We're Still Here

SUMMARY: So little time--

... And then Boost was sick for a few days, and then I was sick for more than a week, and then my back went out and then I had a big deadline at work and was putting in quite a few more hours than usual...

And here we are, looking at a weekend of USDAA agility in Palo Alto, and neither Boost nor I have done anything worth mentioning in a month. And my back is still a mess.

A friend who has run her in class might try running her this weekend if I think that I can't.

Chip is basically a good boy but loves to bark back at the neighbor's dog who throws himself at the fence and barks off an on most of the day. I tolerated that, mostly, although it got tedious, before Chip came along. Now I have to close him in the house when I'm here so that I can say that I'm at least making an attempt to keep him away.

His nose touch to a target is slowly getting better, about as fast as I'm working on it.  Have done just a little tiny bit of trying to get him to back up or to stretch on command or to Shake.

Working on "come" a bit. Not enough. Sit and down stays are longer but I don't work on those enough, either.

Have bailed on my regular Thursday night class with Boost because I've been making it only about once a month for one reason or another. Might try to get into some basic foundation/groundwork/whatever class with Chip to motivate me a little more.

Tika's back legs are getting pretty weak, and *that's* really where I regret not doing more all the time. We should be walking and doing her exercises every day, but often I just can't. Or I'm not here.

Not much to say, really, which is why I haven't said it.

Just Stuff

SUMMARY: Agility weekend coming, misc things.

I've got so much going on lately (hmm, as always), that the last few days I haven't done a lot of focused training.

With Chip, got him easily onto a low, slightly wobbly agility table to play tug. Didn't want to tug much at first or stay on very long, but it took only a few minutes to be playing good tug while I walked all around the table, him moving with me.

Nose touch to a target, still doing half a dozen times at random times through the day; think I need another concerted several minutes with hot dog bits--sometimes he ignores it, sometimes he's planting his nose solidly in the middle. Can't tell whether he's really getting it or not.

Tika has given Chip the play bow a couple of times but he avoided her and headed for Boost. Silly dogs--because he's been mooning around Tika, nudging her ear, giving *her* the play bow and all that and she's ignored him.

Tika still sometimes gives him the raised lips with sharp pointy teeth and a little snarl, can't figure out exactly when or what, but I think it has to do with being next to me, dangit.

In class last night, Boost and I had sections of excellence but also knocked bars and incapacity to get weave entries. Weaves are still mainly the only thing I practice with her in the yard these days, and she seems to be getting worse, not better. (Not that I'm practicing all that much, maybe several entries a couple of times a week.)

And we have agility this weekend. Not too far away, so I'm hoping I'll be home for dinner both days.

Boost is now in Performance 3 in everything except Jumpers and Snooker. That means she's jumping 16" instead of 22" in P3. That's what we did last weekend, too.

Don't really have all that much to report in on.

Have a good weekend y'all.

USDAA This Weekend

SUMMARY: Still doing it with Boost

This weekend is a four-day mega-trial in Dixon. I signed us up for only Saturday and Sunday, and only a few classes each day (how different from signing up 2 dogs for every class for 4 days!). I'm hoping that that means that we can leave reasonably early on Sunday rather than coming home in the dark.

I've got Boost entered in Performance (lower heights & speeds) in Gamblers and Grand Prix, where she'll be jumping only 16 inches instead of 22. Still in Championship 22" for Jumpers and Snooker.

Ya know, if I could run faster, she'd do better. I just watched videos from our last competition, and she is NOwhere extending and running full out; she looks hesitant with every stride, checking in with me constantly. She still feels fast to me, but I can so clearly see why she's sometimes not making time even when she's clean these days. Crap.

Well, we'll go and, I hope, have fun, and enjoy what should be nice weather Saturday (although predicted into the 80s on Sunday!) and shmooze and take photos and then come home again.

Borrowed a wire crate for Chip to travel in.

