July Updates

It’s been almost 2 weeks since my last post.  It’s gone by quickly and I’ve been busy but nothing major has really happened.  Not a bad thing!

I brought Seven and Letty to obedience class the last 2 weeks.  It’s been crazy hot out so I left the others at home.  Letty did well and is relaxing in the group class.  Last week she only woofed once and it was at a flatcoat.  The Newfie who is normally there is black and freaks her out.  Class last week was small which helped too.  Seven is doing really well in Nancy’s class.  Here I thought we were not doing well and not really progressing.  I should have moved him up in classes long ago.  This is a push that we needed!  Last week did not go as well heeling wise.  I feel like we regressed since the seminar but I was really tired and my mechanics were off and I wasn’t feeling so enthusiastic about doing anything.  Hopefully this week will be better.

I’ve started teaching Vada scent articles with the Around the Clock method.  I’ve modified it though so I’m hands off but for my hand holding the article down so she can lick the cheese off of it.  We did about 4 days of it last week.  I got out of the routine over the weekend so I’ll have to get back at it!  It’s a 7 week program and at this rate it’ll take us 7 months!  I think she is getting it.  She is having trouble with the retrieve part and she gets frantic when she gets confused and that irritates me.  So I just have to practice staying calm and helping her.  Once she gets it then she’s awesome.

Seven and Vada are rotating the weekly agility class.  Seven went last week and Vada the week before.  They are staying sound but it doesn’t seem like enough to work them every other week.  Last night I worked Vada for about 10 minutes out in the yard.  It was a really good session.  They need alot more of that!  Short sessions more often.  And really Vada could use some going back to the basics.  She can’t even do a 180 at 26″ without dropping bars.  Sigh.

Now that the nasty humidity broke I’ve been trying to get Letty, Copper and Vada out more for walks around the pond.  Letty needs to build up her tolerance to the heat.  Copper needs to build up his rear end strength.  Vada needs to get in better shape so she can quit getting hurt and to keep bars up in agility.  There is never a shortage of things to do with the dogs between training and conditioning!

On the 15th I had the day off to setup for the annual UKC show at the Washington County Fairgrounds.  Denise decided to not meet at the storage locker til 2pm so I had the morning open.  It worked out well as I got Copper, Vada and Seven in to see Dr. Heather for checkups.  Copper was out alot all over.  Sigh.  I wish he would act his age and respect his body more!  Vada’s right hip was still sore.  Also her left wrist was sore.  Dr. Heather called it a sprain.  Vada showed her quite clearly that it hurt.  I freaked a little bit after having to take all last summer off from agility when her other wrist was injured.  But Dr. Heather did not think I needed to take her to Dr. Julia.  Whew!  Later I remembered that she had caught that paw in her crate in the van after punching it at one of the dogs and she was stuck and thrashing around and screaming while trying to get her paw free.  She got it free on her own as I was going into the crate to help (and fending off Letty who wanted to jump her).  Seven was also sore down by his tail.  Copper got an adjustment and acupuncture.   Seven and Vada got light adjustments.  Most of their issues were not chiropractic issues.  They also both got acupuncture.  Seven only got a few needles.  He reacted to the first one as it was in the blocked part.  The other 2 that were below it slipped in with no problems and he didn’t react.  After a few minutes into the treatment the block cleared and he was able to feel the other 2 needles.  Pretty neat!  Vada does ok with acupuncture.  She’s not crazy about it though.  I was very happy that we were able to get in to see where they were all at.  Sadly, I think Copper could use another adjustment again already.

I had time after our appointment so I took the dogs home and then headed down to the MMBC storage facility.  I ran a few MMBC errands on the way too.  We got the stuff loaded up and then headed to the fairgrounds to unload.  I was able to help unload and give them some guidance as to how we had setup the rings in the past.  Then it was time for me to leave to go to SoccerBlast for the MAC General Membership Meeting.  It was a very good meeting with LOTS of feedback from the membership in attendance.  Most meetings are just the board reading about what they’ve done.  This one was interactive.  And the board (which includes me) got some take away items.

