Part of pandemic life is adapting. I have been so grateful for all dog competition venues who offer virtual options to keep me motivated, to keep the sense of community that I love about dog sports and to keep me happy! But #1 on my Grateful List is USDAA for their "USDAA @ Home!" program. They are offering weekly agility courses for at home titling. For each class, you must build two different modules and have clean rounds in each in order to qualify. I do not have a yard large enough for any more than two jumps at a time if that so while I appreciated the program when it began, I quickly accepted that it was not for me. I even felt a little stab of pain because I knew that if I had the yard space, I could have set up and tried to get that last dratted Standard Q for Molly's Master Performance Dog (MPD) title.
And then our agility club did exactly that for our weekly training class. Molly does not train at class anymore, Zorro has taken that over. Step aside, Zorro! I was not sure if my classmates would be willing to tweak the agility course in order to change over to the second module required for titling. My concerns turned out to be silly, not only were they willing but they also wanted to participate and possibly earn a Masters Standard Q for their own dogs!
All we had to do was get a clean round on each module...
And we did it! You can do "re-dos" an only submit the clean run. Molly is an old girl so, I was not going to be grilling her again and again just to get a Q. Yes, this title is my last true agility goal for her. And I have left the goal go more than a few times. I could do it again!
Molly ran Module 2 first with a clean run. Module 1 was a little harder with some misfires of handling and of pitbull enthusiasm. We got our clean run before long but with my body entirely blocking video view of the A-frame contact. Ugh! Video titling is often like this, I went through many growing pains with Parkour video titling in particular!
But we got it! I uploaded the two videos to You Tube that evening and it took about a week after that particular Standard event ended for the two modules to be cleared. You get a "Y" next to your module if it has passed. Molly got two Ys and she is now a Master Performance Dog!
Was I disappointed we did not earn this title at a "real" trial? I am not. USDAA @ Home! is a wonderful opportunity for dogs with anxiety and stress issues, a true silver lining of the pandemic. Molly has competed with me for years despite her overarousal and low frustration threshold issues, and her frustration reactivity towards other dogs. We have worked hard through her issues and while those Big Feelings of hers have caused her humorous zooming, tunnel sucking and other "fun" naughty behaviors, there is no doubt that overexcitement stress has been a challenge for us. Molly "stresses up", but she still stresses. To finish our last big agility title together during an adaptation of the pandemic, "living our best pandemic lives"....that was cool. As with everything Molly-related, it took its time, we took many detours and ended up at our destination with big memories to last forever. My girl got to "go MAD!" at last, and it only took a global pandemic to get us there.
December was a fun month for trialing. We started the month off with a bang at a cluster at the local expo. The girl dogs got to play AKC Scent Work, and Zorro got to play Rally Novice. It was exciting to be busy with so many fun activities for the dogs, even if it meant some stressful conflicts!
Perri was only entered in Novice Containers each day and she absolutely crushed it! Not literally box-crushing though! She earned first place with super fast times both days, no cataloguing and total confidence. It was wonderful. She will need one more Q for her SCN title. The video is her first Container search of the weekend.
Not to be outdone Molly did a fabulous job in Novice Interiors with first places on both days, fast times and earned her SIN (Scentwork Interior Novice) title. She also earned her SBN (Buried Novice) title with a lackluster performance. Our Container performance is still suffering. I changed the way I was handling Molly and tried a tight leash approach. She began alerting with a look back to me. In training this was going really well until it wasn't. In the same training night she had her finest container search of all time and the literal next search was a disaster of false alerting. Of course, this night was the Wednesday before the trial. She was very conflicted in Buried (they're truly "just another container") but got the job done, and abysmal in Advanced Containers. Her better day there was Sunday, she correctly alerted on one container before doing a false alert on a different one. Ah well. Back to the drawing board. I am trying to come up with a way for Molly and I to both enjoy Container searches, with her enjoying the search and not destroying the containers. She is currently on a Container training break although it will be time to start up in the New Year. This video is her lovely Interior search on Saturday.
Zorro was able to earn his Rally Novice trial since the cluster offered two rally trials per day. How fun! He certainly enjoys heeling! Some further training is needed on the Slow Pace, he kept trying to sit. Otherwise we sailed straight through with scores of 97, 99 and 99 for his RN title. Yay! The whole weekend inspired me to enter an Obedience match and perhaps continue to work on some foundation skills for the game as the winter goes along. Zorro loves heelwork and I believe I finally have a dog who will love to play Obedience with me.
The following weekend was our training club's USDAA trial. We weren't able to play much this year. Sunday is a Starter/Advanced trial and I had a family gathering for the holidays to attend later in the day. We barely had enough time to play in the first two classes of the day as it was!
Zorro had his first USDAA measurement at 18 and 1/4" (I believe, I know it was 18 and something!) which puts him solidly in the 20" height class. We will need two more measurements, and one of them needs to be a CMJ.
We got to play Snooker and Jumpers and I was a total anchor for poor Zorro! In Snooker I sent him on a wrong course and in Jumpers I didn't support a jump with him coming out of a tunnel. I now know he needs a little more support on the reconnection when he comes out of tunnels. Hey, I had a headache and I my attention was divided with fretting over the time I needed to leave. Whatever! He went home feeling great about himself and that's all that matters.
And today was our final trial of 2019 - Zorro's AKC Agility debut! I admit to having quite a few moments of gratitude washing over me. I am so excited and honored to have a sound agility dog who enjoys playing the game with me. That is such a simple thing, yet it has been elusive for us between Molly's health and soundness issues and Perri's stress.
Zorro had been measured at a trial back in the fall, so we did not have to worry about that. He is a 20" dog until his final measurement when he turns two years old. This trial's format was to have all of the Novice classes at the end of the day. Our first walk through was not until after 3 and since this trial center is nearly two hours away it was great news! Novice Standard was first. Beautiful contacts and table, pinch me! We earned one refusal and I honestly think he was magnetized by the weave poles, they have such a heavy reward history. He then fails his first time but weaves nicely and then I kind of crammed him in with a late front cross for the ending. Great run all around!
JWW was a little bit of a hot mess but we got it done! Z missed his weave entry both classes today but this is his first time ever weaving at a place other than our regular training center so imma chalk it up to baby dog stuff! He was quite happy to weave nicely and I think his entries will come with more mileage.
Today's trial wrapped up our 2019 trialing year. I am so excited for what 2020 will bring for us in adventures, both trialing...fun road trips and hiking outings!
Big day today, Zorro's first agility trial! For USDAA Intro, dogs need to be 14 months old of age minimum. Zorro turns 16 months old tomorrow, and I felt he has become mature enough to begin experiencing the trial environment from inside of the ring. He has been coming to agility trials and the agility building since quite literally the day after I brought him home, which is a huge advantage for environmental acclimation.
Today's trial was perfect. It was a one ring trial, Starter/Advanced/Intro only. The entry was so light that the trial nearly cancelled, but that's not such a bad thing for a green dog! We started with Intro Jumpers. We had two jumps not properly supported by me but otherwise a great run! I feel a little bad I did not just keep running (I mean, it was FEO so it's not like we had to do every jump!) but I also don't feel like I stressed him out or yelled his name for going by. I 100% feel like he had a great time in the ring!
