Well, it feels like a broken record every time I write about my agility weekend. Same shit, different place. Yes, I said shit. It's gotten to that point where I am so frustrated I am cussing on my training blog. Oh don't get me wrong, I had a blast running Dolphin this weekend. He ran awesome - lots and lots of enthusiasm and speed. It's just one - little - thing every single time. Sometimes many little things. Our one shining moment was getting a nice win in Time 2 Beat to finish his T2B title! That was a goal for this weekend and it was nice to reach it. The other goals? Not so much. Here is the recap for the weekend:
Friday:
• FAST - I am the dodohead in this run. I did a dumb thing, and started at a jump that was NOT the start jump. Therefore, we got no time, and our send bonus didnt count. We probaby wouldn't have gotten it anyways, because we spent way too much time in the weaves (he missed the entrance). This judge made all of his FAST courses set so that you were pretty much forced to do the weaves. So, no time for us.
• Time 2 Beat - a clean run and a win for his T2B title. Yay!
• Standard - Beautiful run, but knocked a bar :(
• Jumpers - Dolphin missed a jump for some odd reason, incurring a refusal. However, he had NO knocked bars, so that is a big plus!
Saturday:
• Jumpers - Dolphin knocked the second jump, which was a double, otherwise ran clean.
• Time 2 Beat - Glad we got our title yesterday. Today Dolphin knocked a bar, and then missed his weave entrance coming out of a tunnel. I did a Fix N Go and he nailed his weave entrance.
• Standard - The second jump was a triple and he knocked it (I am seeing a trend when the 2nd jump is a spread jump...hmmm...). He then mised another jump, did a weird sheltie-like spin at the table, and then knocked another bar. Yep, a complete $hitshow.
Sunday:
• FAST - Once again, he missed his weave entrance in FAST (2nd obstacle) then missed a 10 point jump that we had to circle back around to get. He got the send (barely), but the buzzer went off as we headed over the A-Frame so we didn't have enough points. But hey, at least I started at the correct start jump this time!
• Standard - The judge had a terrible approach to the dogwalk (tunnel to DW). I knew that this could be a problem and not safe for Dolphin, so I hung back at the tunnel exit to manage his turn. This put me way behind, and he came right off the end of the dogwalk and grabbed an off course jump. We did a fix n go, and ran clean on our second try. I then watched a ton of large, fast dogs almost wreck because handlers didn't manage the dog walk approach...Dolphin's safety is way more important than any Q to me.
• Jumpers - This was my last chance to finish that stinking Masters Jumpers title...we've been working on that ALL summer. Not today, my friends! Dolphin was a little wild in this class - he jumped up at my arm on the pinwheel and missed a jump, then knocked the triple, then missed another jump towards the end. Ugh.
I am slightly discouraged. OK, maybe a little more than slightly. DANG this dog is running so well - fast, enthusiastic, happy...all 3 things that I worked HARD to achieve this year. However, the little things such as knocked bars and the occasional missed jump are what is killing us. I know he will get it together, I just wonder when? And will I live long enough to see it?
Regardless, this dog is a BLAST to run! SO. MUCH. FUN. We will get there, and we will get there HAPPY!
Back to Top
Today was unexpectedly up and down and up and really down. The morning started off good - Noodle's first run in her agility class was awesome! Each subsequent run slowed down a bit, but still better than earlier this summer. Pizza was really good in class. She got the bonus of having an agility seminar later in the afternoon so she got double duty today. She was great in the seminar...interestingly when we had random people out on the course she never really looked at them. I am hoping that all the work I have been doing on confidence-building is starting to take effect.
The bad news came while I was at my seminar. My vet called with the results from Pretzel's surgery. They removed a growth from his mouth a couple weeks ago. The results came back as a malignant oral melanoma. My heart broke into a thousand tiny shards. I honestly had it in my head that this was going to be nothing, and that it was all good. Here is what the lab report said:
Pathologist's Report
INTERPRETATION:
Oral melanoma
Mitotic count (per 2.37 sq mm): 12 mitoses
Histologic tumor-free margins: The neoplastic cells extend to the sectional margins
Vascular invasion: Not observed
COMMENTS:
Malignant melanoma is a common oral tumor in dogs. Most oral and lip mucosal melanomas in dogs demonstrate aggressive biologic behavior, with metastatic disease often already present by the time of diagnosis. Rapid growth, necrosis, ulceration, and local bone invasion (in gingival tumors) are common.
