The Happy Tug-Playing Wanderer - Val-deri!

SUMMARY: There are consequences --Only the best misheard lyrics from K_Taj MuttHall.

I posted on FB this morning, slightly different lyrics.

True story.

Zorro loves to play some tug;
He really has the knack.
And then I sit inside and sing,
An ice pack on my back.

Val-deri,Val-dera,
Val-deri,
Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
Val-deri,Val-dera.
An ice pack on my back.

Back on the Back Subject

SUMMARY: Yes, subjecting myself to this subject again.

If you've heard it all before, you may move along, nothing to see here.

My Life With Crapback is so prevalent  in my thoughts because it's so prevalent in my life.   Feels sometimes like I'm in limbo, as I seem to have improved as much as I'm going  to and my body is up one day, a little down the next, up one week, a little down the next, not getting much of anywhere any more.  Still, I have made a long, long journey upward from two years past!

Instead of having to go only to movie theaters where a friend can pick me up at  home and drop me off a few feet from the theater entry (and there aren't that many theaters like that here) so that I could hobble miserably through the entry and to a seat, I can now, as in the old days, park at the far side of the parking lot and cruise on over on my own.  But, in the old days, I could sit there carefree.  In the in between days, I could barely sit there if dosed up on painkillers and carrying a cushion or two to provide expert support here or there. Nowadays, carefree sitting just ain't gonna happen: I am either placing my hands under my hips or thighs and pushing up, or leaning elbows on both armrests and pushing up, to keep the weight off the spine, and adjusting frequently.  This, of course, is hard on my shoulders.

STILL -- I can walk into a movie theater! Across the parking lot! And sit and watch a movie more or less normally, munching on popcorn. As I did yesterday morning.

My paper-sorting days have been few and far between in the last 3 years or so (you know, taxes, bills, records of all kinds, interesting personal keepsakes, etc.) because it's hard to do that while lying or even merely reclining.  For over a year, I don't think I did any of it.  Now I am trying to catch up on those years.  In the old days, I'd just sit on the floor and sort things into stacks all around me  and power through all of it at once.  Now, sitting on the floor can be painful. Leaning this way and that to toss papers onto various piles is definitely painful after a short while.  So it has to be when I haven't already been sitting for too long or doing other activities that aggravate the back.

BUT this last month I have actually been able to make progress.  You know--work 20-30 minutes, maybe somewhat longer, then take a long reclining rest on the couch with ice on my back. But I'm DOING it.

My quality of life during these past 3 years has been so different from the first 95% of my life that it's hard to even accept that it is me that this is happening to. Hard to accept that it's not likely to ever get better.  Walking--I have to keep walking, and walking a lot, but not walking too HARD or overdoing it.  Have to keep doing this wide variety of exercises and stretches--knees, hips, shoulders, spine, core muscles...  and it's not merely a matter of toning up, it's a matter of surviving a normal life.

BUT lately I can actually function for a while  while skipping those physical therapy regimens, instead of needing them to even be able to get out of bed in the morning, and again to get dressed, and again to get in or out of the car, and so on.

And, hey! I can go grocery shopping!  I have to be vewy vewy caweful about how much weight I lift at a time for larger objects or shopping bags, but I can DO it! And walking normally?  Remember a couple of years ago when I could move around a store only by putting all my weight on the shopping cart and gliding carefully, smoothly, slowly? [hmm, was going to put a link to that, but can't find it in Mr. Blog. Must be on Facebook.  Will investigate later.] When getting something off a higher shelf or lower shelf required that I ask someone?  Can DO it now. I have to bend or stretch or twist carefully, but it has become a habit through necessity that I don't have to think about it too hard as I get through the store.

And I can drive--well, for whatever reason, driving in MUTT MVR has not been completely excruciating even at the worst of times-- getting in and out, now, that was a different subject for many long months.  But now I can get in and out of the car; I've adjusted how I do it and if for a moment I forget (which I hardly ever do any more), it's not going to lay me flat out for the next half hour as it used to.

My point is that pain and careful living are my constant companions, but that those are SUCH an improvement over agony and life-on-hold in a drugged stupor.

Every time I decide to take a stroll around the mall for exercise, or stoop carefully to pull a few weeds, or vacuum a room, or carry my own laundry upstairs, it still feels like a small miracle.

