I'm going to blame the vast majority of this post and this meltdown on the fact that I am not even halfway through a 10 straight day at work schedule, and the fact that work is literally ruining my life.
Tomorrow is 3 weeks until our next tournament. This tournament was going to be a big and awesome milestone as it marks one full year of competitions in the sport I love with my bestest-best-dog, Trophy. I was *SO* hoping that Demo would be ready to debut in some way shape or form, but that's not going to be the case.
In fact, right now I don't know if any of my dogs will be running.
I did 3 boxturns with Trophy on Wednesday night after I finished up a very.bad training session with Demo.
3 box turns was just about 3 too many. Trophy was happy, he was excited to play our game, he ricocheted off the box with 3 picture perfect turns, he didn't have any lameness at all, but he toe started bleeding slightly. Not a lot, just enough to stain the hair around the hole in his toe burgundy, but enough to freak me out.
I am still planning on taking him to practice tomorrow, but will not be doing anything other than run outs.
Then, there is Pan who has magically respawned not one, but TWO papilloma's on her tongue. They have to be gone in 3 weeks or I have to pull her.
And then there is Demo. I'm so freaking frustrated with him right now. The sound of the box triggering tonight freaked him out and he refused to go near it. He refused to tug. I know that my overall stress is not helping with training him and I'm hoping I can pass him on to a team mate tomorrow to work on turns... but he will not be running in 3 weeks.
So there you have it. I'm stressed from work and my one great joyful outlet is crashing down around me. hurrah life.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Broken Foot Does Agility
Trophy was pretty awesome at agilities tonight, if I do say so myself. It was nothing spectacular (except this one part where he saved my butt on a serpentine jump sequence by swerving to take the second jump even though I had passed it and did NOT cue it at all), but we were connected and working together, and he was excited to play the game.
Our usual class set up is thus: one big 18 obstacle course that we break down in half. So we walk then run through the first 8 obstacles, run them through again to fix major handling errors, then walk and run the second half twice, and then put everything together. Trophy made it through 4 of the 5 run thus before he came up lame, and it was totally my fault. I spoke with my instructor prior to class starting and we decided to skip the A-frame completely for him, see how he did on the other contact obstacles, and have him just jump 12inches. I was going to skip the A-frame, I was, but then I cued it in sequence and he, being the awesome partner he was tonight, took the A-frame. The next run after that (despite me walking him around the A-frame) he starting stutter stepping and was ever-so-slightly lame on that foot (of course he injures his dominant foot, the one he primarily leads and lands on, right?).
He is showing no residual lameness once I got him home, and was trying to convince me to bring out the laser pointer by pinning fireflies to the grass and pointing at them. Goober dog.
Training plans for him now are to wrap his feet (to get him used to it) at flyball and run him out over jumps. MAYBE do some isolated boxturns, but like only 5. Next week at agility I will again run him 12 inch jumps and no A-frame (I don't have any deadlines for him, so i'm not going to push it), and then that weekend do a few full runs with him at flyball and see how his foot holds up.
I had him to the chiropractor yesterday. His lower neck and middle of his back were out, but his shoulders were fine despite the major hobbling around he was doing last week. I'm going to try to have him adjusted again before the tournament, but we'll see if I have time to squeeze it in.
Our usual class set up is thus: one big 18 obstacle course that we break down in half. So we walk then run through the first 8 obstacles, run them through again to fix major handling errors, then walk and run the second half twice, and then put everything together. Trophy made it through 4 of the 5 run thus before he came up lame, and it was totally my fault. I spoke with my instructor prior to class starting and we decided to skip the A-frame completely for him, see how he did on the other contact obstacles, and have him just jump 12inches. I was going to skip the A-frame, I was, but then I cued it in sequence and he, being the awesome partner he was tonight, took the A-frame. The next run after that (despite me walking him around the A-frame) he starting stutter stepping and was ever-so-slightly lame on that foot (of course he injures his dominant foot, the one he primarily leads and lands on, right?).
He is showing no residual lameness once I got him home, and was trying to convince me to bring out the laser pointer by pinning fireflies to the grass and pointing at them. Goober dog.
Training plans for him now are to wrap his feet (to get him used to it) at flyball and run him out over jumps. MAYBE do some isolated boxturns, but like only 5. Next week at agility I will again run him 12 inch jumps and no A-frame (I don't have any deadlines for him, so i'm not going to push it), and then that weekend do a few full runs with him at flyball and see how his foot holds up.
I had him to the chiropractor yesterday. His lower neck and middle of his back were out, but his shoulders were fine despite the major hobbling around he was doing last week. I'm going to try to have him adjusted again before the tournament, but we'll see if I have time to squeeze it in.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Broken Trophy
Trophy really did break himself this time.
