Scooter at Disneyland

SUMMARY: It's not all fun and games

Facebook July 11, 2019: My comments (edited here) on a Disney group discussion about scooters

I've been to Disneyland many, many times.

My historical approach has been to cover as much ground as quickly as possible--e.g, dash over to Disney California Adventure (DCA) for ice cream at the Pier and dash back to Small World [at the far side back in Disneyland itself], or some such. And walk over from the offsite hotel and arrive at rope drop and stay until the park closes, hauling my camera and lenses with me, trying to take fun photos of many details and of my friends.

The early crowd, waiting in Main Street for the rope to drop to allow us into the rest of the park

It has been much to my dismay that my body no longer allows me to do this. Last time I went, I rented a scooter. I will say that it allowed me to do much, much more than I did the previous trip, where I tried to walk the whole thing but pretty much died in agony after a couple of hours each day.

I will also say that riding a scooter took a bite out of the fun--there is no dashing from place to place in a scooter because you don't want to hit anyone in the dense crowds or who isn't paying attention and walks right in front of you.

And taking photos as I go--no, can't really stop in the middle of the walkway, people will get upset, and it's difficult to steer off to the side, and it's not very maneuverable to get a good shot. Plus, now I'm at butt level instead of being able to see over or around people.

Taking photos of Linda and Paul at butt level from my seat

On the other up side, I *can* walk, and I can walk "quite a bit", just not nearly enough to get through part of a day at Disneyland. I wasn't overweight, I'm not old looking (well--anyway, *I* don't think so), I'm not visibly crippled. I'd use the scooter for the longer stretches, then park it off to the side and do the rides at that location, repeat, repeat, repeat. No one said anything to me about why are you using a scooter if you're perfectly able to walk--if they had, I'd have explained that my severe arthritis and nerve damage aren't visible on the outside.

I did hit a small child once while I was in a crowd, moving inches at a time, and the kid literally spun an inch or two in front of me; I immediately released the handle, but I dare anyone to react quickly enough to not move those couple of inches. Parent gave me some nasty words. I don't recall saying anything, because what can you say other than pointing the finger back at them. and it is, after all, the happiest place on earth and I try to remember that and act accordingly. :-) Thanks for reading. I'd so very much rather be walking.

Mr Fox No.12 did *not* need the scooter but, you know, red privilege and all that.

The Baleful Back: Glad and Sad and all that

SUMMARY: My back was SO SO bad in mid-2014 to late 2015. Now it's not SO SO bad.

The excruciating pain that I experienced back then, for well over a year, is still much on my mind almost every day. And some of that is in a good way, as in remembering how bad it was and how glad I am that it's not nearly that bad, because it was really bad:

• Struggling to get out of bed in the morning, as in, moving my body parts very, very slowly and very, very carefully and praying, although I'm not a praying woman, that I wouldn't move just so or turn just so or bend just so to put myself into screaming pain. As in, screaming. In some ways, it was a blessing if it happened while I was still lying down, because then at least I could probably roll into a position where the pain would abate enough that I could catch my breath and go back to careful, gentle stretches.
• If I were standing up and moving around and DID do the wrong movement, and suddenly I'd learn all over again what a pain level of 8-10 really is like--it hurt so badly that I'd be screaming, and I knew that if I could only lie down on one side, it would abate, and yet the process of MOVING from standing to the floor was so excruciating that it nearly made me faint as I struggled to get to the floor without getting to that level of pain, but even then finally lying on the floor sobbing.
• Looking at the doggie door that fits into my sliding glass door and that I take out every night and put in every morning and have for nearly 30 years without thinking about it. And knowing that trying to lift it into position would hurt so very, very badly that I didn't want to do it, almost preferred leaving the door open all day. Sometimes did. Thank goodness sometimes someone was around to do it for me.
• Showering: Could not shower standing up, it hurt so much. Fortunately, there's a built-in seat in my shower.  Still, hurt very badly just trying to clean all of me.  Couldn't stand up to dry myself off. Lifting the towel to wrap around my hair was a danger zone as well.
• Don't even think about getting dressed. Can't bend to get at my feet because of the pain. Can't lift my leg so I can get at my feet because of the pain. How to pull on pants? Let alone shoes or socks?
• Going to the movies--once I was in the seat, I could mostly relax and have less pain. Getting to the seat was the hard part. For a while, a friend doing with me would pick me up and drive me there and drop me off right in front of the theater, because me driving my car and trying to walk in from the parking lot--even from the handicapped spot, once I got my tag--hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt.  Some theaters have more walking to the entrance and/or to the theater than others.  Trying not to cry as I hobbled another 20-30 feet before needing desperately some way to take the weight off my back & legs--leaning on something might help a wee bit, but a bench would be much better. Could take me 15 minutes to walk a few dozen yards.

Just a few of the special joys of my life for so many months.

Slowly, physical therapy tricks and tips and classes and pain meds started to help and, finally, when I *could* get myself around again, walking more and more helped instead of wiping me out.

So, in the morning now when I carefully tighen my core muscles, align my shoulders and back and knees and legs to raise the dog door into place and it hurts only a little, I often think about what a miracle is that I can do this for myself.

When I can walk blithely in from anywhere in the parking lot to the movie theater and not have to slow down or stop to stretch or let the pain ease, wow, I walk past places where I'd stpped in misery and think, wow, hard to believe how bad it was. But at least it's nowhere near that bad now.

Still, trying to do foundation obedience & pre-agility baby class with Zorro on Saturdays is aggravating things much more than I had hoped it would. After this most recent Saturday morning, I was hobbling again yesterday and the nerves down the backs and sides of my thighs are just letting me know calmly that they would like me to not do that.

BUT--back after I got Chip and I tried the class with Chip, I couldn't do it at all, it hurt so much, and I dropped out after maybe only 2 classes. And, so, it's not as bad as back then. And I'm glad.

I can shower normally and dry myself off normally.  Well, bending forward to dry my hair is still a risk if I don't do it carefully, but mostly everything's pretty good.

I haven't had screaming or even merely crying pain in months. This is very good.

Still, trying to work full time is right out. I'm managing half time more or less, but I'm often so sore when I get home after 4 hours that all I want to do is ice my back and thighs and lounge on the couch.  (And a lot of computer work is out even then, as working on a laptop like that is hard on my neck and shoulders, even with this wonderful laptop-holding-arm that my company provided for me. Oh, and, right, did I mention very recently discovering that somewhere along the line I completely tore out 2 of the 4 rotator cuff tendons in one shoulder and there's no surgical help for it and it hurts. So that makes it even harder.)

Things that don't bother me so much:

• Most movie theater seats. I think it's because there's ample support all the way up to my head, plus I can hold up my weight on my arms to take the pressure off the back and thighs so much.  Hard on my arms and shoulders after a while, and I can't just sit there comfortably, lots of shifting around. But can do it without nearly as much trouble as sitting at a desk, even with a good chair and studiedly good posture and getting up every 25 minutes to a timer to walk around for 3-5 minutes.
• Driving my car. Again, support all the way up? And I think having the steering wheel to grab and/or push on with my hands/arms, and the floor that I can push forward on with my feet, helps keep the pressure lighter than I can ever hope for while computering.
• Lounging on the couch, as long as I'm not too much lying down and not too much sitting up. I can use the mouse a lot lot lot without bother, which is good for some photo editing and clicking Like on Facebook. I think that's why I often default to FB--I'm on the couch, I'm clicking Like, nothing much hurts. Sigh.
• Lying in bed.  This is best. But I can't do that all day or things start to get worse again.
• Walking around. Most of the time. This is much better than either sitting or standing still. On many days, even standing while the elevator comes to my floor is painful. So I just pace back and forth, back and forth.  Standing in the hall and chatting?  moving from foot to foot to foot and back and forth and back and forth---  I say that nowadays walking makes me feel better and better, until I pass some limit on my back's tolerance and it quickly deteriorates to much worse.

