IPO Break

OMG – I wrote a long blog post and went to publish it and it disappeared and is not saved in Drafts.  UGH!  Not sure I have the energy to write it all out again.  It was put out there and is just gone.

Saturday I trained IPO with the group in Isanti.  I laid a serpentine track for Letty since we had been having trouble with corners.  I thought her articles were good so I only put one at the end.  She really struggled with the track, as expected.  She kept wanting to go forward in a straight line and not use her nose to follow the ever changing lines.  When she got to the article she stood over it then turned around and walked back towards me about 6′ and then went back and hovered over it and finally laid down.  I praised her but did not feed her on the article.  So she got very little food on this track.  So we need to keep working on serps and doing articles after a long period of tracking with no articles.  Always so much to work on.  Obedience went ok.  She’s not very up in heeling these days.  I think we are both bored.  We need to work on her jumps and we can’t while we’re healing her hamstrings.  She did perk up when we did moving stands and send outs since those are new exercises.  Unfortunately, her left rear leg started acting up again during bitework.  We had done 3 reps of sending her into the blind for barking and then a bite in the blind.  Mikey noticed she was not using her leg correctly.  She said it looked like the knee was locking up again.  So Bryan gave her a bite and I took her off the field.  I walked her out and she seemed fine.  I was not expecting this to happen again and so was not video recording the session.  I let Dr Julia know.  She suggested I move her appointment up.  I was only able to move it up a week but it’s earlier.  It’s a good time for a break from IPO since we have agility every weekend in June and I’m getting burnt out on obedience.  I’m not making progress with Vada’s Utility skills either.  The sad thing is that our original plans were to trial for our IPO1 again in 3 weeks.

Saturday night we went to see the Avengers.  It was good action.

Sunday we played agility at the CACM CPE trial at OTR.  Normally this is an outdoor trial but the club lost their training/trialing grounds so they moved the trial to OTR.  It lightly rained most of the day on Sunday so it was nice to be inside.  Vada and Seven had a perfect day!  Vada went 2/2.  She Qd in Standard so now she only needs one more for her C-ATCH3.  Seven went 4/4 and weaved in all 3 of his classes that had weave poles in them!  Fringe was almost perfect too.  She went 4/5.  She had a bar down on the panel in Colors.  Letty was 2/5.  I disconnected from her a few times in bad spots as I was just pushing for speed on the open courses.  And she is in Level C so she has to be perfect.  She was perfect on her startlines, contacts and weaves though!  And she stayed sound.  I warmed her up really well and stretched and massaged her hamstrings and cooled her down.  All of them really.  I hardly sat.  I spent most of the day walking.  My legs were very sore by the end of the day!

I took a look at where the dogs were at for qualifying for the 2016 CPE Nationals in OH in case we wanted to go.  The dogs need 40 Qs in the 2015 calendar year for the program they will show in.  It’s kind of fun to keep it in mind in case I decide to go.
Vada has 9 Q in Veterans.  She will need to start over once I move her to Enthusiast.  Will be tough to get there at 2 runs a trial.
Seven has 23 Qs in Veterans.  He’s more than half way there.
Narc has 8 Qs in Veterans.  I might move him to Enthusiast once his back is healed.  Might be tough to get him qualified too.
Fringe has 33 Qs in Regular.  She is 7 Qs away from being qualified!
Letty, poor Letty, has only 14 Qs in Regular.  I have not been a good handler for her lately.  Plus we’ve been training startlines and contacts.

As I was looking through my records I realized that I was off by 1 leg on Vada’s UKC Rally Grand Champion journey.  I had the minimum score wrong.  So we are further along than I thought and she is actually 2/3 of the way there and just needs 5 more QQs with a combined score over 192.  We might head to IA on a Friday in August to pick up 2 of them.

Monday I was able to sleep in!  We went to see Insurgent.  It was pretty good.  Then I spent some time weeding.  It doesn’t seem like I did anything since it is so bad but I pulled out a wheelbarrow full of weeds.  And I dug out the stump of a viney weed plant.  I think that is what killed the rose bush as it was growing right next to it.  However, the rose bush is still trying to stay alive and had a little branch of leaves.

And to keep with my flower theme of late – here is a picture of some flowers that Karl brought home for me one night after work.