Saturday I was waking up from a post-flyball practice nap (hey - running Demo is EXHAUSTING) when my mom runs upstairs and tells me Trophy is bleeding profusely dad is holding him and I need to go RIGHT.NOW.
He had caught himself on the kennel below as he jumped out of his penthouse suite and ripped out his entire nail from the outside toe on his left foot. I'm not talking broke it off at the base, I'm talking tore the entire thing out of his foot.
So off to my totally awesome vet. It's a half hour away, but the prices are awesome and the Doctor is awesome and they will always write me a prescription to be filled at Giant Eagle which saves me a TON on antibiotics (since they are FREE!). So we got him cleaned up and bandaged up and on heavy doses of pain killers. She said there is some cuticle left, so his nail will most likely grow back.
So he's laid up for a week. I can unwrap his foot tonight, but since I just rewrapped it this morning to check on the swelling I will probably leave it wrapped until tomorrow. Then I have to start twice daily cleaning which I am really not looking forward to.
I might be a blessing in disguise to have him take a week off agility. Last week he was so.not.into.it. He did everything I asked him to, but at a snail's pace. I don't know if he was still worn out from the flyball tournament or what, but I'm not terribly upset by him missing class this week.
Speaking of flyball, our next tournament is in a little over 4 weeks (for some reason I was thinking closer to 3). He should be able to return to practice two weeks from this past Saturday. We will bandage his front feet as well as using his booties to help protect that toe and we will see how he does. If he loses his boxturn in practice I'm going to pull him. He did so well at the tournament two weeks ago with maintaining that I would hate to lose ANOTHER 9 months into re-retraining.
One of the blogs I read said something about how difficult it is when you have goals for your dogs. It's so heart breaking when something happens to interrupt those goals. That's where I'm at right now. Trophy is my everything dog (until I get Demo up and running), and my stomach drops every time because all of my dreams rest on him. He's really close to being ready to start competing in agility (just have to nail weave entries and get a little bit better at weaves in general), he's finally putting his heart and soul into flyball racing, and we are hoping to start dockdiving this summer (looking into sponsorships right now). But my poor dude is such a klutz! If anything happened to Qwill, Shiner, or Baxter of course I'd be upset, but they are already my "broken" dogs, dogs that I have no major goals with above shower with love daily, so no big deal in the long run if one of them were to lose a toenail or be laid up for a week...
Sometimes dreams and goals suck.
... just realized i should not use phrases like "need to nail our weaves" when my dog has lost a toe nail... ugh. lol.
And small update on Demo's flyball progress, we started teaching him how to pass Saturday. he's so focused on the tug he didn't care at all (but we also used Trophy and Pan passing into him, so we will see... we will see.) He only contemplated turning and chasing one time, but that was the first time Pan passed him, he stopped, looked at her and then came right to his tug. good boy!
He had caught himself on the kennel below as he jumped out of his penthouse suite and ripped out his entire nail from the outside toe on his left foot. I'm not talking broke it off at the base, I'm talking tore the entire thing out of his foot.
 | ||
| This is not a staged photo. He would not look while I upwrapped and then rebandaged his foot today. Poor baby is squeamish. |
So he's laid up for a week. I can unwrap his foot tonight, but since I just rewrapped it this morning to check on the swelling I will probably leave it wrapped until tomorrow. Then I have to start twice daily cleaning which I am really not looking forward to.
One of the blogs I read said something about how difficult it is when you have goals for your dogs. It's so heart breaking when something happens to interrupt those goals. That's where I'm at right now. Trophy is my everything dog (until I get Demo up and running), and my stomach drops every time because all of my dreams rest on him. He's really close to being ready to start competing in agility (just have to nail weave entries and get a little bit better at weaves in general), he's finally putting his heart and soul into flyball racing, and we are hoping to start dockdiving this summer (looking into sponsorships right now). But my poor dude is such a klutz! If anything happened to Qwill, Shiner, or Baxter of course I'd be upset, but they are already my "broken" dogs, dogs that I have no major goals with above shower with love daily, so no big deal in the long run if one of them were to lose a toenail or be laid up for a week...
Sometimes dreams and goals suck.
... just realized i should not use phrases like "need to nail our weaves" when my dog has lost a toe nail... ugh. lol.
And small update on Demo's flyball progress, we started teaching him how to pass Saturday. he's so focused on the tug he didn't care at all (but we also used Trophy and Pan passing into him, so we will see... we will see.) He only contemplated turning and chasing one time, but that was the first time Pan passed him, he stopped, looked at her and then came right to his tug. good boy!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Trophy the Start Dog
Trophy's Start Dog Video and his fastest line to line time in the second heat of 4.885!
Monday, May 28, 2012
Flyball Dog Champion-GOLD
What an awesomely amazing flyball weekend!
