Surviving the Wasteland

AKC show over the Memorial weekend. I worked really REALLY hard at not thinking about the fact that we are in a QQ wasteland (and remain there still, hint hint). I worked really REALLY hard at dismissing the NQing runs and recovering positively.  Since I got a lot of practice in over three days I can say it is all getting easier.

In fact, I held on to a pretty nice mental state all weekend.  Despite the fact that tempers ran hotter in correlation with the temperature, I did not let crabby people ruin my fun.  (Seriously though- SIDE NOTE- what the heck? Dog show equals dogs which equals some amount of barking. Stop giving my Pup the evil eye! She didn’t even display her full lung capacity. You got off EASY! And please don’t further suggest I move her outside when it’s either a tornado watch or 90 plus degrees.  I’d have had a quiet corner for her if there weren’t so many saved spots for people who didn’t even come until Monday. True fact! Side note done.)  I turned it around and just decided to make it all about me and my little Dog.

Let it be known that while we are in a QQ wasteland, I’m ridiculously happy with how she is running.  I’d be an idiot to be any less than pleased at this point.  Her jumping was very good. Back at 20” she is making nice choices about her take off points and I’m making better choices about motion and location.  I decidedly spent zero time worrying about ‘supporting jumps’ and instead focused on just handling regularly.  Clearly, something is working. No bars!

Other fun results- I tried a new (to me) concept for walking courses. Usually, I walk lines and try to handle in the way that gets the most efficient A to B line.  And then I find the challenging points and figure out the multitude of survival plans so my backups have backups. These methods have been leaving me horribly disengaged from the average AKC course for a lot of reasons.  And also, left me working WAY too hard.  Basically I have been trying to get places to collect when I don’t really need it, and in doing so was not always  ‘there’ to cue the true collections points.  So my new challenge to myself was to walk and then find the true collection points. Imagine my surprise when I found one or two ONLY per course. WOW.  So I worked on being at those points and relied on my motion and location for the rest. And wouldn’t you know- brilliant! And because we had an excellent balance going on, she was super tight- even at the times when I felt like I was letting her shoot clear across the ring. She went, but no further than necessary. And no hesitation!  Ahhhhh…synchronicity! It was awesome, totally enabling me to get downstream. I only felt unintentionally behind once all weekend.

AND (the best bit comes now). After struggling on start lines for what feels like years (oh, wait, it HAS been years), we may have found something that works to get Squishy Start line Dog up to full speed before hitting the timers.  She was boiling hot and looking dead on Sunday before our last run, and since it was FAST I decided it wouldn’t hurt to try something to wake her up a little. We went on course; I put her in a stay, moved ten feet behind her (she said WHAT?? Ok I am awake now!) then took off without her, eventually releasing when I was well into the course. She approved. Highly.  I employed this maneuver Monday and she was so intrigued she forgot to squish in her desire to race. So grateful to our friend who has been using this start line for giving me the idea!  

I put many of our runs in here to mostly show the difference between the old and new start lines.  Typically, starting with JWW bums her out to no end. Especially on Day Three. ESPECIALLY when there are no tunnels in JWW on Day Three. But the third day, no tunnel JWW course was her absolute best run of the weekend and her time really reflected it.  In general, in fact, she was much a Dog on Fire for her runs. And really, the NQs were so WEIRD that I’m not worried. Next time.  I feel the edge of the wasteland nearing. 

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Pupdate- nothing to report. Pup sad. AKC hates Frankenpup and the people were readying their torches and pitchforks.  Pup, much like the original Franken Monster, only wanted to get out a little bit but NOT to eat anyone.  She was just a smidge unhappy being crated SO CLOSE to a tunnel, but never being able to take it.  Actually, I’m not sure WHY but she definitely was pretty high anxiety. I can guess that she was sad about not playing, or wanted the tunnel, or was bugged by all the traffic in front of her crate.  But who knows. All I know is that I left her home yesterday, but now she is sick and I really think she is sick from anxiety- too much stress.  From the being there, or being left though?  Not sure what to do with her now.  Snuggles sound like a good idea. 

