Underwater Treadmill Fun!

Last night Secret and I attended the first "Fun & Fitness" night hosted by our favorite people, the staff at Sparta Small Animal Veterinary Clinic! I saw it on their web site earlier in the week and then stopped in to pick up syringes for Luke on Tuesday -- But then Bethany called and talked me into it yesterday when she said she was going. I've always wanted to see the underwater treadmill in action, Secret can ALWAYS use more exercise and the price was definitely right!

Secret basically thought the whole night absolutely rocked. Bethany & Rascal were there, and in Secret's mind that equals PARTY! Secret surprised me and did well with everyone who was there last night (well, except for the third dog...). I think it's always good to have a visit to the vet clinic that doesn't involve getting poked & prodded.

We got to watch Rascal have his turn first and Secret was just fascinated by the whole ordeal. Poor Rascal didn't think it was so fun, unfortunately, and ended up climbing out right over the top! It was funny, though, because as soon as he was out, Secret acted like she wanted to get the heck in there and have her turn at the fun. Too bad for her that she had to wait for the water to drain first!

I put together a video of her experience -- She did SO WELL!!



I already signed us up for the next session this coming Monday. Luke gets to play next time, too! There is another session next Wednesday as well and I would like to see what Kaiser thinks of the experience. I haven't decided who else will get to play that night. Maybe all three, who knows!

I think it's never a bad idea for a performance dog to get used to the experience of the underwater treadmill. It just may come in handy one day if one of them gets an injury or strain of some sort. I'm thankful we have this option so close to home.

Secret made herself right at home in the front office before we left. We really do spend way too much time at the clinic. :o) We have an appointment to go back on March 7 as well, as Secret & Kaiser are both a little overdue for their Lepto boosters. Sometimes I'm a slacker....

I popped Secret on the scale before we left to get a quick weight update on her. Oh my. Care to take a stab? She's up to 48 lbs. She is a freaking HUGE girl. I suppose it should be consolation that it's all solid muscle, as she is about as fit & trim as they come, but man, she's a big girl. Oh well, not much we can do about it, so I may as well move on. lol

So...... There may be big news to share on Monday. I am not going to post about it yet, though, because I don't want to jinx anything. As with many things that take place in the winter in Wisconsin, it depends entirely on the weather. We shall see -- But cross your fingers!

I hate you, Mother Nature

But Secret doesn't. All three dogs are blissed out on the 9" of snow we got (plus a couple more inches today, they say). How are they my dogs? Blah. Stupid snow. This spot where Secret is standing had grass two days ago. GRASS!!!!!!!



Guess we won't be able to set up any jumps before our trial. Sigh.

The storm was actually so bad that I got sent home from the shelter yesterday. It was a super fun drive home, but the dogs were happy to see me five hours earlier than expected. We were bums and slept on the couch all day, save for a fun round of frisbee before the high winds really kicked up.

I'm so done with winter.... Not to mention the fact that we get to go through a second mud season now.

It's Melting!!

Oh happy day! After being on the receiving end of over 40" of snow this winter, we are finally starting to see the grass again!

Isn't it a beautiful thing to see? Can't you just imagine agility equipment set up out there again? It's all I'm thinking of these days, I can tell you that much!

Granted, the left side of the yard is a lake. A very cold, frozen lake. Secret decided to demonstrate its depth for everyone. And FYI, no, Secret doesn't mind the cold. On our walk yesterday she actually decided to jump in the (very high) creek and go for a swim. In February. With all the melting run-off from the cow fields. Oh Secret....

The glacier of solid ice right outside the door is super fun. The dogs don't seem bothered by it, but I've come close to falling on my butt several times now. While I obviously look forward to it melting and going away, I don't look forward to the mud that inevitably appears in the most high traffic volume area of the yard.

Secret shows off her slim figure -- And the brown spots in the yard.

Thank you, pediatric spay, for making her limbs OH SO LONG.