That Saturday was my Schutzhund club’s trial.  I went to help out and be part of the group in obedience.  It was hot out and they weren’t needed so I left my dogs at home.  The dogs did ok.  2 failed obedience.  1 failed protection.  The back transport was giving all of the dogs trouble that day.  All of the 1s failed tracking.  A few teams passed.  It is not an easy sport!  I went home for a bit and made grape salad for the judge’s dinner.  Karl went to the grocery store earlier in the day and kindly picked up the ingredients for me.  ❤  🙂  There were a few people at the dinner and we had some interesting conversations.

Sunday I took Vada, Letty and Copper to the Washington County Fairgrounds for the UKC show to help out and to trial Vada in rally.  She ended up with 2 legs to finish her URO1 title.  The first leg was High in Trial and the 2nd leg was a 2nd place!  We might have to give AKC rally a try next.  It was super hot and super humid.  I was walking Letty around to socialize her a bit.  On the way back to the van her rear started to go out from under her.  I freaked and picked her up and carried her to the other end of the show site and put her in the kiddie pool.  Then I hosed her off with the hose.  I hosed down all of the dogs again later in the day before we left.  That is not something to mess with!  I was getting pretty sick feeling by the time I left too.  I helped pack up as much as I could and then went home.  There were so many more volunteers this year.  It was so nice.  For so many years it was just me and Karl and Denise and Al.  Sadly, me and Karl and Al had to step down in order for others to step up.  But they did a great job!

Karl’s niece and her husband (Alana and Nick) had their first baby on the 19th – a girl they named Macie.

Saturday Karl and I drove up to Duluth for a USDAA agility trial.  Fringe, Seven and Vada were entered.  I did not sleep well Friday night and we had to get up super early to get on the road.  That definitely showed in my handling!   The first class was Masters Gamblers.  I read the gamble correctly on the course map.  But then I went out and totally walked it wrong.  It was HARD but I figured it was Masters so I accepted it.  Sigh.  I ran it the way I thought it was suppose to be run and I ran it wrong.  Stupid.  Sigh.  But my main goal was to work on contacts since my criteria in the ring gets very lax.  Vada’s contacts are getting worse and she pushes me hard so I can’t even twitch in the ring without her releasing.  Not good!  But also not our main issue.  Luckily Karl was there to tape my runs so I could see how off my handling was.   We had 2 bars down in Pairs on a serp where I was in her way but my partner was perfect so we squeaked out a dirty Q.  We had a few bars down in Steeplechase and she pulled off the broadjump.  She also missed her weave entry.  She did in Masters too.  It was the same entry and I forgot to support it in Steeplechase.  Seven would not send out to the dogwalk in Gamblers.  In Standard he did well.  He missed the weave entry even though I went in deep to help set the line to the poles (same entry as Vada).  I restarted him and he popped at 10 so I just went on.  I’ve learned to not stress him on poles.  He’ll get it eventually under trial stress.  In Pairs I ran him second and wasn’t sure about my setup and he backjumped a jump that was not ours while I was trying to set him up.  So no Q with the off course.  Plus, he pulled off a jump in a 180.  BUT both dogs stayed sound all day!  Karl and Fringe did well.  She flies off her aframe and dogwalk contacts still but otherwise they’ve really come together well as a team.  We were not able to do Snooker as we had to get home to the dogs and the trial had been delayed for 2 hours from a downpour.  They ended up moving it to Sunday but we were not driving back up there for that.  I was able to get Letty out and walk her around all the people in raincoats and doing a great training session with her.  Copper got to get out and walk around the ring while they were course building too.  Those are some of the things that I love about outdoor trials.

Sunday I got up and took Letty to train with Warren’s group.  She did well.  We’re starting to teach her the bark and hold.  On one send after I released her I felt the leash wrapping around my leg.  It pulled my leg from under me and I was airborne!  I have a nice rash on my ankle too.  Luckily it didn’t stick and drag me or hurt Letty.  There were not alot of people there even though the weather was awesome so it was a short day.  I drove back home and napped off and on for 4 hours.  I was exhausted!  I still haven’t caught up on my sleep.

Monday I stayed home, walked the dogs in the yard and worked Vada and Letty on jumping skills.