Flower from Karl

Now to go work on my Recallers 6 promo video.  Not sure what story to tell or how to tell it.

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Spring

Letty’s appointment with Dr Julia went amazingly well!  She did not bark at a single person the whole time we were there.  Dr Julia came into the room and sat in the chair and talked to me and ignored Letty but let her eat a few cookies from her hand here and there.  She ended up sitting on the floor and Letty had her back to her while I fed her cookie and Dr Julia examined her.  Every time she touched her she fed her a cookie.  She stayed relaxed the whole time so we were able to get a good accurate exam.  She does not think that crashing the jump has caused any issues that she can see.  She did feel that her hamstrings were tight on both sides and spasming.  they were calmer on the right where Kristin had lasered them.  Dr Julia thought that the muscles were firing too much and the counter muscles have quit listening to them.  She thinks that this is also why we are struggling with the 40″ jump in IPO.  So for 4 weeks we are doing exercises every other day.  She gets a day off to rest from jumping.  She can still go for walks and runs and do obedience.  We do exercises on days that she does agility.  If she does not do agility and it’s a day to do exercises then she does 10 reps of jumping up on to a 20″ agility table and off.  We’re doing glut taps on the right.  She is super stiff on sliding her left leg back.  Then her table jumping if we’re doing it that day.  Then thigh master exercises and then massaging those muscles on both back legs.  She jumped well at the agility trial last weekend and in class.  Also, she has no restrictions other than no IPO jumps for now.  So she can still go to class and agility trials.  Our recheck is June 15th.  The Monday after the weekend we were planning to trial for her IPO1 again.  So we’ll put off trialing until this fall.  I might try to get her qualified for AKC Nationals in the mean time.  Hopefully we caught something early before it caused a bigger problem.  I can see the value in having a rehab vet exam working dogs once a year.

I took Fringe to her last make up class.  It’s a fun class since it’s all high level handlers and Michelle would make up courses to work on Snooker or Gambler skills or make things harder.  More of a USDAA type of class.  So now I’m back to a regular class schedule.  Tuesday I took Letty and Fringe to their regular class with their regular instructor who is back.  I just bring a crate it and it’s actually working out pretty well to run both of them.  Even when there is only 1 dog between us.

I was sick much of the week and it was raining on Thursday so I bailed on training with Warren.  Rain is fine but not when I am trying to get better.

Friday I caught Reba and brought her in for a dental.  I was able to start working from home early and then drop her off on my way in to work.  I couldn’t get in on a Tuesday until the end of the month.  And I thought with the cooler weather that I would be able to catch her easier so I took the earlier appointment.  It was a quiet surgery day so they got her in right away.  She did well.  She needed to have 2 back teeth removed on the right side as they were rotten.  I picked her up on the way home from work.  Later that night she was sitting on one of the cat houses looking around the yard.  At that moment I realized how sick she really had been.  For a long time she has just been sleeping all the time in their cat houses on the porch.  Since the dental we only see her occasionally.  Sometimes we see her coming home trotting down the driveway.  It’s amazing how much better she feels now that those rotten teeth are out.  Her coat and skin are looking so much better too.  Pretty good for a 14 year old outdoor cat!  I’m glad she’s just tame enough that we could bring her in.

Saturday I trained again up in Isanti.  We tracked and did obedience.  It was a smaller group again since Bryan was not coming out.  Dan offered to work Letty in bitework but I was too worried about her over-doing it since we had a USDAA trial the next day.  I’ll work her tomorrow though.  Our articles were great but corners need some attention.  Obedience was good as usual.