But she's still cute! :o)

Today the entries go in the mail for Secret's FIRST TRIAL! Yay! I sat for the longest time, struggling to decide how many classes to enter her in each day. I've thought for quite a while that three runs per day would be a good start. Jumpers each day is a given for a baby dog, in my opinion. Fast, fun & pretty basic. I also felt that Tunnelers would probably be fun for her, and an entirely new experience since she's never seen more than two tunnels in a row in the past. Weavers is the one I struggled with, as I know she loves to weave -- But so did Kaiser, and he ended up not weaving in trials for nearly 6 months because he was so stressed out. I decided to chance it, though, and see what she does. So because I opted to run a game each day, I ended up only entering her in one round of Regular each day. That was SO hard for me for some reason. I have never entered only one round of Regular. From the start, though, I have said that I will NOT overload her at her first trial. So..... We'll see how it goes! Just two more weeks!

And since it is only two weeks away, I decided it was time to introduce Secret to her agility leash. I bought this thing way back in July for heaven sake -- Think I was a little eager? lol And of course it's pink, duh.

Basically, I want her to view the leash as a fun toy and tug it when offered. So far so good, she took to it immediately. The first couple of times we just made it a toy and tugged. Yesterday I put it on her, took it off and then tugged. Then I tugged with it on her. She had no problem accepting the leash as a fun new toy! We'll keep having a couple of short play sessions per day with the tug leash leading up to the trial to keep building the toy association.

Yes, NADAC has strict rules against tugging in the ring. I understand that, and for that reason I'm making sure she knows to only grab the leash when it is offered to her and she is given the cue ("get it!"). I like having a way to rev/warm them up before going into the ring and it's always nice to have an immediate reward following a run, if she chooses that as a reward. Luke is odd in that respect -- He will tug like a mad man before going into the ring, but when we are done he's all about getting back to the crate for food. It will be interesting to see what Secret does.

They are threatening a "big winter storm" on Sunday. The weather guessers do not yet know if it will be snow, rain or some sort of freezing mixture. It sure would be cruel of Mother Nature to melt all of our snow just to dump on us again. Granted, I'm sure any new snow would melt much faster -- Everything we had was packed so solidly that it seems like it is taking forever to melt. We have had a solid week of well above freezing temps and yesterday was the first time I actually saw the ground. We had a LOT of snow!!

It sure would be nice to be able to set a Jumpers course outside before our trial.....

First Entry = Sent!

It's a little deceiving because it's not the entry for Secret's first trial -- But it's the first entry that has been sent in for her. lol It's for the March 19 (we're only doing one day) NADAC trial being hosted by Agile Canines.

I'm always a little paranoid about trials in Minneapolis filling. It hasn't happened for two years, but you never know! This is the first NADAC trial in the Cities since New Years and it's also the first NADAC trial at this location -- The Oasis Equestrian Center in Lindstrom, MN. There have been a handful of CPE trials there and so far it has received rave reviews. I worry that the NADAC folks will be curious and want to check it out (like me!), so to be safe, I sent my entries.

Besides, I noticed this morning that the closing date is March 5, so that pretty much shot my plans out of the water to wait and see how Secret did at her first trial before choosing the classes/sending the entries for this one.

This will be Secret's first time seeing/running on dirt!! That will be interesting.

We got to train! Yay!

Just a little clip of our Sunday morning sing-along session to wake everyone up before getting into this post. Everyone wanted desperately to go outside and were wound up beyond belief, so I started prodding Luke to see if I could get him to set something off. Secret started responding to the noises that Luke was making, which Kaiser didn't care for, so he started "talking," eventually hitting the right note to get everyone going. Oh, the ways I find to entertain myself on weekends at home.... :o)

I didn't mention any of our weekend plans last week for fear of jinxing us! Twice now, I have tried to plan trips to Minnesota to train with a friend and both times Mother Nature interfered and stomped my plans into the ground. This time I decided to keep it to myself in case we got hit with a non-forecasted blizzard that would force us to stay home.

Thankfully, this was not the case! We actually had a miraculous & GORGEOUS stretch of warm weather this weekend! Bring on the melting!

Saturday morning was nice & lazy. We didn't have to leave until 11:00, so we slept in, did our daily poo-pick of the yard (because SOMEONE is still eating frozen poo if given the chance), trimmed nails and clipped feet. I still can't believe what a hairy beast Secret is. She is obviously trying to classify herself as a rough-coat simply based on the amount of hair she can grow from the ankle down.