I'd like to try doing an informal measurement on him; I'm starting to think that he might be tall enough to have to jump 26" in Championship, which I really wouldn't want him to do.

I should also have him checked up at the vet and by someone who can evaluate the soundness of his structure. Why I didn't think of that before, I dunno. I was overwhelmed by his cuteness.

Good luck all in whatever you're doing.

Results from Last Weekend

SUMMARY: Yes we went off and did agility.

My new ambitious training plan slid almost to a standstill last week and this. Just the usual, hard to find time and energy to get up and go do what must be done at locations other than my back yard.

Still, there was one class (Steeplechase round 1) where we had to get over a series of jumps straight across the entire width of the field. Normally she'd have turned back to me. This time, she kept going...with a little hesitation, but she did it! So, one small success for womankind.

We added another useless pairs Q and another useless Plain Old Snooker Q to our Q counts, and nothing else out of 11 classes.

Another real heartbreaker (for me) on the 2nd Snooker--had she just gone over one more jump, it would've been our SuperQ. One. Jump. One! But no, she decided it was time to look at me and run past it instead. [pauses now to tear hair and rend clothing].

On the other hand, that's two competition weekends in a row where we've come within an obstacle of completing it, so MAYBE we're making progress.

On the third hand, we had several runs where all the wheels came off, you know, running past jumps left and right until I didn't even know where I was any more.

Weave poles were excellent except for one set of the 2 in the steeplechase, which she missed the entry on and then, after correction, popped out; and one set of the 2 in the gamblers opening, which she missed the entry on...twice!..and then, after correction, popped out. I really have no grasp on why all the other weaves were gorgeous and these weren't. Dang dog brains.

Still--she's a beautiful, sweet, momma's dog whom I love to be around and who loves to work!

And Tika got to hang out again, have hunks of her hair pulled out by her mom (I despair of ever brushing her enough, so it's easier just to grab wads that are sticking out and gentle wiggle them out of her coat,  although she doesn't like that too much).

Boost *DID* win a nifty collapsing water bowl in the worker raffle, along with a year's free dog washes at the Turlock dog wash--the latter of which I donated back to the raffle, since I'm in turlock only 3 or 4 times a year and am not likely to spend the time to get my dog washed while there. Although it was tempting. "Gee, it's the weekend and I have nothing to do, guess I'll drive 2 hours out to Turlock to wash my dog."

And, so, we're going to do it all again this weekend, in Morgan Hill, so at least I get a nice short 20 minute drive home in the evening instead of doing a hotel or driving for an hour.

And that's our last trial that I'm planning on for this year, until February, even, so that's our last chance to get that danged SuperQ.  Don't know, if we don't get it but are close, whether I'd change my mind and go up to the north bay for a trial or two, but I'd rather not so I probably won't.

Isn't it nice to have solid plans like that?

Other plans for December include the Dickens Faire, maybe Disneyland again, and, hmm, well, maybe Christmas.

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.

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.

Plans and Portents

SUMMARY: Weekend and life don't go as expected, Tika's heart is hurtin' and so is my back.

What I had planned for this weekend after 3 weekends of dog agility: Macbeth Sunday night and the rest of the time catching up on things that I wanted to catch up on around the house and yard.

So of course, when someone suggests going to the movies, I figure that I can fit it in. Two different movies, different mornings. And then there's that planning dinner with friends for the Yosemite trip coming up next weekend.

Hence:

Plan A as of a couple of weeks ago:

• Friday night: At home catching up
• Saturday all day: At home catching up
• Sunday most of the day: At home catching up
• Sunday evening: Macbeth

Plan B as of Thursday evening:

• Friday night: At home catching up
• Saturday morning: Movie
• Saturday afternoon: at home catching up
• Saturday evening: Planning dinner
• Sunday morning: Movie
• Sunday afternoon: at home catching up
• Sunday evening: Macbeth

Actual weekend so far:

• Friday night: Get MRI of my lower back. Then stay awake most of the night while Tika coughs.
• Saturday morning: Wait for vet to call me back, then take Tika in to vet and take Boost to the park while waiting for some tests on Tika, home for a while and then grocery shopping. Bought some chocolate fudge cake for dessert for dinner--that was an excellent plan.
• Saturday evening and onward... so far, so good per Plan B. Saw Wolverine. Decent but not great. Love Hugh Jackman.

