Keeping on track

After a particularly bad showing at the fun match last weekend I was profoundly discouraged. But then my article bag arrived on Monday. It's soooo beautiful and just begging for those fancy articles to come and fill it up. And the custom-made dumbbell is on its way to me. The articles will be a few more weeks. I've set the wheels in motion to see this through.
Yesterday I decided no obedience, we'll just do agility to get him "up" and he was pretty sloppy with that, too. This dog just doesn't CARE when he's not in the mood. What frustrated me even more was when I'd gotten what I wanted (let's just do all 6 weave poles, please) and released him he was more than delighted to leave me to go to his pack buddies who were waiting in the house. Not so fast Moto. I "made" him play with me before he got to go with his buddies. Didn't play too long as he seemed tired. But nooooo, when his pals were let into the yard he had LOTS of energy! ARGH. The trick still is to figure out how to get him to expend energy with me, even when he's not in the mood to. That is obviously still a work in progress.
This morning, however showed a new Moto. I decided we'd just work on attention and precision heeling. I chose to train on our street as it offers some mild (not scary) distractions of neighbors outside, barking dogs in yards, etc. He was absolutely fabulous, very up and eagerly offered behaviors. Our heeling/doodling session was wonderful. So were utility signals, front work and finish work. Since we had a full head of steam we played for a bit and out into the back yard we went to work on weave pole entries. There were a few bobbles but he really tried hard and focused and bam! We had some good entries! So, today was a good training day. Agility class for Shiloh and Moto tonight, we'll see if it carries over.

Making the Commitment

I'm somewhat commitment-phobic - not about people, but to my hobbies. I don't know why this is, but I dawdle on buying the necessary equipment in the hobby of current choice until the last possible moment. For years I played soccer in tennis shoes, skating and sliding and falling. But finally I took the plunge and spent a lot of money on some really nice cleats and then the obsession took off at a really serious pace.
Now I'm middle-aged (or my daughter would say I am OLD) and I retired from soccer and Obedience has taken over. I was heartbroken over Blitz's illness and he will never be well enough to compete in Utility. So, purchasing articles for him never entered my mind. I'd measured Moto awhile ago and his mouth is too large for Dusty's articles. I needed a new set. But as you know from reading past posts, I've been ambiguous about his obedience career. Surfing around websites I came across Clouds and Company - where my friend Diane purchased her article bag. This woman knows how to shop. And, on their "ready to go" page was this article bag. It was stunningly beautiful. I called and asked if the measured articles would fit in this bag. Moto's size is unusual for a Sheltie and I didn't know if this would be a smart purchase. Bless her heart, Jill (Clouds and Company owner) rounded up a student with articles that size, placed them in the bag and said it was fine. The transaction was made and this beautiful bag is on its way to my home now. So I took the plunge. Once I started I couldn't stop and went over to another site that hand-makes beautiful articles and requested that the numbers be painted in purple, just to be different. Those articles are also on their way in a few weeks.
This means I HAVE to show Moto at least through the Utility level. I hope that it will become an obsession, he does well and we have a nice long career together. Like his sire, he is a very complex dog and I still haven't quite figured him out yet. What I do know is our bond is getting very strong and that I love him beyond belief. I think it is this bond that will make him do his best. But what will define "best"? I know what I want. I hope he will want the same. We won't know until he enters the ring, and that is at LEAST another year, if not longer. But we sure do have a pretty article bag when he gets to Utility!