Sunday morning I had to do patches at work.  I got going to the USDAA trial a bit late but it was raining so missing the first class was not a big deal.  And it was Gamblers.  They were running late so I would have had time to walk but the rings were so wet and muddy.  In some spots I was sinking in the mud.  And some spots had standing water.  I scratched the girls from Gamblers.  It would stop raining for a bit but then start again.  I ended up scratching them from Snooker too.  Yes, we need SQs but I could not make a good path and didn’t want to have them get hurt from poor handling and slipper footing.  By Standard it had quit raining for a bit and the rings were draining a bit so I ran them.  Fringe was quite high and did not stop on her aframe and caught me off guard.  Later I looked away and she took an off course tunnel.  So I pushed her dogwalk and when she came off I walked her out of the ring.  She weaved in standing water!  Letty stopped on all of her contacts!  And weaved!  And contorted herself to keep a bar up when I misplaced a front cross.  Finally her 2nd PII Standard Q!  Next was Pairs.  Both girls got to run first.  Fringe had a refusal but the other dog had a lot of bars and a refusal or two.  Letty and her partner, Jake, had nice runs and Qd.  Her 2nd PII Pairs Q!  The last class was Jumpers.  While I was walking Letty to the ring it started to pour again so they stopped the ring until it lightened up.  She ran super well.  We were almost done and I had a spastic front cross moment and she dropped the bar.  So close to a perfect day!  Fringe did not want to hold her startline.  There was a little girl leash runner in a raincoat behind her that she was worried about.  I put her back and told her she was safe.  She held it and I lead out to jump 3.  I told her she was so brave and then released her.  I chickened out on a front cross and then had an off course.  I regrouped and put her back on course to practice the rest of the course and it was amazing!  It was fun to do USDAA again and put our class skills to use.  Vada got to work on some Utility exercises while we were waiting.  She seems to be quite the social butterfly too.  I walked her with me to go check scores and stuff.  She went right up to a group of girls for pets.

Ring Not in Use

Worked with Warren last night.  She’s looking good on him!  We sold the entertainment center and the new owners came and picked it up last night.  Karl has been cleaning the garage too and we have a bunch of things to be rehomed.  My family is takig everything and we see them on the 1st for Elle’s graduation so it works out perfectly!

I’m looking forward to a 3 day weekend!  Training on Saturday, agility trial on Sunday and finishing weeding on Monday.  And it sounds like Avengers will be in there somewhere too.

Here are some pics of our yard since the spring flowers are so pretty.

Lilac Bush

Flowing Bushes

Flower Bush

Flowering Tree

Apple Tree

Apple Tree

Apple Tree

Apple Tree

2 Trees Grown Together

Training, Rehab and Flowers

Maybe it was good that we didn’t get into the TDX test.  Only 1 dog passed.  One dog refused to even start.

Karl’s knee is hurting more again now that the cortisone shot has worn off.

I picked up some hanging baskets from Walmart and Cub.

Hanging Basket

Hanging Basket Flower Close Up

2nd Hanging Basket

Vada saw Dr Heather for her monthly adjustment.  Dr Heather is having us try some Chinese herbs for soreness.  They might be working.  She’s jumping on the counter and feeling good.

Seven got another hematoma in the same ear.  So I brought him in to have it drained.  I also brought Reba in since she was looking so terrible.  She got a shot of antibiotic and a steroid shot.  Her sores seem to be healing.  She has 2 nasty molar teeth that need to be removed but her sores need to be healed first.  I think we are on the right track.  However, now that she is feeling better it’s going to be harder to catch her!  Her bloodwork is good for 30 days so I need to get her back in soon.

Seven Going to the Vet

Reba Going to the Vet

May 2nd was Quest’s 13th birthday!  He got to enjoy some sunshine on the porch.

Happy 13th Birthday Quest!

Happy 13th Birthday Quest!

I trained with the Isanti IPO group the last 2 weekends.  It’s nice training with other IPO folks who will be trialing.  Last week I was working on the jump with her.  I did a retrieve at 36″ and it was beautiful.  Then I put the jump up to 40″ (no smaller boards to do smaller increments) and I put the toy down and stood by it and released her.  She took off too late and didn’t power up high enough and her chest hit the jump.  She did not knock it over.  But she is missing hair on her left hock so she must have hit that too.  I did the jump again once each way then did some send outs and walked her out. She seemed fine.  Dan worked her in bitework.  We did a hold n bark and she was fine.  Then we worked on heeling away from the helper – like we have been doing with Warren.  I was trying to get her to carry and she kind of tripped over the sleeve and went down.  She could right her front but her back legs just laid on their side and were trembling like she was having a seizure.  I helped her up and she seemed fine.  So we gave her another bite and she yelped as she powered up.  So I walked her out and put her up.  She seemed fine.  She was fine when I walked her again before we left.  Such a weird freaky thing.  So I gave her a few days rest and Previcox.