And I think I'll split this into separate posts. So go check:

• Dang Back
• Tika's Good Old Bad Old Heart

Another Agility Weekend--That's Three

SUMMARY: Three-day USDAA in Prunedale

I've been trying to avoid doing more than 2 weekends in a row of agility, because more than that deeply wears on me these days. But when there are three local trials in a row, I just gotta do it. This is the third of the three, and thank goodness I'll have next weekend free to catch up on life. And I've been trying to avoid doing all three days of 3-day trials, but, well, a woman's got to do what a woman's got to do.

Time for statistics about this weekend's entries! Because I love this stuff.

• 89 Border Collies, 30 Australian Shepherds, 19 All Americans (mixed breeds), 11 Shetland Sheepdogs, and 50 other dogs covering 29  breeds.
• 147 people, of whom 94 entered one dog, 46 entered two, and 7 who entered three! Crazy people!
• 20 are men.  That's 13%, or about 1/8 of the competitors.
• The most populous dog age group is the 4-year-olds, with 30 dogs, followed by the 8-year-olds (including Boost) with 25, then the 6-year-olds with 23. Odd distribution, if you ask me.
• The oldest dog entered is 13, and there are two 12-year-olds (including Tika).
• The top dog name is Quinn/Quin with 4. 
• Dog names, 2 each: Bounce, Dash, Kyna, Lark, Lily, Maddie, Sydney, Toby, and Trick.
• The top human name is Lisa with 6, closely followed by Kathy with 5. I guess all the Lauras must be doing something else this weekend.
• There will be 1875 runs over the three days, distributed across three rings. My dogs account for 21 of them.
• The farthest travelers are two folks from Oregon and one from Arizona. Next about 4 from southern California. The rest I think are from within 4 hours of here, and mostly within about 2 hours.
• It takes me about 45 minutes to get there in the morning, 55-60 to get home in the evening.

See y'all there--figuratively, anyway, because as usual my head will be down at a score table. Yeah!

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]

More Agility

SUMMARY: Because one weekend of USDAA in a row wasn't enough.

Aaaaaannnnnnd we're off to Turlock, where the weather is expected to be about 20 degrees (F) higher than normal for this time of year. This is why this trial was moved from mid-June to the beginning of May: To avoid the excessive Central Valley heat. Ha, how's THAT workin' for us?

Ah, well, it's supposed to be 10-15 degrees cooler on Sunday, thank goodness. Plus we're going to have a grand potluck ("Pre-Cinquo de Mayo") Saturday evening, and that's always fun.

Tika's signed up for only one run, on Saturday, and not sure whether I'll run her since it's going to be the middle of the day and she's not been doing as well in the heat in the last year or so. Never used to bother her, but, sigh, it sucks getting older.

Saturday is all the usual classes and tournaments, and then Sunday is all Team. Boost is teamed with two Kelpies, Drover and Betty, with the team name Dogs Gone Wild, which should be pretty apt for our group. All very fast dogs, some of whom have been known to be a little challenging to handle at times. But all good masters-level dogs (I'll include Boost in that, yes I will).

Boost and I did OK in class Thursday evening despite the warmth--only 2 other classmates showed up (others are either off at AKC World Team Tryouts or taking the night off) so we had a lot of chances to run. Boost's weave entries were SOOOOOOOO broken! Curse it all anyway!

And of course bars came down.

But she worked hard at all the drills even when I messed up and had to keep repeating and seemed to be enjoying herself. Tika got a couple of short runs and although she looked excited, wasn't all that fast--heat?