Our club took 4 teams to the tournament in Sandusky this weekend. Pan was running one full time spot and sharing a spot on a second team, while Trophy was running full time on one team and was a backup on a second (he when in one race for 5 heats on his backup team).
I could not be more proud of their performances this weekend, not only did both dogs earn their FDCh-G titles (2,500points), but both dogs put up amazing personal best team times. Pan with a 4.4 seconds over 11 inch jumps, and Trophy with a 4.9. Trophy even started one race, but i forgot to look at what his line-to-line times were, so I'll let you know once I hear back.
The most exciting news was that not only did Trophy run a 4.9 once, but that he was running consistent 5.0-5.2s. WHY? BECAUSE HE WAS FINALLY PUTTING HIS REAR FEET ON THE BOX!!!!
Trophy has shaved 1.5 seconds off his time since he debuted last July, and half a second was just from learning to push off the box! YAY!
I also got him to tug a little bit out in the lanes!
I started the weekend having completely forgotten how to pass. Our first few races saw me with either 10 foot passes, or with early passes. It did not help that the dog I passed with Trophy has an EXTREMELY wide turn off the box (so wide I seriously don't know how she finds the jumps again, but she does) so it took a lot of dialing in to get that pass, but I did it, gosh darn it! By the end of the weekend I was pretty consistently running 1 and 2 foot passes with the occasional wide pass (hey, I'm NOT perfect) with both dogs.
Pan has decided that she LOVES running second. She lines up next to our start dog and quietly stares that dog down. When the start dog takes off she scrambles to get into the lane and I frantically get her positioned just in time to let her go. She gets very angry when she has to run third, but the good thing is that if she runs second I'm no longer worried about her tearing me to pieces with her nails as at least she has learned to wait till the first dog goes before getting excited. I also was able to back her up a few feet to 43 feet back from the line after trying to cross over and slamming into Harley back at the NYE tournament when I had to move her up to 20 feet.
The weekend was HOT. A lot hotter than last Monday's forecast of 75 degrees would have us believe. I'm so thankful that the Kool Coats I ordered from Clean Run came in, they were lifesavers for my dogs, and Demo was nice enough to share his coat with Harley since Demo isn't running yet.
Speaking of Demo, I had him off leash playing ball and returning for a tug even with other dogs walking around all the racing noise from the building. Good boy!
*UPDATE*
Got confirmation of Trophy's time for the race he started, he ran a 4.8 second heat in start!!!!
4 heats in start:
5.094
4.885
5.160
4.941
WOW!! and I had a 4.9 and several 5.0 and 5.1s while passing, so my passes were tight! yippie!!
My goal was to get him to run under 5 seconds and I've done it!
Our club took 4 teams to the tournament in Sandusky this weekend. Pan was running one full time spot and sharing a spot on a second team, while Trophy was running full time on one team and was a backup on a second (he when in one race for 5 heats on his backup team).
I could not be more proud of their performances this weekend, not only did both dogs earn their FDCh-G titles (2,500points), but both dogs put up amazing personal best team times. Pan with a 4.4 seconds over 11 inch jumps, and Trophy with a 4.9. Trophy even started one race, but i forgot to look at what his line-to-line times were, so I'll let you know once I hear back.
The most exciting news was that not only did Trophy run a 4.9 once, but that he was running consistent 5.0-5.2s. WHY? BECAUSE HE WAS FINALLY PUTTING HIS REAR FEET ON THE BOX!!!!
Trophy has shaved 1.5 seconds off his time since he debuted last July, and half a second was just from learning to push off the box! YAY!
I also got him to tug a little bit out in the lanes!
I started the weekend having completely forgotten how to pass. Our first few races saw me with either 10 foot passes, or with early passes. It did not help that the dog I passed with Trophy has an EXTREMELY wide turn off the box (so wide I seriously don't know how she finds the jumps again, but she does) so it took a lot of dialing in to get that pass, but I did it, gosh darn it! By the end of the weekend I was pretty consistently running 1 and 2 foot passes with the occasional wide pass (hey, I'm NOT perfect) with both dogs.
Pan has decided that she LOVES running second. She lines up next to our start dog and quietly stares that dog down. When the start dog takes off she scrambles to get into the lane and I frantically get her positioned just in time to let her go. She gets very angry when she has to run third, but the good thing is that if she runs second I'm no longer worried about her tearing me to pieces with her nails as at least she has learned to wait till the first dog goes before getting excited. I also was able to back her up a few feet to 43 feet back from the line after trying to cross over and slamming into Harley back at the NYE tournament when I had to move her up to 20 feet.
The weekend was HOT. A lot hotter than last Monday's forecast of 75 degrees would have us believe. I'm so thankful that the Kool Coats I ordered from Clean Run came in, they were lifesavers for my dogs, and Demo was nice enough to share his coat with Harley since Demo isn't running yet.