ANOTHER setback *sigh*

...and this one is embarassing. My friend Dee was kind enough to offer me a mini-Rally lesson at her home, so Sunday morning Blitz and I went off and had a fantastic time. He met her mini-poodle and her Bostons and all was great. On Sunday afternoon I would meet with Dee again and some of her Novice students at the training building with Moto. Again, all was well until the sit-stays. Moto's rear legs began splaying out so I went over to him to tuck them back under, when a Yorkie pup for whatever reason became enraged and ran over and attacked Moto. To my mortification Moto got up and ran from the 4-lb terror (Moto is a whopping 42 lbs). We caught both dogs, pup was corrected, Moto calmed and we tried again, this time with Dee standing on the Yorkie's leash. Alas, Dee lost her balance, the pup took advantage and AGAIN ran over to attack Moto. Suffice it to say Moto was done with any training for the day.
Initially I was upset with the Yorkie, but upon thinking it over, I realized Moto's reaction prompted the problem. If he were more confident with himself, he would have remained sitting and looked bemusedly at the pup as if to say "what is YOUR problem?". With Moto's thick massive coat and size, there is absolutely no way this pup could have inflicted any pain. So this, and the "card table incident" are absolutely terrifying incidents in his young life. *sigh*.
So, here is what I think: I think Moto is very young and very immature. It's going to be a very, very long time before he can enter the Obedience ring. I need to continue to train him of course, but have no planned obedience debut schedule. He needs to have positive experiences and lots of them, and reinforcement from me that I love him and reward his efforts.
IN the meantime, we'll move forward with an agility debut and possibly a herding debut in the winter or spring of next year. Both these two venues are great confidence-builders. And of course, his beloved tracking. So obedience will be on the back burner for awhile, he'll probably go to class 1-2 times a month, while we focus on other things for awhile. It's discouraging, but he is what he is, and to force things would be a waste of everyone's time.
Meantime, Blitz got a clean bill of health so he will be entered in Rally Novice for the Lawrence show. Now - that is exciting!

Moto's coming in to his own!

It's been a couple of exciting days around here. Moto - since he's my only healthy dog - has been signed up to take Agility, Tracking, Obedience and Herding. I do expose my dogs to multiple venues, but not all at once like this poor little guy. The only one we work *really * hard at is Obedience, and I take a casual stance on the other sports. Mind you, we work at it, but not daily, and not really really hard.
Anyway, yesterday afternoon was our herding lesson. Moto has been gaining momentum in this field. Never in my life have I had a dog go from absolutely *nothing* to beginning to herd. We began as usual in the small area and there were about 9 head of lambs in there. The other 2 students (my hubby and Moto's littermate) went first and both were awesome. Daisy the rescue BC is a lovely herding dog. Moto's littermate Belle is a real dynamo on sheep. She's much smaller in size than he but that doesn't stop her. This was only her 2nd exposure and she gathered and showed no fear at all in peeling them off the fence. Hoo boy did we have big paws to fill when it was Moto's turn. He was OK, but nothing really exciting, and the sheep were getting stuck in the corner. I repeatedly would grab him gently by the caller and we'd walk against the fence - me saying encouraging things to let him know this is what we wanted - and those smart sheep would just go to the next corner *sigh*. So, my trainer recommended we go to the "big field" with about 20 head of a lamb/ewe mixture. I was fearing a real disaster but my fears were allayed - once in the pasture Moto seemed to realize what was expected of him: made a rough version of an outrun and brought me the sheep! I was thrilled! He circled a few times (he loves the Go Bye side) and it was time for a change of direction. He's not rating his stock yet, nor fetching and he really didn't want to go to the Way to Me side. But with a little encouragment and praise when he did it, we had a couple of lovely gathering/fetching sessions. Even my instructor was excited with this huge step. When we left, she said "it's been a joy". Cool!
This morning we were up and at 'em early for our first tracking lesson of the season. The weather has cooled down and tests are coming up so it's time to get into gear. Since the car accident I haven't done a thing with Moto in tracking. I told my instructor that and she said "well, I've laid a 400 yard track with five turns. We'll just see how it goes". It had aged just 20 minutes so we figured we better get going. Hot dogs were every 8 paces. Moto saw the start flag and dragged me to it! This re-confirmed that this is his favorite sport. With a nice down at the article we were off at a fast trot he was so excited. He became methodical and thoughtful at his first turn but made that turn and all subsequent turns beautifully and accurately. There was an article midway each leg and he downed at all of them. We all cheered when he found the glove! Again, I was completely thrilled with him.
Tomorrow is a marathon obedience day and I cannot wait. First, I train with Dee with Blitz as she goes over the rally stations with me. Later on that afternoon I'll meet up with her and a few others with Moto at the Club to put each other through Novice. It's just wonderful to see Moto enjoying these different venues. He's gone from "you what me to do WHAT?" to "Let's go Mom!" I LOVE it!