After a quick stop to fill my parent's wood stove (Secret, stop eating the wood!), we were off! Poor, poor Secret. She'd spent her whole morning playing and was now in desperate need of a nap. Unfortunately, the front seat refuses to grow larger and she found it next to impossible to sleep. Finally, a full hour and a half into our journey, she FINALLY went into the back where she could stretch out and snooze. For about 20 minutes. Oh well, it's better than nothing! I was worried that I wouldn't have a dog to speak of once we got to the facility, but she woke right up.

Secret was overjoyed to see her bestest Border Collie buddies, Peppy & Neeko! Oh, how she loves them so. No doubt running around with them for a bit helped her warm up to the facility and feel more comfortable. From the get-go, this was really the most confident that I've seen Secret in a new location! This made me so happy to see.

Mind you, she was no speed demon -- But she was playing, she was giving a good effort, and she was having fun! Secret had her first introduction to rubber contacts, as the a-frame was coated in the pelleted rubber (with slats). This didn't seem to bother her at all. They had a "mini" dog walk with 8' planks (and slats) that just had the standard painted wood. Secret started out just fine with this at first, but then got spooked somehow later on. She was offering anything she could think of to avoid doing the dog walk (namely, leaving me to go do tunnels & jumps). I ended up having to put her leash on and after two times of luring her across with cheese, she was totally fine and went back and forth repeatedly on her own. It's the first time we've had an issue with a dog walk, so that one threw me a bit.

Secret nailed the new weaves each time she saw them, which is awesome -- At both FDC and ABCTC she tends to run past them the first time, but at this place she hit them in full stride. Again, not super speedy, but at her slower "processing" speed. Jumping sequences were good, including several really nice rear crosses (something we haven't really done anything with this winter). We had several tunnel/contact discriminations set up and this is definitely something that has deteriorated a bit over the winter, but overall she still did quite well.

There was a teeter set up in the back at "baby height", so we also took the opportunity to play on that for a bit. The leash was required to keep her with me for this, but she went over the teeter of her own accord, so that is definitely a step in the right direction. We ended with weaves & a few jumps to rev her up again and end on a happy note. Overall, it was a great practice for us and I'm thankful to have gotten an opportunity to train in a new place!

Finally, just a quick note about the sequence of photos in this post -- Secret's new toy is the Hurley by WestPaw Design. I guess it's part of their new "Zogoflex" line? At any rate, this toy is frightening. Secret has had it for over three weeks now and there isn't so much as a tooth mark on the thing. What kind of alien material do they use??? It's "guaranteed tough" and no doubt, it is! Crazy.

Coming of Age

What is today?

Today is the day Secret turns 18 months old!

Do you realize how hard it is to get a good shot of a dog dancing?

It's also really hard to get a good shot of them waving....

But we can certainly get a good shot of a dead dog (or a dog really bad at playing dead)

And we can also get a shot of the world's longest dog ever.

Okay, it's pretty obvious that there isn't much else to talk about, so this blog is simply being filled with pictures.

But oooh, look what arrived in the mail the other day! Secret is now "official" and ready to go!

So the big day is here, and here we sit.... Not able to train, not able to trial for another three weeks. Boo. Patience, grasshopper, patience....

I'm still waiting to hear if we are going to be able to do any lessons up in Eau Claire this month. I really hope we can arrange something, or else the entry fees for the March trial are just going to be paid training in the ring. Well really, I suppose that's what any first trial is, but I would really like to have SOME sort of training opportunity prior to that weekend.

I put the weaves away last night and we are going to go back to doing some jump work again. Part of it is because we simply NEED to go back to jump work, but it's also because we hit a bit of a road block with the single-step weave project. With the poles open, Secret swims beautifully. As soon as they close too much, though, she goes back to hopping and we have not been able to get over that hump. Ultimately, I believe there is only so much she is comfortable offering in the tiny space of the basement -- So maybe we'll just stop obsessing on it until we can get back outside and really run/dig in to the ground. We'll see, but I need to move on and continue to work on other skills with her for now.

In the mean time, T-24 days and counting.....

The field trip that wasn't...

Last week my cousins asked me if I'd be willing to go into their Animal Science class and do a presentation on agility for their dog unit. I hemmed and hawed, not being much of a person for public speaking. Ultimately, though, I figured it might be fun. And I'd get to make a video! You know me and videos....