More media seems required, I've been QUITE lazy with that recently. 

Dog park the other day (after I finished my 5k- without stopping! I am totally awesomeness. The dogs were unimpressed since they ran a marathon from lake to lake at the park that day. Pfff.). The Pup swims next to The Dog like a baby dolphin. Cutest. Swimmer. EVER. 

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The Dog's butt AFTER the dog park. POOF.

Yes Dog, that fur DOES make your butt look big. 

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Koi fish trying to eat my pal at the tattoo parlor! Ok, so they SAID they are friendly and want pats, but do they have to swarm like that??

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And my new little tattoo. 

Yes, it's in Kryptonian. 

Yes, that is the language of Superman's home planet.

Yes. I am a nerd. 

Thank You…Someone!

Not sure if I should thank the club or the judges, so we will go with both. THANKS, BOTC and Judges DAN BUTCHER and DAVID MANCINO!

I was REALLY looking forward to running some of Dan Butcher’s courses. I’ve seen them around; he seems to enjoy throwing in little (and big) curves at competitors. Comments I’d seen and heard ranged from “fun” to “deranged” so I knew we’d be in for a good time.  And let’s face it, I do like AKC, but if I had to do one more weekend of Excellent courses with jumping sequences comprised of only 90 degree turns and straight lines The Dog and I were going to fall asleep mid-run. (Well, probably not her so much. She doesn’t love those pinwheels but she’s a sucker for a long line of jumps.)

I wasn’t disappointed. Actually, even was pleasantly surprised as the other judge also brought intriguing courses with too.

(OK, so I was a LITTLE disappointed when we didn’t get any backside jump approaches but I can learn to forgive.)

Honestly though, the first course we walked put a smile on my face right away (270...yayyyy!!) and that smile just kept growing all weekend long.  Fun courses! Challenging! Different! Engaging! Ahhhh…. Nice. Better than cake. 

Normally, this alone would be enough to make it a good show weekend.  Period. End of post.  But The Dog… she was just… Amazing.  Literally? Perfect. I can’t believe I can say that.  I don’t have much to dissect about our runs.  The little ‘room for improvement’ things seem so very insignificant in light of the one thing that was there and present and perfect all weekend: connection.  Same page-ness. Whatever you want to call it.  I was there to run fast and have fun and she was too.  Consistently in tune, being a team.  Ahhhh… Nice. Way better than cake.

I have three favorite things:  Her happy, wild-eyed starts in every class (wild eyes are a really good sign!), her dogwalk on the first day, and her flawless JWW run in the first class.  JWW Qs usually end up in one of three camps: technically perfect but slower, fast but slow weaves, or fast but with China turns.  I can’t really say what it meant to have that run without any buts, but it was a lot.  

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I did also have the fun bonus of running a Very Good BC Boy too. I LOVE running other people’s dogs.  It did not go very well, I felt bad that I didn’t adapt more quickly to his honest running style (handler errors... so many!!).  Hopefully his mom just gets a kick out of letting him play for the experience?  But he was a lot of fun and I appreciated the opportunity.  I got to try out the concept of ‘crocodile calls’ on his last run.  The idea (Jenny Damm I think) is that if there is an off course call-off opportunity, you better be calling your dog as if there was a gaping maw of a crocodile sitting there on the off course obstacle looking to nom your dog.  The Dog usually only needs Fuzzy Bunny with Slightly Sharp Buck Teeth calls but I had to employ some big scary croc calls with the VG BC Boy and they really worked- I think my voice was quite urgent enough to communicate the importance of staying on course (which is the whole idea- to get your voice to that crucial ‘I mean it FOR REAL’ state. Much like the old school ‘Rape Call’ but with a cuter visual when it comes to the necessary imagery).   