Still, what I wanted to say was that how much better it is than it was, and that's why I've been able to avoid having the scary spine surgery that I was sure I'd have to have, back then.

Well, had more I wanted to say, but my shoulders and neck are already killing me.  And my nice comfy bed awaits.

Wishing you all good health from youth through old old old old old old age. 120 or so.  G'night.

Training and Agility Thoughts

SUMMARY: What to do, what to do.

Periodically I get these wild ideas, like, "I should actually train Chip some useful things," or "I'd like to start teaching Chip to do agility," or "How about if I get me and Boost back into shape to actually do agility ourselves," or "I think I'll sell everything I own including the house, retire, buy a camper van, and drive around the country for 20 years," or "I think I'll take a nap."

[Oh crud--as I'm typing this, hearing some fireworks outside somewhere in the distance. Poor Chip is working hard on stressing out again.]

Anyway, I somehow found a reserve of enthusiasm and energy on New Year's Day and worked on tugging with Chip. I want him to latch on and not let go until told to. I introduced him to the Milker Toy in the yard and he seemed to like it. (The rubber milking attachment from a milking machine. Softer rubber, flexible, easy to grip for them and me.) I've worked with him all along for what *I* want, which is that if I touch his face or body, he should just keep going. He's having to overcome either a natural let-go reaction to that or else good training for his first 3 years of life in a family with a young boy.

I also dinked around a bit with getting him to go between two weave poles, but all that training (tugging and weave poles) made him stress out quickly.

So far to go--and then I was pooped and had to sit for a while, plus hard on my damaged back.

Still, for a good 15 minutes or so, we trained and played, trained and played.

But still not sure whether I'm going to do agility. This last week at the park, I thought I'd try jogging a bit to see what running felt like, and it scares me about putting that jarring and up-down compression on my spine. So dunno.

However, have committed to attend one agility trial in January and one in February, just to work and probably take photos. Not entering Boost. But one is out of town, so will take the dogs anyway.

We'll see where this all leads in the new year.

About My Back

SUMMARY: Bringing my blog up to date on this topic.

I had not expected my body and life to take a turn in this direction, but they have, so here we go.

I've mentioned my recent back pain over the last year a few times.



I have a bit of history of back issues related to spine problems--bad one back in 2000/2001, when I was on disability and couldn't do much of anything, then using a lot of caution since then or risk sciatic pain creeping quickly in, then the current bout that started early last year, got a bit worse, got a bit better so that I could start doing longer walks again, but up until 3 or 4 months ago it did not interfere with actually doing agility. Got slowly worse again to where I couldn't actually do agility, more than maybe one run a day.

Then abruptly one morning I couldn't stand up, I was in so much pain.

The short story is that my lumbar (lower) spine is suffering the effects from degenerative disk disease and arthritis and probably bad luck and is now so contorted that nerve pain is constant. I have discovered gradually that hobbling downstairs and using the exercycle for 5-10 minutes followed by basic core exercises and stretching allows me to operate in an upright position per my design specs, but the individual parts are wearing out and I can't get replacements. Icing helps temporarily. Heating helps temporarily. Stretching helps temporarily, but only to ease the pain, not make it go away.

I'm out on short-term disability again while investigating whether very serious surgery is my only solution and meanwhile trying to ease the pain a bit. Just being out from work I think helps a bit--not so stressful, no requirement to be on the computer any longer than I feel comfortable doing, and so on. However, I was enjoying my current long-term assignment and it was sad to clear out my cubicle and leave it behind for now. Hoping that's not long term, but still TBD.

There's no way I can do agility at this time. Any kind of training at all is hard when trying to avoid any kind of bending, and sitting hurts, and standing up hurts. Bah, I say.

I'm not trapped at home: Driving is comfortable. Places where I can sit immobile for a while (e.g., movie theaters with good seats) are OK, as are places where I can lean forward onto a table to take the weight off my spine/backside are OK. Hard to work under such restraints.

Also on assorted meds trying to ease the pain, so I spend a lot of time just sleeping.

But I've been in a good state emotionally all spring and into summer, and despite the challenges, I'm still there, just occasionally whining to myself and having a brief self-pity party. Then I'm off and running (figuratively) again, setting up appointments, doing research, gathering data, and so on.

People have been very helpful and understanding. It's amazing how many of my friends have had some kind of back surgery or have avoided it but still have problems.

I might need that deeply involved and complex surgery. We'll see--but if I do, it'll probably be sooner rather than later. Oh, boy, something to look forward to: Being out on disability and in a lot of pain for up to a year. But if it fixes the problem...

Yeah.

Hope all of your backs are doing well.

Christmas Debris

SUMMARY: Gifts and wrapping

Christmas Day came and went with the usual sudden flurry of unwrapping and laughing and sharing somewhere in the middle. The pile o'gifts under the tree wasn't nearly as large as it has been at times in the past, when more family have been in town or before we started drawing names rather than gifting willy-nilly. That's probably just as well--most of us don't need more things, but we want the "kids" (one of whom is nearly a college graduate, hard to believe) to get a lot of joy from it.

Before:

After:

Things were also more subdued because my dad started to feel unwell on the evening of the 23rd, vowed that he didn't need to see a doctor until after Christmas, but changed his mind the morning of Christmas Eve. He ended up in the hospital for about 4 days, to his dismay including Christmas Eve and Christmas, fighting an infection. We weren't sure whether he'd be released Christmas day, but he wasn't, so after his various relations got back from the hospital, then we did the gifting and laughing and chaos that we know as Christmas day. Wasn't really quite the same, knowing that he was there and not with us, but we enjoyed the day anyway and mentioned his name many times over. He's home now, still tired, but happy to be there.

Now it's almost New Year's Eve. I think that the dogs need a walk, and so do I.

How Are We All Doing?

SUMMARY: Reporting on Human Mom, Boost, and Tika.

Tika is refusing food more and more often. I'm not happy about this. Don't know whether it's her meds or her health. Need to call the vet to discuss. Not convinced that taking certain drugs to help her heart or her cough is good if it means that she loses interest in food. Until this morning, she was happy enough to eat the new fancy expensive kibble that I just bought--as long as I didn't intermingle regular kibble, which really ruined the whole thing, you know. But hand-feeding still worked. This evening she didn't want to eat much of it at all.

She even almost turned down her guard-the-house-goodie this morning when I left for work--and she's not rejected that before. (It's just a dry biscuit, but until now has been eagerly accepted.) No problems tonight in class, though, sucking down those Zukes minis!

Human Mom had a rotten night last night, what with back/leg pain, a cough that wouldn't quit between about 2 and 3 a.m., two dogs that needed to go out in the middle of the night at different times, and a sometimes coughing dog. H.M. got most of her sleep between 7:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. Amazing I made it through the day. But work was interesting and urgent today, which helped.

And then, even more interestingly, felt really good in class tonight running Boost. Was able to actually run, fast for me anyway, without pain. That bodes well for the weekend. Still, the back and connected leg pain are such a...pain. Standing there, watching someone else's run, turned my head or some other innocuous minor movement, and whack! Sudden pain in lower back and I had to take steps to ease it out. So we didn't do a whole class this evening; want to save myself for the Regional Championships this weekend in Prunedale.

