Long time , no posts

Sorry about that. Im not sure what my problem is. I think about things I want to write all the time. I just never seem to get them written.

I took my dogs to the river sometime in the last couple of weeks. LOL

Last weekend I went to an agility trial (BRAC trial).  There some really fast dogs 16 inch dogs there.  Java ran 5.8 yards per second in jumpers and it wasn't fast enough to beat the 1st place dog in Masters.  She was beaten by 2 seconds.   On Sunday, Java just wasn't herself.  That morning she stayed in the bathroom while I was getting ready. That just isn't like her. She usually follows me around.  But she ate her breakfast. We got to the trial and she seemed ok. We had a nice standard run except for my late cue from the a-frame, jump , tunnel entrance. She took the wrong one. My fault.   After that she didn't want to go for a walk. I thought maybe she was hot. She would walk around the arena, just not outside.  The jumpers run, she was excited and pulling to get to the ring. We had a nice run but she dropped a bar. She didn't get any lift over the bar. It was weird. And she was 5.5 yards per second.  Then toward the end of the day, I wanted to go down the steps to the rings, and she refused to go down.  Oh, yea and in T2B, in the morning, she dropped 2 bars. Java doesn't drop bars.  So I figured something was up.  That night she kept acting scared of the thunder storms even thought she has never been afraid in the past.  She wouldn't eat any bones and usually she eats her's and steals everyone elses.  Monday she was better but still didn't seems right.  So Tuesday I had my son take her to the vet.  Her lab work was normal, normal urine but he said she was sore in her lower back. He gave her a shot. She seemed better Wednesday but then threw up Wednesday, and Thursday.  Friday , she was back to normal. At least I hope so.   So she is now on rest.

She did manage to wait for the teeter to hit the ground before leaving all weekend. A first for us, so I guess our new "scratch" at the bottom of the teeter is working. Keeping my fingers crossed on that.

Miley almost got a double Q on Saturday. One dropped bar from that. ugh!!.  She took off to early for the jump.  Sunday , she Qed in Standard and  then dropped a bar and off course. Ugh!!  Im really hoping I get one double Q with her before she has to retire.

I feel like I spend all our money at the vet.  Roxy came in the house last night and wouldn't open her left eye. Ugh. Still wouldn't open it this morning, so I took her to the vet. Yup,she scratched it. I don't know how. One minute she was ok, the next, she wasn't.  

Miley still isn't sleeping through the night but  I think it just maybe a habit. I put a mattress on the floor in the living room and she didn't wake me up 2 nights in a row. Then the next night I slept in my room and she woke  me up at 2am. I came out into the living room and slept on the mattress and she keep scratching me to get up at 4:30.   So who knows what the heck is going on with her.  I think they want to start her on a antidepressant and see if that helps. We go back this week for a check up. Oh yea, I forgot to tell you about her kidney problems.  I went to the vet that specializes in bladder and kidney problems a few weeks ago.  She is still spilling blood in her urine.  Her ultrasound of her kidneys showed  she has damage . They should be able to see two different seconds of the kidneys on ultrasound but they couldn't. It all looked the same , which the vet said means she has chronic kidney damage. Right now her kidneys are still functioning well. Her BUN was only slightly elevated.  They did another sterile urine culture which showed blood but no infection.  We tried Miley on a medication that relaxes your bladder, to maybe stop her from getting up at night. It didn't help. We upped the dose, it still didn't help. Now we are trying one more course of Abx but it isn't helping. So I guess the next step is the antidepressent to help with weird behaviors. We'll see. She will have to be monitored for kidney failure with blood work several times a year.

I hate my job , which Im sure doesn't come to a surprise to any of you who read my blog or are on facebook.  I thought things would be better this year but they aren't. So Im changing schools.  I need a change.  Im going to work at the high school and only be part time.   So hopefully this will help me. Life is to short to be this unhappy in a job you spend every day at .

Eyes, Kidneys and trials

 

Went to a trail last weekend.  I guess I will no longer get pictures with Miley's eyes open.  this was taken in the shade. Hmmmm.

 

Anyway, went to an indoor trial.  This is the first time Ive been to this venue and people rode their bikes inside the building. Ugh.  I wondered, as I was working the 20 inch class, if Java would continue to stay in the ring if someone was riding their bike pass the ring. It didn't seem to bother anyone else's dogs. I guess its just mine.

 

First up was T2b.

 

She popped out of the 10th poles , so then I was behind because I was really trying to drive down the line of poles so she wouldnt pop out. ugh. Because I was to far behind after the a-frame, she missed jump 6. But she stopped on the teeter. WhooHoo!!! 

