Table trouble

Everyone keeps asking me if I read the table article in this months "Clean Run".  Yes I did.  I tried to video tape her at a friends house where we taught a lesson on Saturday.  I should have made the video closer to be able to see more of her body languge.


She doesnt look like she is having any question about getting on the table. But if you see something let me know.  I think next time Ill set the camera up so its looking at her as she approaches the table.   Ive been setting her up so all sequences start with the table. I had  read an article that dogs that find running agility rewarding, making them start with the table, then reward them with running the course. That's the the reward for getting on the table.  I ended the sequence with the table to see if she would get back on. Ive also started clicking when she is running to the table instead of when she is getting on the table.  I dont know if any of this will make a difference.  The only positive I can think of from last weekend at the  B-match, was  she did get on the table.  In the pass, I  couldnt get her on at all after she started stress circling.

Here are some pictures from my hike yesterday and today.

More Beach Pictures

It was very windy right on the beach.  The other two pictures were taken on the island but not on the beach, so no wind.
Thanks for everyone's kind words. I really appreciate it. Im feeling much better.  They had increased my fibromyalgia medication about 2 months ago and I realized when I went to call the doctor for a refill, thats when I stared feeling like I couldnt deal with anything.  So they decreased my medication and I feel much better.  So that must have been it.  Guiness is doing better.  I think the 1 1/2 tabs of medication was put him a little over the top with excitement.  I felt like he was on the edge of going from excitement to aggression when playing with the other dogs.  At least he is playing again.  I hadnt realize he has stopped doing that since Miley wasnt allowed to play.  So I made a decision on my own to give in 1 1/4 tabs, and so far so good.  I'll call the doctor back next week and talk to him about it.
Miley is all done with heated ultrasound and me driving to Charlotte every week. Yea!!  She seems ok.  Weve done a few low jumps and tunnels.  And some table sends.  Im kinda scared to run her and that she might get hurt. But I guess thats normal. I know the key is to take it slow.  So thats my plan. Something weird  has happened.  She is now going out to the garage to get in the car on her own. I know you are probably thinking , whats the big deal.  But Miley hates the car.  Every time we need to go some where I have to catch her. She wont come near me and lots of times I would have to trap her.  Ive tried everything to get her to like the car.  So what changed?  I have no idea.  Maybe all that time of not getting to go anywhere, made her want to go. I dont know but it sure does make things easier.  One morning she even got into the garage when I was getting ready to go to work.  I didnt even know she had done that. I felt something near my leg and I look down and there is Miley. She was ready to go.  I sure hope things stay this way. Its only taken 3 1/2 years.  I guess I have a long way to go  for her to get  over her table issue.

Wordless Wednesday

    Drawn  by Rebecca Kriz.http://trublueart.blogspot.com/

Awww, the beach

"Oh Please, if they want to impress me, show me a start line stay"



"Boring dolphins, Im leaving"

The struggle

Ive been struggling with life the last 2 months.  Im not sure why or what is causing it.  Im either having a mid-life crisis or a nervous breakdown.  Im not sure which.  There are just very many days when I just cant handle anything and I just want to quit.  Quit parenting, quit my job, quit it all.  But then other days I feel back to normal again.  Really my life has gotten easier.  My husband had started doing the food shopping and the laundry.  Which I always did.  I no longer have to cart my  kids every where or spend countless hours at the doctors office.  I dont have to sit down and help anyone with homework.  So really, whats my problem.  Life is great, whats my brains problem?
Yesterday I decided to drive down to the beach.  They were having a trial down there and a b-match.  I wanted to see where Miley was on her table issue.   It takes about 2 1/2 hours to get there.  While driving down I was contemplating why I was trial chair for our agility trial.  Im not a leader and I dont evoke that, "I want to follow you", type spirit.  Which is why I didnt want to do it in the first place.  Another reason for going to the beach trial was to get a judges contract signed.  The lady who took care of the contracts for our trial  has stepped down.  No on has stepped up, so its now my job.  Thats what just keeps happening.  I keep taking on more and more jobs or have to pay someone to do the jobs. And it doesnt matter what I do or how hard I work, no one is happy.  Ive done none stopped agility trial crap since the trial ended.  I have to get these judges contract fixed because we are changing the running order. I cant put it into the AKC website unitl I have the judges signed contract.  Anyway.... I was thinking of the pros and cons of being trial chair.  Well, I found out, there isnt one thing to go into the pro collum.  Hmmm.....Wow. That kinda shocked me. I really thought maybe it might help me become more "in" with the agility group here. But it didnt.  
Miley and I went to the beach.  I didnt bring the other dogs. I needed peace and quit.  Miley is very calm on the beach. Just walks right next to me. She might go away from me a little bit but then comes right back.  We went to the beach before the b-match started. We werent there long  and she kept wanting me to throw a toy. I didnt bring one. I didnt want to chance here getting hurt.  Then we went to the trial.