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Poor Pup. Relegated once again to the back of the blog.  I really can’t wait to start showing her.  And she can’t wait either. She’s starting to get really mad about not getting a turn at trials.  I bet it will be an unholy disaster-especially if there are flowers or long tendrils of grass at the side of the ring- but it will be quite entertaining.  

Not Just a Year Older, But a Year Better. (The Dog Turns FOUR Today!)

FOUR??

Didn't she just look like this??

Can that be right?

No, it can't! Can it??

And I thought three was unbelievable last year!

Two was pretty unbelievable too...

So technically we are like the same age now. I think that’s why we get along so well. It helps that we both like watching TV show marathons and drinking cheap wine (when she can steal it out of my glass!).  

Can we watch Farscape now Pleeeze?

She’s still my little girl though.  While she is pretty mature now, she remains the same- a tiny tot of giant, dramatic spirit. At the risk of getting all mushy, I am so very grateful to have her around.  I can celebrate extra on this day since it’s not only her birthday, but also the anniversary of the day she came to be with us forever.  Here’s to many, MANY more years of fun runs, slobbery toys and couch snuggles.  

Dramatic. See?

The birthday spoiling schedule includes a new gigantic filled bone which The Pup is banned from chewing, trip to class to play agility, ice cream after and unlimited access to Orange Ball, the best special toy ever.  Probably The Boyfriend will sneak her many treats that I won’t be aware of, but what’s new there?  

Oh, no, it's too much I couldn't possibly...

Oh, wait I can! NOM.

I do hope The Dog likes agility, because I sure signed her up for a ton of it this week.   When I entered the three-day AKC show, I wasn’t really thinking that it was just (three) days before our much more demanding three-day 4 star USDAA show this coming weekend.  I’m not sure WHAT I was thinking…either that it would be The Best Present for The Dog ever… or that there was a week off in between…somehow. Probably the second guess. Sometimes I don’t do so well temporally.   

IF I had the gift of forethought or basic planning ability I would probably not have entered yesterday. Or skipped the FAST classes the first two days. All I know (now) is that three days of AKC when one has to be there ALL DAY is incredibly draining (apparently).   It really showed in our Q rate this weekend. Quite low for us. I know, I know, I try not to focus on that, just mentioning it as evidence that things were off and I think it was a lot to do with all the sitting around getting sleepy.  Also a problem was that I was REALLY bored by the courses; they did nothing to wake me up.  Out of 6 classes (FAST doesn’t count), we had the same start three times, and a fourth that was so similar it might as well have been the same.  YAWN.  Honestly- exact same first 8 obstacles.   So also probably not too successful since, in order to entertain myself and get invested in the course, I decided to experiment.  Mixed results.   I guess I will call it a learning weekend.  I learned:

*I must have scary challenges or I will make up my own- eek!

*I must NOT have four hours of downtime TWICE a day (only once is surmountable). Five Hour Energy only last Five Hours. (Go figure.)

*My dog jumps BEAUTIFULLY at 20”. WITH Extension.

*She WILL send to a tunnel and bypass jumps now.  Yay for Snookers, bad elsewhere.

*Rear crosses no longer function for any kind of tight turn. 

*In general her collection cue died. Need to work harder on that and getting the cik/cap turns polished for real use. 

Extension in progress...SEE?

So yeah.  Her weaves were pretty variable.  We aren’t sure if the collection (lack of) and weaves were due to bad surface or what. It was pretty slick. But she was running very fast.  Times all over the place because while fast she was wider (not China wide, just standard wide) and her dogwalk really shut down on Sunday/Monday.  We went off course on Sunday because I was so shocked at her dogwalk I did a stupid and got myself in the wrong place.  So yesterday I tried to just let her go and push from behind but for whatever reason she was very sticky- and it started across the top plank which was new.  Have to think about it. Maybe I am putting too much pressure on her?  I’m sure I was pretty turned into her. I’ll have to experiment a bit tonight.  After this show we have very little on the docket for a few months. Maybe that will be good for her. The training to show ratio is off again, so that could have something to do with our issues in general. 

