I got my hopes up last week when I thought I had another sighting. I had started exploring the wooded trails further away from the shelter when nothing turned up across the highway where we had the live trap. On Wednesday I came across several piles of what I swear looked like Klee Kai poop (trust me...) and not only that, but Secret was marking on them, which I highly doubt she would do if it came out of a wild animal.
So Thursday we went out again and ventured out further. As we came around the corner off a side trail I spotted a small black & white figure ahead of us. I put Secret on leash to keep her from chasing and we started to approach the animal, but it soon turned and scampered into the underbrush off the side of the trail.
My dad's trap was stolen during the day on Saturday. Seriously! Someone took the bait plate out, left it on the ground and took the trap. People suck. Because of that, the shelter wasn't really comfortable leaving their traps out any longer and they picked them up Monday. I went out last night to confirm that the traps were gone and to give it one last shot, but we didn't see anything. I am so bummed that we didn't manage to find Lucy. She is microchipped, though, so you never know; she may show up somewhere.
Today would have been a gorgeous day to walk (which the dogs have LOVED, I should say!), but we have an agility trial this weekend and I opted to stay home and actually do something agility related. I didn't get home until 5:45 and it's dark by 6:45 lately, so I set up a big speed circle with 10 obstacles, including a set of 12 weaves, the teeter and the new small tire that I bought.
I had varying distances between jumps that posed no problem and Secret's teeter was great -- but right from the start the weaves were giving us problems. Strike that, her first time through was on my left and she didn't have any problem. When we went the other way, though, she popped at 10 *several* times for no reason that I can figure. Then, of course, she started to slow down in her weaves because she didn't want to be wrong.
I'm almost positive it's because she is in desperate need of an adjustment. I noticed the other night that she looked crooked just standing in the kitchen, so I'm sure that would affect her weaving! Thankfully we have an appointment tomorrow afternoon to meet with Dr. Engel. Secret should have been adjusted over a month ago, but it's just been too difficult to try to get away from the new job. I got the latest appointment I could this week -- 4:30 -- and my parents are going to bring Secret to La Crosse for me so I can drive straight to Viroqua and save a good 45 minutes. I'm curious to see just how screwed up she is tomorrow! I'm guessing she'll be a mess.
Kaiser was a little bullet tonight -- I hope he's feeling it this weekend. lol
We have two days of NADAC in La Crosse this weekend and then one day of USDAA next Sunday! Agility two weekends in a row, I can't wait! I still have to look into getting a hotel over by New Berlin for next weekend. We wouldn't want to miss Secret's first shot at P3 Jumpers because of more car issues. ;o)
Kudos to you for searching for so long to find Lucy. Maybe she will turn up someday, or she just wasnt meant to be found.
ReplyDeleteSo how do you practice once winter sets in? I am lucky enough to have a lighted building to use but if you only have your yard, that cant be of much use in the dark and snow.
Good luck with the trials coming up!
Great question -- We don't. Strike that, last winter was EXTRAORDINARILY mild, which was *awesome* and we were able to train outside for all but a few weeks here and there when we would get snow, then it would all go away again.
DeleteBut the winter that Secret started trialing I was scrambling for training opportunities. I would drive 2-3 hours for some open ring time. Unfortunately the local training center is super suckarific when it comes to letting people actually train there -- and I refuse to take a class there, so it doesn't leave much opportunity to train.
So we pretty much just train at trials in the winter. They are all far enough along that they don't suffer too badly. I do have my matted basement that is about 20' x 22' that we can set up some stuff (teeter, six weaves, a few jumps -- not all at once, mind you!), but we do a lot of balance ball work in the winter.
Last winter WAS pretty darn mild. Even here in eastern Colorado I dont think we had but maybe a week where the ground was covered in snow.
DeleteI guess one benefit of NADAC is that you are allowed to do some training in the ring if need be - don't try that with USDAA unless you are in a Gamblers course :)
There's a lot you can actually do with one jump too, if you have to - and it's good they are far enough along in their training you dont lose too much!