I had a nice spot under these wonderful trees.   So we did our 2 runs.  She kept creeping at the start line.  I did 3 jumps at 8 inches into the chute then the table.  She circled me  and the table twice. Then came in and sat right next to me leg, which was right next to the table.  I had someone tape it but   she messed up and turned off the video when it was already on.  So no tape.  So she is sitting right next to me but doesnt want to get on the table.  It was so weird.  Every part of her body was saying, "please dont make me get on there. I really want to work for you but I cant get on that table".  It was such a weird experence.  I told her it was ok to get on the table. She finally stepped onto the table. I gave her a big hug and we ran  out of the ring to a favorite treat.    We ran one more time, the same thing.  This time I think she just circled me once, came into my leg. She did get on the table without as much hesitation as she did the first time.  I really am at a loss for what this table problem is.  Something ,that Im unaware of , must have happened she just cant get pass it. Is it fair to keep trying to get her to do it. Usually she just stresses and runs big circles around me. But this time was different.  She was in such conflict about it.  We may not be able to do AKC and just have to stick with USDAA  and just not do standard.  Thats the only class with the table.   Ive also been contemplating quitting agility.  Im not good at it.  Let face it, how many people can do 22 Exc JWW runs and not "Q".   Im not athletic and must just have poor timing.  I dont feel like Im getting any better.  Its probably not the best time to make this decision so Ill just keep thinking about it for a while.
After the b-match which was really late. I went back out to the beach. Just in time to catch the last of the dolphins playing.  There lots of them just jumping for joy.  Watching them gives me the most wonderful feeling inside. Its very good for my soul. Most of the time I got this, when taking  the pictures. LOL

But I got a few of these.

I have a ton more pictures but my compter isnt working so Im using my son's.  My computer will not open the internet at all. And when try to go into my pictures, it says the file is curupt.  Great.
(I hope this didnt come off too negative.  Im not trying to make people feel sorry for me. I dont feel sorry for me. I just needed to express some things). Really this commercial is my take on life.

Life

We went to the park on Sunday.  Right after taking these pictures we came across a bobcat on the trail.  I was trying to get a picture when my husband scared it away.  Darn.  My husband thought ours and the dogs safety was more important that the picture.  What?  Where has he been. LOL just kidding.

Guiness seems to be 50% better.   He can walk the flat park without any problems.  But the hilly park, he still is stopping but I can get him moving again.  I called the internal medicine vet on Monday like he asked me to.  I told him that I thought Guiness was 50% better.  So he upped the  medication to 1 1/2 pills twice a day.  Im to still keep records.  He did say he was frustrated that he couldnt tell me what is wrong with Guiness.  He talked about doing more test, but I dont want to do that right now.

Miley ran a little bit off leash through some jumps on the ground in our beginner class.  She was very excited to be allowed to do something again.  When we got home she was so happy and excited.  "I do have a life, I really do".  LOL

Tonight we practice some startline stays at the park.  After reading Ricky's post we tried some of her tests that she did in class.  So I had my husband hold the leash loose and I ran away from her. She stayed.  Then I had him hold her and I did a lead out and said "are you ready?" . She broke and my husband let the leash go. I asked him:
Me:  Why did you let her go?
Lou:  You said ready.
Me: the release word is "OK".
Lou:  Oh.
We started again.  This time I lead out and said, "pizza".  she broke and my husband let her go.
Me: why did you let her go?
Lou:  I dont know.
So if the human cant get it, how can the dog. LOL
One more time.  This time I said "french fries".  And everyone stayed. We ended on that. 
It probably doesnt seem funny but it was funny to me at the time.

