Crummy Agility Weekend

Once again I had a post all written up and was just adding pics and it deleted itself.  This is getting pretty annoying.  Not sure I feel like rewriting it.  Grrrr!  It used to autosave every so often.

Seven’s tooth is not painful so we don’t need to do anything with it.  The roof of his mouth is just gums trying to grow over the broken tooth like it does when you pull a tooth.  So that is good news!  I still worry that he is not feeling good though.  His temp was high but they wrote that off to being stressed from being there.  He threw up yesterday too.  I should probably try to take his temp again at home.  He’s just missing the edge he normally has.  He hasn’t been cuddly like he normally is.  He’s choosing to go lie in the sun on the porch instead of on the swing with me.

The dogs got to have ice cream cups to celebrate Narc’s 12th birthday on Friday.

Happy 12th Birthday Narc!

Birthday Boy

Vada

Seven

Letty

Saturday I played AKC agility with Fringe and Letty.  Our last AKC trial until fall as most of the trials are at SoccerBlast all summer.  Fringe Qd in JWW with a nice run.  In Standard she came out of the chute wide and I think that set her line to weird angles and she knocked the bar on the 2nd jump after the chute on a pin wheel.  Everything else was very nice.  Letty had a bar (turning right) and then an off course and then missed her weave pole entry in JWW.  She might have just turned too tight and hit the stantion.  It was a common bar.  In Standard she had awesome stopped contacts!  But we had a bar.  It was a 180 (turning right) from the triple to the teeter and I think I just turned to fast or late or something and she dropped the top bar.  She hit her entry but then skipped poles although she was so smooth about it that the judge didn’t see it.

After the agility trial I stopped at Bryan’s to do some IPO training.  We did obedience then protection.  There were 2 other dogs there.  She did really well.  We pushed her super hard in protection.  He leg seemed to hold up.  I was able to have someone video record about half of our session.  I didn’t realize that he had quit filming for the part where she got worked on the tie out and then a catch.  But we got footage of her doing barking in the blind and escape bites.  I sent it to Dr Julia in case she can see anything.  She worked so hard and was so hot.  I walked her out but still had to run the van with the AC on for quite awhile to get her temp down so she quit panting.

Dropped the dog off at home and Karl and I went to see Jurassic World with my family.  Normally we wouldn’t choose that movie but it sounded like a fun family event and the theater had fancy leather recliners.  The movie was horrible.  It was so violent.  I spent probably half the movie with my hands over my face.  I can’t believe it’s PG-13 and parents let their kids watch that stuff.  The clicker training scene was frustrating to watch too.  But, as others have said, at least they are trying to promote positive training.

Sunday we were back for more agility.  Letty had a bar down in JWW.  I think I deceled too much going into a RC and she dropped the bar on the 180 (left turn) before the weaves.  Again she was skipping poles.  In Standard she nailed her dogwalk contact!  But she knocked almost every jump so after a few jumps I pulled her.  She was not jumping well.  Ugh, I wish we knew what was going on with her!  I guess I should not have done bitework on Saturday.  Fringe had a lovely run in JWW and another Q for her.  In Standard she was wide coming out of the tunnel going into a tricky spot.  I was trying to stay connected with her and get her to come in to the line again and suddenly my hand pushed the wing of the jump over!  I was so mad at myself!  Plus, I should have handled her differently there.  Oh well.  That last AX leg just keeps alluding us!  The rest of the run was gorgeous.

Sonic starts laser therapy for his back tonight.  It really helped Vada’s wrist last fall so I hope he helps him.  It helped Copper’s back too.  Then tomorrow Letty goes to see Dr Julia.

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June Birthdays!

