a Taj MuttHall Dog Diary: Random Updates

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Random Updates

SUMMARY: Boost, Tika

Last week in class, Boost and I did not get through a single exercise without knocking one or more bars. Usually more. Haven't really been practicing. That could have something to do with it. Started doing some jumps again today.

On the other hand, today she carried her frisbee all the way to the park, 2/3 of a mile. That's a record for her.

No class this past week due to rain.

Tika is doing fine. Seems deafer and has less stamina all the time, but ohhhhh so gradually. Still can leap straight into the air with all four feet when I get the leashes for Walkies, and run full speed after a frisbee.

She's taking 3 different meds. Found that I could get her a pet prescription card at Walgreens for $20 and get one of the meds there at less than from the vet. Just ordered more meds from KVVet.com, about half the price of the vet's office. As he said, i can probably get better prices from companies that buy huge quantities of these things at a time than from their office, which buys small amounts at a time. (Small practice.)

That all helps immensely. Closer to $100 a month than the $200/month I'd been worried about. Still--that adds up over the year.

Tika didn't make Top Ten in anything this year, no surprise--competed less often and not as fast as she'd been. But still #16 in Jumpers and I think still around 26th in Standard and Snooker (Gamblers we stopped competing in at all).

Just sent in my entry for our first agility trial since November. Very very weird to fill out an entry for only one dog. I've competed in 273 trials through the years, and these are the only ones for which I entered only one dog:
  • 1996/97, had only Remington: 11 trials.
  • 2005, tried to retire Jake so running only Tika: 3 trials.
  • 2006, only Tika for some random trials, not sure why I ran Jake in some and not others: 6 trials
  • 2006, only Tika--Jake died and Boost not ready: 1 trial
  • 2007, USDAA nationals, only Tika, Boost not qualified: 1 trial
  • 2009, Boost out with sore abdominals so only Tika, 2 trials
  • 2009, Tika swollen toe so only Boost, 1 trial
That was over 50 trials ago. And all of those I considered to be simply temporary. This time--there's no one else in the lineup. Just feels weird.


But still not sure what my future agility plans are. Still fermenting.

4 comments:

  1. Does seem odd...but might be good for you too...less work for the knees...still...kind of sad.

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    1. I hardly know what to do with myself when running only one dog! I always try to find some way to substitute some other short activity that will tire the dog out in the same mental/physical way that agility does, but that's a challenge, too.

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  2. Wow, that's quite a history of running two dogs at trials so I can imagine the adjustment this will be. :-(

    But, glad to hear she's still enjoying walkies, her frisbee, and life in general.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm trying not to be tempted to run her in veterans (at 16") in maybe one class a day. She's running full out for frisbees-- But she's also not in training for agility at all. Nope, bad idea.

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