Last night I drove to a park in Brooklyn Center to train with a few MVSV club members.  The park was busy with tons of ball games going on but we were able to use a soccer field for obedience.  Letty did great!  There was alot going on but she was focused on me.  Narc did great too.  He started out sniffing alot but then focused on me.  I decided to try food to lure him down for the down in motion.  The lighbulb came on finally!!!!!  I did that a few times then he was able to do the exercise without handler help!!!  Then I worked Vada, also with more food, and she got the stand stay on the signal exercise right away.  She was a bit questioning/slow on the down but we worked thru it.  Then I took Copper for a walk around the park to sniff and pee on trees.  They were all pretty happy.  I need to get a handle on their barking in their crates though.  Everyone else is using bark collars or e-collars so the dogs don’t bark.  Mine are terrible and that makes it stand out even worse.  I can close the doors but that’s not an option if it’s hot out.  I know it’s an issue since the guy was complaining about dogs barking on the training field so the club is edgy about it.  And I know it’s coming from all the reactivity in the house and in their crates in the house.  I’m just not sure how to fix it.

Not sure what to do tonight – stay home, go to obedience class or go train with Warren.  It looks kind of hot out so I might go to class since Letty doesn’t last long with Warren in the heat.  I only have a few more Wednesdays free til my SQL Admin class starts.  The great news is that the road to my class is finally open again!  So it should be a shorter drive.  🙂

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Sally

Sally went downhill pretty fast over the weekend.  Monday it really became apparent that it was time to release her from her failing body.  I called our vet and got an appointment for Tuesday.  I was able to leave work early to come home and spend some time with her before we brought her in.  She was ready to go and she was surrounded by alot of love.  It was very peaceful.

We found Sally exactly 13 months ago from today.  Letty had been born on the 12th and then we found Sally on the 13th.  We were on our way back from my cousin’s graduation party in Hutchinson.  We were taking the backroad highways.  We were heading east and Sally was in the other lane trotting west.  We stopped and went back to her.  She came right up to us and got right in the car.

We drove around to the farms around there.  One had a mean looking German Shepherd and no one home so we kept going.  Another was abandon.  Another we stopped at was a nice horse farm and someone was home but he didn’t recognize her at all.  So we brought her home.  I had my friend, Melissa who does rescue, scan her for a microchip to no avail.  We called the sheriff and the local paper and placed an ad.  We also put an ad on Craig’s List.  We got a few calls but they were not even close.  It was sad to hear from those who were searching for their pets though.  Sadly it seems that no one microchips.

Sally loved to roam.  We put her in the “kennel” next to the garage .  She promptly dug her way out.  So we put her in a crate in the garage.  She did not like that either.  She ended up busting out of every crate that we put her in.  Once we gave up and just left her loose in the house she was happy.  She wasn’t aggressive to anyone and she was housebroken so we just let her have free run of the house.  She trained us well.

I brushed her out some but she needed alot more work than I could do.  Plus, she did not like being groomed.  She’d try to bite me and she’d get frustrated and trot away to do a lap around the yard and then come back and see me.

We took her into the vet and got her checked out, vaccinated and had her teeth (nubs) cleaned.  We also got her groomed by someone who knew how to groom dogs.  Then she was Sleek Sexy Sally.

She was looking pretty good and no one had claimed her.  We were kind of looking for a home for her.  I figured it would be hard given her age.  But Karl’s boss and his wife decided that they wanted to give her a try.  They had done alot of rescuing of cats but had not owned a dog before.  They were going to rescue one but it did not work out so they were kind of looking for the right dog.  They were a great home.  They had her for 10 days and spoiled her alot.  She got to go on walks and the neighbors and neighbor kids came over to visit.  She seemed to really like kids.  Unfortunately she chased their cat in a not very nice way.  I think she may have been resource guarding her awesome new humans.  They were really sad and hated to give her back but they had to keep their cat’s safety in mind.  It was totally understandable.  It seemed like maybe Sally wanted to come back and just be a part of our pack.  We never had any issues with her with the other dogs or the cats.

I was home one day from work and it just struck me that Sally was not acting like she use to.  I called the vet to see if they had any openings to get her checked out.  I couldn’t pin point the problem but she was “off”.  It turned out that she had cancer.  Tumors in her spleen and liver.  Her liver and kidney values were off already because of the tumors.  That was in October or November!  We had no idea that she would have made it this long!  We figure she was enjoying her new life and wanted to enjoy it as long as she could.  When looking at her x-rays we could see that she has some spondylosis in her back.  She did get to the point where doing our stairs to go outside was too much and we had to carry her out and back in.  Her body was not built for doing stairs and having a bad back made it even harder on her.