Metastasis is hematogenous and lymphatic, and commonly occurs to regional lymph nodes and the lungs.
Distant metastasis and lymphatic invasion are associated with a worse prognosis. Clinical staging is warranted and is prognostically significant. Biopsy of the sentinel draining lymph node may be indicated as part of the staging protocol.
Tomorrow we start the round of vet appointments, oncology reports, diagnostics, and decisions. Tonight we just enjoyed the warm evening and the spectacular sunset together. That's all I can say at this moment. This dog means the world to me, he has changed my life in a million unexpected ways, and he has been my constant companion for over 11 years. I will do right by him, whatever it takes. Just pray I have courage...
Back to Top
I was able to do some last-minute field training today, and I am really glad I did. It was very good for the heart and soul. It was a cooler morning, not much wind, and Dolphin was feeling good and really ranging out and hunting. It was such a beautiful sight. He went on point on his first bird from a decent distance (mayve 4 feet?). He was pretty far from me, and as I approached (I took care to swing around and approach from the side) he did move around a little bit - not moving forward, but breaking point and moving sideways a couple times and then re-establishing the point. I know he does this when he feels the pressure of me walking up, I am working on keeping him confident. I flushed the bird and blanked it, and he stood nice and steady.
He had a decent honor, and then went on point on his second bird. I still was a decent distance away from him, but this time he held solid (the first bird was a pigeon, this one was a quail, if that means anything?). This quail wasn't a good flyer, so I picked it up and tossed it in the air, we shot the big gun, and Dolphin broke and went for the retrieve. The bird was fluttering around and it caused him to drop it and stare at it as it fluttered and ran circles. I ran over and grabbed it, which then of course got Dolphin overly excited and possessive. I whoa-ed him and we repeated the scenario - I threw the bird, trainer shot the big gun, he broke and this time executed a perfect retrieve STRAIGHT to hand...exactly what I have been working on! Progress!
We will do some field training with friends on Sunday and we will see if he continues progressing. This cooler weather sure helps!
Back to Top
Dolphin and I haven't done a scent work trial since April. However, we have been training every week, and training well, so I thought. We headed to eastern Indiana (near Auburn) for a scent work trial today. Dolphin was entered in excellent in everything other than handler discrimination (advanced). 10 runs. Our score at the end of the day was 0 for 10. Ugh. It was so defeating. After the past month, I really question my abilities as a dog trainer. I know my dogs are talented. It has to be ME. That's a bit depressing.
ON the long drive home, I did a lot of thinking about how I am training, and mapped out a plan to change when I am doing to get better results. I can't say I feel a lot better, but I do like having a plan going forward. I don't have any more scent work trials planned in the near future, so we will have plenty of time to figure this out.
Back to Top
Glutton for punishment, that's me! I headed west of Dayton to do some field training with a few friends of mine. Dolphin and Noodle went, Pizza is thinking about coming in season (yay!) so she stayed home.
Dolphin did really well today - it was slightly cooler and every now and then we had a bit of a breeze. He pointed a decent distance from the bird, held his point nicely on the second one (the first one he did a little sideways movement - it always seems to happen on the first bird, now that I think about it!). He broke on the shot both times (ugh, gotta work on that) even though it was a blank shot...the second bird just kind of flew horizontally and landed about 30 feet away. Dolphin broke and went for the retrieve, actually did a pretty decent retrieve even though the bird wasn't shot.
Noodle had a great time! We tried to do a little shooting over her, but both birds were missed. She didn't get to practice a retrieve, but she did get to work on staying steady after the shot when the bird flew off. Good practice!
Today made me feel marginally better about my lack of training skills. Unfortunately this is probably the last training session we will have until our first hunt test of the season - I head to Florida in a couple days and won't be back until right before the hunt test. Oh well, what will be will be, right? Have faith.