Im doing a survey for our agility trial.  Ugh, its hard to make everyone happy.  Its funny how people see the same trial so differently.  But if you are reading any of the post on the agile list and how people saw the USDAA nationals. Im glad Im not running that big event.  You know if you have lots of complaints maybe you should help out with putting on the trial.  Most people are just trying to do the best they can.  People really do want other people to  have a good time running their dogs.  They are not working that hard to make people unhappy.  Thats not a good feeling.  O well, cant please all the people all the time. LOL

Sheltie Fun Day

Yesterday was Sheltie Fun Day.  Its a fun raiser day for the rescue with food, raffle items, silent action, t-shirt sales and some other things. Someone from our dog club did a grooming seminar.  I didnt get to see much because I was in charge of the registration table.  Miley did get her ears trimmed and I learned a few things about trimming ears.

I wish I could have seen it. Ugh!  There were several sheltie rescues up for adoption.  Here are just a couple.

This is a corgi-border collie mix. I think they thought it was a sheltie at first.  He is a cute little thing.  Its to bad he is blind.  You wouldnt know it by watching him.

I cant remember this dogs name.  He isnt growling or anything. I thought he had a funny expression on his face.

Border Collie Rescue and Australian Shepherd Rescue was also there.

I left that picture small. I dont want to post peoples pictures I dont know. They may get mad.  While I was there I saw this dog with someone. It was a border collie.  I thought , "wow that dogs looks so much like my friend "T"'s dog".  They have to be related.  I went to take a picture and when I put the camera up , I realize it was my friend and his dog.  LOL  Too funny.  Him and his wife came out.  They were really taken with this 10month old puppy.  She was great. She loves frisbee and seemed really well adjusted to all the kids , dogs and people.  (That picture above was taken early. Lots more people and dogs showed up.)  She was in a shelter for 3 months but you couldnt tell at all.  She is ver cute.  Will see what happens........
I played a game while I was there.   You had to walk your dog while carrying a  plastic golf ball on a plastic spoon.  Plus it was a race against other people.  It was the first game and people were reluctant to play, so I said we would.  I had both my dogs with me.   We were doing really well and getting close to the finsih line.  ( oyea, if you dropped your ball, you had to go back to the start line).  So , I wanted to win right.  I started running to beat the two people who were close to me and right at the finish line I dropped the ball.   Awwww....  LOL
I help with the Canine Good Citizen Test.  The AKC donated lovely ribbions.   Poor dogs , it was hot in the sun.  I think most of them passed.  It look like the  hardest part was the three minute seperation.

I brought my xpen to put  my dogs in next to the registration table. Miley wouldnt stop barking at me.  I knew I couldnt leave her in there if I walked away because she will jump out.  Its only a 24 inch ht. xpen.  What was I thinking buy such a low xpen. I bought it when Miley was a puppy.  It didnt last to long before she was just jumping right out.  Anyway, I told the lady sitting next to me that Guiness would never jump out.  A short while later, I took Miley to go get her ears trimmed.  It wasnt far from where the xpen was. So Guiness could still see me.  We are almost done with Miley's ears and I hear someone say , "loose dog". I look up and Guiness is running scared right pass me.  Crap. Visions of lost at the beach go thur my head. I dont let him off leash anywhere anymore.  I immediately called him and he turned and came right to me. Thank god.   Sometimes shelties get the  "dodge the hand" behavior.  But he seemed relieved to come to me. 
Its funny the dogs and I were beat after the day. I think I got there at 9am and left around 3pm.  Even the dogs were tired.  They didnt really do anything.  Miley never even tired after a day of agility.

I couldnt get spell check to turn on, so sorry if I mispelled a lot of words.

The unexpected

Im not sure why she took this leap.  She could have just kinda jumped down or stepped down.  She took a flying leap.  I know it looks like she couldnt , but there were lots of rock below these rocks.This poor dog is loosing her mind with all this control and no free running or jumping.

Its come to this.

Since I have nothing dog exciting to post,Ive been forced into bird watching. This woodpecker was in my backyard. Then the video is just the noise of an owl. Ive been trying to get his picture but I never have my nice camera when I see him.