Sally loved to be outside and trot around the yard.  She trotted around the fence line over and over.  At first she tried trotting away a few times in the front year.  Luckily her legs are short so we could catch her.

Sally slept alot.  She was getting hard of hearing so she slept very soundly.  She would let her tongue hang out of her mouth and lie on the floor too.  Many times we had to check if she was still breathing!

These pics were taken yesterday of Sally.

Godspeed Sally.  We miss you already and notice the lack of your presence in the house.  We are glad you are at peace now.

Denise Fenzi Seminar

Denise’s flight got delayed on Friday so I was able to go home and let dogs out and train them a bit before I went to go pick her up.  Other than that it was uneventful.

Saturday morning I went to the school to unlock it and drop off dogs (Letty, Copper and Vada).  Karl was doing hospitality so he got up there shortly after me.  He would then setup and be there in case people had questions while I was gone.  This was our routine on Sunday too.  It worked very well.  Denise’s hotel was only 10 minutes from Total Recall.

Saturday and Sunday were 1 seminar covering training with motivation and drive.  I had a working spot with Letty.  Alot of the information was not new to me but I did pick up a few finer points and a few things to give thought to.  Applying the information under Denise’s watchful eye and having Letty work in a building she’s not comfortable in with alot of people and dogs that she doesn’t know was the important part for me.  Letty really stepped up.  I was very pleased with her interactions with me and how comfortable she was in the building over the weekend.  I feel like we are finally coming together as a team.  It was perfect timing with Denise being here so that she could give us guidance and push us to the next level.  Saturday at the end of the day we were told that Sunday morning we would be tasked with spending about 40 seconds playing with our dogs with no food or toys (they could have a toy in their mouths if there was a risk of them biting you).  That caused alot of anxiety but gave people a chance to practice at home if they chose to.  I wasn’t sure how it would go but I knew that Denise would help so I wasn’t too worried.  It turned out to be a wonderful exercise for us.  I had played with Letty as a puppy and she got so over the top and started biting me so I’ve really kept that kind of play pretty quiet with her.  But from our short session I saw the power of the exercise and how much she enjoyed it and really felt like we were interacting together.  I saw that same level of play that she directs at Vada being directed at me.  We did get some mouthing but when I called her up on me to get petted she calmed down instantly and was just as easily turned back on.  So I just need to not get her get so high that she’s biting and give her a tug before she starts biting me.  It’s a very powerful tool that can be brought into the ring with you – on a much lower/quieter level.  At the end of Sunday we all had time to work on individual issues.  We worked on our heeling and really progressed it along quickly.  I was very proud of how well Letty did and how well our foundation has come together.

Picture taken by Robin Sallie

Picture taken by Robin Sallie

Each day over lunch I did some obedience with Vada or Letty (whichever wasn’t working that day) and played fetch with Copper.  The non-working dogs really enjoyed their time to play I think.

Picture taken by Robin Sallie

Monday was a trouble shooting day so I had Vada signed up.  In our first session we worked on the broad jump and ideas for getting a better finish and a better drop on recall.  In our second session we talked about scent articles and we worked on the signal exercise.  I got tons of great ideas for things to work on and how to start some things.

Picture taken by Robin Sallie

It was very exciting to learn from someone who does well in competition and does Schutzhund and AKC obedience and does not use corrections.  My biggest challenge is how to generalize what I’ve learned about agility training and apply it to obedience and what to do when the dog does not do the correct thing.

We had a really fun group of people working and auditing.  Lots of auditors!  We had nice dinners with great conversations.  My dogs did really well.  It was a wonderful weekend all around.  It seems that everyone else felt that way too.

My husband was awesome too!  He took care of all the dogs at home, bought and brought the hospitality stuff, switched vehicles with me on Monday so the dogs could go home while I took Denise out to dinner and he stayed and helped clean up and vacuum the school.

Denise brought lots of cool toys to sell too.  There were toys for all levels of tuggers – and no shipping costs!  It was good timing as I was in need of some new tugs so I bought a few.

Last night I went up to On the Run for a 2 hour seminar on Running and Footwork for agility.  I don’t know if I can apply it exactly but I get the basic concept and was able to practice it.  It was a fun group.