As usual I'm trying to get a steady reading on how I feel about the weekend, but the needle is hopping all over. Good friends will be there, the trial won't be too huge, I'm working score table again so will be able to do a lot of sitting in the shade. At some moments I'm excited about running Boost (when I think of our best portions of runs) alternating with really wishing I were spending the weekend going to movies (when I think of those single moments in each run when all the hope drains away...). Looking forward to team--I think--because in team knocked bars and refusals don't hurt you NEARLY as much as in regular classes.

Maybe I'm just overheated. Hope I can sleep easily tonight... it's later than I had planned, I'm not quite all packed; looks like I'm hoteling it again because I can't bear the thought of trying to set up MUTT MVR to sleep in, although I think it'll be a perfect weekend weatherwise for it.

Guess I ought to give the usual place a call and see whether they have a room. And throw some clothes into a bag and get to bed.

Keep cool, y'all!

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.

It's Back To USDAA Time

SUMMARY: Trial this weekend.

This weekend is the mongo 4-day Haute Dawgs trial in Dixon. Four days is too much for me, so going only friday through Sunday. Entered Tika in one run a day--silly me, I didn't think about it, it's the last run each day. Should've picked something earlier in the day to get it out of her system.

Boost and I have practiced just a wee bit on jumps and on weave entries. A very wee bit. A couple of days. So I suppose I shouldn't expect anything different this weekend than we get on any other weekend.

It'll be an odd weekend--running only one dog and not working a full-time job. What will I do with all that spare time?

That's about all I have to say. Tired. Going to bed.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

VAST USDAA Trial This Weekend

SUMMARY: It has been a while!

The statistics are in; the running orders are posted online, and I have downloaded and printed my copy.

For this weekend's trial:

Day	Total  Runs	Steeplechase/ Grand Prix	Starters	Advanced	Masters
Saturday	665	83  (St)	85	77	420
Sunday	425	85 (GP)	51	49	240

In Masters, the 420 runs are in 5 different classes (Standard, Jumpers, Gamblers, etc.), so that's about 84 dogs per class.  Of those 84, about 40 are in Boost's jump height, so competing directly with her. Or we're competing with them. WHY did I get a 22"-jumping dog??

Now, in *Tika's* jump height, there are 11 or 12! That's actually a huge number for that group! Whoo, if we place we could get a ton of Top Ten points...

Oh.

Nevvvvverrrr miiiiiiiiind.

I'm thinking of taking a retirement cake if I have time tomorrow to pick one up somewhere.

Funny the difference between masters and the lower levels. There are about 15 dogs in advanced, 17 in Starters. Among those, apparently there will be a few friends running their young dogs for the first time this weekend. Always exciting.

I'm having to remember all the things about going to a competition. Three months off feels like an eternity in some ways--will have to get back into the habit of what needs doing, when. You'd think that after 250 trials more or less, I'd just know by instinct now.

I'm splurging this weekend and staying in a hotel both Friday and Saturday nights. This is SO different from (a) usually driving out Saturday morning after getting up at 4 a.m. and (b) sleeping in MUTT MVR onsite if weather is halfway decent.

 I justified this because I'm entering only one dog so didn't have to pay Tika's entry fee--actually 2 nights in this hotel is less than the entry would've been (by just a tad). And secondarily because I haven't been to bed before midnight or even later most nights in the last couple of weeks, too much work-work to get done, so expecting to (a) go to bed at 8 this Friday night and be able to fall asleep quickly and (b) get up at 4-dark-fifteen and be able to drive safely on no sleep is just crazy. So, driving out there tomorrow night. I haven't done that in years--slept in a hotel 2 nights OR driven out on Friday instead of Saturday morning.

I will miss seeing the sunrise, though--best part of the morning drive.  Assuming that it's not raining, which looks like it won't be.

I skipped class tonight because I'm SO desperate to get this one document finished. It'll be another late night anyway. This is my break time.

I am SO looking forward to going and hanging out with all the people I like and running my border collie. This is good--means 3 months off was the right tune-up for my attitude.

