Thoughts

So of course with all this down time, Im thinking about Miley's table.  Why she wont get on the table. How I can go to a training class and she gets on the table with no issues and the next day at trial, that in the same place, stress and doesnt get on.   Do I have any ideas, not really.  But something that is interesting. Ive been working on shaping with Miley. Well , its really stuff for Java in Sylvia's running contact class. So since its rear legs stuff, I figured I work Miley too.  She is crazy over the top when its her turn to work. I mean so crazy, that she cant think. She keeps offering behaviors so quickly, and gets frustrated within a millisecond if I dont click. Sometimes I dont even have time to click before she is offering something else.  I just makes me wonder if this  has anything to do with what happens at trials.  As long as she is moving, she is ok but as soon as its  a stop behavior, craziness kicks in. She is so over excited that she cant control herself?  Maybe , maybe not. 

Photos and all

Well the "I Shot It" dog photo competition is over. I didnt win.   Can you imagine? LOL, just kidding. But I did make it into the top 70 photos that she first narrowed it down to. She started with 1421 photos, so thats kinda neat. Here is my photo that she liked.
http://www.i-shot-it.com/competition-photo.php?id=4efb1f464fd4f

You can read her comments below the photo. I like some of my other photos that I entered  better but what do I know. LOL   The winning photo wasnt what I thought would  win. But again she talked about photography concepts that I really dont understand, like negative space ect.

Im still working on Java's running contacts. We are still struggling with getting her to run the carpet and be leapy. Several of you have asked what Java is running on.  Its a 12 foot piece of carpet.

Miley had a follow up ultrasound on her shoulder to see how the tears and tendinitis  are doing. She is healing nicely. We still have a ways to go.  So still no off leash walking or running. We did get to decrease the theraputic ultrasound to every 5-7 days instead of twice a week.

Today was such a better day then the weather man said it was going to be. It was suppose to rain and be in the 50s or low 60s. I took Miley up to NC for her theraputic Ultrasound. About 1/2 way there it started raining and when we got there it was 47 degrees. Ugh. But when we go home. 70 and sunny. Wow.  That was a nice surprise. We went to the park. There were tons of people there. Bikes, dogs , people ect...  So we walked through the woods instead of on the sidewalk. And there it was. Sitting on a branch about head level.

I took the dog down to the water since it was so warm.

I was in the water too.  Man, my feet really hurt now. Those rocks are killers. How do the dogs take it??

What is it with people and flexi-leads.  First Guiness gets bit by a dog whos owner couldnt control her dogs that where on flexi-leads. Then this week at the park, this man is talking to another man in the parking lot. His little Boston Terrier is on a flexi-lead. He drops it by accident or the dog pulled it out of his hand and the dog comes ruuning at us. Lucky this time the dog was friendly. Then today at the vet., this man has two huge labs. Both on flexi-leads.  In the vets office, really????  So Miley is under the bench Im sitting on and behind  my legs.  Does anything in that picture say my dog wants to greet your dogs?  NO!  But of couse he lets them come on over, on their long flexi-leads.  Me blocking them, he still doesnt get it. I know I should have said something, but nothing but rudness wanted to come out of my mouth. So I didnt say anything.   Then the dogs comes again and Miley starts growling. So I put my hand in front of her face to block the two dogs. He finally gets it.  But Im sure if Miley would have bit his dog, I would have been at fault. Ugh!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Sun Shinny day

Yesterday was a warm sunny day. I was suppose to take Miley to NC for and ultrasound treatment but canceled it because I didnt want to miss the day. It was nice Tuesday but I had to go to NC. And it was nice Wednesday but I had to teach an beginner agility class ( which went great and everyone had good things to say at the end).  Thursday- rain. Ugh.  We have had so many rainy days, I didnt want to miss out on today.
It started out pretty chilly. Here is some frost on a weed that I thought looked cool.

Then the steam coming off the ground looked cool too. Im not sure I really captured its beauty.

Java had a great time running. I got the feeling she was saying, "finally!"

This isnt a very good shot because it was shot into the sun. But it was beautiful if you were there. Sun glistening off the weeds and the steam, dog running.

Here was another missed shot.  Just beautiful with the steam rising behind her, but the sun wasnt right for getting the shot.

After a short rest,she was off again

So it was rest , run, then rest and run again.

Then we were done. ("Done?  Im not done, what is she talking about?")

Then after going home and resting we went to that little beach that you cant park your car it.  My nice husband dropped me off and then went and did some work on his computer until I called him to come get me.

Java had a great time here too!

Look how clear the water is.

One last run, then time to go.

