Getting it together

This isnt my course. Its off of the Powerpaws website. http://powerpawsagility.com/blog/  She has  mulitple course maps posted for the one set up. I couldnt figure out how to down load the maps so I had to make a new one with course designer.  If you need a practice set up, its a good one. Lots of different chanlleges to work on with each different set up. 
Its funny how each dogs have different things to  have problems with. On this run, I had to stay with the a-frame to make sure Miley turned tight and onto the a-frame. Other wise she would go wide. But it didnt really matter because she has  stopped a-frame, so I cant leave her and get to the number 11 jump and cue the tight turn between the jumps. But the weird thing was , I front crossed  kinda between 11 and 12 and then was sending her the weaves and planned to rear cross her. Nope, she just couldnt get it. She kept swinging wide and then couldnt get into the weaves.  I did it with Java and no problem. So with Miley I had to front cross again while she was taking the # 12 jump to pull her tight and send her into the weaves.
Java had a differnt set of problems.  I left her coming out of the tunnel and she pulled tight and took the a-frame.  I needed to be way ahead, since she runs the a-frame, to get to the #11 jump. Even thought I made it there, she was sure she knew what to do, take the jump and straight into the weaves.  Oops. No matter how much I cued that turn, she just kept going wide. So we worked on that but once she got it, took the # 12 jump and I rc after she got in the weaves.
I think I have her weave poles fixed. If I put any pressure on her driving down the weaves , she would leave the poles early. So we worked mulitple days in a row with the "ready Treat" at the end  of the weaves and the last two poles open. I drove as hard as I could, pulled away from the poles and crossed in front of her and she started to understand to stay in the poles until the end. Today no problem staying in the poles. Another problem, leaving the teeter before I release her.  She is suppose to do a two on two off but any pressure from me trying to drive pass, she leaves the teeter. If I slow down , she stays, add pressure , she leaves. Hmmm, Maybe I need to put the "Ready Treat" at the end of the teeter.

Im on Spring break. We were so suppose to go to the beach this weekend but my husband had to go to work this weekend. I went and worked the dogs a little bit at the field.  Now I have a sinus headache and am not up to going to the beach. Hey but in good news, my toe doesnt hurt anymore. I dont know what the heck is up with that but its gone, so good riddens.
We had an emergency at work yesterday.  There are other people on our response team , they are teachers, that respond with me during an emergency. But when I get there, Im still going to assess the patient even if one of the teachers use to be a paramedic.  What every happens will come back on me because Im the nurse at school. So my goal when something like this happens is to keep the student safe and breathing until EMS gets there. Im not going to try and diagnosis the student. I will tell EMS what I think happened so that the right EMS truck comes. Like if the student needs advance life support, oxygen, IV medications ect. they need to send a paramedic who can do that. But the regular ambulance just has EMT's on it. They can only do certain things. So just be aware when you call EMS for someone, tell them what you need. Like, I think they are having a heart attack or a stroke. That way they send a paramedic who can hook up EKGS, oxygen ect to help you family memeber. So the reason I brought this up because one of the teachers complined  to my boss that I didnt have a pen light in my bag to asses pupils. I had two, thank you very much, but Im not going to stop assessing the patient to look for it because you cant find it. When I get there, Im assesing their alertness, breath sounds and heart rate first. The pen light wasnt at the top of my list. And the student was awake, I could see his pupils and he was talking to me. Let me just tell you, change in pupils is a really bad sign. That person wont be talking to you. I know. Ive walked into the  hospital room and checked a kid's pupils, one blown and one pin point. Bad , bad sign. He didnt make it.  The kid at school was ok. 