That is all.

Agility in the Autumn

SUMMARY: Off to Turlock for USDAA

Well well well, here we are, our last planned agility event until February. Three months! Can I stand it? Especially since Tika should (if all goes well) be well under 20 Qs away from her platinum lifetime after this weekend. And who knows what condition she'll be in 3 months from now.

But--I think it's for the best that I take a longer break, even though there are trials we could attend.

Tika has been having this weird sort of cough/gag thing for months, and recently it seems to be more frequent. Yesterday she was doing it a lot, and then--OMG, off and on all night. I hardly slept. I've never noticed her doing it at night before. Allergies? My renter suggests--acid reflux? Something worse? Something boring? Something contagious? I doubt contagious since it's been going on for so long.  Vet's office said bring her in Monday, so I need to get through 3 more nights and a weekend of agility.

Ack, there she goes again right now.  I shot a little video of her on my little camera, but the sound doesn't come through very well. At least I have something to show the vet.

She's still not completely deaf, but oh, it sometimes breaks my heart how much she misses, or ALMOST hears. The other day, I arrived home, came in through the garage. She was standing at the front door, staring at it, head a-tilt. I walked up the stairs six feet behind her, said her name a couple of times. A couple more head tilts towards the door. I had to walk over to her before she turned her head and realized that I was already in the house. Much happiness.

If I'm going somewhere where the dogs usually like to go (out in the yard, up to the bedroom), now I have to go to wherever she is and let her know that I'm moving, because otherwise she misses that fact and sometimes I hear her trotting around looking for me.

Anyway.

This week, haven't practiced much agility. Also, class was called on account of rain. Back yard is a bit muddy and goopy, not making me want to run around in it.

I did work with both of them on a few tricks last night, which I haven't done in a while. Started shaping a "wave" from the handshake that they both already know. Made a lot of progress actually. It's really pretty quick to teach. I'll bet I could have the whole thing in another one or two 10-minute sessions. Just need to do it.

Forecast is for overnight lows around 34 F (1.1 C) with a chance of showers on Saturday. I decided to splurge again and stay in a hotel Saturday night instead of trying to sleep in MUTT MVR. Nothing fancy, just something pretty close to the trial site. And I dug out the long underwear for the first time this year.

Funny story--When I got up this morning, I heard a weird sound in the upstairs hallway, like some kind of machine running and sucking or blowing air. It seemed to be coming from the renter's rooms and I couldn't figure out what the heck he was doing, as it's way too cold for A/C. Arriving downstairs, I realized--the furnace had just kicked on for the first time in months and was heating my house. 

So I guess winter is finally here, after setting record-high temperatures for the dates just last week.

Guess I'd better go try to get some sleep so I'm ready when the alarm goes off at--sigh--4:00ish.

Transient failures

SUMMARY: Pondering the frustrations and annoyances.

You know about transient failures, right? A brief malfunction that happens at unpredictable intervals. Like when you can't post a comment on Facebook, and then, moments later, you can.

So.

Remember back on September 16/17, when, after showing no signs or issues, Tika became suddenly so much in pain that she could barely stand? And then, after 26 hours, abruptly with no apparent cause, she turned right back into her usual bouncy, running, cheerful self?

Yesterday morning, we were out in the yard. I threw the toy for the dogs a couple of times, then left them to their own devices while I wandered around picking up a day's worth of dog poo. Suddenly behind me, a sharp, high-pitched yelp! When I turned around, Tika was on three legs and beating it for the house (she always goes inside when she's in pain, and sometimes even up to my bed).

I looked at and felt her pads, her toes, her toenails, her whole front left leg, and got no reaction. But, every time she tried to stand, a little whimper and back on 3 legs.

Human Mom is cursing the luck--we have a USDAA trial this weekend that it's too late to ask for my money back from. And class Thursday night, to boot. But I'm not going to fall for the trick of taking her to the vet again, since the last time was an expensive way of learning nothing.