Letty saw Dr Julia again for a checkup. She had lots of muscle spasms in her left gracilis.  So we did trigger point therapy with needles.  I had no idea how Letty was going to handle it.  Vada hates it.  So we muzzled Letty and I fed her handfuls of Zukes.  She hardly even noticed what Dr Julia was doing.  And afterwards she kept trying to mug her.  Weird girl!  Her exercises got modified – added gracilis massage twice a day and removed thigh master exercises.  And a week after treatment she can do bitework to test her leg out.  We didn’t get done with agility in time last weekend so tomorrow she will get to do some biting.  And I will remember my video camera this time finally.

With construction traffic it took me 2 hours to get from home to our appointment and I was late.  I was very grateful that Dr Julia waited for us even though she had places to get to.  After our visit we went to our last agility class.  I ran Seven and Fringe since Letty had gotten adjusted and treated.  I almost skipped with the horrible traffic but we made it in time.  I didn’t want to figure out make up classes either.  So now we are on our summer break from classes!  Sonic got stung by something and his face swelled up.  I didn’t want to leave him home alone.  So Vada had to stay home as I did not have room for so many big dogs.  She was sad.

Poor Sonic Got Stung

Vada Did Not Want Me To Leave Without Her

Narc and Vada Waiting

I got more weeding done around the bushes and was able to put more mulch down.  It’s looking good!  Plants seem to be doing well.

More Weeding

Well, none of the IPO dogs passed at the trial that I was going to enter.  So maybe it was better that we couldn’t go.  Or maybe we would have been the one to pass and get HIT!

Letty turned 5 on the 12th.  I am constantly amazed at the dog she has turned in to.  It has been a lot of hard work but that has just made our relationship so much better.  She has taught me so many things!  All the dogs had ice cream cups to celebrate.

Happy 5th Birthday Letty!

Happy 5th Birthday Letty!

I whipped together some crate barriers to try out at the trial.

Black and White Stripes

Bue with Colorful Tape

Backside of the Blue One

Last weekend we played AKC agility both days at the CACM trial.  Normally held outdoors but they had to rent a building this year.  The weather was ok so being outside wouldn’t have been too bad.  Letty’s first Standard run was awesome.  I did a fancy move and it worked.  And she stopped on her dogwalk just like we were training!  I was thrilled.  And she Qd on top of that.  JWW did not go so well.  I screwed up my lead out and then I got lost on course twice.  It was a cluster.  But she was happy and as we were walking outside she was jumping on me and giving me kisses with a light in her eyes and a smile on her face.  Sunday I mishandled a jump at the beginning which lowered her drive level which caused problems further down the course where I wanted to rear cross.  It was a sad run.  I need to slow down and stay connected and work each obstacle.  Standard went ok.  She was not as good on her contacts though.  Nancy was watching and commented on how much she loses drives on the contacts.  She suggested that I wait for her to look at me and reconnect then praise her and then go on.  So I will try that this weekend.  I’ve not been telling her she’s wrong but I have not been waiting for a reconnect.  Sometimes I praise her as she is not launching.

Fringe was a rockstar AGAIN!  She went 4/4!  The weekend before she went 2/2.  She finished her AXJ and needs 1 more Q for her AX.  Then we start working on her MACH!  OMG!  It helps that Letty goes first so I can see where I make my mistakes.  And I also am determined to not screw up the course again.  But she and I have really become a good team.  I feel like we are meeting in the middle.  My timing has gotten better and she has gotten tighter and more responsive to me.  Hopefully that doesn’t backfire for Karl when he starts running her again. I’m sure she’ll adapt back to him.  She’s pretty versatile!

Today is Narc’s birthday!  He’s 12 year old now.  He’s doing amazingly well.  Fat and healthy and getting closer to getting to play agility again.  He loves doing his rehab exercises.  More ice cream cups for all the dogs tonight!

Tracked Letty twice this week.  Just short tracks.  One was awesome and one was kind of ugly.

Tracking

I picked up the 2014 AMBOR Ranking trophies last night.  Once they are mailed out and Karl completes the last newsletter then we are done!  The trophies turned out really nice.

Last night I also noticed that Seven has a broken tooth – on his left right before the canine.  I’m worried that the roof of his mouth is swollen too.  We’ll see what Dr Jina thinks this afternoon when she takes a look at it.