Back to Top
Never again! How crazy was I to enter an OUTDOOR (under cover) agility trial in Florida in September? OK, well it seemed like a good idea 2 months ago, I LOVE trialing on dirt and this looked like a great opportunity. Yeah, not so much when the temperatures are in the low to mid 90's with super high humidity. My Ohio dogs melted in the heat, and so did I. We started off OK, but went downhill from there. Here's the recap:
Friday - Time 2 Beat - Only Dolphin was entered in this. He actually ran really well, but an swkward rear cross after the A-frame caused him to knock a bar. Oh, and he came out of the weaves after pole 2 but I re-did them and he did great. We ended up doing a fix n go after he missed a jump because he was sightseeing outside the ring.
Jumpers - Dolphin was pretty distracted in Jumpers, missed several jumps because he was looking around, and he slowed down with the heat. Noodle actually had a pretty good run in Jumpers, but for some weird reason she went into the tunnel and did not come out FOREVER. Not sure what she was doing in there, but she stayed in the tunnel just long enough to go a fraction over time, so no Q.
Standard - Dolphin ran pretty good but totally ran right past the table because he was looking at the people standing near the ring corner. So weird! He missed his weave entrance so I did a fix n go (in which he knocked 2 bars), got the weaves and finished. Noodle saved my day by laying down a really nice standard Q! Of course I couldn't help but be bummed over the fact that if she had just gone into the tunnel and out right away, we would have had a double Q. Oh well...
Saturday - FAST - FAST was a bummer...both dogs missed their send bonus (tunnel, jump, into other end of tunnel). Dolphin missed the jump coming out of the tunnel, Noodle missed the 2nd tunnel.
Standard - Dolphin knocked the first bar but was otherwise clean. Talk about breaking your heart right at the start! Noodle struggled in Standard with the heat. It was really sapping her strength. She had a few refusals, and I could tell she wasn't feeling the greatest.
Jumpers - By the time Jumpers rolled around, the heat was unbearable. Dolphin ran first, and knocked the first two bars. I could see the heat had gotten to him also, so rather than push it, I went ahead and walked him out, and then pulled Noodle from her run.
I cooled the dogs down with some water and their cooling coats, and we packed up to head to Goodland. Lesson learned. No outdoor agility trials in Florida in the hot months. My Ohio dogs can't take it!
Back to Top
We spent two incredibly HOT days in Goodland. We took the boat out to a few of our favorite spots - Blind Pass and Morgan River. When we got back to the motorhome on Tuesday afternoon, we found out that Mark's old guy Sieben wasn't doing well. He was unable to get up, and was stuck between his bed and the wall in his kennel. Thank God for cameras in the house! The dog sitter we hired that came out in the afternoons to let everyone out to run didn't bother to check on him when he didn't come outside. He was stuck there for hours. I was able to call my awesome nighttime dog sitter and my good friend, and they rushed over to the house to help him. Meanwhile, we hurriedly packed everything up and hit the road home. We were not staying the week with Sieben going down like that!
After the LONG drive home we were able to get Sieben up and walking on his own again, he rallied and is doing OK now. The poor guy will be 15 in a few weeks. Our goal is to keep him happy and comfortable.
Oh and by the way, when we got home I discovered Pizza is in season! She is right on track for my planned breeding in late winter/early spring. Things are starting to get REAL now!
Here are some photos from our two days on the beach: (click on any photo to enlarge)
Back to Top
Today is my birthday, so what better way to spend it than by going to a rare Tuesday agility trial? Both Noodle and Dolphin were the victims again today. They both gave me a partial gift, but not the big expensive fancy gift I wanted.
Noodle started off with a decent Q in Master Standard (3rd place). A Q in Jumpers would be her 18th Double QQ towards her MACH. Nope, not today! She was running clean, when she decided to stop RIGHT in front of a jump to check out something on the ground. She then jumped the jump from a standstill, but the judge had already called the refusal since she stopped forward motion. *Poof* goes my QQ!
