Frost

When I left for work this morning there was frost on my windshield.  That makes me sad.  Luckily the days are still pretty warm with the strong sun.

Last Tuesday I took Letty to agility class since I knew that 2 people were going to be gone and she had been having some weaving issues.  No issues in class of course.  However, Nancy was all over my late handling.  A byproduct of trialing more than training and leaning towards late and safe for Qs.  However, Letty really hates it and it slows her down a lot.  Since we run such tight courses in class it was very obvious how much she was hating it.

I spent Saturday at home.  I broke down the crates in the basement and put them away in storage.  I cleaned up the training side of the basement.  I still need to mop the floor.  But it’s pretty much ready for winter training.  Should be good with no barking dogs crated down there now too.  Now I’ll only have to fight them at the doorway.  I started doing some yardwork too.  I got the mum/daisy/whatever-it-is planted where I dug out the rosebush that was mostly dead.  So far it is doing well.  I think it’s suppose to get really cold tonight though.

Sunday I ran 4 dogs at the USDAA trial in St Cloud.  I worked on my timing and being earlier.  Wow, did the dogs like that!  By the last class I was getting a bit scared of Letty’s speed.  Gamblers did not go well.  But I haven’t been training enough for it.  You had to send them away from you 2 jumps into the corner of the ring then back to the teeter.  And not much room to get speed up.  Standard was heartbreaking.  All 3 girls ran well.  Vada popped the weaves and then dropped the last bar.  Letty dropped the 2nd to the last bar.  Finally by Fringe’s run I got it right and she Qd and finished her SAM!  Next was Pairs Relay.  Letty was paired with Xtreme.  They did great and Qd and got 2nd place.  Then Fringe ran with Rio and they Qd and finished Fringe’s RM!  Finally was Jumpers.  Seven and Vada got to play as Veterans.  Seven started out crazy fast but then misjudged his take off or maybe slipped and crashed down on a bar.  I jollied him and he did a few more jumps but got slower and slower and then went around a jump so we ran to the end and left the ring.  He’s so easily offended.  I was sad though since it was his first trial back after many months off.  I wanted it to be fun for him.  Vada knocked the first bar but kept all the others up.  It was an amazing run!  Love running her!  Letty was on fire!  I gave her too much distance on a serp and was behind and she went behind me.  I fixed it and kept going.  I thought it was a refusal but we must have been in a grey area as we Qd!  Fringe’s run started off really well but she turned the wrong way on a rear cross and I had to go in deep to save it.  I did not adjust my handling for future jumps and she went around one and was barking at me.  I could get the rhythm going again so we just found a spot in the middle to go to and finished the course.  Gorgeous weather!  The dogs all ran well.  It was our last outdoor trial of the year.  CACM’s site is pretty nice.  It was quite windy.  And things were pretty dry by the end of the day.  Not sure how that will be for the grass on a drier summer but we’ll see.

Monday I did some more work in the yard.  Started tearing out the fence in the extra yard.  The dirt has piled up around the fence and the grass and grown thickly into it.  I got one small section removed.  It’s going to take awhile!  I don’t think we have much time left until the ground freezes though.  I worked Letty on the IPO jump but she hit it a little coming back with the dumbbell and then wouldn’t jump any more.  UGH!

Last night I wasn’t sure what to do and ended up taking the 2 girls to the park for a walk.  I’m trying to focus on getting 10K steps a day in each workday this week.  Then we trained at the park before we went home.

2 more weeks until I think about leaving for Omaha for the IPO trial!

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Long Overdue

It has been so long since I posted that I don’t know if I will remember everything.  Fall gets so busy and time goes by so fast.  Wednesday is the First Day of Autumn.  I love fall but do not love that it means winter is coming.  Each year I dread winter more and more.  Maybe this year will be better with my 2 days a week to work from home so I can get more real light during the day.

Sonic and Quest went to the vet for bloodwork rechecks.  Sonic’s was the same so he was allowed to get a dental done.  He needed it so bad.  They said that when they started working on his molars that puss came out.  Poor dog!  It didn’t make him magically better but he was holding his head up again and looking at us.  Which I hadn’t realized he had quit doing.  Quest’s bloodwork was not better and shows has kidney issues.  The dental did not help his values as we had hoped.  So we have to give him fluids a couple times a week.  He can only hold about 50ccs until it bothers him so we try to do it every other day but often it is every 3rd day or so.  He hates it.  I feel like he is losing weight too.  But I have not weighed him in over a month.

Sonic continues to get laser treatment at TCAR.  It continues to be a roller coaster with him.  He has good days and bad days as far as eating and stability.  He’s now getting Tramadol 3 x a day which helps a little but hasn’t been a permanent solution.

We did NutriScan with Vada to test for food intolerance.  She is intolerant to a lot of things.  She can have duck, lamb, egg, salmon, millet, peanut, rice, sweet potato and lentils/peas.  So we’ve restricted her diet to those things.  She needed Temaril-P when allergy seasons started but she hardly gets any now and her scratching has not started again.  So maybe the diet change is helping her allergies.  That would be soooo nice!

I upgraded my laptop to Windows 10.  Took a bit to get the CPE program to work with it but everything seems to be working correctly now.

Karl turned 50!  I made him dinner and got him a nice leather laptop bag.