Seven’s Broken Tooth

Sonic has been having trouble standing.  Dr Julia had us put him on Tramadol 3 times a day and it has helped a lot.  He starts laser treatment next week too so that should help the inflammation a lot.

The sheep got sheared and are now naked!

Naked Sheep!

Yesterday Karl got to go to Twins game with his coworkers.  They got a gorgeous day for it.  It was a fun game and the Twins won!

Twins Game

Vada CAA

Saturday I loaded up the girls and drove to Animal Inn for the Bernese Mountain Dog club outdoor AKC agility trial.  Once I was almost there I realized that I forgot my shade tent.  I did not enter the first class so I got there when the trial started.  I was not able to drive down the road by the rings and there was no more parking available around the rings.  So I parked down by the other ring where I used to park for classes.  It was a trek up the hill to get to the ring but good exercise.  So – not the greatest start to the day and I was wondering why I had even entered.  Which just reminded me that I had entered late because my plans fell thru to go to WI to train to get Letty ready for her IPO trial the following weekend.

I got Letty out too soon for her JWW run.  Then a few dogs before us there was a long delay while they worked out timer issues.  Turns out the cottonwood tree seeds were blowing thru the lasers and triggering the timers.  Given all of that I was worried about Letty’s attitude.  But she ran very well.  I rushed a turn on a tight 180 and got a bar down.  I think I decal on the last jump too as she was jumping it super flat and looking at me.  But she held her startline and she weaved.  It was a challenging course so I was happy with the run.  Then Fringe got to run it with the benefit of my knowing where my trouble spots were.  She ran it beautifully!  Her first ever Excellent Q and 1st place!  Standard didn’t go so well for Letty.  I’m sure it felt worse than it was.  I just feel like I am fighting with her on her contacts and she’s not even trying to stop on them.  I was late on a front cross and she still tried to take the jump even though she was wide and she took out the whole wing.  She nailed her teeter contact and a tough part of the course after the teeter.  But then she missed her weave entry or skipped poles.  Not sure.  We kept going anyways.  I must have rushed her.  So no Qs for her which left me wondering if it is really even worth trying to qualify for AKC Nationals.  But it was an outdoor trial at a place she has not run before and different equipment.  She did run much better than she did at the fun run on Thursday.  So we will see what the next 2 weekends bring.  I have to remember to keep her contact criteria above all else.  So then we waited in the van for all of the little dogs to run Standard.  Finally it was time for Fringe to run Open Standard.  She ran it really well!  She Qd and took 1st place again and it finished her OA!  So now we can move on to Excellent for both classes with her!  She was the only dog in all of Open Standard to qualify!  Good girl!

Sunday I drove down to Jordan to do lure coursing with Letty and Vada.  The Minnetonka Kennel Club rents the fairgrounds for the weekend so the lure coursing club hosts a test.  Interestingly, it’s the same field that an IPO club trains on and the same place that Letty earned her BH in September.  Parking was quite a walk from the lure coursing field.  So I just left a dog in the van and walked the other over to the area.  Good warm up and cool down walk.  They had a pool there too with water in it.  Letty ran well.  The course had a bit more turns than usual it seemed so she was getting mad when the bunny darted away but she did really well and turned pretty tight.  This was leg #5 for her.  Walked her back to the van and put the fan on her crate.  I worry about her overheating.  So then Vada got to run.  She ran the veteran course so only 400′ instead of 600′.  I’m sure she would have rather run it all but I didn’t want her to overdo it.  It was about 80 degrees out too.  She ran it great.  And it was her 10th leg and her CAA title!  So we have accomplished one goal that I have set for her for this year.  I think this is probably the end of our lure coursing days.  I might do it with Letty if I had the day free but I won’t go out of my way to do it with her.  She does seem to be getting more clear headed about it though and when it’s appropriate to chase.

