Rough Midwest Weather

All of us living in Tornado Alley have been on edge since the horror of the Joplin, MO tornado. My area has been in the "sweet spot" (no bad weather)during recent tornadic outbreaks, that is, until a Facebook friend commented he wonder when it would be our turn. Once it was out there, our turn came.
I was working at my office which has a lovely view of the two busiest streets in my town (yes, it's a very small town and there's no traffic light but it has the most activity). Something just didn't feel right and I surfed over to the local TV station's website. In blaring red letters it said "tornado warning in Kansas City NOW". I ran outside to look at the sky and the streets almost immediately filled with kids from the local daycare being shepherded across the street to the city hall basement. Darrell from the hair salon two doors down said we needed to take cover there. I told him I had dogs to care for and was going to make a run for home.
Broke all speed limits getting home. Since the weather has been foreboding since the previous night I already had an emergency plan ready to implement. Collars and leashes on dogs, cell phone, purse and camera and into the bomb shelter we all went with the TV.
I watched the splashes of red, purple, and yellow inch their way north, and then the weatherman said for us to take cover, our town was going to take a direct hit. I grabbed all six leashes and hunkered down. As the wind, thunder, lightening and driving rain hit I realized dogs are kind of like small kids - each one had their own agenda.
Dusty: This cement slab sucks. Please let me go so I can find a place to nap.
Shiloh: Doom Is Imminent. I will cower beside you.
Daisy: Doom Is Imminent. I will cower beside you. Shiloh, do NOT let even a toenail or a single hair touch me or you're gonna get it.
Blitz: You all are SO annoying. What's the problem anyway? And where are the toys?
Moto: Mom is looking worried. I'll sit here and look worried too.
Pinch: My collar is on! My leash is on! We're gonna train! Why aren't we training? When is the training gonna start?
In a few minutes the storm subsided. I heard we had a tornado touch down in our area. Once the All Clear was sounded it was time to find out if everyone was OK.
Fortunately for us there was little damage. We'd lost some trees earlier but came through this intact.
We are lucky for now but the tornado season isn't over. Like an earthquake it's all about being in the right place at the right time. So for now, we breathe a sigh of relief and get to go about our lives.
And after this big scare, I've added some very important items to the bomb shelter:
a bucket and a roll of toilet paper.

New Title and Life Lessons

Moto got his CD this weekend, but it's hardly a cause for celebration: we received the three lowest consecutive scores I have ever had in my entire obedience career. The first two legs I could've lived with - significant deductions because of a lag on both fasts - but it was his third leg that was the absolute worst. Moto just didn't care to try.
No matter what I do with my dogs, no matter the outcome, I always want them to just TRY.
Our Novice run on Sunday was so bad I was actually hoping we'd NQ somewhere along the way as I didn't want to receive the score.
But qualify we did, and here we are with his CD and I'm left with a lot to think about.
It's rarely fair to blame the dog, and such is the case here. It's always been my opinion that the way the dogs ARE in the ring is a reflection of your relationship at home. Please understand: this does NOT mean the perfect-scoring dogs have a perfect relationship, that is a skilled trainer. What I mean is the dog's demeanor and attitude inside the ring. If there are any holes in your relationship, it will present itself in the ring.
Since Moto lazily followed me around the ring during heeling and didn't bother to sit or finish on the recall, his message to me was loud and clear: I'm Not With You.
OUCH.
I need to re-evaluate my training program with him. Moto is a well-trained dog and when he wants to, can display a high level of accuracy. While it won't be fair to ask him to attain an OTCH or a 200, it IS fair to ask for effort and a decent score.
So where did it all go so terribly wrong?
At this point in my ruminations, I think the broken link is where I fade food and toys in my training to where I become the "cookie" for the dog. With Dusty, Shiloh and Blitz this was no problem whatsoever, but with Moto - who is a much lower drive dog - I am once again guilty of going to far, too fast. I am not a very good "cookie" for Moto, and he doesn't care to please me. And it hurts. A LOT.
Another Life Lesson presented itself: after our awful performance I wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere and be miserable.
This is where being a Good Sport came into play: keeping emotions in check and cheering on your classmates. I neede to put our bad moment away for awhile. There was one of my training classmates that attained a CDX after many struggles, a fellow Novice competitor that did very well and got High In Trial to name a few. It was nice to forget my troubles for awhile and I was genuinely happy for others who attained their goals.
It's easy to be a Good Sport when you've won your class. It's more challenging when you're at your lowest, but it's a good lesson to learn.
As with all competitive venues, it's always what you learn and apply to real life that are most valuable. And I did grow this weekend, but they were Growing Pains.