If only there were a big miracle around the corner. I keep on keepin' an eye out. As Scarlett said, "Tomorrow is another day."

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.

Tiny Miracles Happen: A Walk In the Morning With the Dogs

SUMMARY: No photos, just a note.

I took Handsome and the Beast (aka Chip and Luke) on a mile walk first thing this morning.  Got up out of bed. Got dressed and walked downstairs. Put on my windwall fleece and flannel-lined coat.  Leashed them up and out we went.

Once upon a time, this would have been normal for me, nothing even noteworthy.  Did it a lot. Used to do it nearly every day for many years.

Then The Spine Thing happened.  I haven't talked much about it here. Keep meaning to, but somehow it's hard to qualify.  But here's the thing:

• Got up and out of bed. Without screaming in pain. Without pain. Without a twinge. Yeah, being careful (as my whole physical life is now, but that's OK and becoming habit). But no pain that made me have a second thought. 
• Got dressed and walked downstairs.  For well over a year, walking downstairs and doing anything else without a warmup (hobbling to the exercycle and gradually increasing the pedaling as the pain eased over 10 minutes or so), then strengthening exercises and many stretches.  Then maybe I could tentatively sit and eat breakfast and then lie in wait for the assorted pain-controlling meds to fully kick in after an hour or so. Then maybe I could walk around and do some small chores.  
• Leashed them up.  Haven't walked these 2 dogs much at all until very recently. Bending to put their harnesses on has, at times, been excruciating for my back, hence a deterrent. Also, they're not gentle on the leash and just a single tug in the wrong direction could put me back into agony & returning home for icing and stretching.  That I felt solid enough to try this with both of them amazes me.
• Went for a walk.  There were a few months where simply doing that, with or without the dogs, was out of the question.  I worked on it when I could. Some days it was to the end of the cul de sac and back. Some days going out to get the paper was too much.   It wasn't perfect today, but we had a walk at a pretty normal clip and both of them tugged fairly often and I survived.  And I was able to bend to pick up the poops without much pain at all--this also has been a deterrent to me taking them out, because if I bent the wrong way, the blast of pain would knock me to the ground, and besides being potentially dangerous, it was embarrassing doing so in front of other walkers.

Still, walking has been easier  (that and lying down, which has always been OK) than standing still (e.g., for washing dishes) or sitting (e.g., for working), which are not as bad as they were, but remain problematic.

Yet--Today I did those walking things and felt pretty darned good.  I hope that this lull in The Spine Thing's progression will last.  I'm feeling content about all that this morning.  And the dogs loved being out and about.

I have so many things to say to myself that I want to track--

SUMMARY: --and yet they stay in my head.

About my current dogs.

About my past dogs.

About my friends' dogs. Who are getting older as I'm not doing agility and not seeing them and their new dogs whom I don't recognize and whose names I don't know and I don't know what they're like. And

About agility and missing it and not missing it.

About pain and pain and pain, inside and out.  About still finding pleasure in life.

About back surgery being very likely in my very near future. And being very afraid.

About my dad who is gone. And still have no words.

About good friends and good times--I don't have many close friends, and I'm not excellent at staying in touch, but somehow we manage.

About Trail Watch Academy coming up and trying to walk 10,000 steps a day and seldom being able to do so.

About Disneyland! In 4 weeks and very excited because I love going there yet with trepidation because trips in January and May were excruciating.  But still wanting to go.

About truly feeling like I'm working towards being Old, not merely Older Than Before.

About beautiful weather and terrible drought and even with that, the survival of civilization with no zombies at all. So far.

About photography and loving it.

This was supposed to be my daily diary of my life with my dogs. Now it is just rather a personal version of Pinterest.

OK, I have another post to do, so on to that.

Agility weekend come and gone

SUMMARY: It was the best of times, it was the not best of times.

I did it again. Agreed a couple of months back to drive down to Turlock for 2 and a half days of agility to work the score table, because I love going down there, despite my better judgement telling me that it was a bad idea.   Waffled all the way up to closing on whether to try entering Boost in a couple of things again as long as I was going anyway, but since I'm still not running, decided not to.