The flu and stuff

Last week I got sick. It started on Tuesday, I went to teach my two  dog classes after work. When I got home I was just beat.  I told my husband that I didnt think I could teach these classes anymore. It was just to much for me. But the next morning I felt ok. But by 9am, my throat hurt and I felt like I got hit by a truck. It went down hill from there. I went to the doctor and they felt I had the flu even though my flu test was negative.  Friday was the worse. I woke up at 2am and was on fire. I almost couldnt walk the 30 feet from my bedroom to the kitchen to get medication. I thought, its a good thing I dont have little kids anymore because I couldnt take care of them.  I started feeling better Saturday afternoon. Monday and Tuesday I was beat after working and just went home a laid on the the couch. Wednesday I felt back to normal and went and taught my dog classes. The again, I woke up this morning and was beat again. Im not sure how I made it through the day of work. This crap is killing me. I need a break. Then a weird thing, my big toe hurts for no reason at all. It only hurts when Im not doing anything. Its not swollen or bruied. I didnt get hurt, no one stepped on it but it wont stop hurting and its making me crazy. Im so over all of this.  Im over dog agility too. I suck at it. I just cant run fast enough to  get to where I need to be.  Next week is our trial here in Columbia and my dogs arent ready at all. I shouldnt even be running them. I probably shouldnt post this because Im being so negative. Sorry.

Wordless Wednesday

Finally

So I finally feel better.  After months of feeling like crap. My poor dogs havent gotten a lot of attention. They have hardly been walked at all in the past few months. I walked the both days this weekend and even hiked at the steep hill park with them.  I clean my house a little too. And shock of all shocks, I worked my dogs in my backyard. I havent done that in months either. The only time I worked them was when I went to the field.  (changed my medication again).

I saw these birds at the park. There was no sun in the morning, so not great, but still turned out.

I dont know why I get so excited when I see the owl. Its seems special for some reason.

All weekend I been watching the AKC agility nationals.  My friend Robin with the yorkie was there. The are a Qing machine.  She already has two MACHs on her dog and she  just started a couple of years ago.

Mattie is a cool dog. Any dog that jumps in the ocean to go after a 400 lbs dolphin has guts!!

 

 So anyway I watched the live feed.  They Qed both runs and were in 18th place  after their first two runs.  So when I looked at all the dogs times  Mattie was 2-3 seconds off time wise from getting into the finals. So I told her to watch the other dogs run, she was  like  the 205th dog to run, so I told her to watch which crosses made the dogs turn tighter. And see where she could shave off a few seconds. So after watching a bunch of dogs, looking at scores and seeing who was ranked above her. I texted her back. I told her to forget the few seconds. Alot of dogs above her went off course.  I told her just try to stay on course and she should make it in. (dont you like how I make myself seem important. LOL)    And she did. Whoohoo, it was so exciting. I was so happy for her.   Her husband was with her  too.  Then came the finals. She said her legs were jello. I watch all the preferred dogs run. Then its time for the regular dogs (or what every you call that group). Robin is first up. She starts to run, the  video feed freezes. Ugh!!!  What the heck??  Then next thing I see is her coming out of the tunnel and the judges hand is up. What???  What happened??  Ugh, Im missing the whole run because it keeps freezing.  Ack!!!   If finally unfreezes as she goes over the dogwalk. Nice ending.  I was so upset, I missed her run.    I did watch it tonight on the VOD feed. She got a refusal at the tunnel. Mattie turned wide and had to be redirected.  But what an awesome weekend they had!!!  Im so happy for her. She works harder with her dogs and in life than anyone I know. Congrats to them!!

 

I fell at the field the other night teaching class. Twisted my ankle and hurt my back. My ankle didnt feel bad at the field but really hurt when I got home. Its the same ankle I hurt a couple of years ago. It was still sore this weekend when I tried to run too. No swelling but a small bruise. My back is finally feeling better. Darn, Im to old to fall down.  I was wearing shoes without grip on the bottom , never again.  Im working on Java's weave poles. She has 10th pole pop out problem. I dont think I proofed them enough. So Ive been working on lateral movement and also working driving to the end and putting lots of pressure on her without her popping out.

 

 

Hey two more weeks until Spring Break!!!!