The Boyfriend came to watch yesterday for the first time- luckily he saw the icky dogwalk and now gets that I REALLY need one at home.  He promised to get started on it next weekend. YAY!!! Also I think he had fun watching people run-literally. He is a track guy so critiquing running kept him pretty entertained.  We could do a business venture- he trains the people and I train the puppies! Or not. We’d probably kill each other.  

Anyways. Not sure what to expect next weekend. Hoping for crazy courses.  Hoping to see my Happy Dog again then too. Hoping that there will be NO FOUL WEATHER.  I know better than to expect THAT though. 

Beautiful Birthday Girl!! 

Do I Even Want to Know?

Its one of those things like... if your significant other was cheating on you, would you want to know?

If you had one year to live, would you want to know?

Well, maybe not THAT serious, but you get what I mean.  Those hard questions that make you chose between blissful ignorance and a reality that requires your attention. 

For me, I always say I'd like to know.  Lay it on me; tell me everything. That way- even if it's not good- I have a chance. I can do or not do, but there is a chance.

Even still, today I'm wondering if I'd rather not know.

Yesterday I had The Dog in for an appointment with a very knowledgeable vet in regards to agility  ability.  I had some general concerns regarding her shoulders (that dang ding again!) and wanted an overall evaluation of her performance ability.  She is becoming a far more solid dog in terms of mood and speed predictability but some things still make me wonder- is everything ok? Knowing the type of learner The Dog is, by now we should have steady weaves. There is very little reason her Aframe should vary in performance. Yet both of these obstacles change weekend to weekend. Hmmm.  Put that together with the ding and our recent discovery that she should basically live at a chiropractor and you get: Questions. So to the doctor we went.

Answers are hard. We found that the shoulder ding was healed, but due to overcompensation she was experience some strain and pain in the other shoulder. OK. Acute. Easy enough to rehab away.  The rear end though had some surprising discoveries. I've always known she was a bit tight in her muscle structure, but without a real point of comparison I didn't realize how tight. And how potentially damaging that is.  It all makes sense, and it explains a lot of quirky things she does, but still was surprising to hear. I've always regarded her as a 'good' jumper- but it seems her form is less than ideal for the long haul. While I won't get into a debate on what does or doesn't make for good, safe jumping, I will admit that there is a need to at least build her ability to extend if for no other reason than to lessen the chance for possible injury (which at this point, sounds pretty high).

I won't say I wasn't upset over the results- there was a lot of initial "MY DOG IS BROKEN!!!" but I'm doing better now after speaking to some people who've been there and then some.  I didn't get the impression I have to stop working her (in fact, my homework insists on a lot of retraining) but still felt so guilty running her at the beginning of the day today.  Then it seemed a bit silly. She is careful with her body in agility. I always do my best to control for extraneous variable. She would rather run than not and I'd rather keep going than stop too.  I have, as I said, homework, so there is a plan of action. I've made a choice to do in this case that I feel good about. 

And it seems really, REALLY silly after our second run in particular. She's running well. She had fun. Her jumping isn't as bad as I thought- she can extend some and she certainly isn't slowing down. So I'll take it as yet another skill to train in the name of The Project.

Evidence that she's probably not broken...

But also, evidence that there IS something that needs some fixing.