There IS a place for Rally

I've been one of those Rally-bashers. I will apologize in advance. Thought it was lame and useless. Felt it did not succeed in its original plan - a stepping stone for Obedience newbies to enter the Novice ring. All that is changed for me now, however.
Moto is making huge strides in the more advanced training now - his Utility work (go-outs, scent discrimination, directed jumping) is almost at full ring-size and all articles. Whew! He just needs fine-tuning for Open work. But Novice? Nooooooo, we're not ready. Why? That darned attention and the technical perfection needed for heeling just is not there.
Enter Rally. You can talk to your dog. You can pat your leg. It has some cool pivots, 180's, and non-patterned heeling that is very cool. It is the perfect stepstone, even better than Wild Card. So I'm eating crow.
And...because of the cloudy cool weather, Blitz is feeling really really good. He's begging to work. I know now that he cannot withstand the rigors of training needed to enter the Novice ring. But...he has enough foundation work to go all the way through Rally Advanced. We can enter with maybe a few brief reminder sessions before-hand. It will be stress free and he'll have a great time and can earn that much-deserved title behind his name. He'll get to work and we'll get our time in the ring together. There's a trial in Lawrence in a few weeks. I'll enter him, and of course if he takes a turn for the worse we can pull. But in the meantime, we'll have a good time working together and I'll learn this new sport.
Yes, Rally is a Good Thing. I've said it, and I'll stand behind that statement.

Dusty's Poem

My sweet boy will turn 15 years in February. I had a scare with him last week but he has recovered and is doing well. It just really brought home that we are into that Every Day Is A Gift time of his life, and I make sure every day he knows how much I love him, that he is comfortable, and it is filled with happiness.
He woke me up around 2:00 a.m. to potty an I can't go back to sleep. While tossing and turning, I remembered this poem I wrote many years ago (maybe 10) when we got our first herding High In Trial. Thought I'd put it on my blog as I can't find the paper anywhere. I wrote it the next day while at work in a very boring meeting. Here you go my Dusty, this poem is for you:

Wake Up little Dusty, it's time to go
We have an important big dog show.
The truck is loaded, the sun's about to rise
You slowly open your dark brown eyes.
Way to me! Go Bye! is what's on my mind
Crook's in the front seat, your crate is behind.
We arrive at the show site - I unload all my gear
Our time at the handler's post draws rapidly near.
And then it's our turn! My heart is thumping
Ears are buzzing, blood is pumping
Go Bye! I send you, the trial's begun
You reward me with a beautiful outrun.
Through the left chute, the right chute, the cross drive panel
No bobbles at all - those sheep you can handle.
At the pen now the sheep slightly scatter
But heck - we've qualified! To me it doesn't matter.
I'm flying high as I accept our prize
But I look again at those dark brown eyes
And realize...
It's so much more than just first place
It's about teamwork, your heart, style and grace.
You've shown me that I can believe
In that magical union dog and man can achieve.
Back home now - you're tired - and fall quickly asleep
Your eyes flicker, your feet twitch
You're dreaming of sheep.
Thank you, Dusty, for all that you've given to me
Today was a great day for "Come Bye" and "Away to Me".

Out of the Fog

Finally today is a much improved day since the crash-and-burn of Tuesday. I was still in a lot of pain, but my outlook was bright enough to try to train Moto again. These cool Fall-like mornings have been delightful and Moto was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and eager to work. Heeling was pretty nice. He still doesn't completely understand the concept of remaining in position but he's actually trying. Flaring butts and wide sits are our next big problem to work out.
But most exciting was the broad jump, retrieve over high and go-outs. Dee gave me one of her Boston's cots and it works perfectly as a go-out device. My mat was working OK but sometimes he'd approach it from the side, or not turn as tightly as I liked. With this raised cot he HAS to turn tight. Boy he understood the concept once it was that clear and we made extremely rapid progress. To my delight he did an Obedience regulation go-out. I got greedy and threw in directed jumping (throwing a toy over correct jump) and he did it just great and had a ball. It was thrilling, and just the shot in the arm I needed. Once again I have a flicker of hope we may be able to eventually enter the obedience ring together.
After work I had an adjustment at the chiropractor and I wasn't too badly out of alignment and then treated myself to a much-needed massage. This talented gal spent the entire 1/2 hour on my left hip, the source of so much pain. While the pain is not altogether gone it's much improved.
Hubby continues to be Mr. Wonderful and topped off a beautiful day by taking me out to dinner. So here I am, happily blogging with five dogs scattered around my desk. Life is indeed good again.