I thought it would be a good weekend, anyway, seeing good friends and doing a necessary job, plus they have that big fenced back field in which Chip could run around and meet lots of dogs and I could play lots of frisbee with Boost and Boost could get to run after other Border Collies playing frisbee, her favorite game, and Tika could wander around sniffing at things to her heart's content.

Here's what really happened:

I thought Tika was going to die right on the spot, all weekend.

Boost got only about 3 minutes of BC chasing, although we did get a lot of frisbee together.

Chip did not run at all. And got to meet only a couple of dogs only briefly. And mostly ignored me when I did let him off leash. And hated being in the crate for such a long time.

I sat, and leaned, and adjusted, and stretched, and supported, and made all kinds of awkward positions of my body, and got more and more and more and more sore. And so tired and sore that the preceding post of Chip was the only photo I took at the trial all weekend.

Today, home again, I am very very very sore.

And that is because (a) Sitting is a very very bad thing for me to do, and I know it. I can't even work full time as a result. But surely it would be different at the score table, since I hardly have to do any writing at all, just a quick few marks on each scribe sheet, and I can stand up any time I want. Ha!

(b) I just forget how many things have to be lifted and carried to & from the car, and set up, for an agility weekend. And I forgot how much more lifting and carrying Tika's condition entails--getting her in and out of the car by lifting her or by lifting & setting in place her ramp, then taking it down, then putting it back, then taking it down, then putting it back... etc.

(c) And how much bending is involved in having dogs in crates & like that.

(d) Not realizing that having Tika restricted to a crate in the car all the way down and then all day would really tighten up her entire body so that she had a terrible time trying to stand up and then half the time couldn't stay standing up after she got up. Walking--"just a little walking" around this site was way way way way too much for her. She slumped. She sagged. And I had to work to get her up and keep her moving. She refused to eat much of anything for two and a half days.

Oh, right, she ate people food mostly ok.

The hotel room looked cheap--broken safety latch on door, plaster coming off wall, laminate coming off the table. I paid extra for microwave and fridge and didn't realize until I arrived back at the room at 10pm with my leftover dinner that there was no fridge. And, oh, when I made the res online, they forgot to mention that there's a pet charge. $10 per night per dog. For 3 dogs, 2 nights. Are you effing kidding me? They did agree to charge me only one night's fees, but I'm done with that place. ("We've always charged a pet fee." "Oh, no, you haven't, because I've been staying here more than a dozen years, and I didn't used to pay a pet fee.") Compare and contrast to the Disneyland Hotel two weekends previously. (Oh, did I not get around to posting about that yet? Heh.)

But:

Weather was gorgeous. Mid-70s F (23ish C) in mid-February, can you believe it? Near-record temps for the dates.

Friends were wonderful to be around.

And I had a great show on my way home.

Sunrise, Sunset...

SUMMARY: What I see on agility days that I don't usually see when at home or office.

Went to a USDAA competition to do score tabling this past weekend. I loved seeing my friends. Doing the scoretabling was a physical mistake, even though I enjoyed it. Still paying for it today. Ah, well.

But I did get up early and I did stay out "late" (enough to see the end of the daylight, anyway).

Saturday morning:

Saturday evening:

Sunday morning around the same time (7:00 a.m.):

(I took this Sunday morning one in about the same place as the first Saturday morning photo.)

Sunday evening:

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.

Chip the Almost Trick Dog

SUMMARY: Seminar.

Before my back went south, I signed up for a tricks-for-agility seminar with Chip. I've been considering my pain levels ever since, trying to decide whether to cancel and try to find a replacement for my spot.

But I've had several goodish days lately, so we went. A friend drove and picked up me and Chip after noon and helped carry stuff. That was lovely, about the only way that we'd have made it.

Chip lasted about 2 hours into the 4-hour session before he more or less shut down.That's actually good for him--when I first got him, learning new stuff was very stressful for him and he might last 2 or 3 minutes before stress signs started appearing and he'd quickly shut down.

Today that became obvious when he stopped accepting treats for anything except a couple of very familiar behaviors (nose touch to my hand, "shake" which is almost ready for primetime finally).  Also didn't want to try anything or do anything.

And my back had had enough at about the same time despite me trying to manage everything to avoid aggravating the nerves.  I spent several sessions, while others were practicing, lying on the lawn with Chip and stroking or massaging him. Lots of people thought it was cute and took photos (hope I get some). They didn't necessarily all know that we were both pretty much done for the day!  

