Change and what ever.

 So since November Ive been trying to change Java from a running DW to a 20/20.  She isn't getting it yet. Well at home she is getting it but once we get to a trial, she doesn't even thing about stopping yet.
I went to a trial the weekend before last.  Some how she won Time to Beat. Im not sure how since it took 3 times to get into the weaves correctly.  But with even that, she had the fastest time.
We were so close on Master JWW.  I pulled her off a jump. I really thought she was committed and so I pulled away to get down the line and she came with me. Ugh!


I also pulled her and pushed her off jumps in Master Standard.  Ugh. Although it looks like she was thinking of stopping on the dogwalk.


The next day was worse. It was weird that I had ring nerves , which I haven't had in a long , long time.  Because of the ring nerves, I didn't trust my dog and I released her early , and we went off course. It felt horrible. I felt like a failure. I know its just dog agility but geez, how long is it going to take to figure this crap out???  In standard we went off course because I didn't stick with my plan to do an ass pass at jump #3, to make the turn tight. I change it to a post turn and she went wide and took the aframe.  Ugh!! ( it doesn't look like the a-frame was close to that jump but it was)

Oh yea, and I tried to run ISC JWW. This was intense because it was an official ISC tryout for people trying to win a spot for AKC world team tryouts.  If you won both JWW and Standard, you get an automatic spot. We werent trying for that. But they had a Rep there making sure the course was set up right.
One thing she, the Rep,  did  say was  the committee was meeting in February  and they were going to try to come up with a plan for the new class, I think its call Premier. (It will not replace ISC)  But what they are going to look at, is if you get 25 Premier Q's ( and that's just a number she pulled out of her hat. Its not an official number , so don't anyone freak out), that it will be another way to earn going to Agility Nationals.  You would have to pick either the Premier path or the regular 500 points and 5 double Q's and what ever else (I cant remember what it is).  You can do both, it you want and then which ever one you hit your qualifications on first, that's the one you send in.
Anyway here is the course map of the ISC jumpers run. (we made a mess of it.) I tried to FC after 3. I was late and that's all she wrote.  When I set it up at home, I had to blind between 3-4 or I never made it no matter how big of a lead out I took.

This pass weekend I went to Charleston for some run thurs that a club was putting on. Wow, did a lot of people show up. So that was good. Made it feel like a real trial.  Of course Java didn't stop on the dogwalk or the teeter the first time thur. Then once I put her back on, to show her what I wanted. The next time thru , she got it. I don't know how long its going to take for her to get this. Im beginning to wonder why Im doing this. The teeter, she needs to learn to stop. I just don't get what Im doing wrong.
Afterwards we went to the beach. It was a nice sunny day. Which we seem to have few of these days.

Look how big this crab leg was. Man it would take your toe off.

And this is Miley being embarrassed by her mom because the beach patrol guy came and told us we couldn't be on this end of the beach. The dogs can only be 1000 feet pass the entrance.  Well try putting up a bigger sign that people can actually see.   (He was nice about it).

So here is some video from today of me working Java's contacts. I was thinking if I had her do both running and 20/20, that maybe she would start to understand..