So. Fast forward a few hours, until about 2 hours before class, I walk into the front hall where the leashes live--and Tika appears with a huge bouncy sproing, then leaps several times straight up in the air with all four feet off the ground. (She LOVES going for walks.) And no hint of any kind of soreness.

I ran her tentatively in class, then full out, and she ran just fine, didn't look uncomfortable at all. She's still fine this morning.

Transient failures of Tika's body. Hope it doesn't happen again any time soon.

Last night, as on most nights recently, I herded Boost out the back yard before bedtime to try to get a little pee out of her so I wouldn't have to get up in the night. There are 5 steps down from my porch to the yard. I've gone down those steps a zillion times, day and night, light and dark. And the back light was on.

And yet, somehow, I hit the last step wrong just WALKING calmly down the steps. My ankle twisted under me and I hit the pavement hard. For about 30 seconds, I thought maybe I had broken my ankle, it hurt so bad. Thank goodness, the pain died away quickly and allowed me to concentrate on emitting profanity about my hand, knees, arm, and shoulder.

The short story is that I lived to tell the tale. I have skin scraped from one knee (apparently onto the inside of my jeans, which were unharmed in the making of this film). The other knee is bruised feels a bit twisted (dang, and it felt SO GOOD in class last night). The ankle is a bit sore, although only slightly puffy in one spot this morning. The wrist only hurts when I laugh--no, actually when I play tug with the dogs or try to open a prescription pill bottle or reach suddenly for the computer mouse or, like, bend it. My back and shoulders just feel out of sorts in one way or another.

What happened to my brain/feet/instincts last night? Dunno. Transient failure. Hope it doesn't transiently fail again.

... because we're off to try to pick up a few more of them thar Qs in Dixon. Glad that both Tika and I can still run.

USDAA This Weekend

SUMMARY: Out of town in Turlock

Welllll we'll see how the little bit of bar-knocking medicine I've given Boost lately helps at all. For the last month or so, I've been trying to stop her in class and in the yard every time she knocks a bar and give her a time out.

Opinions are mixed on whether this is a good idea. I've read some trainers who believe that this just stresses the dog out more. On the other hand, Boost's sister Tcam, who had a tendency to knock bars and got this same treatment I've been doing, just ran two clean runs at the World Championships and placed third in the Jumpers competition. Tcam never looks stressed out to me when we're in class--she is one happy, eager dog with a happy, eager handler.

In class last night, Boost knocked 4 or 5 bars (I'm supposed to be counting but I lost track). Not a good average. On the other hand, her last run of the evening was super duper.

Tika has been--I dunno, getting older? For the last 3 nights in a row, when she got to the stairs to go up to bed, she put one foot on the step, backed off, put it on again, hesitated--looked like she'd forgotten how to climb stairs. Or maybe something hurts when she does it, but she looks fine running in the yard and I've not seen her looking stiff....

Oh, wait, except last night in class when I tried to get her to stretch out against my chest, she wouldn't extend her front legs fully.

Oh, crap, I forgot about that. Well, too late now to find a chiropractor. Maybe it's time to dig out that How To Massage Your Dog video that I put a ticket in for in a worker raffle and won. She did look good running in class, so maybe we're OK.

My knee has felt good the last couple of weeks--I felt like I was really moving comfortably and quickly around the course last night. Hope it holds up.

Weather, thank goodness, is supposed to be mild this weekend, and although rain is coming, it's not supposed to arrive until Monday. Perfect!

I have no specific goals except to try to relax and enjoy whatever happens. The underlying goals are still, as always, to get Jumpers Qs and Snooker SuperQs with Boost, and just as many Qs as I can with Tika in the hopes of maybe being able to finish her Lifetime Achievement Platinum (500 Qs, and we need only 31 more). Not sure we're going to get there.

This weekend, out of 100 dogs competing, only three are older than Tika. But, well, they're still going, and Jake was still going at 15 (well, one run a day; and I've never known how accurate his age estimate was). So, we'll see. If we get there, that would be nice, but I think I'm done running all over the place weekend after weekend trying to get Qs.