Still, a couple of behaviors that were not too different from his normal life he was eventually willing to try, and he had some fun playing with very simple behaviors with a friend who kept providing different kinds of treats after my kinds fell from favor. So he did end up relaxing and enjoying himself again.

But the seminar was fun and I got a few new tips and it was excellent experience for him.  Maybe tomorrow I'll list the things that we worked on.

Tonight--pretty sore among my various aggravated nerves, and very tired.  Off to bed with me.

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.

Day Two of Useless Human Mom

SUMMARY: More agility dog abuse with friends.

This morning I could barely walk out to the yard with the dogs. Hobbled in from the parking lot at the agility trial site. Did a little bit of set-up at the score table and confirmed with one friend from yesterday that she'd be willing to try running Boost in Standard and Grand Prix.  I squeegeed off a table covered with morning dew--and realized that I suddenly felt much better. So I walked the Gambler's course, thinking that I'd run her, but just walking around the course a couple of times hurt enough that I changed my mind and enlisted the other friend from yesterday.

Sooooo Gamblers and Standard and Grand Prix went more or less like they had at the end of the day yesterday. Today, Boost was more interactive and happy and comfortable getting riled up by the friends before the runs, and she started out running with each of them, but did only about 5 or 6 obstacles before turning and fleeing for the ring exit. Funny, after one of those runs, after she reached me, she immediately turned around and started looking for the friend to see what she was doing. Dang dog. Too bad I can't be out in the ring, too. (Standing next to the ring didn't work any better.)

Our clearly stated goal was to try to give Boost more experience running with other people, and Qs jus didn't matter at that point, just to try getting her to run and keep her running. Better than yesterday, sure. But a long way to go!

Later in the day, the Snooker course had a ton of tunnels and an Aframe, and I've become SO tired of Snookers that consist pretty much entirely of jumps (with their associated risk of knocked bars), and I was so sad and frustrated earlier in the day that I wasn't able to run with my dog, that I decided to try running her in Snooker. It became apparent during the walkthrough that the Super-Qs would be decided by speed, because pretty much everyone (or a huge percentage thereof) would be doing three 7s in the opening.

I thought about scratching because I didn't want that much pressure, but decided to at least try it. Actually worked pretty nicely, and we got all the way halfway through 6 (out of 7) in the closing and I forgot to do a front cross, tried to rear cross a tunnel and pushed her off it. But I'm pretty sure that, even if we had finished, we'd have still lost the Super-Q on time; DANG there are some fast dogs out there! Still, it was nice, I was able to run some, she did good and kept her bars up. I did hurt a bit more while leaving the field, and I scratched her from the final run of the weekend (Jumpers) because she looked pretty tired when I pulled her out of the x-pen for Snooker.

Oh, right, she did get a Q in Snooker, but no Super-Q.

Chip did NOT stay in the x-pen today. I tried it three times and he was out in a matter of minutes, so he went back into the crate today. Today he did not want to play tug with me at all; I tried 3 or 4 times but my back hurt too much to keep at it, so I just did low-key things with treats.My

Not much else to tell; just how my friends are so accommodating and cheerful and willing to try things with my dog, and how helpful people are in keeping the trial running, and how many nice people asked me how I was doing (and i tried not to grumble about having a crappy back--at least "Back is not good, but the rest of me is pretty good").  Agility community is excellent.

My back doesn't seem to be any worse than it was before the weekend. Just on any given day it's likely to be particularly crappy.  But boy, I'm exhausted again. Off to bed even though it's early. The dogs have all been pretty quiet and sacked out, even though we didn't do much really during the day. Just being at a trial with all the stimulation I think can tire them out mentally. This is a good thing.

Operating in an Entirely Different Frame of Reference

SUMMARY: Just try to get Boost doing agility.

This was one of those weekends where it felt like I was back at square two, and mostly it was OK to be there if only my back/leg didn't hurt so much.

