a Taj MuttHall Dog Diary: Tika and Boost

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Tika and Boost

SUMMARY: Resting, playing, training.

Tika doesn't seem to have any side effects from the new meds so far; whew!

This evening marks the first time that she has wanted to play since last Wednesday evening. At the time I thought maybe she was sulking or confused because I wasn't playing "properly" with her, but in retrospect, I realize it's because her butt hurt so much. Glad that she's now feeling a bit better.

So now I had to go back to not playing properly with her while at the same time throwing the toy enough for Boost to chase. The challenge with dang Boost is that she won't play with a toy while Tika is--she wants to watch us. So I can't distract Tika with one toy while I throw another one for Boost.

On the other hand, the last few days where I've been able to work with Boost while Tika hung out inside the house of her own volition, it's been so much easier to practice some agility things that I know we need to practice.

It's a reminder that I used to be adamant about the not-being-trained dog staying up on the porch while I worked with the other dog, and have let that slide a bit; and also that at the moment I'm actually enjoying working with Boost on a few issues:

* Send to the opposite end of a tunnel
* Rear cross tunnel and turn in the opposite direction
* Rear cross curved tunnel
* Blast out of tunnel and go straight ahead over a jump with me way behind
* Dang weave entry approaching from the left, and some from the right to keep it balanced.

And we've got 3 months to just casually practice stuff like this before our next competition. Sigh--just hit me again that Tika won't be competing. It has been a very, very long time since I've deliberately run only one dog in agility. It'll be odd, but maybe good for a while.

So things are, at the moment, relatively at peace.

6 comments:

  1. Yesterday, all day, Tika's name kept popping into my head. Glad she's feeling better. Told husband the health news about her, and he got very sad too. Sigh.

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    1. Thank you both. It is comforting to know that others understand.

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  2. Glad she's feeling better - and glad Boost is getting some work - sometimes around here if one dog is down i get very unmotivated across the board

    keep hanging in there

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    1. Boost is glad she's getting some work, too. Having one dog down can be a demotivator for me, too--"can't go hiking, one dog is ill." "Can't go to the park, one dog is ill." I'm realizing that I've never left either of these dogs alone in the house to my recollection--there's always been another dog around. Something else that I keep saying I'll work on.

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  3. Walter's been permanently retired from agility trials for a few months now and it still hits me at times, where I'm just driving around doing chores or whatever and all of a sudden it occurs to me, "Really? That fun, rewarding, teamwork-filled time of our lives is over forever...? ...Forever and *ever*?" and it sucks! Yes, there's other stuff to do to fill the void (hey, is it Thanksgiving / nosework for you this weekend?), but I won't lie -- it sure ain't the same as agility. Of course, it's bound to happen to every team out there at one point or another, but it still sucks when you stop and think about it.

    On the more positive side of things, good to hear that you and Boostie are having fun with working on skills, and that Tika is tolerating her meds well, definitely good news there.

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    1. It's odd in a way--I hope Tika's heart lasts a lot longer, because otherwise all my dogs have "retired" from agility essentially because they're dying or dead. Remington with the cancer (age 9, last run a month before he died), Jake with the sudden onset of almost ceaseless seizures (age 15, last run that day), and now this with Tika. Ah, me. I've been thinking that *I'd* get to make the decision about when to retire her. Silly mortal.

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