What To Do About Shiloh

It's been a bit over one year since Shiloh was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis. Lots of ups and downs, and sadly, the downs have greatly outweighed the bright spots. In all my research, in all my vet's research, I cannot find a dog that has as many problems as Shiloh. It's probably because Shiloh has so many other things going on.
Way before the disease took hold, he was going deaf. He is now completely deaf; only vibrations bring a response. He has an interdigital cyst on his front paw that cannot be removed because of his disease. It bothers him a great deal. It doesn't hurt, but it is causing the toes to separate to accommodate the growth. I have to be vigilant and keep bitter lemon on his paw or a doggie bootie. He tries to chew off the growth. This just breaks my heart.
Then there are the anxiety attacks. Again, I can't find another dog that has a similar problem along with this disease. When they hit no drugs can calm him down and he cannot be crated. He just has to work through it.
My vet and I are in touch regularly - heck, I have SIX dogs, and two with freaky rare diseases. Lucky me. She asked how Shiloh was doing and in "normal" terms, he is doing just fine. He's able to eat and drink as he used to, he's able to elminate like a normal dog.
But he's not normal.
This was the #3 obedience sheltie in 2006, a Eukanuba National Obedience Invitational competitor. He ran World Team times in agility, was brilliant on sheep, and had a "just do it" attitude. All that has been taken away from him because of his health.
As we struggled to find a diagnosis during the onset of Myasthenia gravis, his rear end was beginning to fail. After the tests proved it was indeed MG and drug therapies began, his ability to swallow returned and most of the control of his rear end came back, but not completely. His left rear leg does what I call "the funky chicken" when he tries to run. Between the cyst on his front paw and his non-functioning rear leg, his favorite thing to do - run - is gone.
All my retired dogs still have jobs to do that help them feel important: Dusty's is to walk with me to the mailbox daily, Blitz's assignment is to help me with the laundry (with some obedience thrown in while folding clothes). Interestingly enough, Shiloh, who used to deplore snuggling of any kind, demands that he be the new Bed Dog. He does this as if his life depended on it, and will not leave me under any circumstances until I arise in the morning.
We have some private ball games as he still adores a good game of ball. I occasionally still let him have his beloved Teddy Bear - which I used to only bring out on dog show weekends - and his eyes always sparkle when the magical bear appears. He loves to talk to it and bite it so that it will squeak. He can do this for hours or until I take it away.
I don't know what to do. If I were Shiloh, would I want to continue like this? Is he living, or is he just existing? As mentioned there are occasional happy moments, but overall the sparkle has gone out of his eyes. My heart breaks for him on a daily basis.
While he's fully functioning in biological terms, I cannot tell of this is what he wants to continue doing.
Even though Blitz's condition is also deteriorating, it's clear he still wants to keep going. He's a happy dog and still living his life to the very fullest. Dusty at his advanced age is also a very happy boy. It's Shiloh. I just don't know what to do, or what is right for him.
His prescription for mestinon - the drug that keeps him alive - needs to be renewed in a few weeks. At that time, the vet will go over Shiloh thoroughly to evaluate his health and overall condition. I have asked her to give me her honest opinion on what she thinks will be the right thing to do.
In the mean time, I ask Shiloh to tell me, to show me.
If anyone out there has been through a similar experience, please share your insights.
I'm at a complete loss. And keep us in your thoughts. Thanks.

Short Herding Movie

Here's a very short movie of Pinch getting a herding lesson. He's handled by our instructor Cathy, as I'm pretty clueless how to start an eager young dog. She's trying to teach him to go around, rather than split the stock, and how to move them. What's fun about this movie is how fearless he is when a lamb strays. When it wants to fight he keeps backing it into a corner. Of course he still needs to learn how to handle such a situation but I'm proud of the fact he is so brave.
Like Obedience, herding with Pinch and Moto requires two completely different handling styles: for Moto, he has tons of instinct and not very much "want to", and with Pinch he has tons of "want to" but requires more instruction on how to herd.
Watching them both coming along in stock handling has been so rewarding, and we plan to try our hand at trialing again in the Fall.