As far as how today actually went with all this on my mind, she did qualifying in Standard and was in fourth, and qualified in Novice Fast too. I would HOPE that my Silver Gamblers Dog would make it through a tunnel and a jump but YOU NEVER KNOW! Jumpers, the first class, went poorly. The fact that I was worried she- the"ticking time bomb"- would explode led to some passive handling. Combine that with me thinking it was a nice easy course that I could assume her path equaled DOOM. Oh, yeah, also I had recently been training some distance tunnel sends. That equaled extra DOOM. She took off like a shot on the easy start, and completely missed my passive rear crosses, instead ending up focused on the tunnel pulling her far off course TWICE. It was all bad bad bad so I walked us off.  Not mad at her in the slightest- some times it just can't be salvaged. My mindset was wrong from the get go and she was just playing the wrong game (if that was Snookers I'm sure she woulda ROCKED it).  After that I got some input, hit reset and we were good to go.

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The Pup (who detests second billing) is anything but broken.  (If you don't count her teeth falling out like MAD.) Here's her most recent ST e-course video. 

Her heeling is spectacular. I will never teach heeling another way (bold statement, but I don't know how anything could have better results?). She is progressing on her side 2o2o and pole grabs too. Also a clip of her skateboarding- she prefers to leap onto it and ride it, so I'm making her go slow and actually push along.  The best part is her cik/cap turns. She does know the directionals and is coming along pretty ideally, I've been told. Fun fun fun!


I had an 'official' measurement on her today- 14.75".  The judge of measure thought she was quite likely to stay under 16" at this point. Fingers crossed. So very, very crossed.  For both my girls!

This week is going awesome(ly?)!

Dog: Whatchya doing?
Me: Shhh... having a moment.
Dog: Ohhh... whats that?
Me: You know, when you take a minute to like, reflect. It's supposed to be quiet reflection.
Dog: Ohhhh.... sorry.
Me: It's ok. Why don't you try reflecting too?
Dog: Ok.
(silence)
Dog: ...Reflect on what?
Me: The week! The nice week we had!!!
Dog: OOOOooohh... OK. Well, I chewed my bone, and played outside, and ran around, and-
Me: No, to yourself, reflect to yourself!
Dog: OOOOOHHHHHH... I don't get it.
Me: Never mind. I'll go blog about it instead.
Dog: OK... could you throw my toy first?

We had a few good days here. First, obedience Thursday. Apparently, one has to heal with their dog OFF LEASH to show in Novice. Surprise!! Figured we should give that a go in the safety of class. And-even bigger SURPRISE!!! the dog was pretty dang near flawless. We had a different instructor who had us go through the exercises in a new order. I have to say, the Dog's mind was blown. I had no clue how very concrete sequential she was until that moment. We usually do long sits and downs after the stand, but instead did a recall exercise. Poor Dog looked nervously at all her classmates releasing to her owners but stayed firmly in her sit, believing wholeheartedly that every other dog was stupid to fall for the oldest trick in the book (Dog says Don't they know- wait means WAIT! Duh.) by actually coming when I called when she was sitting. It was very interesting and I am glad for the insight.

Then we found out that...drum roll...we managed to secure a few working spots for the upcoming Silvia Trkman seminar! Running Contacts and 'Fine Tune Handling for Competitive Teams.' I literally jumped for joy. After trying to apply a lot of her methodology in the last couple months on my own I am overjoyed at the opportunity for help first hand. I am very hopeful that she will be able to help us through some of the motivation road blocks. I am also auditing her 'cik/cap' jumping session and a session on starting a new puppy... just in case. Really looking forward to it all!

Last, today was day one at the AKC show- BOTC. We are fervently trying to get her through Open quickly, and she gained some ground by qualifying in both classes. Though, she had an off course in Standard. (Dog says Didn't you know- 'teeter' is... uh... French ...for 'jump!') She had terrific contacts though so can't complain a whole lot. It was just kind of silly. Jumpers involved two incredibly close calls, but both times she came off to the correct choice. I drove from behind for much of it so I was really happy to keep her head in those situations. Also proud of me for delivering some front crosses on the fly- she didn't even break stride and picked them up amazingly. Very nice times, even with all the almost off courses (and one real). She RAN the whole time, which always makes me happy. We'll see if tomorrow goes as well, we just need one more Q in each for the titles.