Just one little thing

I ran three classes yesterday at the trial.  And one little thing kept us from Qing each run.  I think I have an AKC curse on me. LOL

The night before the trial I did a drop in class at the trial site.  I figured I practiced one more time getting on the table.  She had no problems and no stress. I felt pretty positive about her getting on the table.

Im not sure what to do able the table anymore.  Ive tried everything I can think of to fix it.  Im mean its the same building, same table same everything but its now a trial. Ugh!  So sad. We will never be able to go to AKC nationals or try to even get a MACH because she cant get on the table.  Such a shame because she is a great dog.  This kinda reminds me of the fly swatter at my house.  Evey time I pick it up to kill a fly, Miley runs out the doggie door.  I  have no idea why she is scared of the fly swatter.  Some how she has developed a scary association with it, just like the table. Silly dog.


Next up was jumpers.

That right corner was very tight.  I did a lead out front cross.  Which kept her off the jump right in front but then I was behind.  It doesnt look like it on the video but as she took #6 she was uncertain which way to go.  I was shocked when she went the right way but then she went wide around the broad jump.  (that was in class yesterday too, no problems).  Who would have thought that would have been a problem.  Its funny what people do to keep their dog on course. A good many people did a lead out all the way pass #3 and tried to do a call to heal, their dog still went off course. Weird.   What I wish I had done was a lead out, lateral send  and then FC #5-6.

 

Last up was T2B.  Everyone who says running their dog is not about the Q's, I dont think is being honest.  Because hardly anyone signed up for T2B. Everyone is trying to get their Q for their MACh.  And how many times have you heard, whats the point of running your second run if you didnt Q in the first run?  Wait, I thought is wasnt about the Q, it was about running with your dog and having fun, right?  So since there werent many people left, everyone running a little dog , worked the big dogs run and vise versa.   This course looks easy right?

This course was deceiving.  #5-6 looked like a straight shot when you walked it. I had planned to fc after the teeter to get her over #4.  Then I was going to run a straight line to the tunnel opening. But after watching a few dogs run and take the off course tunnel, I decided the only I could try was RC after #5 to try to get her in the right tunnel.  The next spot was after the weaves #11-12.  Again when you walked it , it was a straight shot into the tunnel.   But it wasnt, if you werent ahead of your dog, they took the teeter.   I had walked that two ways and went with a FC after the weaves and then RC the tunnel. I knew it would put me behind and hoped it wouldnt bite me.

That was so disappointing dropping the last bar. Ugh!!!  But the sand in the corners is really soft and I think she just didnt get the lift she was expecting when she jumped.  One thing in each run kept us from Qing. LOL

Whats up

Not much.  LOL  I havent been doing any agility.  We did do a few tables but thats it.  Tonight I leave for an AKC trial.  Its only a one day trial. They will have standard, jumpers and T2B.    We will see what happens with the table.

Roxy is doing well. I did find this lump on her right side, just passed her ribs.  I remembered the vet told me she could get a lump with the rabies vaccine.  She has had the lump for a week and its hasnt changed.  I wish  I had paid more attention as to wear they gave the shot.  I took her back in and of course it was just from the shot.   When  the vet came into the room, he said, "you're back again?" . I told him yes.  I wanted to make sure I gave him my whole pay check this month.  He laughed and said they appreciate that. 

Just pictures

Her ears crack me up. It reminds me of something but I dont know what.

Todays my Birthday!!!

You know what is great about today.  I thought I was going to be 48 yr old and yesterday I realized I was only going to be 47. LOL, that was awesome and Im so excited.   You know what else is awesome.  My husband bought me a new camera base.  The canon 60D.  Im hoping that the increase in shutter speed will help with my action shots.  Most of my action shots have to be in full sun or they are blurry.  So Im going from a shutter speed of 1/4000 to 1/8000.  My Iso can now go up to 6400 instead of 1600.  Im going from 10mpx, to 18 mxp.  Whoohoo, maybe I will stop washing miley out.  The battery is charging right now.  The only down side is, it isnt sunny today.  Booooo. 
Yesterday I drove to Walterboro and met my mom for lunch. We ate at Cracker Barrel and then went thur the little town and did some antique shopping. Well , we didnt buy anything we just laughed at all the prices of things my mom  either has or use to have and we should have kept.