Intro Snooker was next up. I entered Snooker but was not sure what I would really do (do a "real snooker plan" or more freestyle approach). At the briefing the judge did say that Intro is not miscellaneous and that in Intro you do need to attempt the course. You can't just go in and work on anything you want to work on. That was good information to have! I made an opening plan and it went really nicely other than doing my tandem one stride too soon for Zorro and sending him around the second red (and then changing my handling plan on the fly, doing a backside and handling Z to the Aframe. OOPS) After that I was happy with myself until I crowded him on the last jump.
Get out of the dog's way!
Anyway, we survived and Zorro was so focused and steady and enjoyed himself. Makes me so happy! What an exciting future we have together.
We ended our trialing year of 2018 in a big way, with three days of trials!
Friday night was Einey with two CPE runs: Fullhouse and Snooker! Fullhouse was lovely and in Snooker the Aframe was #5 in the closing so I had to make a plan with big points in the opening so that Ein could still qualify with only making it through four in the closing. Ein says NO to the Aframe these days. We made it happen and Ein ends the year standing at 905 points, getting pretty close to that 1000 point title, buddy! (I am still semi tempted to enter a CPE trial the last weekend of the year so maybe I will make a liar out of my post title.)
I am beyond blessed to have a nearly 14 year old dog still playing agility. What a boy!
Saturday was our agility club's USDAA trial weekend and we had a Masters only trial on Saturday. I had a family get together planned for the afternoon on Saturday, but I still took Molly to the trial for the first two runs! We played Gamblers and almost got the Gamble but not quite. Standard was a real heart breaker, with one bar down and no other faults. Ouch! I did not post about it but a few weekend's ago Molly earned a second P3 Standard Q so she is now just one away from her MAD (P) title. Hey, we earned two Standard Qs for 2018. Not too bad!
That last Standard Q!!!!
What a year for Molly! Her front feet gave her such trouble, the toe injury and the ripping-off-the-entire-toenail ordeal directly to follow! But Unsinkable Molly rose from the ashes and we have been able to play agility together consistently since the late Spring. I have so treasured this year of training with her, actually even more than trialing. I wanted so much to have a year of really excellent training with my best girl and I got it. Every week she has been physically able to, Molly has been in the ring with me, helping me learn and putting up with my short comings and making me a better handler. Molly is my first agility dog and I always feel such guilt for failing her and not making good decisions for her in the beginning but it is a true treasure to still have her ready and willing, to still have a dog who is able to learn with me.
And Sunday brought Perri's turn since it was a Starters/Advanced only trial that day. Since it was our club's trial I entered Perri in all four classes offered.
We started the day off with a bang by earning Perri's P2 Snooker title! We did "three 4s" and she really opened up in the closing and got all the way through 7. I was thanking the agility gods the weaves were not in the course!
Jumpers was next and while I was very careful with Perri ringside (I kept her at our crating area the entire time.), as we were entering the ring a small dog snarked at Perri's nose just as we were heading for the ring gate. Perri entered the ring with her tail tuck and froze on the start line and would not release on the first cue. She was a bit slow off the start line and through the first tunnel but then she opened it up and we earned her second P2 Jumpers Q and were 13 seconds under standard course time. Perri!! The whole time I was laser focused on staying connected to Perri and not falling into my old habits of looking at obstacles instead of my dog.
There was a very long break after that as we ran Starter Jumpers as well as two Intro classes. Gamblers was next, not Perri's strong area to work away from me. I wanted Perri to do the tire as she can be a little weird about that obstacle, still. The tire was one of the obstacle options on the start line and Perri was the first dog in her height class so I set her up in front of the tire. While the ring crew was setting the tire. She became obsessed with the chain clanging against the plastic tire. Well, I was making good decisions for her! She was very very slow coming off her start line and then did the dreaded stare. Thankfully the dog walk was right there and I got her on it and she shook it off and started running again. She was pretty light and happy but wouldn't send out to a distance tunnel in the Gamble. She actually took some initiative and went to the second obstacle in the gamble instead, so I went with it and told her Go go Go! and praised her at the end.
Standard was last and I gave considerable thought to scratching it. Even more when I got her out of the car and she was rather frozen and hypervigilant. I asked her to get in my chair (which we had been doing all day before her run.) and she went into her crate instead. Now, either she saw the chair as a precursor to her agility run and was saying "no thank you", or she was simply taking the crate since it was now available. By now the trial had emptied out so I was able to have my chair alongside of the crate rather than in front of it (blocking the entrance.)
I was not going to be stressed out by this and snowball with Perri. I did a lot of gentle massage on her sides and encouraged body stretches, we did paws up on the chair to encourage stretching upwards. I massaged her scalp and ears. And Perri actually loosened up and got slightly "springy" again. I don't know how else to describe this way Perri gets when she is relaxed. But she is very "light" and springy and pops around, rather than being sluggish and slow and staring around.
I chose to do a running start. I stood on the start line holding her up with just her rear feet on the ground and pointing her at the dog walk. What a blessing the course started with her favorite obstacle! She did fly off the start line. Back tunnel to jump and weaves. She did all 12 weaves to the pause table and I thought. We are golden now. Famous last words! We then had to do the teeter, to a jump, to a mild pull to a tunnel that was under the dog walk. Miss Thing went super wide (also, I lost connection and took for granted she wouldn't be as hard into extension as she was!) and found the most awkward approach to the dog walk ever and flew down that walk with her tail swishing. I teased "Unbelieeeeeeeeeeeeevable, Perri!!!" And we ran to her leash and ended the run and she ended the day feeling happy and proud.
And what a year for Perri. What a year.
Last year on this day we were at the CPE trial (which was going on in the other ring at this training center.) and I remember Perri was so shut down that she could not even complete a CPE Jumpers course. I remember scratching her from Wildcard and walking back to the USDAA ring to talk to my friend. I told her I was done. And I was. It wasn't that I gave up on Perri, it was that I respected Perri. And if she didn't want to play the game then that was that.
The year of training that I committed to with Molly has benefited Perri. Perri was my substitute dog when Molly's body couldn't play. She didn't make it easy. We began this year with our team work in tatters. Perri demoralized and me frustrated beyond all reason. Resentful. Molly's bad toe and my financial commitment to training made me fight once again to figure out what could help Perri. Some nights she would work. Some nights she would stare at me. Our instructor never gave up on us, never let me shut down on Perri, she saw what my dog needed when nobody ever has before. And some weeks, in the beginning, Perri needed more than I could give. It's no shame to admit this about myself. Honesty is a the first step to improvement.
Connection. Clear handling. Less pressure. A puppy. New medicine. Raw diet. Less pressure. No matter how much you think you can fool your dog, they know. Perri always knew I was disappointed in her and she could not stand it. She is fragile, she needs support. She needed me to be a better handler, to not be frustrated, to be a better human. She was asking a lot. But I'm ready now, I'm ready to be that person. I remember at the end of 2016 I felt so hopeful for our future and it all fell apart the next year. If Perri doesn't want to play agility in 2019, I can say for certain: I am grateful for our 2018 and all that I learned from it. I am grateful that a few more times, we got to run happy like the wind together. It's enough.