I have been antagonizing for the last couple of days on whether or not I should take Secret. I thought it would be a good experience for her and I knew that going through her bag of tricks would likely be a bit hit for the class. But I also worried about her shutting down or getting snappy if overwhelmed, and going to school would be a big brand new place for her. Then, of course, there was also the fact that she would probably sit and bark at me the whole time I was giving my talk because she would be upset about not having all of my attention.

So.... Secret stayed at the office today. :o( Poor Secret. I do think it would have been a really good experience for her, but hopefully there will be others. Once I was at the school I knew I had made the right decision. Luke and I had to walk down some pretty busy & crowded hallways to find our classroom and I think that might have been a little much for Secret.

I'm still certain that she would have blown everyone away with her tricks, but I'll have to be happy that she played the part of "baby dog grows up" in the video presentation. :o)

Video Update! Weaves!

Holy heck, when was the last time Secret had a video update? It must have been all the way back in early November when I posted her running that USDAA Advanced Standard course.... The equipment was put away not that long after and there just hasn't been much to video, I guess.

Until now!

A fellow blogger recently went through the process of "retraining" the weaves to get her BC to swim -- Unlike Secret, she always swam at 22", but had switched to hopping when moved up to 24". Seeing their success inspired me to attack it with Secret and try again. What else is there to do right now?

I learned quickly that if I closed the poles too soon that Secret would revert back to hopping. Because of this, I left them in the position you see in the video for a few sessions. This video is from Saturday afternoon following the boys' trial. Last night I closed the poles a little more and we made progress! Secret's first inclination was to hop, but after a few repetitions she started to swim them again. So we'll stay at this spot for a while.

We should probably be doing some jump work, table work, teeter work, etc..... But I figure it's just easiest to leave the weaves out for now...

Since it's video day, I figure I'll give the boys some spotlight today, too. They had a truly remarkable weekend at our trial at Family Dog Center this weekend! (And happy day, they put rubber on their contacts!)

Luke got his Versatility NATCH!



All of his (recorded) runs are in this video:



Kaiser's (recorded) runs are in this video -- He went 9/14 this weekend and earned his Open Chances and Elite Weavers titles!



And finally, I ended up running Rascal after Bethany became ill (hence why I didn't get as much video as usual, lol) -- I have worked with him in training at home, but this was my first time getting to run him in a trial. I love Rascal! And it made me SO look forward to getting to run Secret in the Novice classes at the next trial!

Weaves, Frisbees & Fear....

Secret takes up residence under my desk during lunch, hoping that I'll share my pretzels (I do...)

There is no real reason for this entry other than that I haven't posted all week and I feel bad. It's been a quiet, boring week -- But we have a trial this weekend in La Crosse! It is the very last trial that Secret will have to attend as a mere spectator! It does kind of stink that it's only a week and a half before she turns "official" at 18 months, but eh, what can you do?

The fear part of the title is something we've been battling since the beginning, really. It's always frustrated me that I haven't managed to find a way to work Secret through her fears -- Most notably, her major fear of loud noises.

We've had a couple of experiences this week that really have highlighted this, both having to do with trains on our walks at work. Mind you, she is not scared of train whistles or even the fast moving trains that go by 30' away from us on the trail. What gets to her, and absolutely terrifies her, are the stopping trains. Which has actually progressed to be afraid of STOPPED trains because she fears the noises they will make if/when they start up again.

Yesterday we had the unfortunate circumstance to get stuck on the near side of the tracks due to a stopping train. The last time this happened, the train made multiple very loud, scary noises as it stopped and Secret got really spooked by it (heck, even I jumped). Apparently Secret remembered this and as soon as she realized the train was coming to a stop, she was paralyzed with fear. Literally stuck in one place and refused to move. Usually when she is scared, I bring her out of it by asking her to do what she's very comfortable with -- Perform tricks. I tried to get Secret to do simple nose touches to my hand and I couldn't even get her to snap out of her trance until the train had completely stopped, and then she spent the rest of the walk with her tail between her legs until we were well away from that area.