Boost--well, wow, what a great night in class! Not a single bar down! No nasty runouts (except pretty obvious handler errors) or refusals. Wow! Well, OK, couple of missed weave entries, darn it, she will just never be as good as Tika at the weave entries. And that's the thing we've most practiced through the years. OK, anyway, maybe it was because I was moving more comfortably and faster, dunno, but what a pleasure it was! Hoping that it lasts through at least some of the weekend.

See folks there Saturday through Monday; I bailed on Friday's events for various reasons. Weather should be great, people should be wonderful, maybe we'll get a Q or two.

Coming Up, Tika's Last Trial

SUMMARY: Well, officially entered, anyway.

I entered Tika in one run this weekend, Jumpers, which was always her favorite. I haven't been doing much with her at all, and she starts out in the yard playing fast and eager but quickly resorts to just digging her notorious hole to china under the shrubbery. Tried running her around a small course today with just a few jumps and tunnels and never did get all the way through it.

So I might just pick a quick few jumps and out. So sad. I'm so very sad. I'll make that officially Tika's last agility run. Here's the age data from this trial's statistics sheet:

I'm not expecting much from this weekend. This week I ended up with a cold, so am tired and congested on top of Boost's insane obsessive scratching and biting the last couple of nights, really interrupting both of our sleeps. She scratched for two hours straight when I went to bed last night, and then another hour after I gave her a prednisone.

Now that she's on prednisone, I hope that'll knock it out quickly so we can both sleep.  Except of course that prednisone tends to make my dogs' bladders work more urgently, which could get me up in the night anyway--so I *do* want to remain asleep-but-alert to avoid having a bed wetting or floor wetting like last time around.

This heavy scratching started (it's been building up by hydroxyzine had been holding it off) after several days of Tika coughing a lot during the night. Now Tika's getting an occasional small dose of hydrocodone/something (similar to what humans get with an intractable cough) and I think that's helped some, not eliminated completely but not interrupting my sleep every hour.

And I've already mentioned that I'm completely out of shape, not doing any running or hiking or anything. My foot and back aren't a lot better--improving, I think, but not there yet. I've put on weight, Boost has put on MORE weight which is a mystery because I've been cutting back her food more. She's now getting only 83% of what she has gotten most of her adult life, and she's up another half pound in the last month! Argh! It is true that she's also getting less activity because I'm doing so much less lately.

So this weekend is really not going to be about me and Boost qualifying in anything because the odds seem slim. Instead, it's about Tika retiring, and about sugar, because that's what I'm bringing to celebrate. Because I need more sugar.

In fact, must go pick up the celebration thing right now.

Wish us good luck in getting a good night sleep, and then in the morning it's off to Manzanita Park.

Dang Back

SUMMARY: Lower back is not a happy back.

As I mentioned in this previous post, my lower back has not been happy for a while.

Doc had ordered x-rays of my lower back when he prescribed the prednisone 3 weeks ago. The physical therapy evaluator went over them with me two weeks ago: A touch of scoliosis (this is new), one vertebra out of alignment forward, one out of alignment towards the back. Recommended NO chiropractic work because of this. Also serious degenerative disk disease/arthritis in my L3/4/5 region. It wasn't pretty. She also strongly suggested that I get up an move around at least every 30 minutes whenever I'm sitting (which is a large part of my life, at the computer). I'm tryin'.

Then I went to a group Back Clinic (Kaiser offers for free because it's so helpful, they say) this past Monday. Interesting stuff, quite a bit of which I already knew, but some of which I didn't. After a week, my back actually might be feeling a bit better trying to use some of the techniques presented there--

However, on the down side, was referred to a sports/orthopedic spine specialist Friday because now it's not only some toes that are a bit numb, but my shins, also. She thinks nothing to be terribly concerned about (numbness) but did say that it's unusual to see so much arthritis in the lower back of someone my age. Great. By which I mean, not great. She prescribed a nonnarcotic pain med, which I've taken a couple of and that helps, too.

She also recommended an MRI to try to get a complete picture of where I am and also as a guide in case I decide that I want a cortisone (?) shot in my back. Trying to avoid that if I can. I got the MRI Friday evening. (Had an MRI back in 2000 during my last *very* bad back period, so I knew what to expect.) It's noisy but they gave me plenty of ear protection and a prewarmed blanket! Very nice! So I just closed my eyes and practiced clearing my mind and relaxing for 20 minutes while in the machine.

Too soon to know the results yet.

I didn't ask, "Will I ever be able to go backpacking again?", in part because I haven't done so in over 20 years, so somehow it seems unlikely that I would again, anyway. But I want to be *able* to, you know?

Back exercise classes start tomorrow.

And we go from there.

Health Update and looking ahead to Tuolumne

SUMMARY: Dogs and humans.

Tika's eye: Three days of ointment and the redness had nearly vanished. After the full week's course of three-times-a-day ointment, not only did her eye look good in general, but that weird lump in the inner corner completely vanished. Interesting.

Boost's itching: Itching itching itching. Still using hydroxyzine after checking with the vet that it's OK to do so. If I stop it, she definitely itches more, but it's not so bad either way that I want to use prednisone to knock it out.

Human mom: What a mess! But in some ways, not so bad!

• Left foot (diagnosed as capsulitis in 2nd metatarsal/phalangeal joint): Got a cortisone shot two weeks ago. Made it worse for a couple of days, seems to be typical. Seeing a massage person to work on that by recommendation from some agility folks. I think that's helping; following it up with homework that he gives me to work on it myself. Didn't bother me all weekend except for the rare turn in certain directions, can't quite pin it down. Whole foot, actually both feet, seem sore to pressure, once we went through and evaluated them more carefully. Interesting.
• Lower back: Not good. Sciatic nerve pain comes and goes down right leg and some in left leg, tells me that the disk problems are definitely acting up. But the muscle pain all across the lower to middle back is what's really getting me. Still not sure about whether that's a side-effect of the disk issues or a separate issue. Had no problem running all weekend, but found myself walking carefully because, again, certain twists or movements really hurt. Didn't lift much of anything, ever, and crated out of the car so didn't have to set up or tear down. Monday and Tuesday were miserable indeed.  (As in 2000/2001, sitting is the most painful thing.) On tuesday, doc put me on a short course of prednisone to try to knock out the worst of the inflammation.  MUCH better on Wednesday, although clearly not fixed. Starting physical therapy next week.
• Knees: Well, ha ha, funny knees have felt fine all through this (as long as I don't try something silly like kneeling). I felt good running all weekend, and in class last night I felt great all over, nothing made painful by running at all, even my cardiovascular endurance seemed good which makes no sense given how little exercise I've been getting. But I'm not complaining. Hope it keeps up through this weekend's CPE trial.

I really miss hiking and long walks, I'm realizing. Really really miss it. It's so tempting to just go do them and the foot pain be hanged. I think the foot is marginally better than when I first went in to see the doc, but not majorly.

And, way down deep, I think that a lot of the issues are aggravated by the fact that my weight is up to the highest it's been since 2001. Harder to tackle it if I'm supposed to be not using my foot.

Oh, and I'm going to Tuolumne** Meadows (Yosemite) in a mere 3 weeks, and had hoped to do some hiking! I'm going to be SO not ready for primetime. But at least it should be beautiful, and going with good friends, so that's all good. Haven't been up there in, wow, maybe 20 years, who ever thought it would be that long? There I am in 1970. Still have the hat, not the shirt, which was a huge favorite and perfect light-weight, quick-drying long-sleeved for backpacking or hiking.