Here's how it went:

• Masters Standard (22" Championship): Knocked a bar early on. Ran past a jump midcourse. Wouldn't do the weaves. Just couldn't get her into them until after we'd been VERY eliminated on refusals. Then she did only a few and popped out, so we just left the ring. I tried very hard to be hearty and cheerful. But it hurt when I walked.
• Masters Gamblers (16" Performance): Got lucky with the opening-- a big straight curve with nuthin' but contacts and tunnels, so we went out and back. And luckily the tunnels were at the outer corners, because I could barely hobble my way through part of the course, and I was able to send her to the tunnels, which gave her momentum to do the contacts in just a lovely way.  Didn't expect to get the gamble and didn't, although our timing was good and we were right where I wanted to be when the buzzer went to start the gamble.
• Masters Snooker (22" Ch): Enlisted a friend with whom we do quite a bit of hiking (Carson's & Hiker's Human Mom) to try running Boost. She ran her in class a few weeks back and Boost looked pretty good then. Today, The Booster was having none of it. Sort of trotted alongside, staring up at her. No actual running from the dog. Trotted past the first jump, then took it. Trotted past the Aframe, then took it. Took the next jump, trotted past the Aframe, then took it. Repeat a 3rd time. So in 50 seconds she did 3 jumps and 3 Aframes. But at least she didn't try to leave the ring. (I hid beforehand so she didn't know where I was.)
• Masters Jumpers (22" Ch): Enlisted another friend with whom we've done a lot and who even dogsat Boost (Human Mom of Bump, Dig, and Styx). Last time she tried, Boost did a few jumps and then raced out to find me. Today the friend worked hard at getting Boost riled up and irritated with generous treats (because Boost wouldn't play with either friend at all), and Boost actually ran half the course--not full-speed, but running rather than trotting. Ran past one jump in there, but continued. Still, as soon as the course turned back towards the starting gate, she ran off and came looking for me.
• Steeplechase (16" Pf): 2nd friend also tried running Boost here, with about the same results as in Jumpers. It's progress, but still she won't do a whole course with someone else outside of class.
• Masters Pairs (16" Perf): I scoped out the easy half of the course and decided that I could get Boost through it even if I were hobbling, and my Pairs partner (who was also limping from a gimpy knee) was game to let me try. We ran second and other than turning the wrong way a couple of times, Boost did great, even did the weaves perfectly. Our partner Eed on refusals on the harder half of the course, but no worries--allowed me to relax on my second half, and it's not like we need Pairs Qs really. But at least we had one decent run. 

But I hurt.

I did take Chip out a couple of times for maybe 15-20 minutes each time and worked on having him look at me when I said his name, trying a little bit of circle work with limited success, worked on getting him to play tug with me and stay on the toy, with fairly decent success.  His nose touch to a target is improving fairly rapidly now that I've been working on it almost daily at least a little.  We worked on his revamped Down (going front-first down rather than sit first), and he's pretty good but I do have to signal it clearly, so we need to wean off that. Practiced the down-stay and the sit-stay with fairly decent results (still not taking my eyes off of him, not getting farther away than I can catch him if he starts to get up). Let him hang out under the score table with me for a while (getting treats for paying attention and also scritches and affection) and he behaved very well.

I even risked putting him in the low x-pen with Boost for the last hour or so of the day (since he was starting to make a mess of Tika's soft crate, and it's the only good one that I have left plus the only teal/purple one left in the world) and he actually stayed in, even when Boost and Tika were away! (I hadn't really thought that he would.)

Tika got to come out with me a couple of times, too. Did some tricks, some exercises to strengthen her back legs, back, and core muscles, and then just hung around the score table getting treats and scritchies. Her cough wasn't too bad today but did show up from time to time. She did sort of perk up and trotted briefly after a frisbee a couple of times, but no actual running. Sigh. Old dogs.

If I hadn't been in pain most of the time, it wouldn't have seemed like too bad a day. Weather was sunnyish, downright balmy with a cooling breeze. Grass surface was lovely. Friends were sympathetic and helpful. Score table work went well. 

I took no photos, perhaps needless to say, as I just didn't want to move around that much.

Will try again tomorrow. Playing it by ear--or by back, I guess.

Can I get a do-over starting last night?

SUMMARY: Not the best 24 hours.

My back has been acting up this week. Loading the van last night, I'm sure, didn't help--lifted in the big x-pen because I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to crate out of the car. And just picking up my folding chair, a gallon of water for the dogs, etc., each one hurt. Feels like something's being pinched again.