Guiness update

Guiness had his appt yesterday with the internal medicine vet.  I told him everything that has been going on. Then he examined Guiness.  At least in the office his heart rate was 65.  Considering how nervous he was acting ,I figured it be a lot faster.  They did the ECG and the ultrasound of the heart. Guess what?  All normal.  So who knows why he is doing what he is doing.  This is just like his leg limp thing. No one ever figured out what was wrong.  Well , Im done spending money on this.  This has cost me a small fortune. So what is the plan?  We are putting him on Theophylline, which is a drug use for asthma. It opens your airways but a side effect is increased heart rate.  Im going to start it today. I didnt want to start it last night and then go to bed.  Im to keep a log of how he is doing and check his heart rate everyday.  Im to call the vet Monday and let him know how Guiness is doing. If this doesnt work, he is willing to try some thyroid medication and see if that  helps, although he doenst believe Guiness is hypothyroid.

Another Day

I feel like my blog has become so boring.  I never have anything fun and exciting to talk about. I feel like my life is SSDD (same sh>>, different day).   But not much I can do about it right now.
Guiness walked really well the last two days.  I started thinking, maybe Im over reacting.

They are having something at the park called "Wood Magic".  Im not sure what it is about but they had this big tractor sitting there. I thought I would take the dogs pictures.  I like the one with Miley in the tire.  There is also a  logging truck full of wood. I wonder what these people are learning about. I realize its something to do with wood.

I went back and took a picture of the snake skin.  Yuk, it must have been a big snake. Anyway back to Guiness. This morning I took the dogs to the park early.  It was cool, about 48 degrees.  I figured that would probably help Guiness out.  Well after 30 minutes he stopped and refused to go any more.  I listened to his heart rate.  Again it was just 60 beat a minute. And not really regular. There would sometime be this little pause. Usually your heart beat is consistent and you can count it like a metronome. But not Guiness. I had time to think, "Ok come on". Then the beat would come.  Weird.  So I carried him for a while. But 20 lbs. gets heavy quickly.  I put him down and he still wouldnt walk. So we turned around to go home. He was ok with that.  But when Miley realized we were going back, she wasnt happy. "Wait, we just got started. Im not done".   So I put Guiness in the car and walked Miley another 30 minutes. I figured it was cool enough and I was parked in the shade, so Guiness would be ok.  
I took Miley back to the park to walk again tonight.  It was now much warmer, 82.  I left Guiness at home. We had a nice walk.  We ran into these deer. The one kept stomping its foot at us. The they turned and ran making this weird noise. It reminded me of Jurassic Park.  I took video but the sounds is just like a bark on the video. Its to bad.  I guess Ive never heard a deer make any noise before. It just wasnt what I expected. And I cant figure out how to add a youtube video to the new blogger post site.  So I cant load the video.

The park

I walked the dogs at  the  hilly park today.  We came across several items.

This deer antler was there too but but several hundred feet apart.  In between was  snake skin but the picture turned out really blurry.  I was using my phone. The deer antler one was blurry too so I took this one when I got home. I dont know if you should let your dog chew on deer antlers from th woods  but I did.

Guiness did really well walking.  About 30 minutes into the walk he stopped and didnt want to go. So I took out my stethoscope and listened to his heart.  It sounded regular but it was only beating 58 beats per minute.  Wow, that seemed slow for walking up and down hills.  They werent steep or anything but I thought his heart rate would be faster then that.  But what do I know.  After resting we started walking again.  He had no other problems until the end of the walk.  He started rolling in the grass and seem very happy with himself in the grass.

After he was done rolling I tried to get him going again.  Nope, he didnt want to go.  I listened to his heart again, it was about the same, 62 beats per minute. So we've been walking almost an hour and then he rolled around on the grass multiple times. You think his heart rate would be some what higher.  Hmmm... weird.

I really dont know what to do.  The cardiologist will cost probably 500.00.  Oohh did you hear that?  That was my husband falling out of his chair when he just read that price.

Can I Run?

I took Miley up for another rehab appt. last night.  The vet checked her and she was still feeling good.  So the plan is to keep doing once a week therapeutic ultrasounds until the end of October.  Then I can start flat work with her.  No jumping or weave poles.  If I can get her to go slow, lol, she can do a-frames and dogwalks.  I told her that Ive been using the a-frame as a  hill in the mornings since there are not hills within walking distance. I told her Miley is on leash when doing it.  She said she was fine with that. So no off leash running yet.