Molly and I had two USDAA trial weekends in October.
Our first weekend was both days, with our own training club so I was hopping all weekend with trial jobs and ring jobs, puppy socializing and playtime with Zorro and oh yeah, running Molly!
The first day we ran Standard first class and everything was perfect except for an absurd excursion on Molly's part after the Aframe to a one million percent out-of-the-way tunnel. To her credit she did not go in that tunnel, but she did go into a different one on her way back to me. Standard NQ #45,000,000!!
After that Miscellaneous class was offered, which I entered so that I could do some toy rewarding for Molly's weaves. I hid her toy on the first approach to the weaves and she was thrilled and surprised to see her toy toy! in the ring! After that we did a second set of weaves and then she was on fire!
Jumpers was last of the day and oh how I wish I had this on video. The course was very challenging, not a high Q rate and I honestly felt like I was a little overfaced by it. I decided to handle all rear croses and tandems, what I am most comfortable with and woohoo....we qualified and with a decent time, too! Really exciting!
The next day we played Pairs with our friends Donna and Sly. Perri always teamed up with Sly for Pairs but who can say if Perri will ever venture into the Masters ring, so Molly was up! She promptly blew it by taking a tunnel instead of weaves. Blast it!! Sly did an incredible job and the dynamic duo will play Pairs again next month. (The trial was offering skeleton arms as batons, number one reason to teach your dog an object hold = cool pictures!)
We ended the trial weekend with another stinkin' Standard NQ. Gorgeous run, just broke connection going around a turn and Molly ran around a jump and well. That was that. $&##!!!!!!
Our final trial of October was yesterday. We started with Jumpers and as soon as I saw the course I said, "This is a Molly course!" Wide open flowing lines and Molly Q'd and won her height class! I believe this is the first time she has earned a first since we have moved into the master ring! (Of course, we don't Q much so hahahaha.)
Gamblers was next with a very not Molly gamble. We had fun in the opening though!
And last of the day was anoooooooooother Standard NQ. We made it the whole way to the end with two obstacles to go and we needed to do a back side jump off of the Aframe. That stinkin' girl stole the front side! I know it was my fault. I should have stayed connected and really kept her head. In my defense: the Aframe led straight to an off course tire jump that I was worried about (in the opposite direction of the wing jump she took.) and I often do find myself racing to the other end of the Aframe to try to handle what comes next. Handling challenges off of the running Aframe are a struggle for me. But...I did not consider the possibility of Molly taking the front side of that jump, as it was not in her line. Lessons to be learned!
And we march on, having no precious Standard Qs! But you can keep your Qs because my girl got no weave faults all this month and she is really really owning those poles in the trials. Getting better and better! It makes my heart so happy since about a month and a half ago I was afraid I would need to retire her to Veterans or limit her classes due to weave sadness. Really exciting! She is such a fun partner.
September was a "busy" trialing month for Molly and I, with three different weekends of USDAA trials.
The first weekend of the month we went for one day and played Gamblers and Standard. Gamblers ran first and I thanked the judge mentally over and over in my head for having a Gamblers course that I could set up a nice big wide open speed line for Molly. She loves that so much, I truly believe I can see pride on her face when she gets to run fast and open! We did NQ the Gamble - Molly used to carry out into gambles/sends/jackpots much more in her younger years and I am finding that I need to give some extra support to her. I just haven't mentally switched that gear yet!
Here is our Standard. We started out a little goofy but ultimately I was happy with the run. I missed a jump, both in my walkthrough and our run, oops! And then Molly would not weave. Sigh.
The next weekend we again only did one day, and this time Jumpers Gamblers and Standard! We started with Jumpers and my head was sooooo not into the zone. I had not been feeling well the day before and I had a terrible night's sleep. We actually did a decent job with only one knocked bar fault - an error that I am sure I caused with my handling as Molly is still not a bar dropper even as she has grown older.
Gamblers was next and again! I got to plan a big wide open run for Molly! I ran into an issue of not being where I wanted to be when the buzzer sounded and it killed Molly's momentum. And again, here she could have used a little extra support into that tunnel.
Standard: Molly was hot. We got a refusal early on as I misjudged her commitment on a jump. And then no weaves. I was really happy with the ending,finished strong!
I wasn't feeling very great. I was feeling like maybe Molly is truly tired of agility trials. The evening after the above two runs we went to class and Molly was super sassy, running fast and hard and happy. Great weaves. Refused to out her toy. Nipping at my hands. Having a blast! But maybe not trials? It was a confidence hit.
One issue: I had already entered a trial the last weekend of September and it was new territory for us. "Team". Performance Versatility Pairs. I entered with a classmate who has a green dog she wanted to start out in Performance. I was very upfront that Molly often does not weave at trials, and we are...not a consistent team. Even doing one-run Team Relay stresses me out so much that I do not enter it unless I specifically have a friend who wants to run it with us. (I was doing better with this until Molly crashed off the dog walk in relay during a zoomie jag.)
My friend assured me, we are going to have fun. "We don't care!"
Ok. But what if my dog won't weave??
I was really having a lot of stress over my choice to do Team. But also, some excitement. It was really exciting to share another "first" with Molly. With Molly being a "senior girl" I will not do more than 2-3 runs a day with her anymore, but this hosting club was offering Team over two days. And we ended up having a blast. The weather was warm outside but super cool in the building. The hosting club blasted 80s music during every walk through. We had faults, our teammate had faults. We ended up dead last but Molly weaved every single set of weave poles! She was running fast and happy and I could tell that she was enjoying herself. And the best of all was two people we had never met taking the time to come tell me they love watching my girl run because they can tell she's having a blast. I needed that so much right now. That's my Hot TaMolly, my party girl.
We ran Gamblers and Standard on the first day. Gamblers we racked up a lot of points in the opening but again I fumbled around and ran out of obstacles to take just before the buzzer went off. I killed our momentum and got a refusal on the first gamble obstacle so we did not get those gamble points. Standard we had two refusal faults on the weaves. The first time she ran past the entry. The second time she stressed. And I pulled her back out of it and I really just said to her "do you see 'em? you can do this! you can do it! now GO!" and...she did! She ran into the entry and hopped right through and from that point on she was fine. It was a really good moment for us. A moment we needed! And then she naughty-blew the dog walk, second to last obstacle but hey, we still did not "E"!
The second day was Jumpers. My favorite run of the weekend. We got a refusal and then we E'd because of a horrifyingly late front cross on my part. But oh man, it was such a rush and dem weaves!
Next was Snooker and I felt like I was crazy micromanaging her but we did do well and get decent points (although not all through 7!) I was proud of her - and also glad weaves were not included haha.
And last was our Team Relay run! Our team name was "Tastes Like Chicken" because you know, big pitbull, little pomeranian mix. Hahaha, get it?? Molly starts weaving slow, ends fast. I'll take that!
