The Vet

We went to the vet today. But before that, I decided to go to the park and retape Miley walking so that the video wasnt sideways when I put it on my computer. After getting the video, I usually email it to myself but this time the file was to big for gmail. So I then spent a few hours trying to figure out how to transfer it to my computer without youtube. I was finally able to link my phone to my computer with bluetooth. WhooHoo for me! I really dont want to load some videos onto youtube just to watch them. So now I dont have to. Anyway I will post one of the videos. Its really hard to see, but Miley does this little skip at 47 second on the video. Probably most people wouldnt even notice it but when you constantly walk behind your dogs you notice things.
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So I took my computer with me that had a few videos from todays walk on it. I thought , "this lady is going to think Im a crazy person when I show her this video". "What skip?" But she didnt. She actually saw it and more. She told me she saw Miley change her gait for about 6 strides, lifting the weight off her right foot faster during those 6 strides and then she went back to a regular gait. LOL, Im not a crazy dog person. I also told her about her leg making a cracking noise every time she jumps on the couch. Also that I felt she was dropping more bars than normal. And the last thing was what happened this week. When I took her to the park with all the hills for good hiking, Miley didnt want to walk. She walked fine on the flat part but at the bottom of the first hill she stopped and didnt want to go. I first thought it was just a sheltie quirk. I did make her walk and after about 20 minutes she was fine. When I take her to the flat park, she walks just fine. It didnt occur to me until yesterday that maybe the hilly park and the skip in her step might be related. They vet checked her all over and gaited her. Mileys leg did make the cracking noise but she felt it was in her hock and wasnt bothering Miley. What she did fine was on her left back leg, she could extend it all the way back without any problems. But when she tried to rotate and then extend, she didnt like that. I didnt see any change in Miley but the vet felt her tense up all her muscles and couldnt completely extend the leg. The right side was fine. So on Tuesday Miley will get some hip x-rays just to rule out anything. But she thinks its a iliospoas injury. If the x-rays are clear then an ultrasound of the iliospoas area. Bummer. So if it is a muscle injury, rest ( no crate rest), leash walks, heated US and laser. Im hoping I caught this early and she recovers quickly. Will see.

Class and other things.

I know these pictures arent great but I took them last night on the way home. It was about 10:30pm and I was beat. The sky looked awesome and I pulled off on several exits to try and take pictures. But the exits kept having all the trees and I couldnt see the sky. So I finally found an exit where I could still see the sky but there were still those traffic lights. Sorry, I was just to tired to try another exit. And then I either over exposed them or under exposed them,. Ugh. It was irritating.

I went to class last night. I did the novice class and the masters class. We did the Karen Holik exercises in Feb.2010 Clean Run. It was funny, in the novice class where the sequences were more open she drops at least one bar every run. And sometimes she dropped more. It was frustrating. The masters class where the sequences were tighter , she didnt drop bars. Weird. I worked the novice class with that bunny toy and the masters class with treats. I really didnt see any difference in her excitement level. I would really like to be able to use toys more in training. So Im going to work on that some more. Here is one sequence we did. I hope Meagan doesnt mind me posting this. I cant edit it because it was done with my phone.
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We are still working on crate/table games. We are now up to level 4. I know its taking us a while but I wanted to make sure I was getting the drive to the table that I wanted.

Ive given up on the running a-frame. The July 4th trial I thought maybe we were on the road to actually getting it. But this last trial her a-frame was a disaster. Im tired of trying to figure it out. I know its probably better for her but the constant running the a-frame can not be good even if its low. Plus I really think she needs to stop on both the DW and the a-frame because she cant seem to separate the two.

Lastly, Im taking Miley to the vet tomorrow. She has been doing this weird skip when we walk at the park. Its really not that noticeable, but I can see it. Ive spent lots of time video taping her walking trying to get it. I have a few short tapes that demonstrate the skip. I cant post it because its on my phone and I didnt flip the phone sideways so when it post to youtube, its sideways . Ugh. Also that she dropped so many bars last night at class has me worried. And lastly, she right back leg keeps making this cracking sound when she jumps on the couch or ottoman.