Vada CAA

Vada’s Dental

Saturday I noticed that Vada had some cracked molars.  I had her out and I was organizing the van.  I was putting a tug away and presented it to her.  She bit it with a full grip but then shifted the tug to her front teeth.  So I took a look in her mouth.  Broken teeth that were loose.  I was able to get her in to see Dr Jina on Monday for an exam to confirm and for bloodwork.  Unfortunately they were full on Tuesday for surgeries but I was able to get her in on Friday (today).  I was able to stay with her while they put her under.  The dental went well.  The back tooth with the slab fracture had been broken for awhile so the root had started to rot and it was easier to pull.  The other 2 molars were brittle and broke off in pieces but the roots were strong so she had to drill them and then take the pieces out.  Once she woke up she jumped up on the exam table in the room and laid on it staring at the door that I had left thru until I came back to pick her up.  She refused the lunch that they offered her too.  Silly girl!  She got shots of pain meds and antibiotics and we’ve got pills of both for the next few days too.  She’s pretty dopey and crabby but she ate some canned food for me and she finally laid down to sleep.  I gated the other dogs out of the office so she can rest peacefully and sleep off the drugs.  Once she’s healed she will feel so much better with those teeth gone.

Drugged Vada Pre Dental

Home

Monday I met Mom, Josh and Des for dinner and then we went to Elle’s graduation.  Both of Josh’s kids have graduated now!

Elle’s Graduation

Elle’s Graduation

This week I took Letty and Seven to agility class.  Next week it will be Fringe and Seven as Letty sees Dr Julia before class and will probably have gotten adjusted.

Wednesday was the due date for the Recallers 6 contest video.  I got my video submitted just in time.  It turned out pretty good.  It’s so much work and takes so much time and I always intend to start on them sooner but I don’t.  And then I wish I had so I could make some tweaks and make the video even better.  I think I would have shortened the Invitational run time and added some IPO Championship video clips.  Much of the footage was shakey though and I don’t think most people care about IPO so I went with more agility.  Now I kind of regret that a little.  But it’s done.  And I think everyone who did a video will get to participate in Recallers 6.

Thursday I covered class for Nancy.  Last class to sub for on my calendar!  It was harder coming into the class and not knowing most of the dogs.  But there were only 5 dogs.  2 did not come and it was marked ahead of time.  So that gave me more time to work with these guys.  It was a lot of fun and I think we made good progress.  Before class I went to Animal Inn for agility run thrus.  I did one run each with Letty and Fringe since they are running there on Saturday.  I wish I had done 2 with Letty. She had such a poopy attitude and I don’t think I handled it well.  And she launched off the aframe.  Fringe did too.  So hopefully fixing that will carry over to Saturday.  I am glad that I only entered 1 day though!  There was a lot of aggression and out of control dogs and people yelling at their dogs and not helping them and that was stressing me out so Letty could have been picking up on that too.  Or she was bummed to JUST do agility as when she saw the tape on the ground marking 10′ from the rings for tent setup she was certain we were doing lure coursing and the tape was the lines that the lure attaches to.

USDAA *and* CPE

Tuesday was a rainy day so the dogs were sleepy.

Working from home on a rainy day

Working from home on a rainy day

I’ve been rotating dogs that I run in agility class.  Fringe and Letty have been doing a lot of agility on the weekends.  After Letty’s leg lock up again I let her rest last week and ran Seven instead.  I think tomorrow I will do Letty and Seven to give Fringe a break.  Then next week (last class for the summer) I will do Fringe and Seven since Vada sees Dr Julia before class.  It works great and Nancy gave me great feedback for Seven last week.

Wednesday we finally bought a new storm door!  We walked in and found it right away and they had it in stock.  It’s nice and strong and has a newer feature where the screen rolls up into the top of the door and the glass and screen are attached.  So when you pull the glass down then the screen come down.  Pretty nice!

