Here is Miley's pairs run from a couple of weeks ago. I first edited out the team mate but when I tried to save it , it was always blurry. So hopefully the girl running with me isnt mad I posted it. Its only starters pairs so it isnt difficult.
The bad karma stuff? Well I went to class last night with Miley. First we did the novice class and she was awesome. Then we did the masters class. Meagan set up a Masters snookers course. Ugh!!! I hate snooker!! I suck at it. LOL Of course I didnt make it thru correctly one time. Then disaster.
Im posting a course map so you can understand better.
The red "1's"are the snooker jumps. I was running the closing and was going to bring her around the outside of the course after the tunnel instead of trying to bring her between the two red snooker jumps to get from #2 to #3. I guess she thought I couldnt really want her to go toward the wall so she cut in front of me. She was running and I was running. She cut in front of me right has my leg was coming forward. I kicked her, spun her around, she took out the jump , flip over and landed on her back on top of the jump poles. It was horrible and I felt terrible. Ugh!! She seemed ok. After class I iced her down and gave her a small dose of aspirin. Today she doesnt seem sore. I had already made an appt. to have her checked by the rehab vet next week just to make sure she was ok after going back to agility and doing trials again.
Then I get home and there is a message on the answering machine from the vet saying I need to call them about Miley's blood work. She had her yearly check up on Wednesday and the drew blood. Im hoping maybe just her platelet count was messed up. He had a hard time sticking her so maybe he got some bad blood cells that were clotted. I tried to call today but they were closed and will be closed until Monday. Also, the new vet at the practice, wrote a Rx for Mickeys phanobarb and wrote it in pill form. I didnt look at it until I got home and I thought maybe they now make a small enough dose for Mickey to take pills instead of liquid. I took it to the pharmacy and guess what. They dont. He wrote the Rx wrong and now I have to wait until Monday to get a refill. I think I have enough to make it. The pharmacy say they could give me a little more if I run out. Ugh!
Today I have bad karma. First I was on my computer and I was trying to open itunes on my hard drive. Something happened and all the programs on my computer changed to itunes. If you tried to open any software , you only got itunes. Ugh! Then it wasnt recognizing me as the administrator of my computer so I couldnt fix things. I couldnt open the Internet to try to google help. I called Dell and they tried to sell me a software warranty for 239.00 before they would even start helping me. I told them to forget it. I called Best Buy and the guy with Geek Squad thought he could fix it easily. So I went up there and it wasnt that easy but he did fix it. Yea!! Im going to have to reload itunes. Im scared to do that but the guy didnt think it was really itunes fault. I guess I just have to bite the bullet and do it.... later.
I also went the park and brought my camera with several lens. I feel like I need to expand my lens use to be more creative. And I dropped my new 50mm lens on the pavement. Ugh! I wanted to cry. First the computer , then the lens. See bad karma. The lens seems to be ok so far. Will see what happens when I take some pictures.
You know, there might be snakes in here.
Snake!!!! (just kidding)
All those pictures above looks so much better on my computer. The colors are richer. Hmmmm.
We are finally back home again. We left Savannah at 4:30am and got here at 8am. I will be so glad to sleep in my own bed tonight. We never sleep well at my parents house. We got snow here yesterday but I dont think it was much. It never stuck to the road. And even though the temps were below freezing, most of the snow had melted when we got here. I did get a few pictures.
We had a very nice time at my parents house for Christmas. In case you were curious, here is what Stephanie got and she was very excited.
Yesterday we had a dinner for my parents 50th Anniversary. It was very nice and I think everyone had a good time. Lots of laughing and telling stories. I brought the wrong camera lens with me an lots of the pictures are blurry. Ugh! Savannah had snow flurries so that made for a wonderful ride to the restaurant.
More later. Its taking forever for me to load pictures.
Well I cant believe that I finished Christmas shopping and have wrapped all the gifts. On Wednesday, I only had one gift and that one was being shipped and hadnt arrived yet. So between Wednesday and today, I got it all done. WhooHoo! Christmas isnt to exciting once your kids get older. And really the only one who is getting a great gift is Stephanie. Im hoping she is going to be really excited one she opens it. The poor dogs dont get any gifts. Its hard enough to buy people gifts let alone dogs.
Next month I entered another USDAA trial and Im going to be on a PVP team. Neither of us care if we Q or not, so there is no pressure. Plus she has seen Miley run and go into stress mode and she is ok with it. The good thing about team is there is no table in Standard. WhooHoo, maybe we have a chance at a nice run. Although team snooker kinda scares me. LOL
I went to class last night and Miley did great. We did a course that was in clean run but I forgot to ask which one it was. Lots of turns and crosses. Its so funny when you watch the video of yourself. I felt like I was really moving trying to get where I was going. On the video it looks like Im lallygagging thur the course. I tape the run so I could remember where we put all the crosses. Sometimes thats easier than me writing it all down.
My phone taped this really well. I wonder how it would do at a trial?
Sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted but I was trying to edit video but my software isnt working. Ive tried a patch and uninstalling and reinstalling. Nothing worked. So I will just post them as is.
Saturday started with Adv/PII Gamblers.
I had a course planned to end with the tunnel at #12 before starting the gamble. I had timed it twice and that was at 35 seconds, 5 seconds more for when the buzzer should sound for you to start the gamble. Well , we were faster than that so I had to add #13-#15 to eat some time to wait for the buzzer.
Anyway, when we stepped to the start line, I got nervous. My hands were shaking and my heart was racing. Ugh! I hate when that happens. And I just couldnt shake it. Once I started running , I was fine but I think I freaked my dog out. It felt like she ran to dogwalk really slow but picked up speed the second time. Then she started dropping bars. And of course when that happened it felt like she had dropped all the bars. It didnt help that someone said to me, "What wrong with your dog, she dropped a lot of bars". Ugh. I was freaked out for a while.
Im glad I video tapped it so I could see she didnt drop every bars like I thought she had in my mind. LOL So I figured I do one more run and if she drops another bar, Id pull her and call it a weekend. She didnt drop anymore bars all weekend.
Oh yea, She"'Q"ed and took 1st place.
Next up was starters standard. Lets just say she wouldnt get on the table. I think she thought about it but just couldnt do it. So we moved on, she missed the teeter because I was behind and didnt cue it.
Pairs was next. We had a great run. Someone has it on their video camera and I cant remember who to be able to ask for it. But we Qed and took 2nd place. We didnt have any errors so it must have been time that we got second. We ran the 2nd half with the squared numbers.
Miley was way wide over that jump before the weaves. I couldnt believe she pulled in enough to make her entry but she did it. WhooHoo. Half a course works great for us. LOL
Last up was Steeplechase/perf speed jumping.
I had planned to RC at #10 the tunnel. I was worried if I front crossed there she would take the a-frame. Well when I RC that tunnel , it pushed her off of it. Then she went into stress mode. She ran as fast as she could , 2 big circles around the ring. I called her to my side and low an behold she came into me. To top it off she didnt take any equipment during her stress circling so we didnt get an 'E". When she came to me, I cued the tunnel and we finished the 2nd half of the course beautifully. We qualified!! WhooHoo. We would get to run the second day for money. Several people came up to me and told me how awesome that run was. How cool it was that my dog didnt take any jumps during her run around the ring. LOL , It didnt feel cool when her mind is exploding into stress but she got it back together. Sorry, I dont have video of that run.
Sunday started with starts snooker. Needless to say we didnt "Q" that run. We did make it thur the opening but I wasnt at the place I thought I would be and couldnt get her to the #2 closing without going off course. I dont know if you can tell what I wrote on the course map. I had planned to be at the #6 tunnel but she took the #6 jump. We were still ok because the 6 jumps were bidirectional. But you can see it would be hard to get to the number 2 tunnel. O'well, at least we made it thur the opening.
Oyea, she also pushed her startline. I forgot all about my "no stay, no play" rule. Ugh! So I released her which is why I was behind and she took those #6 jumps instead of the tunnel.
Next up was Grand Prix.
We were so close on that one. I pushed her off the second to last jump when I rear crossed. Ugh! I will be practicing rear crosses in the future. It was still a great run! And she didnt get stressed when I pushed her off the jump.
Next was Steeplechase/Speedjumping day 2.
Great run. If we hadnt screwed around at the weaves we would have taken 1st place. We were less then one second behind the 1st place person. Who cares! We won 19.00. LOL We had such a great weekend. To bad about the stupid jumpers run I posted Sunday. Ugh!
We are home from our wild weekend in agility. We had a great time and probrbably the best runs ever . Here, this picture is a peak at what happened.
Im going to tell you about our last run here so I dont have to talk about it when I post the rest of the weekend. This run is the only really negative of the weekend. Well besides Miley wouldnt get on the table but thats nothing new.
The last run today was advance jumpers. Well I looked at the course map I thought it look tough. I thought I should just go home. But I didnt think that was the right attitude. I thought I should try it. Here is the course map.
When I walked it , it was even worse. I knew I couldnt run this and keep Miley on course. Ugh! We were ok until the #8 tunnel and she took the wrong tunnel entrance. Then we were ok until #15 to#16. It doesnt look like it on the paper but the angle there was tough, I called her but to late , her brain exploded and she started stress circling. I felt terrible , after she had done so well today. I think she circled me twice , I sent her into the tunnel and then did #19 and #20. Crap. Not a nice way to end after such good runs earlier today. I was talking to someone after wards. She told me next time I feel like a course is just way to hard, design a course that will make my dog successful. So what if it isnt what the judge designed. You want to keep your dog happy and confident. I wish I had done that with this course.
I will post the rest of the weekend tomorrow...... We won money in speedjumping. WhooHoo.
The photographer sent me new pictures. She sent them thur a zip file. I think they are a little better.
