Why dont I post something?

Pictures By Matt at  Lowcountry Dog Agility Pictures.  

Im not sure why I cant seem to post anymore.  I think about it all the time but by the time I sit down to do it, Im to tired. Plus, its just easier to post somthing on Facebook.  The thing about facebook is, you cant find older post easily. They seem to get lost. 

Last  weekend I dove down to Charleston for a USDAA trail. I wanted to try to get Steeplechase and Grand Prix Q's.  I have none this year and havent done much USDAA.  Plus Java is still in starters standard.  No change there.  First she had gamblers and I lead out, she stayed.  I did make her do the teeter 3 times and finally on the 3rd time, she did a 2o/2o.  But then in standard, she broker her stay. Whell I cant run her if I cant lead out. We just go off course.  She jumped the dogawalk contact, flew off teeter, left the table before released. Ugh!!  I felt pretty bad about that one.  She did Q in Steeplchase and gamblers.  So the next day I decided I was pulling her if she broke her startline. I feel like I have no choise.  So Gamblers she stayed. Yay!!  We made it to round 2 of Steeplechase. I set her up at the start, started to lead out and she broke. So I said "Thank you " to the judge. She said , "Your leaving?" (she seemed surprised). I said yes. I walked Java back to the car, no treats.   Not knowing if it made an impression. Boy did it.  Now anytime she sat, while we were at the trial, even if I didnt ask for a sit,she didnt move until I said ,"ok".  LOL  She stayed the next two classes.  She had a beautiful GrandPrix run!! 

Miley had a nice run too.  And also Qed.  Both dogs got Bye's for Regionals!!! Yay!!!Mission complete. How unusual is that? To have a goal and actually meet it. LOL  It doesnt usually happen for me. 

Miley struggled at this trial. The doctor started her on Prozac.  She feels Miley, having to get up at night to urniate , is more behavoral than physical .   I dont tend to agree but I was willing to try something. Because when we stopped all the meds, she started getting up multiple times a night.   So we started the Prozac and she is just acting werid. Yes , she sleeps through the night most nights but at what cost. She really had weird jumping this weekend. (More than usual).  Even her weave poles, which she has always had awesome , fast weaves, were screewed up. She got through them but not as fast and not the same way all the way through.   Also, I beat her over the dogwalk, which NEVER happens.   So  after running her in jumpers and she looked terrible, I didnt run her again until later in the afternoon.  She seemed more like her self (I hadnt given her the whole dose of medication Satruday night) . She ran Grand Prix much better but still didnt seem like herself.   

When I watched the video's, I didnt realize how close she was to the edge of the a-frame. Im so gland she didnt fall off. 

And here, if you watch the begining of Speedjumping on Saturday, you see the werid jumping and the weird weave poles. Plus she is really slow.

While at the show, Miley would go the whole day without urinating.  Wierd.  I tried bringing flovored water, which usually she loves, to the try to  increase her urine out put , but it didnt work.  

 This weekend, I went to my mom's house for my mom's birthday.  Miley acted really werid there too.  She stayed far away from all of us on Saturday.   She stayed in the sunroom, instead of comming and sitting near me in the dinning room area.  Its were all the other dogs stayed.   She wouldnt leave the patio area to go the bathroom. I would have to take her out into the yard to get her to go the bathroom.  She has been to my mom's house many, many times and never acted like this before.  Sunday, she stayed in my room and wouldnt come out.  Shelite's like to be with you and follow you every where. She didnt.  Also wierd.  Im stopping the medication even if it is helping her sleep through the night. If she is becoming a different dog, I dont want that.  I think I will talk to the vet about medication that will concertrate her urine.  I think that is the real reason she is sleeping through the night.  Like today, she has peed since 6am, she just went now (which is 7:45). Thats not good for her, IMO. 

Guiness is getting old.  He also went to my mom's house too. He was so excited when we got there. He ran around like a crazy man in the back yard. Then fell twice going up the back steps and I noticed him off loading wieght off his right back leg.  He was fine shortly after that. 

Our Trial

Our club took pictures of anyone who is an instructor, to hang on the  club's wall. This was ours.
Next Miley. So after two rounds of antibiotics, she still has blood in her urine and she is still getting me up at night.  On Monday they did a bladder tap to get a sterile urine sample. As of yesterday the sample hadn't grown anything. They will continue to see if anything grows for 72 hours. But they said we need to start investigation other reasons for the blood and frequency of having to go to the bathroom. So Friday she will have a ultrasound of her bladder to rule out cancer and stones (that may not have been picked up on xray). Keep your fingers crossed of stones and not cancer. Update:  no  growth after 3 days of the urine culture.  They did the ultrasound. No growths in the bladder  but there is "sludge". Could be blood clots or crystals. The tried to ultrasound her kidneys. The problem was, they could only find one kidney and it was really small. Not sure how confident I am in their ability to US.  Its a pretty hard thing to learn, IMO.   Im thinking of going to a specialist to get some answers.  So they put Miley on another round of antibiotics to see if that will help calm everything down and get her to sleep through the night.

Our club had their agility this past weekend.  I keep debating if Im going to stay on the committee.  Its just a lot of work and just becomes over whelming.  To be there working from 7am to 7pm is just exhausting. By the last  day, Im just over the whole thing.  In good news I went to the "Pain Clinic" to see if they could help control my pain better.  So he switched me to the patch  of pain medication. (not like the heavy duty ones people with cancer pain need).  Anyway, its made a huge difference. No more ups and downs  of pain/no pain when taking pills.  No more achiness all over. The only negative right now is Im pretty tired.  Hopefully that will get better.

The trial went ok.  We did manage to get some Q's. We got our last Novice FAST Q for that title. We got another Ex standard Q on a pretty tough course. Two T2B Qs and I think that's it.  On Friday we were having a beautiful Standard run and she flew off the teeter. Ugh.  So we left the ring. (I stopped writing this and meant to get back to it sooner and now can remember my train of thought. LOL)

Sunday we had a beautiful T2B run.  I got both the front crosses in that I wanted.  I have to be able to get there sooner to show motion in the direction that I want to go. Im usually late so when she sees me, I haven't finished  my cross to get me moving in the correct direction.



So after a really nice T2B run, I messed up the next two.  In standard, there was a tunnel right after the dogwalk, I knew that was going to be a problem. She flew across the dogwalk, and I just wasn't quick enough. Im watching my dog run, thinking, darn she looks awesome.  LOL, and  I watch her go right into the tunnel.  Oops.  Then she had several wrong tunnel entrances for standard and jumpers.  Not sure what that is about.

Here was the jumpers course.

So many dogs when #6, 7 and then 13.  Everyone keeps telling me to run faster. Guess what, that isn't the problem. You can see in the video, that Im in front of my dog running fast.  Its takes more than that. She takes #6, the off course jump and straight into the wrong end of the tunnel. Ack.  Then at the end, after the weaves, she slips and falls. I hear her land behind me and could tell she fell. Darn it.  I worked so hard with the stupid freaking watering of the rings and it just wasn't good enough. I was just so beaten down by the whole footing of the rings. So frustrating. To work so hard to make it right and it just never was.



Tomorrow off to Oregon!!!!!