I hate to talk about club stuff but Im at the end of my rope.  They ordered new matting for the back of the building. Right now we only had thick matting in the front two rooms. But those rooms are small and you really cant do agility in them. You can set up maybe 2 or three jumps and a tunnel. My biggest problem with it, is the matting is slippery.  My dogs always slip on it and not just a little bit.  The club is spending a lot of money on new matting and they are putting in the same matting that they put in the front two rooms.  Why or why didn't they ask the club members what they thought of the matting we have already.  So now there will be a big room with matting in it  but still useless to the agility people like me, who's dogs run fast. If you dog isn't running, they wont slip but that isn't the case for my dogs. I just don't understand why they just made the decision. Apparently the board got together an made the decision.   Im over working so  hard for a club that doesn't even include its members on decisions that have a big impact on the clubs money and dogs.
  Then this lady that asked to be on the agility committee last time around and we put her on.  At the trial, on the last day, her dog kept going to the edge of the ring, during her run, and staring down a dog at the practice jump. He did it several times. Im not sure if she pulled her dog or the judge whistle her out. But she was upset. Which I get. She went and put her dog in the car and left. I figured she was just going to take her dog home and then come back. I mean, she is on the committee.   Well come to find out, she didn't come back and she was in charge of getting the judges their meals. She never told anyone she was leaving and could they take over her job and that she wasn't coming back. So no one knew the judges lunches were covered until a judge asked a handler if they would mind getting her lunch. Ugh!!.  The lady never came back , never told the trial chair she was leaving. Not even after the trial did she say she was sorry she left. And didn't help with clean up at the end of Sunday either.  This was very upsetting to me. Then I get an email today, saying thank you to her for providing and severing lunch all weekend for our club's obedience trial.  WTH???  See, Im just so over everything.
And last but not least, Mickey's skin infection still isn't cleared up after 6 straight weeks of Abx.  I had his Thyroid checked too.  Its still low after being on Thyroid medication for 6 weeks. It went from .5 to .6 .   So the double his Thyroid medication. We will do a skin culture  next week after he has been of abx for a week.

Ground hog day

I love that movie, "Ground Hog Day".   That's how I feel right now. Same day over and over again. Ugh!! 
Ive been thinking of backing off all the stuff I do with the club. I don't want to teach classes anymore. Most of our group, the co-op class, has fallen apart. 3 people have moved and there are really just two other people that come all the time. Others only come if its warm.   Its a fun class. I set up a standard course and we all try to run it. Then we help each other on the places were things go wrong. Not sure why more people don't come.   If we have time, we change the course and run it again.  You can run more than one dog.  Anyway, who knows why people don't come.
I was at the field for a class last Wednesday and no one showed up. Some of the people I knew they weren't coming. But the one lady, who always comes, didn't show up. Usually she text me and lets me know.   It was ok, I ran my dogs and worked on areas that I needed to improve.  I finished early and these people start showing up. So I told them that we usually have a class at the field  on Wednesday but it just so happens , no one showed up. They were kind mean about the whole thing. Telling me that  "so and so" at the club told them they could use the field. They are having a class. I tried to tell them that Ive had this class here for the past year, every Wednesday night. But they were just kinda rude about the whole thing.  So I contacted everyone in the class and we decided not to have class again until January. So I sent the one girl a  message that we canceled our class on Wednesdays , so they can have the field. She never answered me. Geeez! You're welcome!

Ive been thinking about dropping Miley down to 8 inches. Here is a video of her running 8 inches. I just don't want her to get hurt crashing bars at 12 inches. Do you think she looks better jumping 8 inches?




Here are some pictures I took last month. Im not sure if I posted them on Facebook or not.

Mickey has had a skin infection since the beginning of October.  It has gotten better. He started with sores all over his body.  I think I washed him every day in October with this special shampoo. And I think it went into November.  Now its the middle of December, and it never completely went away, but now its getting worse again.  The places that didn't heal, were under is arms,  his abdomen and groin area.  So I took him back to the vet. Back to washing him everyday. This time we are doing oral antibiotics. (Last time he got two shots , two weeks apart).   Now his has to take 1 cc of antibiotic three times a day. ( for the next 6 weeks).   They decided to check his thyroid since he cant get over this skin problem. His Thyroid level came back low. It was .5.  They had to order his dose, I guess because he is so little. It suppose  to come tomorrow.   All I do is give medications. Here is the schedule.
5am: Mickey 1 cc of antibiotic
         Miley  eye drops
7am : Mickey 1/2 a cc of phenobarbital
          Miley eye ointment
          Miley  1/2 of tablet of Oxybutin
          Guiness 1/2 tablet of synthroid
4pm: Mickey 1 cc of antibiotic
8pm : Mickey 1/2 cc of phenobarbital
           Miley 1/2 tablet of oxybutin
          Miley 1/2 tablet of Amitriptyline
          Miley eye ointment
         Guiness 1/2 tablet of synthroid.
10pm: Mickey 1 cc of antibiotic

Wow, its a lot. Plus give Mickey a bath. Ack!!