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.

Pick your head up.

I was trying to get a picture of all three dogs.

Java likes to keep her head down.  It drives me crazy ( just for picture taking, otherwise I dont care).

But she is staying and looking at the camera. Thats huge!


Until she decides this is boring and she has had enough. LOL

So then I got out a ball to throw up in the air to try to get Java's head up. Oops.

Yea, her head is up. Miley is tracking the ball.


Look pretty good but you can see Guiness's leash. Cant take him off leash. To risky.

Success!!

Tendons to running contacts

 (This isnt a great picture but they are both looking at the camera. Score!!!)
Its been a busy week.  Sorry I havent posted much. Ive been so tired and I dont know why. Earlier in the week it was really warm but rainy. Then yesterday the sun came out but freezing cold and windy!  Ugh, I hate winter. My hands are now cracked open , boooooo.  Ok, enough complaining.
Last week or maybe it was the week before,  my husband took Miley for her ultrasound of her left shoulder. She still has tendinitis and two small tears in the tendon. No surprise there.  Miley probably thinks her whole life is "rest".  August and September she rested because of the glass in her foot that took forever to find. Then in November the tendinitis started. She rested for 6 weeks and the had  a week of normal activity. The limping started again and now more res,t probably for 3 months. Poor Miley.  I decided to do therapeutic ultrasound for this go around. Its suppose to help the tendons heal faster and in the right direction  ( or something like that).  So she had her first treatment on Thursday. Now she hasnt had US treatment since summer of 2010. The vet was doing her treatment and as soon as this beeper went off, stating treatment was over, Miley popped right up. The vet hadnt even had time to pull to probe off of her yet. It surprised the vet. Im sure the vet didnt want her getting up like that. So a year and a half and the dog still knew what the beep meant.  No wonder she wont get on the table at a trial. LOL She never forgets!! So going back and forth to NC for the next few weeks will probably kill me. But hey its for my dog right?
Then there is Java. Who wants to run and play with Miley and cant. Poor Java. Ive started the on-line running contacts class.  Im not sure Java is running as fast as she can so thats all Ive really been working on. Trying different toys  to see if she will drive faster for one than another. Not really. My throwing the ball needs work. So many things to think about. Ive been working everyday or every other day on the running contacts stuff.  You have 3 weeks to complete the homework. I didnt know if I should wait until the end of the three weeks to post my video or do it at the beginning. I needed help so I went ahead and posted it.  Ill see what she says to help me.  Also, you need to open the classroom stuff everyday and read what people post and what she says so  you can learn from them. And if you dont, I can really see getting behind on information.
This isnt the video I posted to the class. But I can see how much different her stride is inside than outside. I probably wont do any inside again. The one for the class was outside , where there is more room. I like how she is playing with me though. You are probably thinking , "big deal".LOL, it is for me. Ive been working hard to get this.


The "I shot it" contest is almost over.  I think there is 2 more weeks to enter your dog photos. I pot is around 1200.00.  I could sure use that. But there are professional photographers pictures in there so Im sure I dont have a chance, its sure nice to dream.....

Wordless Wednesday

Back from Florida!!

On Friday my husband and I drove to Florida for the Ann Braue puppy seminar.  Thank goodness my husband came with me because I dont think I could have done all that driving by myself. The only negative thing was there really werent any parks that let you walk your dogs in them. Well, I found one but there was no parking so that didnt help.  Many of the parks were acres and acres but you had to stay in the "dog park" fenced area with you dog. Thats not really something I do with my dogs. Very disappointing.
We did find this tiny park on the water which allowed dogs but I think it was more for fishing. It was less than a 1/4 of a mile walk, not really what I was looking for. But I did get some nice pictures. And we saw two manatees swimming but I wasnt ready, so my picture is horrible.

There were some cool birds too

I havent been able to get an unique dog pictures in 3 weeks but this next one is cool.

I did stop at this park with a small beach but they didnt allow dogs. It was early in the morning and no one was there so I put the dogs on the beach and took a couple of shots.

Then off to the seminar.
The weather was beautiful.  Sunny and 74. I learned a lot.  Somethings I was already doing with Java like crate games and its your choice. But we played this clicker game. You were paired up with another person. One person was the dog and one was the trainer. Then the trainer picked a "trick" from a hat that you had to clicker train.  I was the trainer first. I had to teach the person to put the back of their hand on the top of their head.  I couldnt get her to do it. LOL  She got her hand on her head part but I couldnt get her to flip her hand over.  It was funny to listen to what the "dog" thought the trick was  and what it actually was.  Sometimes they knew it was "put hand on elbow" but it was suppose to be "put right hand on left elbow".  It made you really think if your dog  understands the behavior your are teaching. Then we switched roles. The lady I work with was very good and I got it. "take left hand and pinch right ear lobe".  Placement of the reward after the click was very helpful and something I havent been doing.
One thing I did learn was I have a lot more playing to do with Java.  It was such hard work to get her to play when she really didnt want to. She would rather work for food. Ive never worked so hard or long trying to play with my dog before. Every muscle in my body is sore from just playing with my dog. LOL What an eye opener. But she can do it and I have to be more persistent. I felt like she had pretty good play drive before going to the seminar but I now know I have a lot more work to do.  We did lots of restrained recalls with our dog. I have more work to do on that too. Ive been having her drive to me for food but I need her to do it for a toy. One time after driving to me she really didnt want to play. I was trying hard to get her to play and running with a toy. My ankle twisted and I fell hard.  I wasnt hurt but it sure was embarrassing. The next day my left arm, that I fell on,  was so sore. And still is. LOL
It was funny , there were no border collies and I was the only sheltie.  There were poodles, labs, goldens, Doberman, schnauzers, and pappion.
At the end of the first day I was tired and tired of playing with my dog. I never thought I would say that. Im  sure she was tired of playing with me too. LOL

The next day we went back to the two parks.  Didnt see any manatees. The went to the "no dogs" park. There were cops parked there so I didnt take the dogs out.

I thought this was a manatee. But then I realized , at least I think, its was an alligator. Ugh!

Then there were some dolphins.

Sorry, none of the pictures are great.

I could have stayed for hours taking pictures but time for Day 2 of the seminar. When leaving the park, I was backing up. I have back up cameras and the sensors that were beeping , telling me  there was something behind me. I saw the big tree but I didnt see a big rock on the ground. I thought it was beeping because of the tree and of course hit the rock. Ugh. So I messed up my bumper.  That was a bummer.
The second day we  did a bunch of stations. Some of the things were repeats from the day before and some new things. The stations were different things like fit disc, plank work, cone work, tables ect.  Work with food for 3 minutes, then break and play with your dog. Again, lots of work to get my dog to play  after working with food.  Also there were now lots of treats on the ground as you worked your way around the stations and you had to really work hard to get your dog to forget about all those dropped treats.  Another thing for me to work on.
We drove home after the seminar. What a long day. Im very thankful that my very nice husband came with me. What a guy!!

Wordless Wednesday (late)