My plan has been to try and bring Miley to a new place each week to get her on different tables. Its hasnt really worked out. This weekend my plans fell thur due to weather. So Monday I signed up to help the club give the canine good citizenship test. I figured I'd bring my table there and work her around the dogs. I know she has been to the club building before but she hasnt done agility there. So I got there early, it was freezing outside with the wind blowing. I dragged that table in there and set up a couple of obedience jumps. She did fine, no problems.
The testing for the other dogs went well except for one dog. When the lady walked in with him he seemed really excited. I think she needed to go run him 5 miles before bringing him in. LOL. Anyway , he wanted to go see other dogs. Im not good at knowing dog behavior but to me he looked like he was over the top excited and then was frustrated when he couldnt do what he wanted. Apparently he jumped on another big dog and the owner pulled him off. When she did this, he bit her, twice. I couldnt tell if he was being aggressive to the other dog or not , not that it mattered. You cant let your dog jump on another dog. So since he bit his owner twice or maybe it was because he jumped on the other dog, they were excused.
Yesterday I took Miley to another persons agility field. We have been there before but not for at least a year. She got on the table with no problems. The table was higher than Miley has to get on but I didnt see the legs to change it. I had also brought my table and used it too. We worked on all the things we have been having problems with. Rear crosses on the flat into the weaves. She didnt have any problem going to the right but going to the left into the weaves she couldnt get it. I figured out it was me causing that. Once I got my footwork correct she could make the entry. We worked contacts and ran a few sequences that we messed up last weekend.
Mickey is doing fine as you could probably tell in the pictures. Guiness has been doing great. But now they want me to wean him off the Theophylline. So Im half way thur the process. The vet said it wasnt a problem for him to be on it for life but he wanted to see what would happen if we take him off. The bad thing is that its been so flipping cold that I havent walked him that much. I did get in two long walks this pass weekend. He did stop one time and refuse to walk at the really hilly park but I was able to just pull his leash and call him 2 times and he started walking again. At the flat park on Sunday, he didnt have any problems. So I guess will just wait and see what happens.
This weekend is a USDAA trial. Im not sure we are ready. She did really well last night, no mistakes but who really knows if that means anything. I would like to go to class tonight but Im just not up for driving all that way.
The good new is that Miley must feel great muscle wise. She springs up into the air with no problems. The other night she sprang high enough above the counter to snatch a complete hamburger off the counter. It wasnt near the edge either. Ugh!! She had to bounce high enough to be above the counter, snatch the hamburger with out hitting her face on the way down. So that behavior was really rewarded. The dog wont forget getting a whole hamburger. Of course then I was worried she was going to get pancreatitis from all the fat in the hamburger. But she was fine.
I bought a couple of pictures from the trial last weekend. They arent crisp and Im not sure why. I dont know if this is just the way her pictures are or if its the way I down loaded it. Hmm...
Mickey had his teeth cleaned today. He also had two more front teeth pulled. I think he only has a couple of front teeth left. Poor guy. It must have been a rough time because he looks a mess. His hair is all messed up like the vomited on himself or the spilled something on him. He has been crying a lot too. I gave him the pain medication. I dont see much difference. He did eat, so I guess he is ok.
Do I have any teeth left???
Last night I went up to a class in North Carolina. I did the novice class and then the masters class. Uh, we had some problems.
The course was from a Dana Pike
We didnt run those numbers. The first run was this.
So I thought the hard part was getting the weave pole entry. We didnt have a problem with that, it looked beautiful. What did we have problems with? The beginning. We kept dropping the bar on #2 because I would lead out to #2 then start moving when she got there. I needed to be before or after two and then start moving. The for some reason she went wide over #3 like she was going to the weaves. So we worked this section several times until I got it right or close to it.
With this one , we had problems with #6,7,8. You could take either tunnel entrance but we did both with different runs. I kinda did a front cross wrap thing at #6 and I was on the right side of the jump #7 to post turn into the weaves.
We did this same course for the masters class and I decided to do two rear crosses at #6 and #7 into the weaves. Miley slipped coming over #7 and face planted. Then started stress circling. I had to finally grab her to get her to stop and then sent her into the weaves. Poor dog, I dont know why she does that. People probably think Im mean to her or something when she is wrong. But really, I dont do anything when she is wrong. Sometimes I will say "nope" if she misses the a-frame contact or weave pole entrance . And then I will pull her and put her in the crate if she breaks her stay , which she didnt do all night. So I dont know why she gets so freaked out when she makes a mistake , which its my fault anyway. Ugh!
So what I figured out worked best, in my opinion was front cross/wrap at #6 but stay to the left side of #7 and then RC on the flat into the weaves. Thats something I really need to practice.
This one we also struggled with the RC on the flat into the weaves after #5. I dont think we got that once. We didnt look like we belonged in this class at all. When I watched everyone, they looked beautiful running, so in sync with their dog. We did get the correct tunnel entrances all night. So thats good.
Lastly the chiro came after class to adjust dogs. Miley first showed signs that something was wrong on the left back, thats the opposite side of her pass injury. But she only did it the first time she assessed her. Then next two times she didnt respond. So Im hoping that was nothing.