"Tastes Like Chicken!"
I don't know if I will ever have the opportunity to play PVP with Molly again but I have to say that I really enjoyed it! A lot more than I thought I would! I like the time plus faults style, it was a fun change from the normal "clean runs only" style of titling classes. It reminds me that I really want to start playing more Steeplechase with Molly. September finished strong and it finished fun.
July trialing was minimal. Beside the dock diving that we did in the beginning of July, we did return to the same venue one more time!
I registered Perri with NADD and bravely bought two Splashes for her. I got her up on the dock during practice time and she was jumping nicely with Molly and then by herself. When it was time for her actual jump, her confidence dropped. The dog ahead of her was not very exciting (in Perri's opinion!). So Perri was not raring to go and barking as she would have been by a more driven or fast dog ahead of her on the dock. The dog was fairly slow moving, so when I let Perri up onto the dock, it was still on the exit stairs. Perri noticed and it made her very worried. Sigh. I was able to get two jumps out of her by acting like a total fool. Life with Perri! Regardless, she got her first official jump of 8'9", go poodle!
When practice time came around again I got her up there with Molly but I could see that Perri was giving the entire activity a big "no thank you" for the day. It was not as hot and sunny as it had been two weeks prior, that was also working against us. Fortunately I was able to give Perri's other splash to Molly, for a small fee for adding a "day of" entry. I certainly don't think future dock diving is out of the question for Perri, but I knew I needed to let it go for the day. I did not want to further damage her confidence levels.
So Molly ended up doing four splashes, which was fine by her! Her first splash was in the Junior range and then the last three of the day were all in the bottom of the Senior division. She earned her Senior Jumper title with NADD on the third jump of the day.
I doubt that we will do any more dock diving this season. There is a NADD qualifier event in August but it nearly filled and while I would have taken a slot or two, I am not interested in trying to qualify for the Eukanuba event so I'm happy to leave the Splashes to those that are. I really enjoyed doing more dock this season with Molly, and there is no doubt that she did too!
Last weekend we played USDAA agility, just two runs. As planned I had taken Molly out of Standard, so we did only Gamblers and Jumpers. I don't have any videos but it was a really nice day! I was able to create a fun course for us in Gamblers, which I often find myself unable to do. (Whereas in CPE I can almost always plan a point racking flowing course that Molly loves.) A lot of wide open line options in this Gamblers course! The Gamble was very do-able, it was two jumps and then a send to a tunnel. Molly ran out to the tunnel and then...just didn't do it! I should have encouraged her a little bit more but oh well!
Jumpers was a Q and it was a very nice smooth run. No USDAA trials for us until September. We have been doing some motivational work on the weaves in agility class and Molly's speed and enthusiasm have returned to the obstacle. She really does need regular motivational tune ups to keep feeling like weaves are worth her time, important for me to remember!
Zorro also had his first agility trial! It was startling to me to realize that I have had him a little over a month and he is just now visiting an agility trial. Just not going to as many agility trials this summer as we usually have. Zorro did great. He pottied on leash at a new to him trial site, was very focused on me, happy to eat food, happy to explore but re-engage with me when I asked him. Good crate manners in the car. He was not interested in playing with his toy initially but with a little bit of encouragement we did a little bit of tugging. He was very social with everybody there. He met two other puppies around his age and played nicely with them. And as the photo shows, he was very happy to jump up on the pause table. We did not play with the wicket at all, as there is one at my training center that I can work on with him in a bit less distracting environment to start with.
Since I'm so "behind" on blogging I will lump all three of the USDAA trials the girls and I attended in June into one reflective post!
I chose minimal classes for each of the girls, but for Perri even moreso. We did P2 Gamblers and Standard on the first Saturday of the month. Pretty good engagement, decent speed on each run. Did not "get" the Gamble, would not weave in Standard. Perri's weaves are intensely impacted by her environmental stress and the weaves were next to the large open side of the building that has a clear view of the off leash exercise area. Anyway, no melty poodle moments.
This past weekend she had a round of Snooker each day. On Saturday I missed the briefing since I was running Molly in the other ring, and I missed the memo: you can only do 3 reds. Perri was very tentative off the start line, very slow and worried through the run. I had to do my crouch and ask for a down reconnect moment and then she started really running but we got whistled off for doing a fourth red. It was probably a blessing as I was forced to take her off and reward her after she was running nicely! Sunday was probably her best of the month, and I made a plan so that we could start with the Aframe. She really loves the contacts and they are a confidence booster. She ran super fast, did her Aframe contact and did not turn off the Frame to the next Red jump but instead took the tunnel in front of the Aframe. However she came out of it running fast and took jumps I cued all the way to the ending (about 2 or 3 of them.) and she was actually feeling safe and really enjoying herself so that was a great thing to end on! Trial hiatus for at least a few months for Perri now and I believe we will need to return to Intro, perhaps indefinitely, at that time.
Molly did quite a bit more! It was really great to have my girl feeling sound and able to enjoy a few agility weekends together. The first weekend of June we did four runs total, one on Saturday and three on Sunday. We NQd everything but were really close in many of the runs! Jumpers is the video below, Molly got a little strange about either the judge or investigating the dog walk. It was weird behavior for her. I was really happy with the run otherwise. We also ran Gamblers and were one point shy of a Q! The Standards just weren't happening!
Last weekend hell froze over because Molly actually qualified in P3 Standard, and on a course that had a rather low Q rate. Where did that come from?! Super exciting. I wish I had a video! There was a photographer in attendance selling prints right on site, and Molly's weaves were so lovely that I had to buy a photo of her happy face finishing them and locking onto the finish jump.
This weekend was a full weekend, as we were attending our own agility club's trial. So lots of extra work detail for me, longer days and less time spent hanging out with the dogs. But it is fun! I love our club's trial weekends and on Saturday we had a picnic afterwards and Perri got to hang out on my lap for a little while, and she loved it.
Molly put a ban on weaves for the weekend, sigh. And that made me feel bad. We started with Gamblers (that's the video below) and I really enjoyed our opening (and I made sure to give her a little distance to get up the Aframe.). I knew we weren't getting the distance weaves in the Gamble and I decided I would ask for it one time and move on with life if she didn't get it. I'm a little annoyed I said the cue word "Weave" as I consider that poisoned from our stress days. I get so mad at myself!
Standard was going great and then I misjudged her commitment to a jump, moved to my next position. She missed it. She knew it. And then the weaves were next. I asked her to repeat them and the third time she did but...she wasn't feeling the love.
The next day she had a lovely opening in Snooker and was doing great in the closing but she said "No thanks" to the weaves and we got whistled and left! In Standard we just had one of our runaway train snowball clusterfluff situations including no thank you! on the weaves but I ended the run on her running Aframe to a tunnel (the wrong end of course!) and so she felt happy about it all!
Molly says it was a great weekend because I got her a fancy new tug! We have been using this toy from Chuckit since I wanted the crack!ball! for Molly, but with a tug on it. However the strap is very abrasive and often makes her gums bleed, and the strap is way too short for comfort and I often get nipped when she regrips. So, I've been wanting something longer. The ball is by Chuckit, although not the crack!ball! Molly loves it!
