And what has Molly been up to? A lot.

At last!  A Molly update! 

Two weeks ago we went to a CPE trial close to home.  Since Molly did well at her prior two trials, I had high hopes for this one.  Why did I want to move up to Level 3 again?  

Not only are the courses getting more challenging - but Molly was not herself that weekend.  She was pulling every old Molly Trick that she had, she did not want to do the weave poles (odd - she's no weave queen but only in the past two trials has she refused them like this.) and she would be hellbent on obstacles I was trying my very hardest to keep her away from.  We were quite a pair.

Friday was

Snooker Level 2 - our final Q in Level 2!  We did Left Red to the 7-TunnelCombo, Middle Red to 2-Jump to Right Red, Back to 2-Jump and finished the closing sequence.  Molly was really much herself on this one - happy...fast...a few bobbles but really working with me well.

Standard Level 3 - This was unfortunately typical madness followed by total unwillingness to do the weave poles.  I switched sides to get her to take them, but that put her in the wrong end of the upcoming tunnel.  Sigh.  We NQ'd for two off courses.

Saturday was 

Jackpot Level 3.  I played around on the course for way too long and was nowhere near the gamble when the whistle sounded.  My bad.  As normal, Molly pulls off of a gamble to come check in on me after nearly every obstacles.  Will she do that out on a straightforward course?  NO.  Ah well, this NQ was as much my fault as hers.  (I know, I know.  They are ALL the handler's NQ's.)

*I ran my friend's dog Luna on this course as well.  Luna worked much nicer for me and our plan was going great...until she spied her momma and left the ring!  Oops!

Standard Level 3.  A disaster.  I felt like Molly and I were not ready for this.  For one thing, I had no clue if Molly could handle a three jump lead-out.  (Why haven't I practiced that?!  It's on my to-do lits now for sure!)  That was what I wanted to do, but I chickened out.  So Molly ran Jumps 1-3 and straight into the tunnel instead of the Number 4 jump.  Whoops.  Then out of the tunnel and over the jump and into a tunnel instead of the weave poles (she also did not do her weaves properly.)  The rest of the course was okay - the pressure was off, damage done.  

Fullhouse Level 3.  At last, a confidence booster!  If there is one thing that Molly and I can do, it's Fullhouse.  We needed 23 points and earned 28, good enough.  And now we are out of Level 3 of Fullhouse - onward to Level 4!  

Colors Level 3  This was giving me fits.  Have a look at the map and you will see why.  I wanted to do the square course.  I had to lead out and trust her to take the tunnel (she did) and then get her over the next jump and then the one diagonal to that jump NOT the one in front.  Sure.  We'll do that.  So Molly of course just did a straight blast.  My brain short circuited and I thought, "I have to do the circle course!"  I had not even walked it!! (it confuses me to walk both.)  Somehow we ran that whole circle course clean and nicely.  She did the weave poles and all.  I think she was making fun of me.  However, we were NOT on the right course.  We had actually started the circle course, so we received  off course faults for every square-course obstacle taken.  155 Faults!  I was told that this was the most faults any dog has earned in the history of 3D Dog Training's trial history.  

Great.  Just great.  Paul, the judge, told me "you did something weird.  You got all those faults, but you did it so quickly that you didn't get No Timed.  Usually when people make that big of a string of mistakes they are out there for so long that they get No Timed and then it all goes away."
NOT US.  WE ARE FAST ENOUGH TO RACK UP AS MANY FAULTS AS POSSIBLE UNDER THE STANDARD COURSE TIME.  

I saved the Sticker with our run details and will keep it forever.  It makes me smile.

Jumpers Level 3.  This was a Q and our last Level 3 Jumpers.  This means we earned our CL3-F title, whoah!  This course was goofy.  I went out around the right side of the 3-Tunnel and was SO mad at myself for doing it. (I did NOT walk it that way!)  It messed us up for the rest of the course.  We collided with each other and then Molly was frustrated with me and not working nicely from there on out.  She refused a few jumps and also tunnel and needed extra encouragement for many obstacles.  It was a Q with 0 faults but it was clunky and not a run that I loved.  

Sunday

Jumpers Level 4 was first.  It looked like a super fun course.  I wouldn't know.  Molly took the first two jumps and then ran out of the ring to go say hi to the dog that had just been there.  I felt absolutely awful and confused about it.  My first reaction was, "I should NOT have taken her out there while another dog was in the ring."
But as I look at other videos of Molly, I see her looking at other dogs when they leave the ring.  She has not done this before.  (other than her sheer joy in and out ring departure at the recent USDAA trial.)

Very disappointing.  Worrisome.

Colors Level 3 next.  

I chose to do the square course.  All was going well, but when Molly came out of the number 6 tunnel she headed straight for the Aframe and Don't You Try And Stop Me!  So we got an off course and an NQ for our efforts.

Wildcard Level 2 next.  I really really wanted this Q because it meant the completion of Level 2!  (WHY do I want to move up again?!)  Molly must have known, because we had a really nice run together, Q'd and finished Level 2.

And our trial ends there.  We scratched before Standard and Jackpot.

When I pulled Molly out of her crate to potty her before Standard, she was lame on the left foreleg.  Groan.  Not again!  

Her Jumpers run last night was weird.  The ring run-out was weird.  I had a "did I imagine a limp?" moment before her Wildcard run.  I have to wonder if her neck had started bothering her on Saturday evening.

We went home and I gave Molly an asprin.  She let my husband rub her neck, but when he hit a certain spot she grunted and moved away from him.  Something hurt in there.  When Perri pounced on her on the couch, Molly gave a warning snap.  

We went to our regular vet and got much of the same advice as last time: rest her.  Recurrent neck strain injury.  Give her asprin.  I was told that she could have an anti inflammatory, but maybe it is a good thing for her to feel some discomfort so that she takes it easy.  Agreed.  No x-ray, the vet felt it would not show anything.

I want for answers that I am not getting.

On Saturday, we visited the chiropractor that gave the presentation at the corgi picnic.  Of course by then the limp was long gone.  When I opened the door to the office, Molly thought she died and went to heaven.  A cramped waiting room with four people sitting in it!  She was body wagging ecstasy.  We were taken to a room in the back and waited for Dr Burak.  When he came in the room Molly charged him looking for kisses, and he admitted that she gave him a bit of a scare!

Dr Burak felt Molly's shoulders and neck all over but said that he felt nothing to laser, but he would of course give her an adjustment.  That was fine with me.  I did not make the appointment so much as a diagnostic effort, more the fact that I think such a hard hitting dog should have her spine straightened out.  He did mention that it would be helpful to get a video of Molly when she goes lame, and I don't know why I didn't think of that.  

Dr Burak let Molly sniff the tool that he would be using to adjust her back.  She walked away, lip licking and giving us little tail wags, "Thank you but no thanks."  I coaxed her back over and we sweet talked her into it.  Before long, Molly went from sitting uncomfortably and wanting no parts of the chiropractor to standing right next to him.  She abandoned me!  It was over before she knew it.

So, we watch and wait.  Molly handled four days of camping and swimming just fine, with no limp.  I will be excited to get her back to agility class this Monday.  Hopefully she stays sound.

Life is too much fun, no time to be lame.