Speaking of Demo, I had him off leash playing ball and returning for a tug even with other dogs walking around all the racing noise from the building. Good boy!
*UPDATE*
Got confirmation of Trophy's time for the race he started, he ran a 4.8 second heat in start!!!!
4 heats in start:
5.094
4.885
5.160
4.941
WOW!! and I had a 4.9 and several 5.0 and 5.1s while passing, so my passes were tight! yippie!!
My goal was to get him to run under 5 seconds and I've done it!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
What i've been doing the past two weeks:
So Trophy's birthday was on a Thursday. On the Friday after, he and I went on a road trip to Columbus to visit a friend of mine and her doggies
Luna
and Buckwheat (who doesn't stand still. evar.)
And we rented a regulation dock diving pool and had a BALL!
Trophy had so much fun, and once he got in the water the first time, he was completely fine with diving and had some nice 16 foot jumps. Then we went out to dinner and talked about dog training for hours. We finally drug ourselves away from the table at 11pm and I finally made it home with one exhausted, completely worn out dog at 1am.
I discovered that I need more dog friends who are closer than North Carolina.
Trophy skipped flyball practice on Saturday because he was worn out, but I had a great practice with Demo and Pan. Although I'm SO BEHIND on Demo's boxturn because someone has stolen our team's other jump board and hasn't brought it back, so I have no board to practice on! *UGH* But his recalls over jumps are great, lots of drive.
Monday morning we signed up for our local dock jumping team, and this past Saturday after flyball practice we attended our first practice. It wasn't much, the dock they use is at a local vet clinic and petcare center, and the dock is REALLY HIGH off the water.
Trophy was a really good boy though. Had to get him in the water the first time, but after that he jumped in willingly.
And this is how he sleeps every night. Yay for tired puppies.
Tonight's agility class was FUN. Trophy was back to handling like a pro. Although he gave me one hell of a scare the first time up the A-frame... he leaped over the top and had to put on the emergency breaks to stop from flying off... and then he was back to stopping at the top again. that was our only major issue though. He weaves we VERY VERY GOOD. Need to work on finding the correct entry, but he only popped out once. yay!! When he's on point he is so very very much fun to work with. :)
Luna
and Buckwheat (who doesn't stand still. evar.)
I tried on and ordered my bridesmaid dress for her wedding, then Trophy and I said good by and met up with a dog friend of mine from North Carolina and her dogs Aeri (who I managed to NOT get a photo of), and Kestral.
Trophy had so much fun, and once he got in the water the first time, he was completely fine with diving and had some nice 16 foot jumps. Then we went out to dinner and talked about dog training for hours. We finally drug ourselves away from the table at 11pm and I finally made it home with one exhausted, completely worn out dog at 1am.
 |
| Plz turn off da light. |
I discovered that I need more dog friends who are closer than North Carolina.
Trophy skipped flyball practice on Saturday because he was worn out, but I had a great practice with Demo and Pan. Although I'm SO BEHIND on Demo's boxturn because someone has stolen our team's other jump board and hasn't brought it back, so I have no board to practice on! *UGH* But his recalls over jumps are great, lots of drive.
Monday morning we signed up for our local dock jumping team, and this past Saturday after flyball practice we attended our first practice. It wasn't much, the dock they use is at a local vet clinic and petcare center, and the dock is REALLY HIGH off the water.
Trophy was a really good boy though. Had to get him in the water the first time, but after that he jumped in willingly.
It got hot enough on Sunday to pull out Pan's puppy pool. Trophy and Demo had a ton of fun playing in the hose while I was filling it.
And this is how he sleeps every night. Yay for tired puppies.
Tonight's agility class was FUN. Trophy was back to handling like a pro. Although he gave me one hell of a scare the first time up the A-frame... he leaped over the top and had to put on the emergency breaks to stop from flying off... and then he was back to stopping at the top again. that was our only major issue though. He weaves we VERY VERY GOOD. Need to work on finding the correct entry, but he only popped out once. yay!! When he's on point he is so very very much fun to work with. :)
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Happy Birthday to the Best Dog Evar!
Talk about bumpy starts... blood, sweat, and lots of frustraited tears to get us this far. The road is long but the journey has been SO worth the effort in this dog. Runner up to my Heart and Soul, Very Happy Birthday TROPHY!
To celebrate we are going on a road trip to Columbus to meet up with a friend from NC and her two dogs at an aqua dogs facility for some practice and pointers in dock jumping! We're also going to spend some time with his Aunt Noelle and her two dogs. Yay!
To celebrate we are going on a road trip to Columbus to meet up with a friend from NC and her two dogs at an aqua dogs facility for some practice and pointers in dock jumping! We're also going to spend some time with his Aunt Noelle and her two dogs. Yay!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)