Meltdown

In the big picture of life, it's all a bunch of really minor things. But somehow all the minor things came together and I had a meltdown of huge proportions today. It started with discovering Erik had eaten all the peanut butter (two jars in one week) and I'm addicted to peanut butter. Well actually things had already gotten off to a bad start, I was in bad pain I guess because of the cold weather and didn't want to get out of bed, and when I did and went for my beloved peanut butter and there wasn't any let's just say I didn't have a happy start to the day.
But it was just a little thing, and the pain wasn't so bad, I wanted to give in to it but decided to take some Ibuprofin and push through it. This has never worked in the past but heck it's been six months now so at SOME point I figured I can push through this. So I'm peanut-butter deprived but there is Ibuprofin so I get ready for Obedience class. I trained at Dee's last night and we had sooo much fun and Moto was adorable with her dogs and did great training. I was even thinking of doing rally with him in 2010.
So we're at Obedience class and all is going well when in walks a lady I am not fond of - she has a large aggressive breed and her dogs have attacked mine in the past and she is neither remorseful nor careful with her dangerous dogs. My trainer positions me next to her and like the pain I decide to tough it out and just ignore her and be vigilant around her dogs. Everything is fine until as a distraction my trainer decides to fold a card table. Normally "bomb proof" Moto completely freaks out and is like a wild horse. He is so terrified he literally has Checked Out. I'm hanging onto his fur and I cannot even sit on him, he is so terrified of this table. Mind you Chris is not threatening with it, not moving it towards him, he's simply folding the legs and putting it away at the other end of the building. Chris chides me for not exposing Moto to more situations, which, for God's sake, is not the case. Moto has been around guns, fireworks, my grandchildren, an assortment of dogs, cats, shopping centers, you name it. I say this is a freak situation and he laughs and said "they all say that". Now I'm getting pissed. Then the lady I don't like starts giving advice. I ignore her until she gets on me about why I don't want Moto to grow any more and why do I care to which I say (struggling to hang onto Moto) I didn't PLAN on having a giant Sheltie! and then she says I should get rid of him.
I was so pissed I decided to simply walk out of the building. She followed dispensing advice so I walked back in. I told Chris I was leaving and off we went.
When I came home I completely lost it. Poor Erik - all he did was ask how class went and I burst into tears. It was the worst meltdown I've ever had - couldnt' stop crying and bless his heart he just held my hand and let me rant. I said I was tired of being in pain, tired of always trying to resume my normal life and not succeeding, tired of not having a dog to show, tired of having FIVE dogs and NONE were capapable of being shown, I was just plain sick of every day facing a long uphill battle of pain and dog training.
Now that the day is ending, I think what happened was I've never really expressed any emotion about the car accident. And, it's only been a few weeks where I've accepted the fact that Blitz, as bad as he wants to work, will never be able to enter the show ring. So I think all these little things were the straw the broke the proverbial camel's back and I needed to grieve. And grieve I did, for several hours.
Bless my dear husband for being there. He was wonderful. I just never realized how good I'd had it - Dusty, my dear 14.5 year old Dusty, was the best possible dog a first time performance person could ever have. How lucky was I to have him for a first dog. Shiloh - while it wasn't an easy road - he loved to work. His deafness now prohibits him from the ring. Blitz - who could have been a phenom - has this horrible disease and needs his strength to survive. Moto is the world's sweetest dog, but not much of a work ethic. We've spent a lot of time team building and relationship building. I'm not sure where he will excel, and in which field. I think it will be tracking, but I would love it if he could do Obedience too. I miss the show ring desperately, but am willing to take the time to make sure he is ready. This wait could be several more years.
Meantime, I need to dust myself off, dry my eyes, regain my senses and do what I've done since the car accident:
Wake up, be glad to be alive, and try again. When you're alive and healthy, there is always hope and the promise of tomorrow.