 

Spam

Im getting so much spam comments and the last one was so offensive I cant take it anymore. Ive added word verification to see it that will stop some of it. Sorry , I know it can be difficult to read the word verifications ( a lot of times I just guess). But I dont know what else to do about it. Thanks for understanding.

Sunday

Sorry its taken me so long to post about day 2. Not that anyone really cares. LOL  I should have spent the day at the beach instead of at the trial. I was just so tired. My dogs didnt sleep well. Both nights they got up at 2am and 5am to go to the bathroom. I couldnt be mad because they really had to go.  I guess all that running got everything moving.  Then having to clean the condo before leaving was a drag too.

 There were lots of alligators out. I think I counted 5 that I could see from our balcony.  Ive never seen that many.

Here was the open jumpers course. It was tough.  I was planning on front crosses after four and then pulling to 5. But then dogs kept going off course and my friend said I should front cross again after 5. So I tried but I was late and she went off course.  Only one person Qed and that dog jumped out of the ring to go see his dad who was video taping and then came back.





Next was Miley's standard run.  Again so darn close. Ugh!!

Well at least she got on the table and we got a chance to run the course.

By this time I was beat. I should  have called it a day. You shouldnt run your dog when you dont think you can do your best for them.

When the people walked this course they just wouldnt quit talking about what to do on 3-6. Ugh , it drove me crazy.  I just made a  plan and left the course. Not a good plan either. LOL I have to say everyone at this trial is very supportive , even when everything is going to hell. LOL




I tried to have a better frame of mind to run Java. If I couldnt pull it together than I shouldnt be running my dog. I thought I tried but things didnt go well.

I know she didnt get that dogwalk contact and was shocked when I found out he didnt call it.  But he called the a-frame. I need to practice pushing into her on the down side of the a-frame and she doesnt bail off.



So not a good ending to the weekend.

Then on the way home there was a bad accident.  I was on the highway, two lane. A guy was passing me. Then I heard "bam" and knew he had a blow out. I slowed down, thinking this wouldnt be good.  He passes me and I see the whole tire come off his rear wheel. But he isnt slowing down. Maybe he didnt realize right away what happened.  All of sudden he loses control of his car. It skids sideways in front of me. Now Im headed straight for him. I hit my brakes thinking about which way Im going to go if he tries to correct and starts coming toward me.  But he slid off the road, into the grass, flipped twice and landed upside down in the ditch. OMG, was that scary. I was so grateful that I didnt get hit or run off the road and flip my car. I did pull over and run back to the car. The doors were wedge shut due to being upside down and in mud. The one window by me was broken. There were 4 people in the car, from what I could tell. No one would answer any questions. They just kept starting at me. I guess they were in shock.  No on could tell me, "how many people are in the car". "Is everyone in the car awake". It was weird. The guys in the front just kept staring at me. So the guys in the front got out, no injuries that I could see. A women in the back was screaming, "get my momma out of here". But you couldnt get them out. I think the grandma was unconscious. I never saw her move. Now a bunch of people had stopped to help.  This man and lady kinda took over, the man kept saying his wife was a nurse. So I let them have at it. I went back to my car since I left the dogs unattended. I drove home thinking how lucky I was and it really didnt matter what happened at the dog trial.

Wordless Wednesday

Trial weekend

I went to an AKC trial at the beach this weekend. The weather couldnt have been better. Sunny and warm.  Love it!!   Saturdays runs felt really good. Its just seemed like one thing happened on each run to NQ us. LOL

First up was open jww. This was a tough course. Harder than the masters course.

The whole thing squished on one side of the field. Off courses every where. The judge was really nice so hard courses are ok with me but I was pretty sure I couldnt run it.  Of course we messed up the easy stuff. She missed jump #3. I have no idea why. I was planning on front crossing between 3-4. The the rest was perfect. That figures huh?  I think only two dogs Qed.



Next up was Mileys standard run.

 

Miley got on the table like she has been doing it her whole life. LOL   It was a beautiful fun until I rear crossed on the flat after 17 instead of in front of 17. This pushed her wide and she missed jump 19. Ugh!