I love this photo from wikipedia, maybe I can get some of my own like that! If my lungs can quickly acclimatize to 9000 feet (2743m) elevation:



Now you can keep images of the gorgeous high Sierras in your mind as you go about your weekend.

---

** Tuolumne, pronounced TWA-lum-ee, or too-Ah-lum-ee.

Of Dog Eyes and Human Feet

SUMMARY: Eye tested Boost; Tika bloody.

The other day, got this email from Nancy Gyes:

I am involved in a Vision Study with Optometrist Gina Day and her research partner Maureen. Vision testing is being done on dogs suspected of having ETS (early take-off syndrome), or some kind of vision problem that might affect their jumping. We also need to test a large number of non-affected dogs who jump well as a control group. As we are getting into the testing we realize that there is really not nearly enough knowledge about how dogs test that are normal good jumpers. The retinoscopy is used to discover if there is a refraction error in the dogs eyes, since dogs can’t read eye charts, just like babies or young children. We would like to test a lot of shelties and border collies since there are so many of them in agility, but we also want to test lots of other breeds. And we would especially love to test your dog if they are a nice jumper, or if you think your dog may have a vision deficit.

I took Boost up with the theory that there's nothing wrong with her vision--she runs fast, knocks bars but no sign of early or late takeoffs or hesitations. My assumption has been that she knocks bars because she doesn't try hard enough not to.

That might still be the case, but now the waters are a little muddied: Turns out that she and I share something besides a birthday, and that is myopia (near-sightedness) and astigmatism. Of the 30-ish dogs they've tested so far, Boost rates the worst of any in the near-sighted department. On the OTHER paw--she also rates the highest for the quality of her binocular vision (use of two eyes together), so maybe the near-sightedness is less a player since the binocular vision is what gives good depth perception.

They're just starting to collect information, so it could be a long time before they have enough information to actually publish something. Can hardly wait.

Meanwhile, about Tika's odd eye problem (description and photo in this post). This red bloody-looking lump on her inner eyelid(?) showed up around the beginning of April. Don't think it has changed really since then. However, yesterday morning she had bloody crust next to that eye. Same thing when I got home last night. Same thing when I got up this morning. Don't know what it means; still looks about the same to me, she's still not rubbing it or anything.

Anyhoo, off to the vet again to see whether he has any better ideas on what's going on, and if not, maybe to the doggie eye doctor. It's always something involving the wallet, isn't it.

And since we're all going to ail together, I guess, I went ahead and got a cortisone shot in my sore foot today (as mentioned in these posts). As I was afraid of, it's hurting more now, ow ow ow, hope I can get to sleep. Had this same reaction many years ago to a cortisone shot in the thumb, but then it got much better more quickly than w/out the shot. Meanwhile, icing icing icing. And maybe in a few days I'll be pain-free. One can only hope.

Thursday's Class and Excitement

SUMMARY: In which Human Mom has pain, Boost runs with her sister's handler, and some people have lots of enthusiasm.

When I arrived at class last Thursday evening, the weather couldn't have been better. Still daylight at this time of year (O!, that it would be like this all the time!), neither hot nor cold, shirt-sleeve weather, a beautiful evening.

And when I did a warm-up run with Tika, my lower back muscles hurt so much that I could barely trot. I warmed up even more, and lay on the grass and did various fix-the-back things, and the back eased off, but still felt the aches in my knees and foot. Why do I do this, go to class like this? (Well, that's meant to be rhetorical, but I'm always one to answer rhetorical questions-- (a) dogs seem to like agility (b) it gets us all out of hte house and doing something active (c) I'm in denial about my ailments.)

Boost and I are having very very few runouts or refusals in class these days, and the few times that we do, I have an instructor to point out why what I thought I was doing wasn't what i was actually doing. This is why I'm supposed to videotape myself, so I can see what I wasn't doing on my own every time. Bah.

But the bars still come down.

By the end of the class, I just couldn't run any more. T-Cam's mom (T-Cam/Boost have the same parents) seemed delighted at the chance to run Boost for the last run of the evening. This is the second time they've done a run in class. Last time, several weeks ago, Boost was very uncertain and followed Silvina around the course only tentatively, then ran to me as soon as possible. Both times, S wooed B with treats, since Boost wouldn't get into playing tug with a "stranger" (someone she's only seen in class every week off and on for 8 years, you know). This time, Boost went with her willingly and even eagerly, and stayed with her all the way through to the end, and wanted to stay with her after S dropped her off with me! (Dang, why are S's freeze-dried liver treats better than my freeze-dried liver treats?) Boost still held back while running, but not nearly as much as last time. And they had a couple of refusals while Boost watched S so very closely, but S figured out how to fix it the next time around.

S is so happy and enthusiastic with her dogs, and with mine, too. I try to emulate people like her, who have so much energy and excitement with their dogs and just don't let up, but wow, it's exhausting for me! She's not unique among top dog handlers; so many of them are so very good at making their dogs feel special and excited and supercharged. If I do that at their level for a couple of runs, I'm so burned out that I'm ready to sleep for a week. I'm certainly better at it than I was when I started back in 1995 (gasp). But I'm basically a mellow, reserved sort of person even when I'm excited or happy. You know the stereotypical really excited person, who jumps up and down and claps their hands? I would never be that person. If I won the lottery, I'd most likely grin a lot. I might even high-five someone, or pump my fist and say "Yesss!" For me, that's very excited.

Anyway. Wish everything would get better spontaneously. Because as it is, now I have an excuse for not practicing with Boost to fix our agility issues, whereas before I had no excuse, just didn't do it.

Ah, yes, well, this is all so typically me. My dogs are wonderful and I love them dearly. How can I resist that bright-eyed, sharp-eared Tika stare over the desk, saying "Come ON! Let's GO!" She doesn't care what or where, just let's move it! So, guess I'd better move it.

See y'all later.

[Stands up. Tika pumps fist, says "YEsss!"]

Just Dropping In Before Heading Out

SUMMARY: Agility weekend plans, such as they are.

I'm starting to feel as if I'm just a visitor at my own blog. And not being enthusiastic about this weekend. And feeling kind of droopy. So, to cheer myself up, I'll include a few completely unrelated photos.

A good chunk of my family (February) [photo by waitress]

Doing USDAA agility this weekend. Can't say that I'm jumping with joy about going, silly me.

My sore foot (capsulitis) is still sore. I've cut out the daily walks and the hikes and doing stuff with the dogs in the yard--even more than I had before that (after starting to work in an office again). I'm feeling really out of condition and not sure whether I can or should be running--last 2 weeks in class I've left early when the metatarsal/phalangeal joint started to burn, and have not been able to move myself with any kind of speed. Boost and I have not looked good. Lots and lots of bars coming down, too.

Bald eagle flying out at the Baylands on Tuesday (if you look closely, you can see her radio antenna.)

So we're all out of condition, and what's more, to my horror, I discovered that it's not only me who's gone into the Overweight category by several measures, but Boost has gained over 10% of her body weight and is downright chunky! And Tika has put on about the same number of pounds, although the vet says that at her age that's not a bad idea. Still, not a good way to be doing agility for any of us.

Both of my knees have been bothering me--oddly, the sides of the knees and down towards the top of the shin rather than the kneecap area, don't know what that's about. And that muscle in my lower left back is aggravated again, not to mention the shoulders.