Summer storms

These pictures arent to great but you know it can be dangerous to go out in a storm and take pictures. So the tops of houses are in there. I just thought the clouds looked neat.

Yesterday I took Miley to a friends yard that she has never been to before. I want to start taking her different places and on different dogwalks. She did fine at the new place. I had my son run on the other side of the dogwalk from me, nope Miley did perfect. Had him run in front of the contact when she came down, nope , no problem. Had him put this bunny toy that she really likes and pull it off the contact, nope, she stuck it. I put an open target plate passed the dogwalk with open food. Nope she stuck it. I moved the target a little closer thinking she couldnt see it. She stretched all the way, as far as she could with her back feet still on the contact and got the treats off the target. But she didnt release herself. I moved the target just a little farther away. Nope, she stuck it. LOL O'well. I try some more things. Maybe taking a dustbuster out at the dogwalk will add the excitement I need.

Today I took her new bunny toy out to practice. Miley usually doesnt like being rewarded with a toy. She likes food. But she really likes this new bunny toy, so I thought I would try it. She did really well for it. But she was over the top excited. Im not sure if it was the toy or not having food. I think having food keeps her focused. So she kept breaking her start line. We were only working jump grids, so nothing really exciting, well at least to me. Apparently Miley thought it was great. So after a few times of throwing the toy behind her and releasing her to it, she seem to settle down. So do you think my problems at trials is from being overly excited or not having food in the ring????

When its too hot

to do anything else. Try proofing your dogwalk contact. After our last trial and Miley consistently blowing her dogwalk contact, I had to do something. I tried a bunch of stuff to get her to fail and blow the contact at home. Like a bowl of spaghetti a few feet from the end of the dogwalk contact, nope didnt work. Guiness running around barking like a manic, nope didnt work. So I tried to think of things that get Miley really excited. The two I thought of were, cars and the vacuum. Well I cant bring a car in the backyard and that could be dangerous anyway. But the vacuum.... I decided to bring the end plank of the dogwalk into the house. The first runs, I just went to open the closet where the vacuum was kept. That didnt do it. Now when I brought the vacuum out, that got her excited. So watch the video and see what happens. You may want to turn down the volume. ( P.S sorry to my husband who works out of the house).

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My vacation slide show

Here is my vacation slide show. I had to cut out a lot of photos and just picked the ones I liked best. Its 3 min and 20 seconds long if you want to watch it. A lot of the photos you've seen already posted to my blog. If you make it to the end of the slide show, thanks. At least I didnt make you sit at my house and watch it. LOL



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More dolphins!

No, the first picture isnt about dolphins. I took it on the way back and just liked it. The yellow was so pretty in the sun. Not sure I captured how beautiful it was but oh well. Next are the dolphins pictures. It was so cool to watch. I was within less than 10 feet of them. No pictures were cropped and I didnt use a telephoto lens.

This first dolphin picture, he had chase a fish on to shore and I thought I got the picture with the fish, but I missed it.

This dolphin just kept swimming by. Turning and showing its belly which was very pink.

Well, Im back

Well, Im back at the beach again. Stephanie made her flight this morning and she says she is feeling ok. She was very nervous when I left her and that made me nervous. I asked her what she was scared of and she said "Monsters". LOl, I think she just meant everything and nothing. I probably scared her by warning her about people and not trusting them. I just dont want anything bad to happen to her. Ugh! Ill be worried until she gets home.

This morning we walked the dogs on the beach. Its alot easier walking one calm dog than 4. Especially when one dog is a manic. Yes Guiness. He goes crazy on the beach. The crashing waves and the birds flying by just take him over the top. He cant really walk on leash because he is such a manic. Dont worry he is on leash.