I have to do some more reflecting on the weekend but I felt pretty sad about Molly's weaves. Somebody even told me she looks "scared" of them. I don't disagree. It has been a while since we have done any fun motivational weave training at home, between Molly's lameness earlier this year and her subsequent toenail injury. Our team trial/weave stress really crept in this weekend. I really don't want to embarrass Molly, as a 9 year old dog still out running agility. We have a trial in July and I decided I will not run Standard with her that day, just Jumpers and Gamblers. I would love to earn Molly's Master title but if this is truly "it" for the weaves and Molly would be happier running courses without them, then I will accept that. Given the beautiful set of weaves Molly did just last weekend, I think that this was simply a busy month for an old girl and she needs some time and motivational work on her weaves. I'm in, for either way Molly needs me to take her.
I have made a ton of changes for Perri lately and the positive progress that was trickling in this year has begun to flow.
At the beginning of this year I wrote this post about our progress with fluoxetine. I was feeling lukewarm about the flatness I would see in Perri, but when I added salmon oil to her diet I noticed more energy. This was indeed a temporary and probably coincidental change. Perri continued to be flat, slow to rouse into play and exhausted far more easily than she used to be by most any activity. About three weeks ago, I told our behaviorist that I would like to wean Perri off of the fluoxetine and possibly try something else. Our instructions were to wean down to 10mg and keep Perri on that dose until our appointment to see how she does on that dose. We returned to 10mg on April 16th.
Last weekend I had Perri adjusted by her chiropractor. Jaw out and some cervical misalignments. We visited because I wanted to discuss the spasming that I often see in Perri's lower back, check for any adjustments that needed to be done and find out if I can be doing anything more to help Perri's spine feel more comfortable. Of course, all of the adjustments were needed "up higher"! In addition to the active stretches I had been already doing, we were given a few more. I also purchased a Back on Track mesh blanket for Perri. I have heard very good things about these jackets and I feel that Perri can benefit.
So, a lot of good thoughtful changes for Perri. I am also pursuing retesting Perri's thyroid levels, as she tested a "low normal" in December of last year. I have added a probiotic to Perri's diet, the same type that I use for Molly. A happy gut is a happy dog.
And Perri is a happy dog. I started to notice increased silliness within less of a week of decreasing the fluoxetine. Just little things. Flinging a toy up in the air and doing a ridiculous spin for one of Vince's workers. Actual interest and demand in play time with her standard poodle friend Zoe. And just in the last week, we had one of Perri's famous pounce zoom fests in the back yard, it has been a while. Last Monday in agility class Perri turned it on like I have not seen from her in a long time. She did both of her "turns" with really nice motivation, desire for her ball and actual fast and intense weave poles (with a pop at the 10th weave and a restart where she went even faster after being asked to do them a second time rather than crumbling mentally.)
Yesterday I volunteered with a friend of mine who was holding a lure coursing ring to raise money for a rescue at a large dog event held in my area. I felt apprehensive about letting Perri course. I was really struggling with making the Right Decision. On one hand, Molly has gone lame coursing three times now and I knew that Perri had an agility run the day after at a trial. I am trying so very hard to narrow down the activities I do with my dogs and be more focused. But on the other hand, I love how Perri opens up, de-stresses and gives in to raw prey drive in coursing. In the end I made the decision to let Perri run the course two times, once at the beginning of the day and the next time four long hours later at the end of the event. (It was very popular, we had a line 10-15 dogs deep the entire day!) She was full on BagBrain and each time she ran, Zoe poodle got to run with her (and Zoe did a great job following Perri and/or the bag the entire time, she did not leave or get distracted by anything. A great start!)
I was very nervous that Perri would be too tired for her agility run today. We have had a really really nice week since that beautiful agility class on Monday. On the prior dose of fluoxetine, Perri would typically be wiped out and it would be a big ??? how an agility trial would go the next day. It doesn't help that it was naughty of me to enter today's trial in the first place. It was for pure social reasons that I entered, my friend was going to be there and the original plan was to enter Molly but then that bonehead went and ripped her toenail off at the lake a few weeks ago so....hey I do have another dog, right?! So, I entered Snooker with Perri.
But Perri was....great! The Snooker course was laid out so that in order to get the best flow I ran to the back of the ring with her to use our first red, rather than starting on a "red" on the start line. On our way out there she got distracted by a male ring crew but did call off of him fairly quickly. We ran our course and there were some angles that I was fretting I would lose her on, as well as a jump wrap but she really ran her little heart out and was fast and happy! I was so proud of her and it felt awesome. We started the close and it was a diagonal line from 2-the first jump of 5. 5 was a 180 jump combo. Well I lost Perri to visiting a ring crew who also is a friend of ours, how could Perri not say "hi"? I was going over in my mind if I should be trying to recollect Perri back around the jump to try to earn enough points, or just ignore it and run out the finish and forget #5 but I ended up trying to get her and reset her. It turned out to be a not horrible choice, although I am aware it was not the ideal choice. I can't quite remember what happened but I know that Perri was like "Haha you're weird I'll just take the jump!" and then we had a merry happy little race to the exit and she was mighty proud of herself and quite happy and that is what matters! On reflection, I'm really proud of her for not freezing up when I confused her by trying to bring her back to the correct side of the jump, and just making a decision instead. She was not sure what I wanted, but there was a jump in front of her so she took it! I am okay with that. Very unlike her and very confident! I did notice that Perri was very bothered by us getting to the leash chair at the end. I need to work on a more positive association with ending the run and getting equipment put back on her.
After Perri's run I let her sit in my lap for a while. Perri had a very good day of behavior fear reactivity-wise as well. Something to discuss with our behaviorist. Perri saw a very drivey doberman yanking on a tug toy walk across the crating area, she had eyes on a german shepherd trotting briskly along but she actually LAT'd to me and then a bearded shepherd was crated next to us and warming up for a run. Perri noticed it but reoriented to me quietly. And I was paying big for all of this with bits of dehydrated lamb lung. And I am proud of myself because I interrupted a conversation with a friend to say that Perri had been very successful and I thought she should go out to the car before something pushed her too far and she had an explosion at a dog.
I am very excited about Perri's self assurance around three situations that would have triggered fear reactivity behavior in her. I have no doubt she was still concerned about all three dogs, but she trusted me today and did not feel the need to freak out and warn those dogs away from her.
Go. Team!
I am so optimistic and so terrified it will all fall apart again. That's our journey, I am learning to embrace it and not resent it. It's easy to say that now when we are progressing in the right direction!
Last Sunday was my training club's USDAA trial, so I entered Perri in both offered Intro classes (Gamblers and Standard) and I entered Molly in Standard only. Both classes were near to the end of the day, but we spent all day there volunteering.
The Intro classes were back to back, which is not a great set up for Perri and I was mild level fretting about it. We played Gamblers first. Perri was a bit flatter than she was last month when we did Intro. Leash removal went very smoothly and without notice from her. She was still very much playing with me, but with reluctance creeping in there. I was very happy when she had a moment of staring at me that she came right back into the game - that is a victory!