Dolphin did a rare thing - he leaped over the contact of the A-frame and the missed contact was called. I honestly can't remember him EVER doing that...and I was even front crossing in front of him at the time! I was so scrambled, I completely left out a big section of the course. We had already NQed so I just got him out there and regrouped. Dolphin gave me a nice Time 2 Beat Q (and 2nd place). Then came jumpers...We have been sitting on 9 Jumpers Q's for most of the summer, waiting on Q #10 for his Masters Jumper Title. He was running the course SO good, it came down to a tunnel near the end of the course. Most of the other dogs had taken the wrong end of the tunnel. I rear-crossed the jump before it and by golly he read it and headed STRAIGHT for the correct end of the tunnel...and then ran pright past it. WHY? He finished the rest clean, but no Q today.
So overall it was a decent agility trial, but not great. We all had a lot of fun, and that's important to me. I got home just in time to relax a little and then take Dolphin to scent work class (he did pretty good!). Overall it was a busy, but good birthday. Any day spent with my grey beasts is a good day!
Meanwhile, Pizza is strong in season. There is a lot of howling going on (*cough cough* looking at YOU, Dolphin) but since switched her kennel with Noodle's, it's a little calmer. She used to be right next to Dolphin, and that was a bit much for him to take.
Back to Top
I was able to get Dolphin and Noodle to do some field training today. We have a hunt test this weekend, and both dogs are really out of practice. Today reminded me that consistency is key, and unfortunately it hasn't been consistent lately!
Dolphin actually did pretty good - we didn't actually shoot the bird because I wanted to steady him a bit more for the shot. He has been breaking on the shot to do the retrpeve, which is OK for Senior Hunter, but I am always training upwards for my ultimate goal of Master Hunter. Today he was solid through the flush and shot. However, I really think that he was solid because the bird didn't fall and he knew he couldn't get it. I will see how he does when the bird actually hits the ground this weekend. His honoring was so-so...as long as I am not far behind him he does pretty well. He stops on his own, but wants to sturn back towards me when I am behind him. A work in progress...
Noodle was great, and really bad. On her first bird, I flushed it (just a pigeon so no retrieve) and I turned around and she had moved forward about two steps. Bad girl! She was rock solid on her second bird (quail). I went to flush it and it ran for cover in the brush. I kicked and searched but could not produce it, so I threw a dead bitd and Noodle did a perfect retrieve. I took her over to where the original bird had skittered off to, and she started searching. I saw the bird come out from behind the brush and start walking on the path. Next thing I know, Noodle sees it, and goes and picks it up! She knew she was bad, because she just stood there with the bird in her mouth and didn't move. I walked up to her and took the bird from her, and just crossed my fingers that she got all this out of her system before this weekend.
It feels so good to be back in the field. I have missed it. Seems like it's been forever!
Back to Top
Last night as I was getting ready for bed, I noticed Noodle obsessively licking her foot. When I looked at it, I saw that she had a toe on her left foot that was hugely swollen, and raw. I believe it was raw frm her licking on it all evening. First thing this morning I got her in to the vet, who took x-rays to rule out a broken toe. Thankfully, nothing is broken. The best I can guess is that she punctured her foot on one of those sharp stems in the field we trained in, and she licked it to the point of being raw. I knew training in that field was a bad idea - it had been mowed late, and the entire field was full of 3-4" spiky stems. Poor girl. Now she is on antibiotics, an anti-inflammatory, and soaking that foot in warm Epsom salts twice a day (which she loves almost as much as she 'loves' her cone she has to wear!).
Ugh...I am thinking our hunt test this weekend is going to be a no-go. We will see how she looks tomorrow.
Back to Top
This afternoon I had a phone consult with the oncologist from medVet about Pretzel's cancer. I won't bore you with all of the medical mumbo jumbo, but in a nutshell, Pretzel has an extremely aggressive type of cancer. When they did the biopsy, they anazlyzed the Mitotic count. Anything 4 or greater is considered aggressive. Pretzel's was 12.