 

 

 

Next Mileys  masters JWW run.  We dropped a bar.

Then Java's novice standard run. It was beautiful!!!  Awesome dogwalk contact. We dropped a bar, what a heart break.

Miley, T2B.

I debated how to run the serp at 13. First I was going to front cross on the dw side and run it that way. I was worried she wouldnt push out to 15.(I should have run it this way)  So I decided to run on the weave pole side and I was going to front cross b/t 14 -15. I didnt make it and had to rear cross. This sent her off course.



Great day even with the things that kept happening. At least Miley was running with me and trying.  Its hard to run a dog who is freaked out. That didnt happen at all today. Yay Miley. Java was awesome too. I need to stop cutting her off with those front crosses.

Mish Mash Monday

At the beach!!

I took today off and drove down to the beach. Tomorrow Im going to a trial.  The weather is suppose to be sunny and warm. Whoohoo!!

The dogs had a fun , fun time.

This picture cracks me up.

When we first got there, you walk this long board walk to the beach. Due to the storms going up the coast this year, the end of the board walk was distroyed. So they built a new one but now there has been more erioson so its a steep step down.

I took the dogs leashes off when we got on the beach. They started running around chasing each other. Then Java kept running under the board walk. No biggie.  All of a sudden she runs up the the left hand side of the dune, jumps to the closet railing to her, then she jumped to the next railing and then to the ground. OMG, I was so freaked out. When she jumped from railing to railing, I think my heart stopped. Im so glad nothing happened to her. Next time she wont be off leash until we are farther down the beach. Crazy dog.

Java likes to dig holes.

Look someone's brain on the beach. LOL

Then it became very windy and kinda chilly so we left the beach. Fun times we had.

Whats going on??

Sorry I havent really been posting much.  I really just havent felt well in a while.  My fibromyalgia has been really bad. I went to a Rheumatolgoist but I feel like that has  just made me feel worse.  I havent been walking my dogs much either. I use to walk my dogs everyday no matter what, rain, cold, crutches ect...  Now , I think Ive walked them once in 2 weeks. Its taking everything I have to go to work.  And then I come home and Im just out of energy.  Ive still been teaching classes twice a week for the club but its been raining so much we having been able to have many classes.  And on the days I do go, its a killer.   Work hasnt been nice either. They are killing me with the amount of kids they are sending to the nurse.  My boss came and talked to my principal. This year Ive seen more kids than any other school in the district  (Ive had over 4000 visits not including medications) including the high schools ,who have double the amount of students that I do.  I dont think much will change. The teachers that want to send kids , just send them. They dont care they've been to the nurse 30 times and are just trying to get out of class.

Ive gone to the field a couple of times and mostly just let my dogs run around. They like to do that , so at least they are doing something fun.   I went Sunday to take pictures of some equipment we are going to sell for the club.

My dogs sure know how to have fun, Huh!

I tried to have class last night because its suppose to rain tonight.  I went out there, set up the course. 6pm, no one came. I know one person was going to be late.  I had checked my email before I left home and no messages. But after sitting at the field waiting, I checked it again and anther person was sick. So I ran my dogs each twice over the course. Thats all I had in me. I just couldnt do anymore.  Its now 6:45 and now one has come.  So I call my husband, crying, I feel so bad I need to come home.   Then the other person showed up. She is a really nice person. She was only running one dog because the other was injured but I didnt know that. So she ran her dog a couple of times and then said she was done.  I felt bad. She lives near me so I know it was a drive (40 miles) to get there.  But she said she didnt really want to do that much and she was cold.  So she helped me pack up and we went home.  I felt terrible this morning still, and called in sick.  I decided to stop the medication the Rhumatologist gave me and just  uped the Lyric to twice a day.  Im feeling better now, just tired. (thats what the medication does to you. Pain or excessive tiredness, not good choices).  Sorry to complain so much. Its why I havent been blogging, no one wants to hear complaining.

Mish Mash Monday