Today we were once again on the "scary side" of the tracks (for whatever reason, stopping or starting trains are not nearly so scary on the trail side) when the parked train began to move. This one wasn't even loud, but when her eye caught the movement of the car, she darted between a pack of lumber to hide. I feel so bad for her that we still struggle with these fear issues and haven't found a way to work through it. I ignore her for the most part, not wanting to "reward" the fear, but it doesn't seem to help.

These odd situations are not the end of the world by any means, but they are a symptom of the larger problem -- Secret's "shut down" switch and my inability to snap her out of it. It's definitely something that will be a long-term project for us, I'm sure. I do worry how it might come into play as she begins her journey into the trialing world of agility, but I also feel that the experiences gained will only serve to help her in the long run.

I often wonder if her siblings have this problem, as they say often times that fear can be genetic... Secret has always been noise sensitive -- Especially compared to Kaiser, whom I swear you could set a bomb off next to and not get so much as a blink.

Anyhow, moving on...

I realized that I haven't talked about Secret's frisbee/disc work in ages! Considering how I used to whine and complain about her lack of enthusiasm for the disc last summer, I figured it was worth an update. She is a disc-loving fool now! We finally figured out the "go around" cue (not sure why it was important to me, but it was) and her catch rate is right up there with Luke's (when I throw them decently...). Even the retrieve has come right along, although she'll still lay down to chew on the disc if Luke is outside or when she starts getting tired. I'm getting better at experimenting with different throw styles and Secret is following right along. We've even started to play with "tricks" like jumping over an extended leg and whatnot.

Do I think we will EVER do competitive disc events? Not likely. At 45 lbs, I don't see doing vaults or anything like that (not to mention that I'm completely incompetent with this stuff), but it's fun to play with. Luke and I once won a toss/fetch competition, but Secret would still struggle with that due to her expecting to play tug with the frisbee each time she brings it back. :o) We're working on it, but right now I think her main reason for retrieving so well is that she wants to tug, so we'll go with it for a bit longer.

And finally, weaves --- A fellow blogger recently started to work on her dog's footwork in the weaves, as she stopped "swimming" when they moved up to 24" spacing. This inspired me to give it the old college try with Secret again. I admit that I pretty much gave up and just accepted the hopping, but I decided to see what would happen if we spent a little time working on it. After all, there isn't much else to do this winter.

So last night I set up the 2x2's in the basement and had them all in the open position. Secret surprised me and actually offered the single step right from the beginning! She did go back to hopping as I started to close the poles, so I think leaving them open while she develops muscle memory is going to be very important. It's also important to keep the sessions very short and only do them when she's "high", because the only way she's going to single-step is if she's driving through (this morning, for example, she was kind of 'meh' when we did a quick session before work -- So she went back to hopping until I got her properly revved up).

So that's pretty much all we're up to right now. Still no word from Debbie about our lessons in Eau Claire starting back up, but I'm pretty sure she said she wasn't seeing her doctor until the beginning of February, at which time she'd find out if she can go back to work. Fingers crossed!

"Why yes, I *am* awesome!"

Secret said it was her turn to pick the title of today's blog entry.

Oh happy day! I was able to finagle a way to attend the agility run-throughs at Family Dog Center yesterday!! I've been moping around ever since I got the e-mail reminding me about the required first aid training at the shelter that was to take place from 5:00 - 8:30 last night, effectively giving me no time to do agility (which started at 4:00) and be done in time to take the dogs home. It's a wee bit cold to consider leaving them in the car for 3 1/2 hours right now, unfortunately.

Well, my parents came to the rescue and agreed to come pick up the "grandkids" from the dog center and deliver them to my house for me. Happy dance! Even still, it ended up being a time crunch because more people showed up early than I expected and I had to beg my way up in the line to get out in time (I was only 7 minutes late....).

I'm not sure if those beautifully shorn feet are to thank (I should have done a "before" picture), or perhaps finally remembering to use the traction spray, or who KNOWS what, but Secret was awesome last night!

Secret is oddly well behaved for having her feet shaved. I think she likes it....

At any rate, Kaiser did his 10 minutes first to give Secret time to "settle in" and get over herself. She was good this week and didn't bark and carry on while it was Kaiser's turn.

I got Secret out of the pen towards the start of the session of the person prior to us. I sprayed her feet (she didn't seem too bothered by it, unlike Kaiser who acts like you are spraying acid on him) and just futzed around with her a bit. I tried to get her to engage with a toy to see what she wanted to play with, but she was more interested in digging through the bag to see what toys I brought.