Nervous breakdown

This is what it looked like yesterday when I got out of work. It was suppose to be 68 and partly sunny. NOT! It was in the 40's and no sun.  Great.
Yesterday was a horrible day. It started at 3am with Java vomiting. It looks like she ate some sticks. So after cleaning that up I couldnt go back to sleep. Then Stephanie called crying at 5am saying she was really sick and hadnt slept all night. And why didnt I answer my phone last night?  I guess Im not getting mother of the year.  I told her next time call me back a few times so I know I  need to answer it. If Im sleeping, I wont answer the first time.  So I told her what to do  while trying to figure out what was going on with her. Then I get to work and its 60 degrees in  my office, the heats broken again. Its a new system put in this summer. What the heck??  Tons of kids coming to me at work. Lots of them just to get out of class. A parent being mean on the phone. Stephanie calling again, says she feels better and doenst need to go to the doctor.She calls back 2 hours later, crying again, she isnt feeling good. Ugh!  Feeling helpless because Im 3 hours away.  Trying to answer emails for my agility class. Im not sure Ill be teaching again. I like it because it was fun for me. But now, the fun is falling out of it and things are becoming to serious. Im only teaching because there isnt anyone else stepping up to do it, I know I dont have enough experience to do this and now Im feeling stressed.  One complaint Ive had is I dont give hand outs. Well I just dont have time or the money to do hand outs. Im sorry.  I was up front about it. In the first class I said I dont give hand outs and they need to take notes. I guess that didnt go over well.  I dont think people realize how much effort I put in these classes. Reading information , planning and reviewing. Ugh. 
Now up again at 4am because thats what time my husband gets up and so all the dogs get up. They want me to get up even though he is awake and could do what they need. I need more sleep.  So now Im irritable. And then this irritated me too.  Im on a list and they were talking about ETS. I put up a couple of links for Linda M. stuff that she has done. I guess the list thinks its a training problem. But all of us who follow anyone who has been trying to work through this issue, know how hard they worked on the dogs jumping issues. Its not a training issue  IMO. Its heart breaking to watch a beautiful talented dog struggle with this issue.  But then again I didnt believe in fibromyalgia until I got it.  The first two doctors who told me I had that I wrote off as  "stupid". By the 4th doctor, I had to believe it.  But Im sure lots of people dont believe in that either and I dont blame them. Sometimes until something happens to you,  its easy to write off. (Sorry if Ive offended anyone, these are just my opinions and I feel Im allowed to write what I want here as long as Im not saying offensive things about other people. )

Getting to me

I think this weather is getting to me.  We've had no sun for at least 4 days maybe more. Its been raining alot. Yesterday it poured.  We got up early to vote. What a waste of time that was. I still cant believe South Carolina picked Gingrich. What the heck?? The man has no morals and they want him as president. I still cant believe it.  Then I drove up to North Carolina to take Miley to her rehab appt.  I took Java too because I was suppose to have a lesson but it was canceled due to rain.  When we got to the vet, I took Java in to because I didnt want to leave her in the car.  In the waiting room, first one 4 month old lab comes in, then a 2 month old lab comes in. Miley wasnt happy. She is never happy when we are there but she is ok. Java was calm and sniffed the puppies. The puppies were wild and the staff was all oooing and aaaaing over them. The man with the 4 month old puppy asked me how old Java was. I told him 7 months. He said "I cant wait until he is 7 months and acts like that". I didnt want to bust his bubble. I think Java is just laid back kinda dog. Then we got called back.  Miley was freaked out. I have no idea why. She laid there for the treatment but her back leg kept shaking.  Im not sure what was wrong with her.  Java just sat there watching everything.  Then we were done and it was time to go. She jumped up and that was that. Im not sure what was wrong with her. They lady moved the probe around and the settings were correct.  Maybe all the commotion in the waiting area took her over the edge. The tech was new, maybe that was it.  Then we drove home in the rain. The dogs were beside themselves all day with nothing to do.

This picture was taken last week. Then this happened.

Crazy dog.


The next day I went back and retook some pictures to get this shot. But made sure she didnt jump off the ledge.

Still having bad weather today.  It chilly and 44 degrees. Its damp from all the rain and my backyard  is a big mud pit.  So we went the the park and worked on our running dogwalk stuff.



And you know what?  Im jealous of all the people in class who just stand there and throw the ball and their dog runs like heck. LOL I think Im the furthest behind in class but its not from lack of trying to practicing.

I did get Java to learn this trick.

More running

She is still not running full out and is to airy.  All this running is a lot of work. Ive been really trying to get her to want to run and chase  me. 

Yesterday I tried to kill my dog, well maybe not kill but Im surprised she didnt break her legs.  I had put all the dogs in crates to eat dinner. Than I took Java out to work on the elephant trick. I use the top of a cake carrier cover with a none-slip runner on it to use for her to purch on and rotate around. The cover is probably 10 inches high.  When I was done, I put it on top of her crate just for now and then I was going to put it away. I went to let the other dogs out of their crates.  Java jumped on top of her wire crate, her legs were falling through. My  husband  started yelling and went to get her. When I turned around , she was sitting on top of the cake pan cover with all four feet.  Im sure she was thinking, "where's my treat?".  Crazy dog.