Basically all I can do is try to buy him some time. My goal is to only buy quality time. Because this cancer has already shown up in the mouth, they are pretty convinced that it was metastacized from the lymph nodes and tonsils. Next in line will be the lings, but his lung x-rays are clear so far. We are going to schedule a surgery to remove all of the margins of the tumor in his mouth (previously we only removed enough to do the testing), plus lymph nodes in his head and neck, and also his tonsils. Without doing this, I will only have months left. By doing this, I hope to gain at least a year. I am not ready to let him go, and he is happy and enjoying life right now so I don't think he is ready to go yet either. So we will do what we can, but in the back of my mind I feel this slight panic knowing that there will come a day in the not too distant future when my constant companion will not be by my side. I just can't imagine it. He's been my rock and the thing that kept me grounded for the past 11 1/2 years. He has literally helped me survive things in my life I once thought I couldn't handle. Now all I can do is be his rock, and help him love every minute of the time he has left.
Back to Top
I officially pulled Noodle from the hunt test tomorrow. Her toe looks better, but it is still swollen and the far inside is still raw from rubbing up againt the other toe. It's not worth pushing it, even though she doesn't seem to be bothered by it.
I did some last minute field training with Dolphin. He was steady as a rock on all of his birds, we had three beautiful honors where he stayed facing his bracemate and didn't try to turn towards me as I apprached. However, he decided to totally kack his retrieve and do some new things he has never done before. OK, to be honest, in looking back at the past 6 months I could see things slowly and quietly leading up to this issue, but you know how it is...you ignore it until it truly becomes an issue. I worked a bit through it today, but tomorrow is a crapshoot. He needs 2 more senior hunter passes. I really hope he can knock those off, then I can stop testing for a while and get this new issue fixed.
I will say, he is pointing so beautifully - tight and dramatic, and SO steady! We even had a nice stop to flush. I am seeing a lot of what I have been working on all sumer start to come to fruition. But like any training thing I seem to do, I knock down a couple and one more pops up. I have to remind myself that this is just a game...yes, I am serious but in the end this is a sport, a game. Relax!
Back to Top
I desperately needed something good to happen today, and Dolphin delivered! We had a hunt test in Circleville today. It was super sad to leave Noodle at home, so all of my hopes were on Dolphin.
He broke away beautifully and didn't even interact when his brace mate came over and tried to slightly bump him. He ran beautifully in the back field. It was HOT today, pretty close to 80 degrees when we ran. He went on point in the back field pretty far from me, and before I could get to him the bird flushed on it's own. I fired my blank and he stood rock solid...woot! Very quickly, he went on point again, and this time it was a covey of two birds. He waited for me, and I flushed and both went in opposite directions and landed about 20-30 feet away. That left us in a pickle because no matter which way I went, we were headed towards a landed bird. Darn it of Dolphin didn't heel next to me almost perfectly! We got through that mess, into the woods, and out into the bird field.
I hung back and gave him water in order to let my bracemate get into the birdfield first since she hadn't found a bird yet. Her dog went on point rather quickly, and I called Dolphin over to me. He ran down the path, saw the dog (a beautiful Irish Red and White Setter) broadside on point, and stopped on his own...another woot!
After he honored through the retrieve, he quickly found his own bird. It took a while for the gunners to get up to me, and he stood steady in a beautiful, tight, dramatic point. I flushed the bird (an extremely large chukkar), gunners got it, and I sent Dolphin for the retrieve. He went straight out and picked it up, and when the wings fluttered like crazy he put it down. I called to him, and he worked on picking it up again (and tried to contain the wings), and by golly this boy brought this bird straight to hand! After yesterday's fiasco I had such little hope for a clean retrieve. He nailed it, we were done, and we had a super pass with all 9's and an 8 in retrieving.
Did the training I worked on yesterday improve his retrieve? Did the extra food I fed him beforehand help? Or was it the overly large, solid chukkar that made the retrieve better for him? I dunno. I will figure that out later when we train again, but for right now I will enjoy a small taste of success...a flavor I haven't tasted in a while.
On the Noodle front, I tried wrapping her foot last night since she tore her paw open again while running outside when she was supposed to be pottying), but when I took the wrap off this morning, it was really oozy and weepy. I decided to leave the wrap off while I was gone today. When I got home, it was a little better, but still pretty raw. I am worried sick. I have a big big thing planned with her in a month (details coming soon) and I will be heartsick if we have to cancel. Pray, cross fingers, whatnot.
Back to Top