What have I been doing about all these things? Mostly NSAIDs and icing and whining.

Sunset Tuesday near Taj MuttHall

It's supposed to be hot, too. Of course the weather's been gorgeous for the last couple of weeks, and is supposed to be gorgeous again on Monday. But 87 (30.5C) for Saturday, 83 (28.3C) for Sunday predicted for Petaluma.

A friend, escalating. Do you see moiré patterns in the steps?

In summary, we're out of shape, overweight, out of condition, completely under trained for what we need. And I'm going to drive 2 hours to get there, and stay there all weekend, and OK I'm sure I'll like hanging with my friends and working the score table and seeing the usual array of amazing runs. But my hopes aren't high for bringing home anything other than a sunburn.

Murals, Balmy Alley, San Francisco

So.... will do my best to have fun with my dogs and any other dogs I may encounter on my journey.

[photo by friend LKM]

And Here's How Saturday Went

SUMMARY: Beautiful day but not so much in the agility ring.

Alarm didn't go off. Actually figured it out this evening--alarm did go off but somehow the volume had been turned to zero.

Barely made it in time for briefing and walkthroughs, thank goodness, but took most of the first class to haul all my stuff and set it up. Didn't get a morning frisbee session in with the Merle Girls.

Jumpers: Boost knocked the first bar, so it was all over for Qing. Ran past 2 other jumps in various places but I kept going and she had actually a really nice time and the rest felt good.

Jumpers still: Tika's only run of the day. Ran PAST the first jump--what was it about the first jump? And it was all over for Qing. Had some other bobbles, but she was very happy, grabbed my foot with great enthusiasm and growling but BEFORE the last jump instead of after it. OK, she was happy.

Steeplechase: Tried to have Boost run with friend Karey whom she knows fairly well. Actually got four trotting jumps out of her before she beelined back to me.

Snooker: Almost everyone crapped out. *Almost* everyone who even Qed got a SuperQ; one superQ in 26" was left unclaimed. We couldn't even do 1-5-1-5-1-5 to the closing successfully -- knocked one of the reds, knocked a bar on one of the 5s, refusal on #2 in the closing so whistled off, oh and several refusals during the opening, too, just wasting a lot of time. We were not alone. Actually anyone who even GOT to the closing was often cheered.

Grand Prix: Wheels fell off. I'm not sure that we  successfully did even half the obstacles.

Standard: A really gorgeous run on an tough course where fewer than 20% qualified... until the very last jump, where the leash runner had dropped Boost's leash off to the side, and she drove forward to the leash, PAST the last jump. The rest of it was just about perfect, dad rat it.

Gamblers: Decent opening although one jump she repeatedly wouldn't go over both times we got to it, so wasted a lot of time and hence points weren't super high. Wouldn't send out to the gamble jump on a wrap around me.

Pairs: Ran UNDER the tire, what the hey?, and hit the dogwalk before I could bring her back, so an E for that, too.

0 for 8 Qs for the day. OK, the weather cooperated beautifully--sunny and shirt sleeves but not too warm. Friends all fun to hang with. Lots of successes among the competitors. But, really, sigh, 0 for 8.

Knee and foot held up OK although I did walk carefully and not too fast most of the day. It didn't *feel* as though running aggravated them. After being home for almost 3 hours and sitting at the computer, they don't seem any worse, not like Thursday night after much less activity.

Soooooooo on we'll go, tomorrow morning, for another full day.

One of our members makes these amazing photo backdrops, a different one for every trial! Here's this weekend's, with you know whozzz. Thanks, Erika, for taking the shot.

If It's Not One Thing, It's Two...or Three...

SUMMARY: Where's that youthful body I had JUST the other day, I'm sure it's around here somewhere.

A few weeks ago, I started having an occasional twinge in my left foot. I'd stop immediately, because that was about how I remember my 1997 stress fracture starting, but then it wouldn't reappear, so I kept going. Before Haute Dawgs (April 5-7), it made itself known more frequently. Seemed OK over the weekend, but Monday morning, walking around the house--quite tender. So, in gradual progression:

• Saw a GP; diagnosis "foot hurts."
• Got x-rays.
• Discussed x-rays, which showed nothing interesting, with my regular GP.  Diagnosis: "foot hurts." Ice, wear stiffer shoes.
• Saw podiatrist yesterday.

Diagnosis is capsulitis of the second metatarsal/phalangeal joint

Short description--there's a membrane (capsule) surrounding the joint between two  bones ( in my case, the metatarsal and phalange (and no, I didn't have to look up either one to know how to spell it) of the 2nd toe). This capsule can become inflamed from overuse or abuse. That's capsulitis.

There's actually an entire article titled Capsulitis of the Second Toe because it's so common.  (The article makes it sound much more dire than the podiatrist did.)

Who knew.

Cure? Six weeks of no use. Practical solution? (Per podiatrist, what my GP said plus more) Stiffer shoes. Better padding (gave me specific recommendation-- Spenco gel something Crosstrainers--and, wow, they do make a difference). Avoid hard or rough surfaces and twisting of foot if possible. Try to reduce activity. NSAID (already taking one--wonder if I'd have noticed it sooner if I hadn't been). Ice.

I mention this because I'm planning on two weekends of USDAA dog agility in a row here, and I'm uninclined to withdraw and lose my entry fees, plus I'm on a team with Boost next weekend so don't want to leave them in the lurch. Plus I'm not too bright sometimes and will run my Human in worse condition than I'd ever run one of my dogs. (But I have a choice and they don't really.)

Before the diagnosis Thursday morning, I went hiking with the Sierra Club Wednesday evening. Didn't bother me much on the uphill, but definitely noticed it on the downhill.

Woke up Thursday morning with one of those sore necks where you can't turn your head to the left without it hurting like crazy. Throb throb throb. Didn't mention that to the podiatrist when I saw him that morning, although it would've been interesting to see what a foot doc had to say about a neck.

To celebrate the capsulitis diagnosis, Thursday evening I went to agility class. Boost and I did mostly OK--I was late as usual on various crosses, more because I'm not moving soon enough. Boost knocked a few bars, refused a couple of incoming jumps on serpentines, missed one weave entry on her *good* side. But the rest felt lovely and fast and pretty smooth.

Knee bothered me a little, foot bothered me a little, but not enough to make it uncomfortable to walk or run as fast as I could manage.

Drove home, sat at the computer for half an hour, stood up, and WHAM both my right knee and my left foot hurt so badly that I could barely move.  Hobbled miserably to bed; so painful I couldn't get comfortable, and the pain in my neck really was...a pain in the neck. Couldn't sleep. Iced all three of them again. Hunted desperately through my cabinets for maybe some Bengay--used to have some around forever that I never used, hmmm, must've gotten rid of it.  Finally fell asleep from exhaustion about 2 a.m.

This morning--remnants of soreness in all three places, but much better than last night.

Do I really want to do this this weekend? Hey, I *am* cutting back on my activity--running only one dog (plus one a day for Tika) instead of 2 dogs.  Guess I won't plan on doing any pole setting or leash running...  and I am scheduled for the score table both weekends, so that involves lots of sitting down, which will be good.

See you all on the other side of Weekend.

The Knee

SUMMARY: ...is wearing out.

I saw my knee surgeon today for the first time since my surgery in November 2006. Went in because it has been doing two "funny" things: suddenly catching painfully on one side or the other, making it difficult to walk, sometimes for several minutes; or sudden weakness when i'm fatigued, feeling like it's going to buckle--but only sometimes, not with every step, and not all the time.