This crab was flipped upside down and had one of its legs pulled off. Im not sure if a bird got him or what. So I flipped him back over and then he was ready to fight. The crabs are all along the water shore right now. Many people are out there with nets catching them. And so are the hammer head sharks. I saw one this morning. They come right into the shallow water to eat the crabs. Sorry, I was to slow to get a picture. Hopefully I'll have another chance tomorrow.


Guiness was to much of a manic to get in the family picture.

It cracks me up how much he hates water but at the ocean he looses his mind and keeps going in trying to chase birds.

Oh, yea. He cant be trusted off leash. I dropped his leash just to get a couple of shots. He wouldnt come to me when called and I was right there. I had to step on the leash. So no dropped leash for him. To bad, maybe no nice beach pictures for him.

Look, nice normal dogs walking on leash at the beach.

One manic dog walking at the beach.

Miley is doing better. No vomiting or diarrhea in 12 hours. She ate just a little breakfast and is no longer hinding in her crate.

24 hours later

On Friday at the trial I had to stay at a hotel. I took the above picture the next morning at the hotel across the canal.
I had planned to go home on Wednesday to help Stephanie get ready for her trip. She is going on a mission trip with the church. But then I decided to go back Tuesday afternoon so we could spend a little more time together. Everything has started to kinda fall apart. Around 12noon Miley started having diarrhea. Then when driving back home, she vomited in the car. Then when we got home the diarrhea and vomiting continued. I had to get up in the middle of the night and clean the carpet. Also, Stephanie started with a sore throat. Ugh! Not right before you leave the country. She felt terrible when she got up this morning. She felt hot but her temp. was only 99.3, so no fever. I decided to take her to the doctor just to be sure. So at 7:30am we are at the doctor. They tested her for strep and mono. Both were negative. They gave her a shot of antibiotics just in case the plated strep comes back positive in 3 days. Stephanie seem to feel better by this afternoon. So that is good. But poor Miley still isnt her self. She isnt vomiting anymore but she wont eat and is just hiding in my room. So I took her to the vet. They just think something has irritated her gut. They gave me antibiotics and some anti-nausea medication too. Hopefully she'll feel better soon too.
Its funny, 24 hours ago everything was peaceful and relaxing. How quickly things change.

Photos at the beach

No dolphins slamming on the beach last night but they were swimming by. This wasnt cropped, thats how close they were. Think it smiled for the camera?

Turtle tracks to come in a lay eggs last night.

Trial update

We went to a trial that was at night. It didnt really help with the heat. I have to say I dont think Ive ever been that hot. You felt ok if you were just sitting there but when you moved you were miserable. I made Miley get in the baby pool a couple of times. Poor Miley. The first time she didnt have her feet under her and went head first into the pool. Not good.
Our first run was PI gamblers. She ran great but didnt stop on the dogwalk but he didnt call it. She got the gamble and first place. But there werent many dogs in my class. But it was a very nice run. Nice a-frame and nice weaves.
Next was PI snooker. It didnt go well. She missed the a-frame contact and then went really wide. I couldnt remember what red jump I took and then we were off course. Miley was kinda wild on that run. We got whistled off.
Last was Speedjumping. It was around 10pm and the lights were on. Im not sure if she had trouble seeing but she dropped 3 bars. She got the first a-frame contact but missed the second one. I did a lead out lateral send to #2 and then front crossed b/t # 3 and #4. She dropped the #4 bar. Someone watching said it was a very nice cross and didnt know why she dropped the bar. I sent her to the tunnel and then front crossed b/t #6 and #7. I front crossed b/t #12 and #13. She missed the 2nd a-frame contact and went wide around #14 ( I didnt fix it) beautiful weaves. She ran really nice. I know it wasnt perfect and we didnt qualify but it felt like such a nice run. No craziness.