Standard was next. When I brought Perri back into the building she wanted water. I gave her a small amount, since she would be running soon. She became frustrated by this and kept nose and paw tapping the water jug. Then she became sort of sullen and staring into space, ignoring my treats and toys. Perri is a stress drinker so it's hard to say if she was truly very thirsty or just feeling some stress and needed to displace some of it. So with that behavior coupled with having to run so soon after she had already run, I was feeling like maybe I should scratch the run since I was allowing myself to become rattled by "what ifs" about Perri's run. I put on my big girl panties and got in there and tried to make a super flowy plan and I even spent some of our time on a toy throw (and subsequent poodle pouncing and keep away). I wanted to rescue our ring time and gear it totally towards: positive feelings! Right towards the end I asked for a tunnel that she runs by and I see her feeling weird about that but she comes right back and does some nice running (and a scary Aframe fly off). I am starting to not feel great about letting her run the Aframe as she jumps off so high and I don't want her to hurt herself. In any case, it was a nice run salvaged out of some stressy feelings on both of our ends and that is kind of the point!
I have made the decision to do another trial hiatus with Perri. Despite some nice successes on Sunday, I feel like Perri needs me to pull back for a little bit again. I don't want us to hit "rock bottom" of staring in the ring and stressing down completely and having an awful regression that makes me want to drink lots and lots of wine when I get home! We have had a nice month and done some good work, but we both need some time to retreat and think over what both of our needs are as far as trialing goes.
And Molly got to play too! We did only Standard, since she needs three Qs in that class for her MPD. We NQd immediately for a wrong course due to the filthy handler giving dreadfully late turning information again! So mad at myself! It felt like a little bit of a trainwreck after that and she wouldn't weave but overall looking at the video, she was a happy girl and I am truly in "just happy to be here" mode when it comes to getting to run agility with my girl! I did reset her weaves and the second time sort of did a sprint and turned my shoulders to her and clapped and she was like "NU-UH WE HAD A DEAL ABOUT THAT KIND OF NONSENSE FROM YOU, I'M NOT DOIN' IT!"
Ps. She did weave in training class the next night when I behaved myself :)
Today was an awesome!!day because today Einey turned thirteen years old. A teenager! It is hard to believe that Ein is 13 years old and it is so exciting that he is in such excellent health and still so physically mobile and active. I have noticed that Ein's hearing is definitely going the way of the dinosaur, especially within the last half year. If he is sleeping downstairs or upstairs when I come home from work, he does not hear me and keeps sleeping until I come find him. And when hiking, if he is too far away he does not hear me calling. Other than that, it's business as usual for Ein.
We celebrated first with a big birthday cookie from the local dog bakery.
Then we went up to the local training center for the USDAA trial! Ein was pushing down the door wanting to come along, so I brought him with us since I wanted to take him on a short hike for his birthday and it would be helpful to not have to drive back home. I also brought his cake to share with the agility dogs at the trial (Knowing a ton would still be leftover for a dinnertime treat.)
I made the decision to enter Perri in Intro class and FEO. I wanted to be able to take a toy into the ring or have the freedom to work on start line attitude or whatever else I felt could be of value with our time. I have really been analyzing and tackling Perri's issues in the ring and I feel that the start line as well as whatever collar/leash I am removing from her as well as my own behavior are make or break issues. Asking her for stopped or "managed" contacts is an issue - I feel I will need to encourage running contacts for Perri. I need to not care if she flies off of her contacts in the mean time. I do not think it will be a big training project so much as "I'm happy if you just keep running fast on this obstacle." Today's criteria was extension and movement. Today's criteria was "please for the love of all things good and holy, do not stop and stare at me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" We achieved this goal!
This is Gamblers! She blows both of her contacts but she is moving at a speed I love and does not stress down when I re-collect her for the gamble. She did play some naughty keep away after I threw her toy down! But she is allowed to do that in class as a reward to her so I couldn't be surprised she did it with a toy at a trial. I was pleased that she did this Gamble as she had to stay on her line a bit away from me and then not run wide around the final jump. I made the decision to leave the ring without her collar and leash, as I new she would continue holding onto her tug toy and stay with me on our way to the crate. Putting on any collar or leash of any kind after a run is very aversive to Perri and I am still brainstorming a work around.
It was quite a wait until Intro Pairs. I gave Perri a chewie to enjoy in her crate and then put her out in the car for the remainder of the time she would be waiting, to recharge. Her energy seemed decreased from what it had been in the morning and it made me anticipate a less motivated run. I tried to be confident and not "think that way." As it turned out, Perri was running very fast, read a rear cross I did beautifully and ran straight out the extension line at the end. Awesome! It was a perfect course for her and I. Am. Thrilled!! Bonus was that our friend Donna accidently threw the baton on the ground along with her leash - I swear Perri used her martian intergalactic mind control powers to will D to do so! She hates that baton since it is clearly used for poodle beating!
We left the trial with enough daylight for a very windy and muddy hike at the local reservoir park. I love windy hikes (muddy? not so much.) and sunset-near-lake hikes. With the wind and the cold, nobody else was in the parking lot so the dogs got to enjoy being off leash on what is normally a very popular trail. So peaceful and so what each dog deserved. Ein was in his glory marking trees and trotting out ahead of me. I am so grateful we could go on a hike for his birthday, it was always one of his favorite things to do.
Great birthday, great agility trial. Beautiful day!
Back to last weekend, it was a four day event! Molly and I continued on to a USDAA agility trial on Sunday, but our awesome streak....did not continue!
Jumpers was like this! (with the rest of the course completed quite nicely after her detour.)
We got Snookered on Snooker. Standard was dead last of the day with a very long wait in between classes since it was a one ring trial. It was a nice run but unfortunately we had a weave fault. It was actually an interesting situation though. Of all of the agility obstacles, I would say that the weaves are Molly's number one most historically stressful obstacle. And right behind that is the dog walk. I have worked hard on Molly's understanding of my criteria as well as my own behavior around these obstacles, but we have a history. It doesn't help that Molly had three dog walk crashes last year, a new thing for us, and now where I am not really so anxious about faults anymore, I am anxious about Molly hurting herself.
Anyway. The Standard course started with the dogwalk right to the weaves, so there's a lot of stress build up there. On the map and even moreso on the actual course, the handler's path really converges towards the weave entry unless you really let the dog have some distance and find their entrance on their own. Molly is very capable of that but she is also very sensitive to my pressure at the weave entrance. So what did I do? I released her and walked to the weave entrance with her. Sigh. She stressed but actually shocked me with grabbing the weaves but she did leave them at about #4. It was just too much for her.
Looking back I wish I had asked her to stay on the dog walk, walked away from her and then released her to find her weave entrance at a distance. It would have been out of my comfort zone, but I know that would have made Molly very comfortable. And I know she has the skills. Next time we see DW to weaves I will be forcing myself to do that.