I then picked her brain about cardiac enzymes and if she used them in her practice.  She said she didnt unless an owner requested them.  She said they had great hope for using cardiac enzymes but  lots of heart issues can cause positive results in dogs.Like your dog falling and bruising his heart.  You wouldnt have known about it but it will elevate the enzymes.  So will infections that may have gotten to the heart but not caused any problems. The good thing is that if they are negative they rule out the heart which is what I think my vet was hoping for.  Then she told me about her dog. She has Great Danes.  He was walking slow behind her up to the house one day which wasn't the usual for him. He usually walks beside her.  She went and got her stethoscope and listened to him. He was in atrial fib.  She did cardiac enzymes on him and  there were elevated but not nearly what Guiness are, and then she was worried because of the heart issues Great Danes can have.  They did an ultrasound and the heart was normal.  Anyway the dog kept having the atrial fib and finally had to be cardioverted to get back into normal sinus rhythm.   ( I hadnt said anything about Guiness walking slow behind me or sometimes refusing to walk at all).   So maybe he is having an arrhythmia too.  I told her about Guiness and she thinks I should do a cardiac ultrasound.  So my vet called me this morning and Guiness cardiac enzymes are still way high.  So they are making a cardiology appt. for us.  My husband is going to freak out with how much money Ive spent on dogs in the last month. Ugh!

.

To Tired

Sorry its been so long since Ive updated.  It was a long 4 days of running the trial.  My body was really not happy at all.  Saturday went well and there was lots of help.  My sister came and we got to sit and talk. Now she knows what happens at an agility trial so she has a better idea of what Im talking about.  Then Sunday came and everything fell apart.  No sitting down Sunday.  First one of the sprinkler heads didnt shut off completely and drained all night.  So when the chief course builder got there, part of the ring was a flooded , muddy mess.  When we got there he was pulling the water off with a panel jump.  I felt so bad for him. It was cold and he was a muddy mess.  Poor guy.  So we moved the ring over. Then when the judge got there, she wanted to  move it over again.  Then some how what the premium, confirmation letter and the trail timeline said was different.  The premium and trial timeline said ring 1 started first. The confirmation letter said ring 2 started first.  I didnt know this because I didnt get a confirmation letter because Miley wasnt entered in the trail. Ugh!  So with ring 1 starting first, the sun was shinning right in those peoples faces and the dogs faces.  So we decided to delay the start of the trial for both rings by 30 minutes so the sun would be above the roof and no longer shining in peoples faces.   Ok, everyone happy.  Then the toilet clogged but there was no plunger anywhere.  Finally I went across the street and asked the fire department if they had a plunger, they did.  So I fixed the toilet.  I thought that was the worse job of the day.  Until a dog bit someone.  Ugh!  I spent hours trying to make sure we did the right thing , followed all the rules and filled out the right paperwork.  Its a mess and Im still working on it.  Not fun!


Guiness has had multiple blood work things done.  I dont think I told you his freeT4 was 1.1,( normal was .7-3.7)  .  His cardiac enzymes were elevated.  His were >3000.  The paperwork states if >1800, the likelihood that clinical signs (ie. respiratory and/or exercise intolerance) are due to heart failure is high. That doesnt sound good.  Today they did a chest xray.  It was normal. Checked his blood pressure , it was normal.  So they decided to rerun the cardiac enzymes and see if it was a lab error.  If not I will do an EKG.  I did walk Guiness tonight.  He did really well.  But when we got home he wouldnt come out of his crate that was in the car.  I called him and then tugged on his collar. Nope he wouldnt move.  So finally my husband just picked him up.  Very confusing and Im not sure what is wrong with him.

Trial

Today was the first day of our trial.   I was still  exhausted when I got up this morning   from yesterday.  How was I going to make it through today.   Well of course I made it through but my legs are killing me.  I think I helped build all the courses except maybe one.  Good thing I wasnt running a dog.   The trial is really small this time.  Im not sure why.   So its a good thing several of us arent running dogs so we can help fill in.   
I made Miley pose for some pictures.  It was very hard to get her  stay with just her front feet on the rock.  She didnt like this game.  Hmmm , poor Miley.  She was so excited this morning when she saw the pink cooler go into the car.  She ran out the door into the garage.  She never does that. I usually have to chase her down because she hates the car.  Not today.  Will see if she still wants to come tomorrow.
Two students from our beginner class ran their dogs today.  They did great and I think had a great time.  Thats always fun to watch.  They were very appreciative of the help we have given them.  But I told them it was all them.  They did all the work and kept working during the summer when we had to stop class because of the heat.
The weather is nice except there is still a lot of wind.  Which wouldnt be bad if you arent trying to hold papers down or cork boards on easels.