Her tail was up and she looked pretty confident and happy when we made our way into the ring. I used the beginning of our time to move the bars up to 16" and threw Secret's tuggy rope for her to play with while I did so. I just wanted her to feel comfortable and relaxed. Also, by allowing her to play & interact solo with her toy, I think she revved herself up a little bit (I think it helps to remove the pressure to play JUST with me).

Secret was HAPPY and SPEEDY and FOCUSED! <3 <3 <3 It was so nice to see that dog again, I've missed her. We focused primarily on jumps & weaves for the first part of our session, as I worried that if I messed too much with contacts that she might start thinking, "Where's my food?" (I did have treats on me just in case.)

But even once we started in with the contact work, she kept the same upbeat attitude. I was pleased as punch with her -- Nailing her contacts, super awesome rear crosses, fast & accurate weaves, etc. She even got both types of discrimination with the a-frame tunnel combination and I didn't have to practically shove her into the tunnel as I have occasionally had to do in the past. lol

I kept telling myself, "Hey, maybe you should just stop now while you're ahead." That's a lesson I should have learned by now, right? But I got greedy.

The teeter was out. It wasn't part of the course, but it was set up down on the far end of the arena. I thought it might be a good way to end our session, as we still had a few minutes left.

Secret immediately offered her touch on the bottom. Yay! Good girl! She went up the plank when asked -- Not too fast, which I would prefer at this point, but then she totally freaked out when it slammed. It was loud. Very loud.

Now, the good news is that I did get her back over it a few times while holding her collar (not dragging her, just not giving her another option). It really sucks when you know you are pressed for time, but have to end on a good note. So that's what we tried to do, and I think it's okay. We might be doing some more rehab teeter work at home, though.

Classes are starting up at the dog center, which means no more agility run-through nights. Boo. So now I guess I just wait to hear from Debbie to see how soon we can start back up in Eau Claire, otherwise we'll just be playing at home for a while!

Bling-Bling! Sparklies!

Secret's belated Christmas present arrived last night! Bling-bling! Sparkly bling-bling! PINK sparkly bling-bling. :o)

Towards the end of my time in the horse world, sparkly brow bands were pretty popular. While some may have found them gaudy and undignified, I was obsessed with them. I had the prettiest brow band (with red & clear crystals) for my horse, Norman. I cherished that brow band and was sad to send it off with the new owner when I sold him, but what use did I have for an 18" brow band at that point?

In December I found out that one of my old online horse buddies was branching out into the world of beaded dog collars! She posted some pictures of her work and I was impressed, so I asked if she might have any pink beads on hand. She asked if I wanted light pink or hot pink -- What a silly question, hot all the way!

So Krystl went shopping and this is what she came up with. The pictures do not do it justice in the least, it really sparkles and catches the light beautifully in person. Secret will be the talk of the town at upcoming agility trials. :o) This will be her "public outing" wear, as it is simply too pretty to be a daily use collar.

Many thanks to Krystl Ahrens at Ravenwood Tack/Ravenwood Aussies for creating this beauty! If you are interested in getting one of your own, be sure to visit her web site and send her a note. Custom pieces are her specialty! http://www.ravenwoodaussies.com/collars.html

By the way, Secret wants to know why the heck she doesn't get any more modeling gigs.

Lazy Weekend

Well, we did nothing this weekend. Which is both :o) and :o( for various reasons. Quiet, peaceful, sleeping doggies definitely get a huge thumbs up. Is there anything cuter?

We got between 2" & 3" of snow Friday night into Saturday, which made me kind of "blah" about driving to MN. Then Luke pulled something while playing frisbee. Then, while de-pooing the yard, I saw that Secret had diarrhea -- This on top of her waking us up around 6:00 a.m. to puke. I figured it was probably not in our best interest to spend six hours on the road that day and instead opted to stay home and be bums.

Between naps, we did go down and play a bit in the basement. Most notably, I utilized a boring old hardcover book and turned it into a teeter weight using duct tape. Not a long-term fix, but good enough to get Secret used to the idea that teeters do, in fact, move on their own. She was, as expected, freaked out by it at first, but she got over it and was doing superbly after several sessions. She has her teeter back!

