go out in a real show in a relay race. Just as we were lining up to go out, they brought out a giant inflatable dog that was about 10 feet tall, & of course he was dancing around right at the end of the relay where we were running! Well, poor Blast, he did the first few jumps & then lost it! He ran barking up to the mascot, hackles raised, scared to death!
Although the crowd thought it was funny, I felt really bad that he was so afraid.
On the plus side he came out for the "pat & chat" where all the little kids come over to maul the dogs, oops, I mean meet the dogs, & he was a really good boy.

So that was our big adventure! (Another thing to tick off my bucket list!)

Drum Roll Please.....

We did it! Still can't believe it! Blast & I qualified to go to Nationals! It wasn't pretty, but we actually finished with 423 points I think!

I really didn't think I would qualify with Blast or Bizzie & was disappointed not to be running my steady guy Boo, so it was a huge surprise to me that we made it. Anyone who knows Blast will understand that it's been a difficult road for us - although he tries hard, he is so easily distracted I have to try to keep him with me the entire run. The only faults he had on Sunday were time faults, incurred by running to the fence to check out the dog who was barking, etc. What a good boy - I'm so proud of him.

Bizzie didn't quite make it - one off course too many. She was not running well at all & I could tell she wasn't feeling good. I finally took her to the chiropractor on Sunday & she had a huge adjustment (jaw, neck, shoulder, mid back & pelvis). I did have her adjusted before we left but it was a minor adjustment, so not sure what happened in between. Between that & really soaking her down to cool her off, she finally started to run in gamblers - did 14 obstacles, but got distracted in the final gamble by the spectators & dogs ... too bad since it was a gamble she could have done. Anyhow, it's OK, she's still fairly inexperienced & I didn't expect her to qualify.

We did have a great time, the courses were not easy, the judges were great, & it was wonderful to see some friends have great successes!

Off to Regionals

Well, we're off to Regionals this week. It will seem odd to not be running Boo this year, but I'm now sure that I made the right decision. I was worried about running 3 dogs, so now I'm down to 2 dogs, which will be plenty. This is their first Regionals, so I don't have high expectations, we're just there to have fun.

I had Bizzie at the chiropractor today (another adjustment) so hopefully she's feeling better.

While I was there, I had Catharine look at Boo's Xrays & she did confirm what my other vet told me. She also thought he had some involvement in his neck. Although I feel better about my decision, it still seems unfair that such a young dog should have his career end so early. But as I wrote before, he's first a pet, then an agility dog, so now he gets to live a life of leisure! Well, he's also the fun police when the other dogs get too unruly playing!

I sure hope the weather cooperates... it's been so cold & rainy this spring, we've hardly had any chance to practice outdoors. Anyhow, wish us luck & hope the courses aren't too daunting!

Tough Decision

This post is about my little guy Boo. He just turned 6 last month. I got him at 9 months & he was not the easiest dog to train. He was a show dog but didn't have the best nature & was dismissed from the ring for growling at the judge, etc. He knew nothing when I got him, & he was very spoiled. He was probably not the best candidate for your first agility dog!
We worked a long time together before things started to mesh... he would only do a couple of obstacles, then leave or refuse to do anything. He was very slow & velcro & wouldn't leave my side. Then at the end of the run, I could never catch him. Slowly things started to come together. We went to 4 AAC Nationals together... the first year we didn't qualify at Regionals, so we drove out to BC to volunteer, & I entered Boo in Steeplechase - he won his division! Huge surprise!
Then the next year we qualified to go to Nationals, so we went to Ontario & he came 3rd overall in his division. Another huge surprise! He also won the Steeplechase final for the 6" dogs! Money & everything!
I won't bore you with all the details, but the next 2 Nationals he placed 4th & 7th & finally got some gambles. He has since become a pretty good little gambler!

Boo has always hated the teeter & I always suspected that the jolt at the end jarred his back. He would always do it in training (when the treats trumped the pain) but not in trials.
I did start taking him to a chiropractor, who adjusted his back, & he seemed to run quite well.
Last week his back seemed to be really sore & he started screaming when we picked him up, etc. Off to the vet we went. After xrays & much poking & prodding, we determined that he has a protruded disk in his middle back. He's on crate rest right now, as well as muscle relaxants & medicam, so he's feeling much better. The vet explained that he could probably still feel well enough to run agility, but if he had a jar to his back, more disk could leak out & there would be a possiblity of paralysis. I just couldn't see us having fun running courses anymore if I was worrying & he was hurting, so I made the tough decision to retire him from agility. He may still run the odd jumpers course if I feel he's really itching to get out there, but otherwise he's done - no more teeters for the little guy. With AAC Nationals here in Calgary this year, it was disappointing to not be able to run him here if we qualified, but it's just a game & he is first & foremost my pet Boo.