The teeter has been  a huge issue for us. She just kept flying off. I thought she was just to excited and didn't want to stop. So I had been pulling her off course, for flying off. But she would do it again the next time or get it once and then fly off the time after that. So at this point I figured she didn't understand the criteria.  If pulling your dog doesn't work after a few times, your dog doesn't understand what you want , at least in my opinion.  So someone gave me an idea on retraining the teeter. I changed the idea a little.  I worked on getting Java to scratch a target on the ground. Then I put the target at the end of the teeter and had her scratch when the teeter hit the ground. Im still working on fading the target by cutting the circle target smaller and smaller. But the idea seems to be working. She stopped on the teeter in T2B and in standard.

Next up was standard. This course was eating dogs up. I worked the 20 inch dogs and so many of them dropped bars going down the first line.

They seemed to drop the bar either 3 , 4 or 5. The next problem, coming out of the chute, they wouldn't turn and took the off course jump.  The last problem, running the line at the end. 4 jumps out, you are getting behind as your dog runs ahead. Then they spin because they are unsure where to go.

Java did great except I messed up my rear cross at 5. Ugh!!



Then last was JWW.  She popped the weaves again!! ack!! Some how we recovered and didn't have any other mistakes but it wasn't pretty.

Then we went for a walk before going back to the hotel.

I love this picture. I have no idea who this lady is but her horse sure like rolling in the fresh grass.

The Java and Miley were running around. I have no idea what happened. I don't know if Miley slipped and fell on her face or if some small gravel got kicked up and hit her in the eye but she couldn't open her eye for the next 12 hours.

I didn't know what to do. But lucky I'm facebook friends with an Veterinary ophthalmologist. She sent me a message and told me what to do.  The next morning Miley couldn't open her eye at the hotel room but when we got to the trial, she could.  Ive been treating her with antibiotic ointment and she has been ok. She goes to the eye specialist Monday for a recheck.

That morning I went to McDonalds and ordered a Egg McMuffin. The weird thing was , it didn't have any Canadian bacon on it. WTH???   Then I get to the trial, right before Im suppose to run, while warming Java up. I think I see a slight head bob.  What???  (that usually means some type of compensation for a front end injury. ) I watch her, sometimes I see it, sometimes I don't. Ack!!  Then we walk inside on the rubber mat by the door. And she limps across.  I check her feet and find nothing.  We walk some more and on gravel she is limping. I check her feet several more times and I cant find anything. I decided to scratch her runs for the day and go home.  Bummer. Then while driving home, Im tired and stop at a rest area.  I decided to get some candy, which I never do.  I go to buy some M&Ms with my last few quarters.  Its one of those machines with the spiral thing in it and it turns until the candy drops down.  Right before its suppose to drop, the spiral spring stops turning.  Crap!!  No candy for me.  Today wasn't my day.   We finally get home. I check Java's feet again and find a small piece of gravel stuck in the fur between her toes.  That was the problem.  No more limping after that. So at least it wasn't any horrible.  
Ok, Ill have to talk about Miley's kidney probably later, I have to go.

Oregon Post #3

This is a continuation of everything we did on Friday of our trip. This was the next falls we saw.

 I wish we had walked up this one too but there were so many to see and so much to do with just this one day! 

Sometimes the falls linked together with paths. So we walked from this one , to the next one.

We came to this fall next.  It was so crowded!!.  I think because there were bathrooms, a gift shop and a restaurant. 

You have to be really careful with Java. She will jump up onto anything. We  walked by this wall, she just jumped up. It freaked my husband out. Its a 40 foot drop on the other side.  So what else is there to do but  take a picture. LOL

You could walk up to the upper falls. I felt like I was in "Jurassic Park" and the bird cage. LOL

The bridge was closed for repairs.

Then she tried to kill herself climbing straight up this wall next to her. Ack!!

Next we started driving up to Mt. Hood.

There is a road called the "Fruit Loop".  Its where you can pass all the fruit trees they grow there.  They were just starting to bloom.  In about a week or so it would be beautiful. We didnt drive the fruit loop. 

There were trails that you could just stop and hike at. By this time it was getting pretty chilly outside. We stopped here for a restroom break. 

The logs holding this bridge were huge!!

We started to go for  a hike but then I got scared. No one knew we were here. What if some wild animal got us?  Do they have mountain lions here?  I didnt know and didnt plan to find out. We went back to the car and continued driving up the mountain. 

 See the poles on the side of the road. They mark to road for the snow plows. I guess it gets really deep based on how tall the poles are.

Doesnt this pole look huge????  Its just right next to the road but looks like its part of the woods. Cracked me up when I looked at it. 

We made it up to the ski resort on Mt. Hood. It was beautiful.  All the clouds had moved out. 

This is Timberline lodge. It was built in 1937. Its were they filmed some of "The shinning". Its very cool inside. We had lunch there. 

You dont see snow so high they have to put warning signs out in the south. 

 There was no one skiing here , so I thought is was safe to let Java off leash and run around. She liked catching snow balls.

Good thing those shots came out because that's all I was able to take. A snow boarder came flying by us and Java took off after him. Full Speed. Ack!!   Lucky she came back when I called her. Im sure she scared the crap out of the guy. Oops sorry dude. 

The end.