Yesterday we dragged our butts off the couch and went to my parent's place for dinner. I sacrificed the "lazy" part of my weekend at this point and actually hauled my butt through the snow for over a mile on the trails through the woods. I was pooped, but I had happy dogs! While I might enjoy being pathetically lazy, my dogs do not. I can't really complain since I figure I made them that way, and it's good to have someone to kick my butt and make me move. :o)

Three out of the last four mornings now, Secret has woken up between 4:00 & 6:00 a.m. to puke up some bit of nastiness. I am almost entirely positive that it is from her disgusting habit of eating frozen poopsicles, something I can thank Luke for teaching her last year and that they both have delighted in starting up again this year. I try like heck to keep the yard picked up, but we keep getting snow every day that covers stuff up and I know I miss some. One more reason that I can't wait for spring to get here.... Thank god they only like the rock hard frozen poo, although I can tell you it's pretty dang nasty when it comes back up....

Well crap.

I got two bits of crummy news yesterday. Which do you want first? I suppose the one I found out about first...

The premium was posted for the QCDC February NADAC trial down in Davenport, IA. Yay! Finally! We can enter!

Or not.

When we went down for the New Years Eve trial, part of what made that trial so appealing (and made it win over going to the closer trial in Minnesota) was their "household package" pricing. If your household of dogs ran over 18 runs total, you got each run for $10/run vs. $12/run for single-run pricing. This adds up and makes it much more affordable, especially when you are factoring in gas, hotel, etc.

I figured this was the adopted policy of this facility's trials and expected it to be the same for February. Not so much. The only package they are offering is the full weekend package per dog, and I'm not coming close to running all three dogs in all twelve classes. It would add almost $50 to my already inflated budget for that weekend. I just can't do it. Secret won't be debuting in Iowa next month.

But really, it's not the end of the world because there is a trial here in La Crosse on March 5 & 6. It's only a couple weeks later and no big deal, but I was really looking forward to going down to Iowa because I love the facility. Maybe later this year, I guess.

On to our second piece of disappointing news.

I got an e-mail last night from Debbie, our instructor at ABCTC. She has been experiencing some back problems and recently found out that she herniated one of her discs. :o( She is on strict orders to rest & do nothing until February, at which time she will be re-evaluated and hopefully be able to start teaching again.

So we don't have a lesson this weekend and won't have one for the foreseeable future.

There is a glimmer of hope in this post, though. Because of the change of plans, I tossed out an e-mail to my friend in MN to see if he wanted to try again for that play date we got snowed out of last month. There is, of course, snow in the forecast for tonight & tomorrow morning and we are going to play it by ear, but I am hopeful that it will work out. Secret really needs to get out & work in more places, so it would be really good for her.

But I'm still bummed about the other two things.

Run-Throughs!

Poor Secret. Her favorite spot is the bed in front of my desk. Apparently the boys think it's also the best place to be today, so they are monopolizing the space. Secret refuses to go lay on the other bed, so she's just waiting for them to get up. lol Old habits die hard, I guess.

As planned, we went to the agility run-throughs at Family Dog Center last night. They ran from 4-7 p.m. and we got there right around 5:00. I wasn't terribly impressed with the course that was laid out, but it was better than the last time we were there.

I brought the fabric x-pen with this time because I thought Secret might do better with the boys there vs. in the car. I also thought it would be good to give her time to decompress before it was her turn, so I worked the boys first. She was so naughty when I was working Kaiser. People were starting to show up and a couple of workers kept going past the pen with dogs, causing Secret to bark and bark and bark. I had to leave Kaiser several times during his session to go yell at Secret and tell her to shut up. It didn't help. She really didn't quiet down until I finished and was able to go sit next to her and get after her for any little peep. It's not just her, but all the dogs seem to be horrid in that x-pen together. They are much better off being crated separately, but lord knows I'm not hauling all that gear for run-throughs...

Because there were several people waiting for turns, Secret's 10 minutes got split into two five-minute sessions. Truthfully, it worked out much better that way. Shorter is always better where she is concerned. And coincidentally, she ended up almost pooping in the ring at the end of her first five minutes, so we definitely had to make a quick trip outdoors! Poor girl, she gave me this panicked look and started to circle, but she managed to hold it until we got outside.