So, here we go! Hope you all have a nice weekend doing whatever you're doing, too.

Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back

SUMMARY: Boost's jumps and weaves; Tika in general.

Well, Thursday night's class was interesting for the Merle Girls.

Back up a step.

Last weekend, Boost handled beautifully, as if runouts and refusals had never been an issue. But, out of 12 runs, Boost knocked 10 bars. Ten! That's, shall we say, excessive. And although her weaves, which have been really excellent for several trials now, were perfect on Saturday, on Sunday out of 4 weaves, she missed one entry and, on another, popped two poles early.

The weaves were nuts, because I've been practicing weaves and not much else lately. So we might just be in another one of her sine-wave cycles (I should plot it out sometime) of not knowing how to do weaves.

The bars were nuts, so I actually had the energy and determination to do bar-knocking drills at home three days this week so far.

So, in class last night: Boost popped out of the first set of weaves FOUR times IN A ROW! Jeez!

But she continued her awesome running style from this weekend--nice run after nice run after nice run, just the way I always imagined it would be with her.

And the entire evening, she knocked or ticked only ONE bar!

Hi C-Era Interstellar Propulsion: Always a challenging border collie.

Tika, meanwhile, had a pretty nice weekend of competition: Qed 6 out of 8, and missed Qing in each of the jumpers by one bar, which has been unusual for her since she moved to performance. She placed 2nd in both Steeplechase and Grand Prix, which is pretty good for an 11.5-year-old dog.

But in class, all kinds of things went awry that I'm assortedly attributing to her not hearing well, possibly her not seeing well, and me not being fast enough to compensate for what always used to work well. After each of our garbled runs, I wondered how we ever manage to Qualify at all with this kind of handling and confusion.

Now, if I stop because we've gone astray in class, she *immediately* goes into "I'm looking for treats somehwere in the grass here" mode. She used to do that quite a bit when she was a young dog, but not much at all for several years. I'm taking it as a sign of stress rather than her really being naughty--I think she really doesn't understand what I want and probably doesn't understand why I'm not SAYING anything (do dogs realize that they're going deaf?).

Anyway, everyone presents challenges, including myself. Last week in class, I felt fleet of foot. This week, legs dragging. What's the difference? No idea.

Soooooo we might do a few more drills today and tomorrow.

This weekend, Friday through Monday, is the Western Regional Championships, and for only the 2nd time since 1995, I'm not going--well, except that I gave in an signed up for just the first two classes Sunday morning: Jumpers and Snooker, hoping to get that last Snooker that Tika now needs for her PDCH-Gold at our home club. If I don't stress out too much about it, which I'm wont to do.

So, if any of you are there, I might see you during my brief appearance Sunday morning. Otherwise, good luck at whatever you're doing this weekend, and have a great time.

Thoughts From Last Weekend and CPE This Weekend

SUMMARY: strengths and flaws and fun.

Some things I noticed from last weekend:

• Both dogs left the start line early once last weekend. I don't remember which course(s). I didn't even write it down afterwards. I don't know why I kept running--well, maybe I do: It has been ages and ages since either left before I released them, and I think (a) I was surprised and already starting to move, and (b) I chalked it up to, as Bartholomew Cubbins said, one of those things that "just happened to happen and was not very likely to happen again."  It's random, I guess. I hope.
• Both dogs had awesome downs on the table. Why last weekend? Who knows. I have been practicing a bit with Tika doing quick downs while running or repeatedly on the table at home--but I've done that before with no apparent help in the actual competition. It's random, I guess.
• Boost had some weave pole issues. It's another thing that she hasn't really missed or popped out of in a while, but I think we had 3 different cases--hit the entry and skipped, popped out early, and ran past them completely. Why now? Who knows? I hope this isn't the start of another "I don't know how to do weave poles" era. It's random, I guess.
• Boost actually handles well at a distance but from the side, not behind. Like, it seems to be no trouble to do a huge distant arc of jumps where I'm twenty feet inside the arc but parallel. More trouble if I'm closer to her and parallel, or if I'm behind her. And I think knocks more bars if I'm ahead of her. I'm not sure what this all means. Not sure whether it's random.
• Tika is less comfortable now with me crossing behind her. Need to try to find ways to stay ahead of her and always in her sight. This is challenging, because she can still move pretty darned fast. Dang, now I have TWO dogs that I have to manage more.
• Boost's contacts were lovely. I think she left only one early. Why now? Who knows; we haven't been practicing these the last couple of weeks. It's random, I guess.