Tonight is obedience class.  It’s been awhile since we’ve been able to go.  It’ll be fun to go and use some of our new knowledge.

July 2011

Doctor’s appointment went well.  Just an infection and got some antibiotics.  Hopefully that’s the end of doctor’s visits for awhile.

That Tuesday we drove down to Savage to the park to train with Angeli and Sarah.  Letty did really well with heeling and some sits and downs.  She had no problem being in a new environment.  I worked Vada too on heeling and hand signals.  Poor girl does not get worked enough and she LOVES to work.  It was alot of driving and turned into a late night but it was good training so it was worth it.  Good to check in with the club too.

Wednesday I worked remotely and brought my van in for repairs.  2 things were easy fixes – the brake light was from leaking in a cylinder and there was a stabilizer link that needed to be replaced.  The biggie repair fixed the noise that the engine made when the blower was running and getting hot air blowing when I idled and the AC was on.  I started out working from the dealership’s cushy waiting area.  But they needed the van all day – til 6pm – so they gave me a ride home.   Unfortunately, that meant no obedience class again.  But I got my AC fixed and working again just in time for another big heat wave – road buckling heat again.

Thursday night was agility class.  It was the last set of classes where I am having Seven and Vada in their own classes.  Going forward I am doing 1 dog each week and only taking the 6:30pm Masters class.  I worry with the injuries that keep popping up.  I think it would be better to work them outside on the grass more and do more conditioning with them.  I’m sure the dogs would not be happy with my decision if they knew but too bad.  🙂  The classes have gotten really small but that is typical in the summer.  Once it starts getting cold out then everyone will come back and the classes will be overfull.  😦  Anyways, both of the dogs did well.  Vada’s contacts are bombproof in class.  I need to work on releasing her forward more so she’s not looking at me so much.  I’m tempted to teach her a nose touch but she’s 8 so I’m not sure if it’s worth it.  Seven ran slower than normal and was a bit tentative but he was eager to run.  Totally threw my timing off going from Vada to a slower Seven.

We had a pretty quiet 4th of July weekend.  I watched a lot of movies (Battle LA, Beastly, Helen and Elvis and Annabelle).  Sunday I trained Letty with Warren’s group which is always fun.  She did well but she gets heated and tired fast.  Not sure if it’s her makeup or if she needs more conditioning.  I’m trying to get her to sit and wait until I give her the cue to turn on.  LLW to our spot is too big of a battle right now.  Sunday night we went to see Mr. Popper’s Penguins which was a fun movie.  We were going to go to the drive in for our annual visit but the lines of cars were miles long in both directions so we aborted and went to Plan B.  The nice thing was that then our Monday wasn’t spent sleeping all day.  Monday we used our pre-purchased Groupon tickets to go to the New Hope Cinama Grill.  We saw Thor.  We really enjoyed that movie too and the food was pretty good.  We will definitely go back.

I took Letty tracking on Monday at the Elk River High School.  I was finally able to use the fields as there were no games scheduled!  I tried working on LLW to the tracking but it turned into a cluster.  Too much pressure on the puppy.  I was asking too much too with too high of a distraction.  She loves to track already.  I did 2 short tracks with the plan to work on walking up to the tracks.  The first was a serp and she did awesome.   I went right to the 2nd track from the first which I’ve never done before.  The 2nd track was a U.  She did awesome the first leg and a half.  She nailed the corner.   But suddenly she started tracking faster and not eating any of the food in the steps.  She blew by the article at the end too.  Not that bad since the articles have no value for her at the moment.  I should do a circle track with articles next.  But I get frustrated when the track isn’t perfect.  It’s that love/hate thing I have with tracking.  It’s really hard for me to remember to not try to control the dog and to let that track be what it will be and adjust the NEXT track to let her work out the issue herself.  Part of the pressure that I put on myself is that I know the way to slow her down is compulsion and I want to slow her down without compulsion but I’m not sure exactly how to do it.