He looked at the xrays, checked my knee, asked some questions, and said, yup, arthritis very visible, getting pretty intense in that right knee (only a tiny smidgen of maybe arthritis in my other knee, go figure), and symptoms are typical of that. It is on track to becoming a knee-replacement candidate at some time in the future. He said it's possible that the symptoms could also indicate some minor damage to the menisci, although even MRIs are hard to read in that area so impossible to really know without going in and looking..

Meanwhile, anti-inflammatories (do prescription drugs for that all the time and have for years), additional pain meds if I need them (mostly not), cortisone injection into knee if pain gets too bad and persists (I'm nowhere near that at the moment), arthroscopic surgery again if I really want, but not clear whether he'd be able to do much while in there (that doesn't sound promising).

Things to try now:

• Glucosamine/chondroitin: He says about half his patients get some relief with this.
• Lose weight: He notes that every pound of body weight adds about 4 lbs of pressure to the knee joint.
• More physical therapy to find ways to strengthen other parts to support the knee.

Dang arthritis.

Possibilities

SUMMARY: What could we come away from the weekend with?

What could happen this weekend? That's always the big question. It could be wonderful!

There are the ucky bits, too: After several weeks of better knees & hips than I've had since I can't even remember when, this week from the waist down everything is a mess, including fatigue and muscle soreness in the lower legs that I have no explanation for. Last night in class, I was hop-skipping the first run or two because my knee had reverted to oh-no-you-don't status. Rest of the evening I was fine, though.

This weekend, hopefully some good doses of agility adrenaline will fix that all right up.

Boost is on her second go-round of prednisone to ease the scratching. Hasn't worked as well as the first go-round. She's still drinking a lot more and peeing a lot more, but no more accidents in the house--probably because I'm thinking more about the prednisone and am willing to get up once or twice in the middle of every night to let her out.

She also had diarrhea yesterday for no obvious reason.

Poor girl, after class last night, she started to head for the potty yard but I thought she just wanted to check out the dogs, so loaded her into her MUTTMVR and took off for home. Shortly after I hit the long, narrow, winding road down the hill, she started whining whining whining, and I finally got the hint. Unfortunately, nowhere to stop until the bottom, so I kept making "hold on, pup" kinds of noises. Right at the bottom, there's a wide shoulder where sometimes trucks park, and I pulled over there, got her out, and she immediately peed a lake and then followed up with very loose stools. (And, yes, she did the same thing in the potty yard right before class started, too.)

Hope she's better today.

Tika is fine but looks bored a lot. Like, "why are you sitting typing on the computer AGAIN when you have such fine dogs who would like to go for a walk?"

Possible titles--

Boost:

• Now we have sunk into the "only 2 jumpers, only 2 super-Qs to the ADCH" abyss. Two chances at each this weekend. How long can this go on? Based on our history, a very long time indeed.
• Also just needs one standard for her Bronze Standard (15 Qs) -- 2 chances.
• Would be nice if she could get a Grand Prix Q. No title, but she's only ever earned 3--in --her--entire--life-- and she needs 2 more to be able to earn her Tournament Silver, which she's getting closer to with Team and Steeplechase Qs.

Tika:

• Needs one Standard for her Perf Standard Silver (25 Qs) --2 chances.
• And, oh, yeah, if she gets that, that's her Performance championship silver, which is the same title level she reached in Championship before I moved her to Performance because of the recurring soreness thing. (In other words, combined, it's the equivalent of a Platinum championship, the highest you can get, but it's in 2 different programs. Sigh.)
• Platinum Lifetime count: She's at 396. Needs 500.  Has the minimum required in each titling class, now it's just cranking out Qs. This year, she has averaged 4 Qs per trial day--so that's another 25 days of trialing. That's 13 weekends of USDAA. If her health holds up (and mine), maybe we could actually do this by this time next year (assuming I don't start adding back more weekends of agility).
• Platinum Performance Tournament count: She's at 46, needs 50, including *two* DAM team Qs. She has Qed in every DAM since she moved to performance. There just aren't that many opportunities. Next ones not until next spring and summer that I know about. That's a long time for a 10-and-a-half-yr-old dog!

 Hope you all have a lovely weekend as today's autumnal equinox moves us officially into the next season.

USDAA SMART Day 1

SUMMARY: The good, the bad, the inexplicable, and the--erm--Musings upon Top Ten.

Well, another day, another 12 runs--rackin' up that experience, I'm telling ya! Remained foggish and overcasty most of the day, which kept it cool and pleasant.

The Good

Boost had two amazing lovely clean runs today!

• Standard: Well, she did come off the teeter without even going all the way to the end, but it was legal. I made her stop for a few seconds anyway, and we continued, and Qed. This wasn't one of those ugly Qs, either, where you're constantly recovering from this or that almost-error. Nope, a really solid run. 8 seconds slower than the winning dog, but I'll bet 4 of them were that Post Teetermatic Syndrome.
• Steeplechase: I had resigned myself to a disaster, but Lo! It was not! Qed and even placed 6th of 32 22" dogs. Three seconds behind the winner, but there were two Aframes and I held her on both in her nice 2o/2o position and told her "Good dog!"
• Bars: Knocked only 2 in 6 runs, which is pretty darned good for her. 
• Start line-stay: Didn't break once in 6 runs, yeah!

Tika sometimes amazes me for a ten-and-a-half-yr-old:

• Ran very fast, almost over the top with excitement, the first two runs of the day (while the fog was still in). Slowed down a bit when the sun came out, but picked up as it cooled off in the afternoon. So, who knows why she was so slow those couple of trials in june/july. Maybe she just can't run through the heat like she used to.
• Standard: Had a perfectly nice  run, Qed, and placed 2nd, less than a second behind the winner.
• Jumpers: Had a perfectly nice  run, Qed and placed 2nd, although I was late on two consecutive front crosses that slowed her down visibly, and we were only 0.13 seconds behind the first-place dog.
• Steeplechase: Had a perfectly nice run, placing 3rd (just 0.6 behind the 2nd place dog) and Qing. 
• Pairs Relay: Very fast, overran the teeter but didn't get called for jumping on the side, and with our partner's nice, clean run, Qed and placed 3rd, even with my long lead-out as the 2nd dog.
• I don't believe she missed a contact all day, and it wasn't because she was slowing down to get them, so maybe the contact work is paying off a bit. Some were actually really nice running contacts (yes, no, we were not *practicing* running contacts).

Me:

• Knees and hips haven't been this pain-free in I don't know HOW long. I don't know why the change. I am grateful. First time at a trial since I can remember in months or maybe a year or two when trotting, jogging, or running didn't make me alter my stride to try to ease the stress.  (That's not to say that I'm a super runner or didn't get tired, but I felt good out there.) Big win!

The Bad

Tika:

•  Snooker. Knocked the first red, backjumped the second. What can I say? Off the course in about 10 seconds with 1 point.

Boost:

• Relay: Knocked a bar, ran past a jump. All in 11 obstacles. Bad way to start the day, but fortunately our [also] very fast partner was clean and so we eked out a Q even with those 10 fault points and my long lead-out as the 2nd dog.
• Gamble: Well, good and bad: Had a really nice smooth opening. Knocked one bar that we took twice, so that's 2 points that we didn't get, but still was the 4th highest opening points of all 40 22" dogs. Even sent out to a couple of jumps, no refusals or runouts.  The gamble? I swung her around, sent her over the first jump, and she just looped back and looked at me. Even when I finally ran out into the gamble zone and put her on the teeter directly, she hopped off the middle of it.
•  Jumpers: Gah. Don't want to talk about it. Good thing she's cute.