Thursday Narc, Sonic and Vada saw Dr Julia for check ups.  Narc is doing well.  We get to replace the dreaded spinal bends with diagonal leg lifts.  3 seconds each side (vs 1 minute of spinal bends).  And instead of shoulder pulls I am pushing up on the point of the shoulder and massaging the top.  I can’t remember what Sonic’s changes are but we talked about his cognitive changes and we are increasing one of the supplements he is on.  He got baby thigh masters exercises added.  Vada got a lot of adjustments as usual.  Her left ribs were out.  I guess her wrists were a little sore.  We adjusted her left shoulder rocking to the shoulder massage exercise that Narc is also doing.  She fights me on that shoulder and always has so hopefully this will feel better for her.  Narc and Sonic are back in a month and Vada gets to go out 3 months again with Dr Heather visits in-between.

Narc waiting for Dr Julia

Karl got the storm door installed!  It looks great!

Sunday Letty and Fringe got to play USDAA agility.  Letty Qd in Jumpers and finished her MJP – 5 of the P3 Jumpers Qs needed for that title.  She paired up with Jagger and Chris in P2 Pairs and they both finished their ARP titles!  She missed her dogwalk contact in Standard so we still need one more Standard Q to wrap up all of P2.  I got lost easily on the P3 courses and did head checks to see where the next jump was and that caused issues in a few runs.  We didn’t do so well in Snooker and got a 0 on one of the colors and then dropped the bar on the 4 combo.  It was a good day for low point SQs.  But, once again, none for us since I did not handle well.  Fringe was 1 point short of a Q in Snooker.  I was out of position on my front cross and sent her into the weaves too far ahead.  In Jumpers she slipped and knocked the first bar (dewy grass probably since it was the first run of the day).  She had a gorgeous smooth Standard run but she hopped off the table to go sniff the bag of table legs just outside the ring and next to the table.  I was so sad about that.  Oh well.  First outdoor trial on grass.  The girls ran really well.  It was a sunny but cooler day.  The grass was thick and green.  Vada got to work on sitting at a distance from me.  Very hard for her but we made progress.

Sunday we played CPE in Rochester at SoccerWorld.  I love their turf!  After a lot of sun on Saturday it was good for me to be inside.  What a difference in courses between venues.  It was good I did the tighter courses on Saturday I think.  So that might set my plans for Vada’s birthday weekend and I might skip the TIM USDAA trial since Vada wants to play CPE agility on her birthday.

CPE Nationals Count after Sunday:
Vada has 10 Q in Veterans.
Seven has 26 Qs in Veterans.
Narc has 8 Qs in Veterans.
Fringe has 37 Qs in Regular.  3 more to go!
Letty had a good weekend finally and now has 19 Qs in Regular.

UKC says that Vada only had 9 UROG legs.  But they don’t have the March trial posted on their website yet so I can’t tell where they are off.  I had 5 after the November trials.  Should have 3 from Jan/Feb and then 2 from March.  I might do a Friday trial in Ames in August and another weekend one in IL in August.  So that would give me 6 chances to get the last 5 or 6 legs.  Then the November trial her could be the fall back trial in case I am short.

3 goals for Vada by the end of the year – UROG, CATCH3 and CAA.  All 3 are totally doable.  I’m pretty sure she is done with AKC and USDAA agility and jumping 20″.  Same for Seven and jumping 16″.  CPE lets them keep playing!  I might think about entering an obedience trial with Vada in Utility this fall too.  Maybe TDX but the wind is out of my sails for that one at the moment.

Letty’s goals are to qualify for AKC Nationals and her IPO1.  Both are questionable but worth working towards.  URX would be nice too since she just needs 3 more QQs.

Still haven’t started my Recallers 6 video but I have an idea for my story to tell.  Now I just have to find time to work on it.  It’s due Wednesday but my days are quite full this week.

I got a little weeding in on Friday night.  Still tons to do.

My little pink bush keeps trying to grow big

Peonies

Rose bush is trying to make a come back

Flowering bush