Meanwhile the countdown begins for the Sheltie Specialty. Unless something freaky happens, Pinch should be just fine in Rally Novice. Moto should qualify in his Novice debut, but I'm wondering if I'll ever know which dog I'll be bringing into the ring. He surprised me at our lesson last night in a good way: thunderstorms rolled in with lightning, thunder, hail and wind. It was coming to a very loud peak during group stays. Many dogs broke as it was raining so hard you couldn't hear a thing other than the roar of thunderclaps and the pounding of the rain. Moto's ears were back and I could tell he was toying with leaving, too, but he held both his sit and his down. I was beyond happy to see this. The building we will be showing in will be off by itself, no air conditioning, and open on one side. So, if the weather is bad it will mimick the situation we were just in.
I just hope we can enjoy the day and our times together in the ring.
I'm getting nervous!

Summer Training

Yes I said Summer. After weeks upon weeks of cold and rain all of a sudden we left spring behind and plunged straight into summer. The heat will break records today with highs in the 90's. It's 10:00 a.m. as I write this and already 81 degrees. Summer.
Thus I resumed my summer schedule which is the flipside of my winter schedule: I get all the outdoor stuff done first, then follow with indoor chores. My favorite outdoor activity is training Pinch and Moto, and we had a blast this morning.
I decided to heavily backchain Moto's scentwork and started Pinch on his. The two work so differently and each present their own challenge.
With Moto I realized I went too far, too fast. He's an insecure boy and needs to thoroughly understand each exercise before I make it more challenging for him. We went all the way back to using just two articles and the payback has been very gratifying. We are now up to five articles and he is doing his exercise beautifully. He goes out confidently to the scent pile and works his way through it. He is correct 100% of the time and comes trotting back with the right article, clearly pleased with himself. I am too extremely pleased.
Pinch has been trained on scentwork since he was a baby, by placing a treat under a folder. A bunch of folders raised like tents, with just one containing a treat, this little guy would tear through it at lightening speed and you could hear his nose working. The transition to articles has been quite, um, different. He is SO thrilled to see TWO articles and wants them both and tries to bring both back. There was no scentwork involved, only "oh boy! TWO toys to bring to mommy!" I had to think of a way of slowing him down.
He is a slow eater, so I put a small glob of squeeze cheese on the right article. He will sniff at it, gently lick while I give soft praise. But then problem #2 arose: once the cheese was gone we went quickly back to "that was yummy! Now I need to get these two toys back to Mommy!" So we went back to being on leash for now so I could have a bit more control. Once the cheese is licked off I say "find it", and I give a quick pop and back up quickly. This helps keep him to the task at hand. It's worked like a charm. We have graduated to three articles and a Flexi leash. He's a little lightning bolt and has kept me thinking out of the box.
We're now less than two weeks away from our Sheltie specialty. We work one day at home and one day someplace new. Moto still experiences anxiety when we go to a new place but so far he's stayed on course with being able to work. This is huge progress for him.
Pinch is also staying better focused and his attention is coming along nicely. He will be in Rally Novice.
I don't expect either to set the obedience world on fire. My goals is for Moto to qualify and try hard, and for Pinch I still just want him to learn the ring is a fun place to be. Not lofty goals but I feel reasonable ones and a great starting point.

A Visit From a Friend

It's a cold rainy day in the Midwest today - so much for Spring. We are still experiencing mornings in the 30's.
On this dark and dreary day a friend whom I've not seen for several months stopped in. She was very frail-looking, and tired.
She had lost her husband last month, to cancer.
I'd known he had cancer, I'd heard he was not doing well, but he stopped in about 6 months ago and, to my untrained eyes, looked just fine.
Apparently not.
She said his passing was quick and peaceful - less than 24 hours in hospice care. He'd gotten a cold, which quickly turned to a viral infection. One day he simply went to sleep and never woke up.
But he wasn't old. Neither is my friend. I shared with her the story of my sister and Barry.
We talked a bit about the struggles of cancer and its emotional tolls. I could tell it was very difficult for her, and she changed the subject. She didn't want to lose emotional control.
She's selling her house here in town and moving to another state to live with her family. She brought by some odds and ends from her home she knew I'd enjoy - some whole bean coffee, some of her plants I always admired, a beautiful tea cup I always commented on. It had to be hard, giving away parts of her life she and her husband shared. I told her so, to which she replied she wanted someone to have them that would enjoy them. For me, they will be something I remember him by and I am grateful for that.
As she prepared to leave I asked if this was the last time I would see her. She said probably so, but we will be in touch via email. I sure hope so.
We exchanged hugs and I felt how terribly thin she was. I wished her well on her new life.
Her eyes filled with tears, and she quickly stepped out into the rain.
It's a cold and rainy day in the Midwest today.