This weekend: CPE locally. Only about 25 minutes from my house. I go because it's close, because it's a fun relaxing weekend for me, and because I want to support any trial that's close to my house. Unfortunately we don't seem to get many entries for this trial. I don't get it--we used to get lots of entries for the CPEs at Twin Creeks, which is only about 30 miles away. Oh, well.

So we might not ever have agility really close to my house again. The challenge of living in a dense suburban/urban area, I guess. Lots of conveniences--like I had several choices of which theater to go to tonight for a 3-movie Batman extravaganza--but nowhere to do huge USDAA trials.

Maybe I'll go practice some agility stuff with the dogs. Randomly.

Trying To Give It Up and Not Succeeding

SUMMARY: All those elusive titles.

It's USDAA time again. Fairly local (40-60 minute drive from home). So that's good.

I've done so little training the last couple of weeks that even my previous "very little training" looks like a lot. Even skipped class last week. Did two days of really working on contacts with both dogs (that's maybe 20 minutes each on those two days). Couldn't tell in class last night--Tika's contacts are always lovely 2o/2o; Boost continued to pop her front feet off the side and look at me, although she did one really awesome old-style Boost contact that she got a lot of rewards for. Next time she still stopped off the side.

Boost knocked bars a lot last night.

Tika was checking in with me a lot and a lot of little bobbles where I think she's committed but then she glances at me & changes her mind--all the "new Deaf Tika". She's running fine, though.

I really had hopes about finishing Tika's Gold PDCH. Piece of cake, right, such a Q-able girl? But (I've commented before) this thing about not even being able to get plain old basic Snooker Qs all of a sudden is killin' me. We still need 4 of them. I keep trying simple courses and we muck it up. I'm doing better with BOOST in snooker than with Tika, which gives you an idea of how messed up we are!

I had been thinking of taking most of the rest of the year off from agility, but those dang 4 snooker Qs are going to nag at me, because nowadays I just really don't know how much longer Tika will be wanting or able to do agility.

This weekend at Bay Team: One chance.

Two weeks later at SMART: One chance, unless I want yet again to take a half day off work and do the one they're offering Friday evening. I'm so tired of using my vacation on agility.

Then a month and a half more until my next chance, another SMART, and not sure whether it'll be one or two chances.

I'm skipping the Bay Team regional over labor day.

Two weeks after that, I'm going to Disneyland (I think) instead of that USDAA trial.

Then, after that through the end of the year, there are only 4 more USDAAs, all out of town; one is in Santa Rosa which I'm skipping now--never much liked going up there, and Tika now does so poorly there because of the ambient noise that it's not worth the trip.

I'm guessing I'll be needing to do those out of town ones to try to get enough Snookers, because the way things are going, every month with Tika so greatly increases the risk that she'll be done competing, and every snooker we fail at--well--makes me crazier.

...

And should I even mention the ungettable Jumpers and Super-Qs for Boost's ADCH? I had been kinda thinking that when tika finished her Gold PDCH, we'd take the rest of the year off and give my energy level a break, but now I'm not sure that's going to happen.

Ah, well, the dogs seem to like going to agility things, so I'll try to do my best to just enjoy them. Weather should be SOOOOOOO much nicer than that 105 degrees two weekends ago. Out close to the coast, early morning fog, like that.