Did get to bed fairly eary, 9ish--because I hurt too much to want to do anything else. Boost, on that prednisone, wanted to go out all night on average about every 50 minutes. I did not get much sleep. Alarm was set for 5:00. To top off a splendid night, Chip threw up on the carpet at about 4:40, so I had to clean that up (time consuming).

My leg cramped up Thursday night during the night, and today my calf muscle is stiff, tight, and painful. Between my back and that, walking around was uncomfortable all day today. And I'm going to go do it again tomorrow.

Did spend a little time with Chip and handfuls of hotdog scraps, rewarding every time he looked at me while walking around on leash, doing more target nose touches. He was perfectly good most of the time but about 3 times he went into intense barking/alert mode at the end of the leash at other dogs. Maybe they looked him straght in the eye? He jumped a little when we were at the score table each time the automated timeer said Go! or buzzed, but stayed where he was and didn't panic about it. Lots more people met him and said that he's cute and that he reminds them of Remington.

Did spend some time with Tika just walking around, doing some tricks for treats, hanging out at the score table. I really need to spend more time trying to strengthen her back side again.

Boost didn't get a single weave entry all day and took more than 2 attempts to get it right most times. Not videoed, but I'm sure that I gave her plenty of space. Still, her contacts were all excellent for a change.

Jumpers was very nice, but a bar when I called hard as she was over the jump, and I think that discombobulated her and she missed a jump and it took me a bit to get her to think about doing obstacles again instead of bouncing around in front of me.

Gamblers was good, early thing in the morning, she was very fast, only flaw was that she just ran past th weaves entirely (I didn't go back to fix them, to preserve my carefully timed plan). That was our only Q of 6 runs.

Standard was pretty darned good until the next to the last obstacle--the weaves. Bah.

Pairs, she ran past jump on a lateral lead-out, so wasted time getting back to where we needed to be, and then the danged weave entry. We didn't Q but our partner was good (well, a missed contact). Considering that we combined for I think 15 faults, we were only about a second over time, so they were fast.

Snooker, the wheels fell off (that's right after I found out about Lisa, but I don't think that was really the issue).

Steeplechase the wheels, the chassis, the doors, and the engine fell off. She was behaving oddly beforehand, not focusing on me, grabbing the tug but immediately releasing it, like that. I wonder whether she's sore or needs an adjustment? Wish she could talk.

Trying to remember the positives. The outpouring of offers when I asked my agility club whether someone had a wire crate I could borrow--and I picked one of them up today at the trial.

Weather cooperated--sunny but a chilly breeze to keep us from overheating.

Boost does love doing tunnels full-speed-ahead.

Good friends, good dogs.

Tired, sore, hoping I'll get some sleep tonight. G'night.

We're Still Here

SUMMARY: Boost training, Tika eating, Human Mom...wellll...

Hard to believe that I haven't posted anything since Sept 15. I keep thinking of things to write here to keep track of, but then somehow I never implement.

I've started working more diligently on Boost not wanting to drive ahead to obstacles in front of her. Working in the yard, mostly just running in circles to keep her going. Have rented the big field at Power Paws 3 times to spend an hour practicing. Got one private lesson--two days ago--so I've had only 2 days to practice a few minutes each day on that material. (Also got some tips on improving her weave reliability, you know, the reliability where some weekends she is HOT and other weekends we can't do them correctly EVah?)

I dropped my weekly class for a while so that I can concentrate on Boost's Special Needs. Feels odd--it has been a long time since I've not had a regular agility class or two, but I think that this is what we need right now.

She seems to enjoy it!

Tika started coughing more and more and I took her in to the vet Wednesday. He's pretty sure it's "bronchitis" caused by one or more of: weakening trachea (happens in some older dogs), heart enlarging more and pressing on the trachea, or allergies or dust. Lot of construction going on behind us right now to turn the 300ish-acre parcel into a park (yay!) and the neighbors are complaining about the dust, so could be that.

He recommended upping the hydrocodone that I'd been timidly giving her, and sure enough, pretty much no more coughing.

Although I'm not sure that she isn't a little less energetic. Hard to tell, because she's been less and less active and energetic. Maybe a couple of close-to-full-speed chases after a toy or frisbee, and then is content to just wander around investigating things. Lies down quickly in many cases. Doesn't bother getting up to see what's going on unless she's really convinced that it's worth her while (used to always have a Tika tailing me everywhere, every time I even stood up).