Further on down the course I did challenge myself (it always helps when you cannot qualify anymore!) by leaving her in her table stay and not releasing her until I was on the opposite side of the jump. And she stayed! (Being a long time CPE dog Molly does think the table down stay is foolish, though we have been doing some value building on her table stay over this winter as well as a lot of work on her "down" mechanics - in preparation for drop on recall training.)
So, that was that!
Monday was a vacation day from work. I originally intended to do some CPE runs with Perri to gain legs for her C-ATCH/CT-ATCH but that plan is on hold. I did take Ein to play a round of Snooker. The course was largely composed of tunnels which Ein does not really love. I could see some hesitation from him but he's a good ol' boy and he got it done. I love playing with him!
Great four days of fun to start off our agility year!
I refuse to let myself slack off and not write about our Mostly Awesome Agility Trip of Tribulations!
Rewind to the first weekend of December. The plan was to take a Fun! agility trip with the girls. 350 miles Northeast to New Hampshire, geocaching and playing agility as we traveled. We got on the road on Friday. The goal was to find my 2000th geocache in Connecticut, making the milestone find on the very special "Another Brick in the Wall" (the oldest geocache in CT.) Unfortunately I was irresponsible (who, me?!) and also allowed myself to need to find 19 geocaches en route. Oops. We ran out of travel time and could not even stop to find the special cache. Sadness #1.
Why did we run out of travel time? Because somebody (and not Molly or Perri!) decided it would also be fun to stop in Connecticut at a Friday CPE Agility trial and play some Jumpers! This put us into an unbelievable time crunch and what seemed like a fun idea was sort of...not...due to my overconfidence and planning too much in one day. (Hey, I get excited!)
Jumpers in CT: Perri was in Level 5 and took off the start line like a rockstar and erupted in a sneezing fit after the 5th jump. (this has been an ongoing issue, not entirely a stress response. More on this in a later post.) Molly was in Level C and had a lovely run with a bonus tunnel to NQ us. Sadness #2.
Some coffee and back on the road. With any hope of getting geocache #2000 gone for the day, I focused on the second half of our journey with only the goal in mind of finding a geocache in every state that we drove through. By the time we rolled in to New Hampshire, I had found a geocache in all six states that we passed through. This is a big deal in the geonerd world!
However, there was Sadness#3 and it was a big one. In the morning before we left, Molly vomited her breakfast and ate it again. With Molly, this isn't unusual. But then she threw up again en route (and ate it. Still feeling good!) And again. And I started to get worried. Thankfully her awesome Dog Gone Smart Mat was in her crate and absorbed everything, I just rolled it up and stashed it in a bag to be dealt with when I got home. (It smelled lovely three days later.)
We checked into the "lovely" Motel 6 and I took the dogs for a walk for our New Hampshire geocache (within walking distance of the hotel.) Molly had not vomited for a few hours. I decided not to feed her for the night. We returned to our non smoking room that reeked of smoke. The upstairs neighbors provided us with a medley of sounds including: loud sex, furniture moving, rap music, television at full volume and endless stomping. At about 11pm Molly dove off of the bed and searched for a corner to vomit in politely. I leashed her and we made it out in the parking lot just in time for her to heave up a torrent of water and bile. And so it went until the final time at 130 AM. I got little to no sleep, listening to the din upstairs and being on guard for Molly puke patrol. I did not want a mess in the hotel room, as crappy as the place was.
From 130am to waking up on Saturday morning, there was no vomiting. I woke up at 7am feeling very...tousled and dejected. I had some Honest Kitchen along with limited ingredients. I decided that if Molly had an appetite I would play agility with her. I will admit that if I was at home I would have just scratched, but you know. That whole "drove 350 miles" and all that. Sigh. And hey, I had Perri! Sigh. I can assure you I was more than a little thankful that I had entered poor defective Perri in a few runs at this trial because um, I am a fool who drove 350 miles to play agility. And at least I had a dog to enter the ring with and maybe stare off into space and maybe run? I digress! Molly ate a small serving of Honest Kitchen. She kept it down. I felt hopeful. We drove to the trial site.
We were trialing at American K9 Country near Amherst, NH. I have never seen anything like this place and it lifted my spirits immediately! Even if my good dog has cancer and falls unpredictably and unfairly ill at the worst possible time and my other dog is a total flake who I can't seem to reach or help, this place was cool. (I love my dogs. But I ambitiously was by the way did I mention 350 miles away from home with them) There was an outdoor dog park, a competition dock diving set up. Indoors was an indoor pool, grooming room, dog day care, cafe, awesome shop, balcony crating area and the ring was big with awesome footing. They even have a Charlee Bears gumbball machine. The entrance hallway looked like a little village and smelled like (and was decorated for) Christmas.
We arrived just in time for me to walk Perri's P2 Standard course. And she ran really well, her best in a long time! She gave me speed, connection and everything but 11th and 12th weaves. If she had weaved it would have been a Q, and I was so grateful to her. I was down in the dumps and my little poodle girl pulled through for me. Next was Molly's P3 Standard course. So far so good, she was quiet but 9 hours without vomiting. That was a record. Molly was willing to eat cheese before going into the ring. I did not give her as much as I normally would. She ran the course, but slowly and would not weave. I did not ask her to weave again. I scratched her runs for the rest of the day. Molly was not feeling well enough to run, she was not herself. Sometime later on a walk with Perri, Molly vomited again. I was devastated. We only stayed at the trial site for a Snooker run that I had Perri entered in. It was a very easy course, but Perri stressed in the ring and had some staring episodes and we NQd and we left. Story of our lives.
Well. I guess it all could have gone worse? On the upside, leaving early gave me time to find the remaining geocaches I needed to get to 1999 finds and make New Hampshire's oldest geocache (conveniently within 10 minutes of my ratty hotel, the only reason I booked there!). "NH #1 - Mines Follies". I finally made my 2000th find happen and we had a nice stroll in the woods. Molly seemed to be enjoying the walk. Sadly, after several hours without vomiting, Molly threw up. We went back to the hotel room. Molly refused food. She wanted water. Molly got on the bed and lay there shaking. I laid next to her and cried over the frustration and foolishness of this trip. I decided to get a shower, a shower can clear the mind. I was too upset to go out for dinner so I sat down on the bed and snacked on some pretzels and suddenly, Molly was electric and wanted the pretzels. And just like that, it was all over. Seriously, just like that. I guess stranger things have happened? I was nervous to do so, but I gave Molly a half cup of her kibble (no bland diet on the road!) and waited. She kept it down. A few hours later I gave her another half cup.
My neighbors were still noisy and I could not sleep soundly, but the night was far better than the one before. Molly slept through the night and only got out of bed for a drink of water. By 7am the next morning we were on our longest stretch of no vomiting. Molly was insistent on breakfast, so I gave her another half cup of kibble. I decided we would run agility. Molly was flatter in the ring than usual but she was certainly more into the game than the day before. She ran clean in Standard (and weaved!) and was only 2 seconds overtime. We got to run Pairs Relay for a Q with our friends Lisa and Pancake (something I am so grateful that we got to do as we do not see our friends regularly!) Perri had a Standard run but stressed in the ring.