Letty’s Hock From Hitting the IPO Wall

No Sunday training at Warren’s since she was injured.  Instead I worked on weeding the “flower” bed.

Start of Weeding

Peony Support

Weeding and Mulch

Narc had a recheck with Dr Julia on Monday so I couldn’t do any make up agility classes.  I just have 1 left with Fringe to make up.  Then Tuesday I taught for Nancy so Letty and Fringe had the week off from agility.  Narc is doing really well and we added pivots to his exercises to build up his core.  Sonic, Narc and Vada all have their next recheck on the same night at the end of the month.

Since Letty’s issue was so weird I thought it would be best to make an appointment with Dr Julia to make sure there wasn’t something hiding that would come up again later.  She asked for xrays which we did on Wednesday.  It was horrible.  Dr Jina was not there nor was Sam, my favorite teach.  They had trouble holding her down so she learned she could fight and get up.  We got “good enough” xrays but it was super stressful for her (and me).  I think she will have to be sedated next time.

Thursday I worked her on Warren.  I did a little obedience – no jumping.  Then we did bitework right away – trying to beat the rain but we failed.  She worked well and stayed sound.  And we realized that if I turn my shoulder a bit before I cue “fuss” to heel her away from the helper that she does it perfectly.  So great training session!

Friday night we met Des, Matt, Josh, Elle, Mom and Tom at the Old Log Cabin to celebrate Mother’s day.  We had a great time and the food is pretty good.  I think it was our shortest dinner though.

Then Saturday, back in Isanti again, I remembered to bring my tracking stuff out.  I laid a track in a bad area that was dry and had short grass.  I didn’t age it much.  Lots of corners and articles.  I laid one track too close to the next leg and she skipped the corner and went to the article.  Bad track planning.  So I owe her a better track.  She did well and tried hard and got all the articles.  I put the round wooden one later in the track since it’s harder for her to indicate on that one and she nailed it.  Bryan was out finally too.  He worked her really well.  We got a lot out of her and made progress on her issues.  And she didn’t come up lame.

Sunday we had CPE agility.  Letty was not into it and her first run she was jumping poorly and missing jumps.  I showed Kristin the video and she said she was jumping with her front end.  She felt her and found her TRO muscle was very tight on the right rear leg.  Probably from compensating for something else.  She lasered her and it felt better.  I ran her in Wildcard and she was jumping better.  Popped her weaves though.  I scratched her from Standard since there are 12 weaves and I wasn’t focused enough to work the contacts.  Then ran her in Jackpot and she seemed to run well and Qd.  Fringe went 4/4!  She completed Level 4 Wildcard.  Seven Qd in Jumpers, didn’t weave in Wildcard and then I screwed up my handling in Jackpot and he was 2 points short of a Q.  Vada got to run – her first trial back since January!  She Qd in Jumpers with 1 bar down.  In Standard she came off the side of the aframe and missed the contact.  It was a straight line across the ring with lots of off courses.  She has no start line.  I’m pretty sure I disconnected.  She needs 2 more Standard Qs for her C-ATCH3 and then I will move her to Enthusiast.

I did an online computer class during the week for work.  It was hours and hours of listening.  Then he gave us “homework” to do the labs after class was over.  It felt like I was sleeping or on the computer.  I am behind on the Microsoft EdX class now too.  Saturday I had to run some backups at 6:30am before training.  Then I had to leave early to go home and log in again to help with an upgrade.  I signed in about 3:30pm and we didn’t finish until 10pm!  So that is my excuse for poor handling on Sunday.

I picked up 2 new bushes for the “flower” bed during the week.  The weeding project is coming along nice but still needs tons more work.  I need to get the big peony bush tied up too.  The Sonic Bloom plant has flowers all summer – not just in the spring.  It’s called reblooming.  And pretty.  And named after our Border Collie, Sonic.

Sonic Bloom Plant

Sonic Bloom Planted

Sonic Bloom Planted

Sonic Bloom Planted

Dark Horse Weigela

Dark Horse Weigela Planted

Letty  sees Dr Julia tonight.  I’m a bit worried that there will be restrictions and I’ll have to pull her from class and trials and what not.  Better to catch it now but still so much hassle.  I hope she just does her magic and fixes whatever.