The next day we had PI standard. I didnt know if I should run this or not. I didnt want table stress. We did run it and she ran nice. I had her sit right next to the table. She had no problem with that. She didnt stop on the DW and missed the a-frame contact. Beginning to see a theme here?

Next was pairs. She wouldnt hold her start line. She just kept creeping. I was going to do a lead out pull but as I was leading out she just would stop moving forward. So I went over to the left and released her and then rear crossed #3. After the a-frame I was able to keep her out of the tunnel. She was flying but I called her off and did a front cross. Probably weird for most people to FC there because then I RC after she went into the tunnel. But if I didnt do that she would have gone off course into the tunnel. Anyway it worked and we "Q". The other girls dog ran nice on the 2nd half of the course.

After walking out of the pairs ring Miley wouldnt take any treats. Very weird. Then kept pulling to get away. Then diarrhea. Ugh. I didnt know she was feeling sick. She also was acting weird before the pairs run too. She wouldnt go into the trial area. I was walking her on the gravel road and was trying to get her to go back to the crating area and she just wouldnt. Someone said that she was fine yesterday so it must be the smoke. They were grilling hamburgers and there was all this smoke. Miley was freaked out. I move my crating stuff to the other side and then she seemed ok again.
I wasnt sure if I was going to run her in Grand Prix. I worked the championship class and it was tall to small. I forgot that then performance would be small to tall. I went to get Miley out of her crate and she took some treats and seemed ok. I was walking her and they said I was up. Oops, no warm up routine. So you can guess what happened. She wasnt wild like circling but I had to fight for every jump. She was wide alot and I had to really call her to get her to take the right obstacle. O,yea and I must have push to far forward because she took the a-frame for just a second instead of going in #2 tunnel.

Sunday morning was PII jumpers. All the dogs ran slow today. I think they were hot and tired. Last night ended about 11pm. Then this morning started at 8am. So not much down time. Miley sat at the start line and didnt move a muscle. Unusual for her. Usually she is in a down. And then she didnt run as fast as I was expecting. Usually she would just have enough momentum to carry out in the pinwheel but she didnt and I pulled her off jump #5. Otherwise it was a good run. No off courses. She dropped one bar. I started with a running front cross at #2. FC again b/t #6 and #7. FC again after #9 to keep her out of the tunnel that was straight in front of her. Then one more FC after #15. I got them all and they were good.

Things that were a big problem dogwalk and a-frame contacts. That killed us this weekend. She will either have to stop on both or run both because she just cant seem to differentiate between the two. Sorry no video, Stephanie has my camera.

Congrats you made it to the end of this post. LOL

Dolphins

The trial is over. It was exhausting and Im beat. Miley is beat too. She slept all afternoon. We only had one run this morning and I was happy to go home. It was the hottest Ive ever been. All dogs ran slow today. I guess they were all tired and hot. Ill talk more about the trial tomorrow, Im just to tired.

We are on Seabook Island. Sometimes when its low tide you can catch the dolphins hunting fish. You know its happening when you see the pelicans watching and waiting on the shore. This channel is very deep and just drops off. The dolphin chase the fish out of the water and onto the bank. Then they eat the fish, unless the pelican gets it first. Smart pelican letting the dolphin to all the work and then gulp. When watching this happen you see how powerful a dolphin is and how aggressive they can be. Although amazing its scary too.

This photo above wasnt cropped. I had only a 50 mm lens on and thats how close the action is.

The photo below isnt the same as the above one. It just has similar action.

This photo below wasnt cropped either.

Yesterday at the lake

I took the dogs to the lake yesterday. My dogs can swim they just really enjoy it. I wish they would run and jump and act like they are having fun. After Guiness's swims he has to dry off in the sand.





And then look like this.




Miley doesnt dry off in the sand. I couldnt find her after swimming and we are on a little island. Finally I find her in the boat drying off on the seats. LOL. Its quit a jump from the ground to the deck of the boat.



I thought this looked cool. The sand and the mud in the water.