Well. That was that for agility! 1/10 Qs for the weekend. Yep. Winning!
We finished the day with a lovely drive and very successful geocaching experience along a scenic route into the southeastern corner of Vermont so that I could find a geocache in Vermont. From there it was a drive south into Springfield, MA to stay for the night. There was a Five Guys within walking distance of our (quiet! clean smelling!) hotel and I got a cheeseburger and oreo shake and binge-watched Blacklist and Molly was eating her food and all felt right with the world!
In conclusion, Monday was easily the best day of my trip. No agility but two planned stops for geocaching purposes on the way home. After an hour we stopped at a gorgeous arboretum in CT for some "challenge" geocaches and a great rest stop. We continued on another hour to at last search for, and find, the oldest geocache in CT ("Another Brick in the Wall"). And we used up our remaining daylight for an unplanned three mile round trip hike up a mountain in NJ to find the oldest geocache in New Jersey! (gerbiL cacHe.) Love that name.
Am I glad that I drove an ungodly amount of miles for one agility Q, a handful of awesome geocaches and a trying yet fun experience I will always look back on with a mixture of "SMH" and fond smiles? Absolutely.
Last week we took our annual trip to Cape May, NJ. We have been going there for years now and have decided this will be our last visit. Time to explore some new places! It is so hard to find off leash areas for the dogs to run, so much so that between Vince's busy work schedule and wanting colder weather (therefore less people.) we visited later this year than we normally do.
We were rewarded, especially on our last day (with temps in the low 40s and a storm rolling in), with little to no people. The dogs were able to enjoy a whole lot more off leash running time.
I was nervous about how Molly's foot would hold up on the sand, especially since we had an agility trial about three days after we were due to return. I refuse to keep her in too much of a bubble though, so she got to do a fair bit of ball chasing. Last year I had a pretty full proof system in place: backpack for poop bags, chuckit, balls and anything else. So sadly, no camera. It sucks and I so miss having my SLR, but until I grow some extra arms it had to be sacrificed. The iPhone is much easier for snapshots, lower quality but I've always been of the opinion that composition is so much of what makes a photo beautiful, not equipment.
Ein freely off leash. Either Perri or Molly off the leash alternately. I did try a fair bit of leaving Perri off leash while playing ball with Molly, but Perri was so rude with her biting and chasing behavior that I had to leash her. Molly gives Perri absolutely no corrections for her behavior, but simply chooses to go "out to sea" with her ball to avoid being pestered. That doesn't work when it is in the 40s and your dog has no coat! (Not to mention, Molly drinks water while she swims and we don't need any salt water induced diarrhea!) And Molly is only permitted off leash when we are playing ball. Without the ball to occupy her she turns her attention to bullying the other two dogs relentlessly. Despite all these "rules" they all had a great time!
An excellent example of Her Royal Pestiness!
"Out to sea...no poodles...just me, my ball and the great wide open."
"Fools"
If it fits, I sits! (yes, she did jump up there herself!) I lifted her the first time but then asked her to get back up and she did. "Her powers of levitation would make a fakir stare..."
Goodbye, Cape May!
Molly's foot issue did not act up, no limping! She did have her usual sand-induced skin breakdown in between her paw pads though. When we got home I gave her a bath and soaked her feet in Epsom salt, and despite having cleaned the sand out with wipes after each beach visit, I still got more grit out in the tub when I massaged each foot! She had been licking obsessively until that bath, so even though I got the royal stink eye for bathing her, I know it made her feel better! I also massaged a new shampoo into her feet that I have been trying for Ein by Espree. Molly usually fights me in the tub "tooth and nail" but she stood quite still and tolerated her feet being massaged. (Molly has no issues with me handling her feet, she is my best "paw dog", but when it comes to a bath she says no thank you! to everything about it!)
I also noticed a favorable difference in Molly's hips this year. Because of what we were dealing with in her left front foot, I doubled the dose of Dasuquin I had been giving her after the first episode of lameness in that foot. After she improved I backed off to maintenance dose until the beginning of October when the limp returned after a day of Fast CATs and beach play in very loose sand. Last year at the beach I remember Molly dragging her hips up, she was very stiff after playing on the beach. This year I saw none of that and I have to think that the doubled Dasuquin is to thank. Good stuff!
With Molly's soundness under discussion I will roll right into a quick update about our USDAA trial from last Sunday! We have done little trialing since September, with the exception being a very short day mid-October where Molly took a crash on the dog walk after a very poor approach. Although Molly seemed quite sound afterwards, I didn't feel much like playing. So, last Sunday I was hopeful for an enjoyable day. My main focus was on my weird ring nerves in the Masters ring, my feelings of self doubt and inferiority. I actually put a little meme on my phone with a message that encouraged me and made me smile all throughout the day.
I do not want to be a handler who lacks confidence anymore. I really want to tackle this and overcome it. I was feeling pretty good about our Jumpers course, though mildly obsessing about a wrong course tunnel. By the time we went ringside I was intensifying in feeling some of those feelings of being worried of making a fool of us, of failing, of not belonging. However, my focus for this trial was honestly to address this issue I am having and by the time we took the line in Jumpers I was working hard on exactly what the meme above states: being confident and not doubting myself. We won our class, our first Masters/P3 Jumpers Q. :)
The rest of the day was a lot of waiting as Biathalon Jumpers and Grand Prix were in the run order and we had not entered either of those. (I keep saying when we get a Steeplechase Q we will then try Grand Prix!) We had Gamblers and Standard remaining. Here is our Gamblers run, which I did not love. Molly was sort of tired, not very fast, and I gave her an awful approach to the Aframe for her first time. While we got whistled on the Gamble (hmph.) we did complete the distance challenge so I was happy with that!
In Standard I had the same kinda ho hum pokey dog, though we did run our first clean P3 Standard! We were one second over the SCT but I am still grateful for what was a very nice run! However, Molly's inability to run three agility runs in a day without becoming so tired that we are overtime was initially upsetting for me. It brings up another issue that I have:beating myself up for days after a trial over every single thing I did not like. Introspection is good but I take it too far!
However, introspection on Molly's energy and speed makes me realize that I truly have let her become a "weekend warrior" and as she is getting older, she is not able to maintain endurance on just being young and in condition. Because...she is getting older and I am not keeping her in proper condition! Perhaps I could blame her feet still being sore, or fret that her lymphoma is becoming symptomatic, but I don't think so. Really, beginning this year more than ever, if Molly doesn't want to go walk or hike, I leave her home. Molly's exercise is so sporadic, it could be only a walk every two weeks or a hike here or there. Starting this week I have tried to take Molly on a 15 minute walk every day. It is not much but it is better than nothing and it is a start. (Our usual weeknight exercise is an hour+ walk perhaps 2-3 times a week, and again if Molly doesn't want to join Perri and I, I just shrug and go on without her. No more!)
Six days later I have already created a monster, Molly has more energy! While she would normally eat her breakfast and go back to bed on a lazy weekend day where I am at home doing chores and bills and drinking coffee, guess what. She was pestering me for her walk! I love it! Now, I just have to start saving up for a Dog Pacer.