Her appetite seems good as long as I keep rotating through 4 different kibbles (NOT the one she's been eating for 10 years and NOT the one that I bought for her back in August--got tired of both). Although she's SO SLOW now. Old timing on mealtime: Both dogs sit. I set Tika's food down and release her, she attacks it. I set Boost's food down and release her, she starts eating calmly, and...Tika is done already! NEW timing on mealtime: Both dogs sit. I set Tika's food down and release her, she starts picking up small mouthfuls and chewing thoroughly. I set Boost's food down and release her, she starts eating calmly. Eventually, Boost finishes and then stands and watches Tika. Meanwhile, I take 6 t-shirts out of the dryer and fold them neatly. Then, finally, Tika is done. It's eerie, how different it all is.

I seem to be making some kind of subtle commitment to continue doing agility, as I have just bought a replacement tunnel for the most disintegrating one, and I've just bought 2 new (well...used) jumps. No activity on adding dogs to the family, though. I'm starting to be inclined to wait until Tika is gone (yikes, painful to think of).

My foot no longer bothers me--mostly because my back has been giving my muscles and nerves such a nasty ride that I've not been very active. But in the last couple of weeks I've started walking to the frisbee park again, and working on a little agility training again, and trying a couple of new things through the physical therapy department. There might be hope. (I think I'll still be struggling this weekend, but mentally I'm feeling pretty good.)

So, this weekend--off to Turlock for two days of USDAA agility. Boost competes, Tika gets to hang out.

I usually, as we all know, get up at 4 am to drive out on Saturday morning of out-of-town trials, but after getting up to the alarm this morning to go up to the practice field, I decided that I can't bear to do that again (even earlier) tomorrow, so I've done the unusual thing and reserved a hotel room for tonight. MUTT MVR is pretty much packed--oh, clothing! Ok, will get to that in a moment--and dogs got some exercise and maybe, just maybe, I'll be in bed in Turlock at a reasonable hour tonight! Worth the expense this time around, anyway.

See you all on the other side of Weekend.

Working on that Snooker Super-Q

SUMMARY: Steps I'm taking.

So, for the first time in many, many months, I've had the energy and enthusiasm to focus on improving Boost's agility performance in hopes of getting that danged last Super-Q.

I've actually been working on bar-knocking in the yard.

I actually rented the big field last saturday morning and again this coming saturday morning to practice just having Boost drive ahead over jumps. Basically I dropped toys in various places around the field where I could drive her over 2, 3, 4, or more jumps to get a toy. I felt that Saturday went well--she's very happy to drive ahead when she thinks there might be a toy out there. I noticed that she knocked bars when she wasn't sure where the toys were going to be, hmm, something to think about.

It was pretty warm, even at 8 a.m., so we rested quite a bit between runs.

Tika wanted to bark while I was running Boost--this is a no-no, don't want to disturb the neighbors, but if I ran her through 5 or 6 obstacles and then gave her treats, she'd be quiet for a while. Not sure what I'm going to do this weekend--have been instructed "NO barking," so we'll see whether it's cool enough that I can leave her in the car.

Anyway, will work on more of the same this Saturday morning--I decided to sign up ONLY for Sunday of this weekend's 3-day USDAA trial in Woodland, because that's the only day with a Snooker, and I just don't want to be out in the heat in the central valley for 2-3 days.

Tonight in class, there were only 2 of us! I asked whether JB would be willing to do some private lessons/evaluations on snooker, and then we agreed to spend most of class trying to do various snooker-like runs. Boost didn't knock a single bar! And she got all her weave entries! I made a few handling errors, but got no refusals, either. I hope this carries over to Sunday's competition; would sure be nice.

My back is still a mess, but my core muscles are getting stronger as I do my exercises (not as often as ideal, but enough that I notice a difference) and I've been doing some exercycling in lieu of hiking to try to let my foot continue to rest but still work my legs and cardiovascular system. I felt pretty good in class tonight, but with only two of us, I turned into a pumpkin before the full class session and came on home.

But, in other words, the enthusiasm that I've had in the past but not for a long while is back. Trying to hold onto it and keep on going.

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.

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!"]