Karl and I got free passes to see the movie No Escape.  It was OK but almost too intense.  It was interesting to see the main character in a different type of role than he is usually cast in.  Neat that the theater by our house offers free screenings occasionally.

I have been training IPO with Warren, and with the Isanti group and Bryan and one day of obedience with MVSV.  Trying to get to different places and on different decoys.  I feel like we are stagnant though and not really progressing.  A week ago we finally did a full height jump and retrieve!  Her style was a bit awkward but she did it!  We just have to keep it up until the trial in a month.  Last weekend I trained with Bryan in Isanti on Saturday and MVSV doing obedience on Sunday.  I did bitework on Saturday and no jumps in obedience.  On Sunday I did only obedience and did do the jumps.  She stayed sound!

I have been working a lot lately and a few late nights with software upgrades – in-house, monthly patches and service packs.  Hopefully I’m done with those for awhile.  Celebrated my 15 year anniversary on the 11th.  My boss took us all out to celebrate.  One of my coworkers hit 15 years in May too.

15 Year Cube

Middle of August the girls and I drove out to Madison for a USDAA trial.  They all ran really well!  Vada earned her first Veterans Q in Jumpers.  Still working on that last P3 Standard Q.  Dang contacts!  Letty earned her first Standard Q and another Snooker SuperQ.  Fringe earned Qs in Standard, 2 Jumpers and 2 Snooker SuperQs.

We bought a new picnic table for the yard on Craig’s List.  I should get out there and use it more now that the bugs are mostly gone.  Karl has been doing some yardwork around the house in the backyard.  He’s mouse proofing but it’s also cleaning up all the crazy grass and flowers around the house.

I entered Letty and Fringe in 1 day of the St Peter AKC trial.  It is held earlier now.  And we’ve had tons of rain this year.  So the footing was really nice.  Letty went into lure coursing mode in the first run – chute fluffing seems to be a trigger.  She ran around the ring crittering and not coming back to me.  So we left the ring.  That was in T2B.  She ran better in the other 2 classes.  Fringe ran well.  They both Qd in Novice FAST.  Fringe and Letty’s 2nd Qs towards their NF.

Then we did a 3 day AKC trial at OTR.  On the last day Letty had perfect runs but for fake weaving.  She Qd in JWW on Saturday.  Fringe earned her AX on Friday and got to move up to Masters for the other 2 days.  She Qd in T2B too and got 7 points.  Saturday she Qd in JWW.  And Sunday she earned her first ever QQ!  Vada actually Qd in Standard on Sunday with a 1st place!

Hard Working Tired Letty

I got a Fitbit on Saturday so I wore it on Sunday of the trial.  16,600 steps my first day wearing it!  Not so easy to even hit 10K during the week.  It’s definitely raised my awareness of many things and has gotten me to walk more.

Vada had surgery to have her mammary tumor removed.  The day before surgery Nancy had a private lesson open up at the last minute so I was able to get in.  It was Labor Day so I was not at work during the day – the reason I haven’t done a private with her yet.  It was nice to have that hour of time just focusing on Vada.  Vada was a rock star!  It seemed like she really did know the exercises.  And we had some errors so Nancy could help us with through them and reduce Vada’s frustration level.  It was amazing!  We’re going again in the middle of October.  Maybe we really can get her UD one day or at least feel prepared and trained enough to trial.  Vada’s surgery went well and her biopsy came back as not cancerous!

I had my annual visit and my results also came back as not cancerous! I was worried so the call was such a relief.  And now we don’t have to worry about it for another 3 years.  🙂

Vada got her staples out on Thursday.  She saw Dr Julia that night too.  So did Letty.  They both got good reports.  Vada doesn’t go back for another 3 months for a checkup.  Letty is good too.  We’ll just have another visit after the IPO trial to talk about a winter maintenance program.

My uncle Bruce passed away on the 13th.  He had lung cancer in his brain.  They treated it but then it came back in his spinal fluid.  It was very aggressive and progressed very quickly.  His funeral was on Friday.  He was such a kind man and very generous with helping other people.  When I think of him at family events I always remember him laughing.

After the funeral I packed up dogs and made it to TCOTC in order to do UKC equipment fun runs.  Seven got to play too.  The little bugger weaved the set of 9 weave poles twice!  Still didn’t do the box well though.  Letty weaved once and then had trouble and was fake weaving.

I had entered agility on Sundays this month so I could train with the group in Isanti on Saturday.  Well, 2 weeks ago when I was there I found out that they were switching to Sunday for a few weeks and then no training the week that they are trialing (I’m scorekeeping at a USDAA trial that weekend anyways).  So I decided to do 2 days of UKC agility.  Letty needed 46 points to finish her UACH – 20 of those being in AG2.  So that would give us more opportunities to get more points and maybe finish.  Fringe played in AGI.  And since we got clearance I entered Vada in AG3.  I ran her as a vet so she got to jump 14″.  She loved it!  She picked up 1 leg too.  The other runs were so close but I screwed up my handling in 1 spot each time.  Over handling!  I did that with Letty too in AG2.  Although she was fake weaving on Sunday.  Saturday her weaves were perfect in both runs.  So we still need 6 points in AG2 in order to finish her UACH.  Soooo close!  Fringe rocked all of her AGI runs, finished her UAGI and I think she got first place in each run.  I wish we had 1 more day of it to try again.  But now we’ll have to wait until April or travel.