The first session wasn't too bad. I stuck with food and we started out doing some foundation jumping drills as a warm-up and to start with something familiar. I kept the jumps at 16" all night for her to keep things light & fun.

We worked through everything that was there. We had a chance to work on the a-frame, dog walk, 12 weaves, discriminations, etc. Nothing was super fast, but she did it all and did it well. On top of that, she did seem to be having fun, which is always good. I failed to trim her nails or shave her feet prior to this, so unfortunately there was quite a bit of slipping. I hate those stupid mats.

She seemed much livelier following her poo break, plus she got a good drink of water while waiting for our next turn. I was armed with more cheese "just in case," but I decided to try to focus on playing with toys for our second session. I brought out the Ringzee and a tuggy rope with a ball attached (that later came off...) and the tuggy rope won.

The second session was great! I focused more on jumping & weaves for this session, wanting to take advantage of the higher level of energy & speed she was offering with the toys. She was by no means running full out on those slippery mats, but she was faster than the first session and she was having fun. We did a few contacts towards the end and those were faster as well. Always good to see! She was just starting to peter out at the end of the five minutes, so we timed it well. I jackpotted her with cheese when we exited the ring.

Bonus of the night -- FDC still had my old style of treat bag in stock! They had the original blue and a red one, so I decided to go with the new color. I should have bought the blue one, too, just in case.... I still may. I'm so attached to this style of treat bag. Why are they so stinking hard to find around here? The new style they were offering had some stupid pouch at the front of the bag (for a clicker?). Just give me a clip-on bag with a drawstring (that works -- of note since the piece-o-crap bag I got from PetCo didn't work) and I'm happy.

Lesson in Eau Claire at ABCTC on Sunday! Yay! I should probably shave feet before then...

The ups & downs of the Teeter

Yeah, I know this blog title is totally corny. And I also know that I take super craptacular pictures in the poor lighting of my basement. Oh well.

Secret made great strides in her teeter angst yesterday. We started with it at the same low setting and she didn't hesitate to approach or perform it at all. Yay! It was a great start, so I went ahead and raised it a bit. Still awesome, so I raised it a bit more. I'm pretty sure that's all I did in that session, as I had to go work the late afternoon shift at the shelter.

We went back downstairs before dinner when I got home and started where we left off. Still no hesitation -- Yay! I think we have this nailed! So I raised it again, pretty much to what I consider "full height" for my weenie 10' plank, and she was still doing great. So we quit and left it at that.

Once back upstairs, however, I got it in my head that I needed a picture for the blog posting I was obviously going to write to document this stupendous occasion. So after I finished cutting up treats to be used for our run-throughs this evening, we went back downstairs armed with the camera (okay, so I use my cell phone for everything...).

Secret was in the middle of going, "Yay, Teeter!" while riding the plank down and moving into her two on/two off position when all of the sudden there was this loud CRASH from the top of the stairs. The boys had knocked over the kid gate I have in place to keep dogs upstairs. Sigh.

Secret was certain that once again the teeter was to blame for this horrifically frightening experience. She flew straight upstairs and wanted nothing to do with any of this. *sob* Not square one AGAIN?!

The good news is that, with MUCH coaxing and MUCH cheese, I finally got her to touch the teeter again. Then I got her to do her bottom position. Then, with about another pound of cheese, I got her to go up & over at the full height. Several times. I took my silly pictures and we were done.

So that is why you might notice that her tail is tucked under herself in these photos. Because she was still, more or less, mostly freaked out by the gate crashing incident. Again, Sigh. BUT, she overcame her fears and still did the teeter, so that's a great step in the right direction.

I suppose the next step (possibly after a few more proofing sessions) is to find something to weight my teeter so that she learns to deal with the rebound. What the heck am I going to use....? I've been trying to come up with an idea and am coming up blank so far. My main issue is that I don't know how much weight I need, so I suppose I just need to experiment. I know I'll need more than "usual" because the crappy PVC base seems to add some tension and it doesn't pivot as freely as, say, a metal base. We'll see.... Time to break out the duct tape for experimenting.

Tonight we go to agility run-throughs at Family Dog Center! Secret seems pooped today, so who knows what to expect.