On Wednesday I drove up to a place that I will be going to for a trial next week.  I wanted to get Miley on the table there.  Im not sure its really helpful but it cant hurt. It is hurting me, sitting in the freaking car for 8 hours, so I hope it works.  A friend was there and was very nice to video my runs.  I worry all the time that Miley is hurt. Why did she drop that bar??  Its really its an obsession which probably isnt healthy. LOL  So the first little clip is of her in full extension on  a jump. That looks good.  To bad she slipped in the weave pole twice while I was there and now I think she might be sore. So no activity except walking for the next week.   She missed her first a-frame contact by jumping off so I did correct this. One thing I noticed on the video, I look relaxed to the first table. But when I ran the whole course, I dont looked relaxed.  Iim going to have to work on that.  Plus, I think Miley is slowing down trying to figure out what I want and trying be correct.  Im not sure if thats a bad thing or not.  Im hoping I can speed her up as we get more comfortable running at trials.

Here is this weird house that I pass going to and from this trial site.  I think its a car dealer. There are all these doors on the front of the building but no porches. Plus the way they added that top part looks dangerous.

Thoughts

So last night I got up the courage to watch the videos I did get at the trail.   Very depressing and upsetting.  I deleted most of them.  The two I kept were the one standard run  because I want to make sure I have what I need on table stress and a gamblers run.  Neither of those runs were perfect either.  So I keep trying to figure out why I cant get the hang of playing the agility game.  I feel like Im the only one not getting Qs or titles.  But today Ive talked to several other sheltie owners who are feeling the same way.  Its funny, at the hotel this weekend I ran into this lady. She said, "I saw some of your runs with your sheltie". I thought, OMG she probably thinks Im an idiot.  But she didnt.  She said , "You had some really nice run".  I thought to myself, "really, did she see my runs???"  LOL  I told her thanks but I wish I could run her better.  She told me she use to run a slow sheltie and now she has a new fast dog. She said "its been a painful learning curve, very painful".  LOL  So maybe  I will get the hang of this thing yet.  Its certainly not from the lack of trying.  Tomorrow Im again driving 3 1/3 hours to practice in a building where the trial will be next week.  It maybe a silly thing to do but I cant think of what else to do to help the table issue.

Yesterday I took the dogs to the park for a walk. I didnt take my camera.  And every time I dont take it, I regret it.  There will be something to take pictures of.  I missed the owl a couple of weeks ago.  Yesterday Guiness was so excited.  I guess he missed us or the walks. He ran around more than Ive seen in a long time.  I was disappointed I didnt have my camera to take some action shots. So I used my phone to take video.  Here is the video.  Its boring and 2 1/2 minutes long.  Dont feel like you have to watch it.  I just wanted to get him being silly and running on video.  I did edit out  a lot of it.




This morning we walked again.  He didnt act the same way.  But I still took lots of pictures.

 This picture cracked me up.  There was lots of mist so it isnt a clear shot.   He looks like he is attacking something but he was just pulling grass and eating it.

This looks weird huh?

 Here I was using neutral density graded filters. Other wise she just is washed out.

And no walk at the park is complete without this...

Trial Update

First off, Roxy is much better. The vet kept her Friday too and then pulled her IV.  She has been good all weekend.  Not eating much and sleeping alot. But when I got home she seemed back to normal to me.

The trial was 3 long days.   I was usually there by 6:30am so I could park in the shade. There were very few shade spots.  We finished around 6:30 at night. We were usually done earlier than expected so that was nice.  The trial was very well run.  People were all very friendly and supportive of everything.  The crating area was cramped but people really tried to be helpful and move around to make space.  There were some negative things.  Dogs would start barking it was would just echo thur the building.  And it could be over whelming at times. It wouldnt be a good  place for a sensitive dog.  You couldnt warm up at all in the building except at the small practice jump area.  That was ok for me. But outside there was only a 50 X 50 foot spot of grass  to warm up and walk dogs.  The rest was a huge parking lot.   I kept thinking if it rained, I couldnt run my dog because there would be no where to warm up and she hates rain.  But it only rained at night, so that was good.  

I only have a few videos and they are all of bad runs.  The few good runs I have, I dont have on tape. That figures huh? 
Our first run Friday was the easiest jumpers course ever.