The Inexplicable

Boost:

• Snooker: Well, good and bad again. The first 3 reds and follow-on obstacles were fast and smooth and working at a distance and just perfect, all the bars up. Red, jump-jump, red, Aframe, red, weaves, red, weaves... and in that second set of weaves, she popped out in the middle! I can't figure out why--I wasn't going to veer away or anything, and it was the same weaves she'd just done, in the same direction, with me on the same side. Not even popped at the end, which is her usual thing if she's going to pop. Then took 3 tries to get her back in, for which I was going to get no points anyway, and by then it was all over for a Super-Q and I may have let up a little and over-pulled her off a jump in the closing.

Tika:

• Gamblers: Perfect opening. Actually did everything that Boost did (this was an early run and she was running very fast, even thru the contacts), was in perfect position for the gamble, turned and lined up straight and went right onto the teeter and the rest was a piece of gambling cake--except that she jumped off the teeter's side and came straight over to me!  Of course I forgot my camera and there were no videographers there today, so I have no idea what that might have been. SOOOO atypical of Tika in a gamble.  Sigh.

Day Summary

Both dogs will be in Steeplechase Round 2 first thing tomorrow morning--that doesn't happen often.

Can't complain about many very nice things that Boost did today, with Qs in Pairs, Standard, and Steeplechase--although, really, I wanted a Q in Jumpers and a Snooker Super-Q. :-( Trying not to be greedy, but 3 jumpers and 2 Super-Qs are all that continue to stand between us and our championship.

Tika didn't win all day, but mostly got beaten by different dogs, so it's not like she's getting beaten up by anyone in particular. And it was great to see her really excited and running through her contacts in the morning.

Musings Upon Top Ten Standings

Through continuing inexplicable Snooker happenings with Tika, we remain unable to even buy Top Ten points and continue to not show up even on the Top 25 list.  So much for being #4 in the country last year.

Some comparisons:

	Our points this year before today	Our points at this time last year	Our current placement	Placemt last yr at this time	Ended year at
Gamblers	41	26	3rd	11th	46 pts/ 6th
Jumpers	33	38	2nd	4th	63 pts/ 4th
Snooker	11	30	below 25th	5th	42 pts/ 4th
Standard	19	27	13th	12th	48 pts/ 5th

I'm not sure what it all means. I don't know why Tika seems to be racking up the 0- and 1-point Snooker runs this year. I don't believe that (mostly) I'm doing anything weird or stupid. In the last two years, it has taken 30-31 points to be in the Top Ten, and I'm only planning on 3 more USDAAs this year--if entries run about what they've been running, and even if we won all 3 (unlikely), we'd have maybe 15 more points and still be way out of the running. Funny.

In Gamblers this year, so far we're doing much better, also for no apparent reason (oh, well, until today). Last two years, it has taken 30 or 37 pts to be in the top ten--I'm guessing we're probably safely in there for this year even if we don't get any more gambles, although that would be embarrassing.

In Jumpers, it has taken fewer than 30 points to be in the Top Ten in the last 2 years, so when you add our current 33 to today's 3 more, I'm guessing that we're also probably safely in there as well.

For Standard, funny that our points are very different from last year but our placement's about the same. It has taken 34-36 points in the last 2 years to be in the Top Ten, and we are still a long way away from that--although last year at this time the #10 dog had 28 points, and this year the #10 dog has only 20. So maybe the numbers required will be lower this year.

Turlock, Here We Come

SUMMARY: USDAA Agility Weekend

In a couple of years past, the June Turlock trial has encountered high temperatures well into the 100s F (i.e., over 38 C). Who ever thought we'd be looking at weekend high temperatures 20 degrees below the average for this date? And with rain likely both days, when the average for this date is .01 inches and the historic maximum is .06? I'm hoping that means that the rain will be minimal and not disruptive.

I'd much rather have temps in the 60s than in the 80s (or more), believe me! But it's no fun sleeping in the minivan when it's raining, so I do hope there's not much of it.

The trial starts Friday evening with two classes, but I didn't sign up for those--we have 6 classes Saturday and 6 Sunday -- 7 (!) if we Qualify in the Steeplechase, and that's more than enough for me for a weekend. That's potentially 26 runs in two days. Should tire me out, for sure.

We'll have one each of all five regular classes, plus Steeplechase, Grand Prix, and Team (five classes). For Performance Team, Tika and Brenn are partnered once again as Here We Go Again; for Championship Team, Boost is running with Gustavo (of Team Small Dog) the little black mixed breed and AiniA (pronounced eye-ON-uh, don't ask me) the Border Collie, as "It Not Obvious A Saga?" -- heh heh, an anagram of their names (thanks TSD).

Except Gustavo has been diagnosed with an unusual physical problem that translates to oddball behavior due to the buildup of ammonia in his brain, and so they're just starting a whole new life for him with new meds and a new diet, and who knows what he's going to be like on Sunday. In theory, he'll be fine, because he's been mostly fine before and this should just make him better. But we just don't know yet. You can read about it on TSD's blog over the last couple of weeks.

And speaking of ailments: For me, the good, but weird, news is that the pains in my hips have greatly decreased this week. Maybe I just needed to tough out a strenuous hike (last weekend) to work the kinks out. Seems unlikely to have been what helped, but then again, who knows.

We had class this evening; Boost knocked some bars but not a lot, and the last run of the evening was a full 19-obstacle course and we ran completely clean, so there's hope. Tika, of course, was just a good girl all evening.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, whatever you're doing.

(Uzza wuzza all cute wif her widdle feets all gathered together--)

What's a Joint Like You Doing in a Nice Girl Like This?

SUMMARY: Wednesday Night at Rancho San Antonio.

I have a sad litany of joints that are displeased with me. There's my crappy knee (the one that got operated on a few years back). It has been less happy with me in recent weeks--although I think gradually worse over months.

My right hip has been unhappy for well over a year (the one where the doctor thought it was the muscle and it needed rest but just kept getting worse? that one. There's a post about that somewhere... ok, here and here). That's the hip that's sometimes so painful that it wakes me up at night turning over, for example.

Then there's the OTHER hip, upon which I unceremoniously fell back in April at Haute TRACS during the last Steeplechase run. I think it's getting worse. It has now made my right hip's pains seem trivial. Sure, I've done two more agility trials since then, and a couple of nice brisk hikes with the sierra club also.

But, last Thursday in agility class, I discovered that the first couple of runs I just couldn't run, the stiffness and pain was too much. Walked and jogged a little around the field for several minutes to loosen up more, and then barely managed the rest of the class. Haven't done much since then. But have been feeling the lack of exercise, so I tried the Rancho San Antonio Hike with the Sierra Club Wednesday evening. I was chugging along with a bit of hitch in my giddyup, chatting, thinking a bit about the pains, and determined to just man up and get through it--only 2 hours, 5-6 miles and 800 feet elevation, really, a babe could do it!

I made it up the steep water tower hill, about 30-40 minutes in, but, when we continued down the other side, and I had a chance to think about how much it hurt to keep up, I realized, wow, I really shouldn't be out hiking.

The taste of failure.

I still had, of course, 40 minutes of hiking by myself back to MUTT MVR. I wasn't incapacitated, but my hip was not not not happy. My condolence was that I got to snap a few photos on my way back (the troupe goes way too fast to snap photos while we're moving).