We tracked again Tuesday night at Twin Lakes.  I did another serp track.  Again she was skipping areas of food and going further up the track.  I’m not sure why or how to fix it.  Maybe she just needs more tracking longer tracks?  Maybe we switch to a different food so it’s more interesting?  Copper was thrilled to be able to do the track after her and clean up!  Vada helped a little but then I did some obedience with her while Copper tracked on his own.  I brought Letty out again later and did some obedience and threw a toy for her.  I also wonder if I should be doing something before her tracks to take the edge off so she can slow down and focus more.  After I drove to the boat launch to see if it was clear of people.  There is a fishing pier but people insist on fishing off the boat launch.  There was only 1 boat left on the lake but 1 person had to be fishing off the dock.  Grrrr!  So, I walked Letty to the beach as it looked like all the people (high school kids) were gone.  They were gone so I swam her on the side of the beach.  We played fetch with the Wubba and she was actually swimming – her first time ever!  She loved it.  Then I let Vada out to swim for a bit and Copper too.  For Copper I just threw a toy out for him to get without swimming.  He could swim but I worry about him getting tired.  Silly, I know, since it would be great exercise for him.

Last night I left work a little early so I could finally get my hair cut.  I had an agility lesson with Terry with Kristin and Cooee but not til 8:15pm since Kristin teaches agility class on Wednesdays.  This was a make up day since the one on Friday was cancelled.  Terry’s house happens to be 15 minutes away from where Warren’s group trains!  So I was able to stop there on the way and get in a session of bitework with Letty.  She did really well.  She was better at offering a sit to wait to be turned on.  We worked on her targeting after an out when the sleeve is popped again and she did great!  We haven’t outted her off a sleeve in awhile either but she performed like a pro.  And she made a liar out of me as all of her strikes were great.    When the group was done training I still had some time before I left so I did some heeling and signals with Vada.  Then I worked her on the police dog broad jump.  She was brilliant.  Still working on the stand stay signal but she’s doing pretty good with the drop.  Letty did great at Terry’s too.  So did Cooee.  It’s great to see the babies making progress!  There is so much that Letty has not been exposed to.  We worked on jump grids, tunnel to table, the tire, the chute and the bang game.  We still need alot more work on her sit stay but it has progressed alot and she’s not stressing as much.  She loves doing the equipment.  I was very happy with how she worked at both places yesterday!

Seven is feeling very left out lately and a bit angry about it.  I think I spent most of my time with him on the weekends at agility trials, at obedience class on Wednesdays and agility class on Thursdays.  He hasn’t trialed in awhile and we haven’t gone to obedience class in while.  Plus, he’s a complete ass to Letty.  We are going to move the livingroom crates down to the basement where it’s cooler and he can’t aggress at Letty when she’s running around the livingroom.  I want to setup some backyard dogs sequences and maybe some Nancy Gyes sequences at least once a week and start working the dogs on them.  Then I’ll have opportunity to work Seven at home more too.  Anyways, I decided to take him to agility class with me tonight.  I’m even going to leave Copper and Vada home so they can stay cooler.  I may leave Letty home too but I may take her tracking after class too.  I haven’t decided yet.  I do still have a few things to wrap up for the Denise Fenzi seminar this weekend too.  It’s so hard to balance my limited time with all of them.  I finally feel like I’m making progress with Letty but now Seven’s getting neglected.

I pick up Denise tomorrow night.  Very exciting weekend coming up!

I received my pictures from the CPE Nationals.  I had 1 taken of Vada and Seven since they both competed.

And since that Sunday was Letty’s first birthday, I had Mary do one of her too.

On a sadder note, Sally continues to decline.  I’m really struggling with deciding when it’s time to say goodbye to her.  She’s still eating but not with as much joy as she use to have.  She eats treats if you put them in her mouth.  She falls fairly often.  She is walking in circles.  She paces around me constantly when I am home.  That tires her out and I don’t know what she wants.  Petting her doesn’t seem to give her what she wants.  It seems like it’s been awhile since I’ve seen a glimpse of the happy dog that we use to see.  She doesn’t give eye contact.  But maybe because she can’t see.  How much decline is acceptable and just part of life?  Since I’m on the fence I’m currently thinking that it’s not time and that when it is time, I will just know.  I feel that it’s getting closer though.  We did find a vet that will come out to our house and euthanize her out in the grass and then cremate her.  I think that would be fitting since she loves it outside so much.  Karl is going to see if the couple that had her for 10 days to see if she would fit into their home want to come and say goodbye to her.  They really fell in love with her the few days that they had her.  And I’ve got her brushed out pretty good so she’s presentable.  It’s silly but I didn’t want her passing on all matted or the vet remembering her that way.