On jump number three and slipped and fell over the jump and face planted.  I saw her face just sliding across the turf.  Ugh.  But she got right up and flew into the tunnel. When we came out of the ring she kept rubbing her face.  She dropped two more bars and those she took off way to early.  What the heck?   We did manage to stay on course.  So we are finally on course and the bars get us. Figures.   I was timing the next class and sitting next to this lady who was also a judge and teaches agility.  As I watched the dogs run, bars were just coming down like crazy.  I said, " wow, lots are bars are coming down".  She said that the course is very visually challenging for the dogs.  Between the white numbers , line and writing on the turf, the ring gating and the bars all being white, its hard for the dogs to figure out what is what.  I hadnt notice that when walking but sitting there at a lower level, it looked very difficult.  I tried to take a picture when they were course building to show you. Im not sure I got the effect.

 Hopefully everyone is blurry enough that you cant tell who they are.

Gamblers was next, we didnt get the gamble. I think I rushed it and didnt send her correctly but still an nice run. Great weave poles and contacts.
Our pairs run, which is usually our best runs didnt go well. The lady I was paired with really wanted a Q for her title. She was willing to miss her two Masters jumpers runs, to do this pairs run.  She shouldnt have told me that.  It put a lot of pressure on me and I guess I cracked.

I ran the white circles and I was trying to beat her out of that #7 tunnel so she wouldnt go off course.  I guess she wasnt committed to the tunnel and she came with me. Then when I treid to bring her around, she took the wrong end of the tunnel. Ugh! So we were off course and that was that.
Snooker was last and Miley was excited and relaxed.  She came into the ring barking and wanted to tug on her leash.  We made it thur our first snooker run ever but only got 35 points and you needed 37.  She dropped a bar for the #7 points in the opening.  Ugh!!  But we did make it thur and she was coming into to me and staying with me. So that was awesome. Friday night I really contemplated if I should continue doing agility.  I wasnt mad or upset.  I guess Im just frustrated that I just cant seem to get a handle on running my dog.  Maybe I just dont have what it takes to do it. I dont think thats a horrible thing to say. It is what it is.  People arent good at  everything and sometimes it just time to call it quits. 

Saturday we did win a worker raffle and won 3 tug toys.  At least we got something for coming.
First up was gamblers.  We had  a great run and got the gamble.  But my foot must have been on the tape because he blew the whistle.  But we still got the gamble and that was nice.

Pairs was next . I ran the white circles  and I pushed her right off the number #3 jump.  I have this run on video and Im right next to the wing with my arm fully extended out from my side. Which told her to go out. Ugh!

Next was Speedjumping/steeplechase.  We had and awesome run which I had someone video taping. But she must not have pushed the red button because I only have us at the finish line on video.  LOL. I did push her off the number 4 jump when I rear crossed but otherwise it was great.

Last up was jumpers and I didnt push her out to the #5 jump so she missed it. Then coming out of the tunnel #13, I thought I had her but she took the #12 jump. But I got her back on course.
So even though I stepped on the tape, and pushed her off jumps and tunnels.  She ran great with no stress when I made mistakes.  She had solid start lines all day. WhooHoo!!

Sunday started out bad.  We started with snooker. Ugh.  I decied to be aggressive so I would get enough points if something happened. After the first red and the #7 obstacle,  I called her in close to pass the weave poles and a jump. She got pass the weave poles but took the jump.  That was the end of that run. Tweet.
Next was gamblers. She was freaking crazy in this run.  When we got to the dogwalk, she took a huge leap off the dogwalk and then couldnt weave 6 poles.  I brought her around to do the dogwalk again, another huge leap. What the heck was wrong with her. I could see it in her, stress crazy. Tried the weave poles again and she couldnt do it. I brought her around and tried again. That time she got the weaves.  I decided I had to get that dogwalk under control. So I brought her around to the dogwalk and I slowed way down and in the calmest voice I could I told her to walk it.  She finally slowed at the bottom of the dogwalk and stopped.  The the buzzer sounded to do the gamble.  She couldnt get the send to the weave.  After all this sending to 12 weaves with the weave pole challenge.  She was just to high. I felt terrible when I left the ring. It really makes me feel bad when she is stressing like this. Its not fun for her or me.  I really didnt know what was going on. I talked with Meagan and she said that because they were running the 2nd day of Steeplechase in the other ring, which is for money, that the atmosphere in the building had really changed. People were really pushing their dogs, people were cheering and all these dogs were barking.  I didnt realize how noisy it was in the building.  I took Miley to the car and we rested there for and hour or more. Ahhh peace and quiet.
Here was the noise outside when I was at my car.



I decided the if our next run was crazy that we were going home.  Maybe three days was to much for her. Next up was Grand Prix.