I therefore also skipped class with the dogs last night. I still haven't called the doctor to have things checked. Blah.

But, here ya go, Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve in the hour before sunset--on my photo site.

Saturday at Haute TRACS

SUMMARY: 5 *more* runs for each dog, 4 Qs for Tika, and 2 for Boost.

What does Haute TRACS mean?

Haute Dawgs Agility Group is one dog club; TRACS (Two Rivers Agility Club of Sacramento) is another. They used to have April agility trials on separate, adjacent weekends. Back in 2005, they said, this is silly, we're in the same area (often at the same site) two weekends in a row, why don't we save ourselves a trip home and a teardown/set-up and just combine them? So they've been doing a 4-day event (one club does thurs/fri, the other does sat/sun) ever since.

But it's too much to manage, really, for many reasons, and this will be the last year. Then they're going back to separate weekends. Which is fine by me--four days of agility is wayyyy too much.

Saturday morning

The Gamble was almost a gimmee. I haven't looked at the Q percentage, but I'd guess 80%. And both dogs got it and Qed. I thought I had a decent opening, but muffed it completely with Tika (what an array of errors, and most handler-created), so once again we didn't even place, and I held Boost on all 5 contacts that we did to ensure that she's getting rewarded for sticking them, rather than trying to blast through and get more points.

The Standard I really liked the flow of for my dogs--thanks again, Pat Corl. Others thought it was gnarly (in a complicated way), but it was SUCH a doable Boost course, and both dogs ran it beautifully. Unfortunately, Tika didn't bother with the dogwalk down contact, and Boost knocked a bar, so no Qs. (To show you how gnarly it was, Tika still placed 3rd of 9 dogs without Qing.)

Saturday afternoon

Boost's Jumpers course was another mess--20 faults (I think 2 bars and 2 refusals), although somehow we avoided an off-course Elimination.

Tika's Jumpers didn't feel fast to me, and I wondered whether she was slowing down (I certainly was) but it was smooth--and to my surprise, 7 out of 11 dogs in her group Eliminated. We ended in 1st with a Q. So some nice Top Ten points there.

Snooker

It was a twisty turny course with tons of pull-throughs and run-pasts required, front crosses or rear crosses every direction, multiple-part obstacles, and overlapping numbers (so part of 6 was also part of 5, part of 6 was also part of 7, and so on. I think most people spent most of the walk-through just trying to figure out the closing course, let alone figure out an opening strategy.

The course focused on complex handling rather than speed. Oh, sure--you had to be *very* fast to get all three sevens in the opening, and only a very few dogs managed it with only a second or so to spare. I think most people simply conceded the 51-point high possible score and went for some opening combo other than three sevens. I picked two sevens and a four because it flowed nicely. I was sure it wasn't going to be a super-Q plan with a 4 instead of a 5 or 6, but it proved to be a very good super-Q plan--

--except with Boost it was another dang Super-Q heartbreaker. In general, it was a Boost course because it required paying close attention to the handler, which she does to a fault. Mostly it helped us on this one, although she did the "this jump"? dance on TWO reds in the opening and also in the opening blew past the weave entry--no excuse for it, it was a very easy entry--and we had to go back for it. She did every complex handling thing I asked her to do AND kept her bars up, but we missed completing the course by about 2 seconds--so avoiding any ONE of those three bobbles would've given us a super-Q. Even with 43 22" dogs entered, dogs were Super-Qing with 44 points, and we ended with 41 instead of 48. Crap!

Tika nailed it, but by now my legs, hip, and knee were all giving me great grief. Muscles were weak and not responding well, I was tripping over my own feet, knee was giving way under me on some steps. I was late on several crosses, wasting time. Still, we completed it with only a couple of seconds to spare. We were two seconds slower than another dog with our same points, so we were a Super-Q and 2nd place.

But I was wiped out. With the next Steeplechase still to run.

Steeplechase and an experiment with alternative handlers

We had a break while the course was built, but one hip (NOT the one that has been paining me for months) and a blister had me limping during the walkthrough and the muscle fatigue was obvious. I could barely conceive of running a dog at all, let alone two dogs on what was a really wide-open course with aggressive front crosses required.

I briefly pondered scratching both dogs, but I had to stay anyway for (a) the Bay Team meeting and (b) a potlock dinner with friends, and besides, durnit, I paid $20 each to enter that class!

I asked our sometimes-pairs-partner, Killy's Human Dad, whether he'd run Boost (since Killy has had many of the same "this jump?" issues), with the observation that I had no idea whether she'd run with someone else. He took her off to try to play with her and get her to work with him, but she wanted her Human Mommie, dang babydog. I could see her in a sit-stay at the practice jump on the far side of the steeplechase field, and when he finally convinced her to move, she moved straight across the course towards me. Fortunately, no other dog was running at the time.

Maybe she'd have been better if I'd gone with them. Don't know. MUST have my dogs learn to work with other people. Anyway, we gave up on that idea.

So.

Boost ran first. I did a lead-out pivot after a broad jump to a tunnel, which she handled very nicely, but then I needed to do an immediate second front cross after that between the tunnel and the weaves, and my legs didn't work, and my heel caught on the grass or my other foot or I don't know, and down I went onto my hip (the one that was already making me limp). I got slowly to my feet, discovered that I wasn't fatally damaged, and picked up the run where I left off. I missed a front cross that I really needed, she came to a complete stop at a jump on a rear cross (Jeez, wouldn't you think it would be easier to just TAKE it when you're moving full speed?), and as I had expected, ran past the last jump. Swung her around in two attempts to take it and finally did--

So we had no *recorded* errors, but a run time of twice the winning dog's time.

I must say, though, that she did two BEAUTIFUL sets of weaves, including one where I basically sent her ahead of me and peeled off to try to prevent the last-jump problem (she was still faster than I could be), and she stuck her Aframe on a rear cross where she couldn't see where I was going. AND kept her bars up AND stuck her start line.

Tika's run was not smooth. Poor dog crashed into me TWICE when I couldn't get the front crosses in that I needed. I felt so bad for her. I just couldn't physically do it, I was so tired. She amazed me after the first crash, because it pushed her past the right side of the weave entry, and she basically made a u-turn in about 18 inches of space and still made the entry! Such a good girl! We completed the course successfully only a few seconds behind the winning dog for a Q, so we could've competed the following day in Round 2 for money.

But, yeah, I was beat, no way I was sticking around. Besides, MUTT MVR was already packed up. Maybe with a rest overnight I could've run OK at 7:30 in the morning, and she usually does well in Round 2, BUT.

I was very glad to be home in my own bed.

Summary

Tika: 13 Qs towards her LAA-Gold out of 17 chances, two firsts, four 2nds, four 3rds. Qs in DAM and 3 individual DAM classes, Grand Prix, two Steeplechase, two gamblers, pairs relay, one Standard, one Jumpers, Super-Q in Snooker. (So didn't Q in Snooker, Standard, Jumpers, DAM snooker.)

Boost: 3 Qs (including DAM) out of 17. Mostly solid contacts, mostly solid start-line stays, never popped out of her weaves. And an UNbelievably good table-down where I backed up about 30 feet away from her during the count and she never lifted even a single elbow. W00t! Qs in DAM, gamblers, snooker.

Me: I have not been doing miles of hiking and walking that I had done the previous couple of years. Really paid for it this weekend in on-my-feet endurance. Plus I worked as Crew Chief instead of Score Table, so was on my feet virtually all day Thursday & Friday, except for very quick breaks. Must. Get. Moving. Again.