I did a lead out with a lateral send to #2 and then RC between #3 and #4.  Next I was going to FC the opposite side of the #5 tunnel. But lucky I realize that it would probably push her over that  #16 jump. So I  stayed on this side of the # 6 jump.  I was going to do a serp from #7,8 and 9.   Which I did but I was right by the teeter when she came off , so a few lost seconds there but no off courses.  Another lucky thing was I realized I needed to FC after the shoot to keep her off the off course jump and get her into the weaves.  My dog was freaking awesome on this run.  Stopped on all her contacts and how she made that weave pole entry I will never know.  She held her DW contact so I couldnt get out to front cross after #15.   We had a smoking fast time of 36 and some seconds.  Whoowhoo. I was so excited to Q.  Then I found out I took 1st place. I realize we are in performance but it was still a great run.

Next was standard. We started out good but then the judge was in my way on the A-frame. She was trying to see Miley's contact and I was trying to pull miley over to the jump and I ran into the judge. Miley missed the jump but I was able to get her around and take it without an off course.  I havent watched the video but someone told me she missed her contact but the judge didnt call it.  Then the table. Miley jumped on and then off, circled around and got on the table. She sat but she would lie down. But her front legs were shaking.  So I decided to just release her.  She had an awesome dogwalk contact.  Right after her run and news paper photographer came and asked me about Miley.  Just my name and Miley's name and how old she was.  She made the paper.
Here is the link.
http://www.news-record.com/blog/60759/entry/122317
Last up was jumpers.  Again she was awesome. She tried to push her start line, and I had to say "hey" in a stern voice to get her to settle.

I did a lead out with a lateral or forward send to  #2 so I could run to #3 and front cross.  It work great.  We had an awesome run and I remember to push her out to #8 and pull her back in and call her for #9.  Whoohooo for me.  To bad she dropped the bar on number 12.  But otherwise it was awesome.

So this isnt a blog where you get to read we Qed 8 out of 10 runs. In fact, we Qed one out of 12 runs.  That doesnt sound very good but there was lots of good things happening.  And only one run that she had stress in, so that was very nice.  I guess Im just a slow learner. LOL

Update

I woke up to Roxy vomiting at 6am.  She drank some water and vomited again.  I got up and she had diarrhea twice during the night.   She was just laying around.  She would leave my room.  Didnt even come out for the 8,000/day breakfast.  Everyone was so excited. Barking and spinning.  But Roxy didnt even come see what was going on.  (How can dogs be so excited about kibble that is exactly the same everyday??)  So at 8:30 I just walked into the vet and asked if they would see her.  Ive never done this before. Ive always had an appt . I didnt want to be rude but I was really worried.   I had to wait an hour and a half but as soon as they saw her they were concerned.  He said she was dehydrated. I told him I was worred I gave her pancreatitis because I gave her a few pieces of steak the night before as a treat.  He told me that was on the top of his list. Ugh, I felt terrible. He also said it could be Hemorrhagic gastritis.  He would draw blood on her and call me in an hour.  They would also give her fluids. 

I started to drive on to the trial. It would take me about 4 hours to get there.  If he called me in hour and it was pancratitis, I would turn around and go home.  But when he call he said all her blood work was normal except her albumin was low but that could be from vomiting.  They would  hydrated her  and my husband could pick her up at 4:30. The vet said they gave her enough fluids for a 12lb dog. Roxy weighs 4lbs.  I hope he was just kidding. Tonight my husband said she is just sleeping.  She has an IV that takes up her whole leg.  He said she isnt happy.  It could be the IV or that she was probably freaked about being at the vet all day.  My husband takes her back in the morning to be rechecked.

I made it to the trial. I was 1/2hour early but  the guy in charge said we could get started. And he let me put Miley's crate up in the crating area.  So I striped off the crating area, helped unload the truck, put up the ring gating, put equipment together and course build the first course of the day tomorrow.  Man I was beat. But of course Miley wasnt.  So after checking into the hotel I found a great park. It was huge.  To bad its about 10 miles from my hotel.  It had walking/hiking path, bike paths, golf course, lake, ponds, a pool, and kids play grounds.  The paths went on forever. 

This bird wouldnt look my way , so I never saw its face.  Too bad.

 Im having a hard time loading pictures.  Anyway, Miley is finally sleeping. She been driving me crazy.  Barking in the hotel room. We walked an hour and a  half but that didnt seem to help. Played ball too, but she just kept barking. I guess she finally gave up. Tomorrow is an early start.  Walking the ring starts at 7:20 and judging starts at 7:40.  I think we finish between 7-8pm. Long days.