Agility training

Jari sounds like he did great! That's only a minor baby dog bobble. Trust me... it could be MUCH worse! :rofl1:

Kili has class tonight for the first time since she had her weird injury/ghost whispering incident. She's been on controlled exercise, stretching, and rehab exercises, plus laser treatments for the last 2 weeks. Took her to a practice on Friday and just ran her once and she did awesome. Hoping for the same tonight. If all goes well then trial this weekend. Which should go great considering we've had no practice since about mid December. Sigh.

I will keep my fingers crossed for a good class tonight! Maybe this will be one of those times that when you take a long break from something the dog comes back more on fire. LOL.


So I have a borrowed 2x2 set to teach weave entrances. I'm finally seeing it "click" in his little head. I love watching that moment in a dog... "Oh! THIS is what you mean!" It's just so awesome. /end gushy moment.

Yeah he did pretty well, all things considered

Now I know that these things run super late so I can plan accordingly

I hope you have fun at class!!! Run well and have fun, Kili!!!!

Thanks guys. Really worried about her. I don't know why she gets sore like this. It concerns me for her long term career.

I wish *fire* was the problem. lol. It's going to be more like... too much fire... wild fire... arson... burn the building down... run like a lunatic!

Put on your fastest sneakers and enjoy the ride !

Seriously, I hope she stays sound and happy and that she doesn't actually set the building on fire.

Congratulations! First trial in the record books, and it sounds like it went pretty darn well.

I dropped a USDAA entry in the mail last night on my way home from barn practice, and I have been in a mild panic ever since. Gusto hasn't really run USDAA since last June, before Tristan died and he was hurt and I decided I needed to put some serious effort into working on our issues or give up and retire him. I really, really feel like we are on the right track and things are coming together. He's been happy and confident at the two CPE trials I ran him at (much, much, much easier courses than he'll see back in his usual PIII). He's learned some fabulous new skills that he is confident using, our relationship has grown by leaps and bounds, and I've learned a lot about what triggers his stress issues. The trial is at his favorite site, with flooring he loves, and it is heated but cool in the building. Every piece I can possibly control is in place.

And what the you-know-what am I going to do if nothing has changed??

Thank you!!! It's nice that he isn't stressy like Kimma. Weird change LOL. But of course he has other issues, like being a goofy boy and needing to smell ALL the things because THERE MIGHT BE A GIRL SOMEWHERE.

I'm hoping you guys are just fine and that Gusto has happy runs. I seriously know how you feel. <3

Pulled Kili from the trial. She's still not right.

Her first turn on Wednesday night at class was amazing. I was discombobulated because I was warming her up instead of walking the course... but she seemed happy and fast.

[YOUTUBE]XXBAe8Hdb9Q[/YOUTUBE]

Second run I started to notice little things and wonder if she was a little off.

Third turn was gamble and she was definitely hesitant about the weaves, but everything else was okay.

So we pulled out of the trial this weekend, which sucks. I'm out of town for the next week and a half so hopefully some rest will do her some good. Then I need to try to get her back in to see her chiro and some other rehab options. And I'm also going to try an animal communicator and see if I can figure out how/why this keeps happening.

Poor Kili I hope you figure out what's wrong. She looked like she was having a blast in the video though!! Hopefully it's nothing serious....

I highly recommend Dr. Veronica Devall out of Calgary holistic clinic if you can get there. She's Izzie's rehab vet and is amazing, used to be a trail vet for the iditarod. She's got a lot of things up her sleeve for treatments.

Welp, we are less than a month away from our return to agility since our season ended in November.

And meanwhile I'm over here like HAY PAYTON JUMP UP ON MY FEET LOLOLOL


I did buy a new plank this morning and brought paint and sand back from my house, and am almost done painting a new training plank in my parent's basement. So we will be starting with more contact work on Monday or maybe late tomorrow if the paint dries... so there's something at least.

Just shared a ring rental with a friend. Brand new place. I definitely worked Jari longer than I should have. I came in with a plan, we did the plan, but I still had more "time" for him so I kept going. SHOULD HAVE STOPPED. Jari's brain was like "WEEEEEEEEEE blow that lady off to sniff ALL the things!!!!" I think it's OK, but I got frustrated towards the end. I just HATE that I have to police him because he might mark somewhere. Drives me crazy. I'd much rather let him roam for a bit to get his sniffing out before we try to do anything, but I know that no matter how much I walk him beforehand, he always manages to find something to mark. BOYS.

Kimma was actually really good. We accomplished her plan so yay. And she was super happy

Wittle Pox man is so much fun. I am really, really enjoying training with him.

He's the youngest in his class by far and is the hit of the class. He has no fear, is so fast and just wants to do all the things at top speed. He's going to be a challenge, that's for sure. If he gets bored or if something is too easy he'll find something more fun to do....like running across the ring to climb on the full sized dogwalk that is barricaded off.

He also is perfect in his crate during Crossbone's class....until I run Crossbone. Then he's the loudest, most unhappy puppy in the world.

Speaking of Crossbone, we've got trials lined up for Spring! It's very exciting and I think he's really made progress with his trial stress this last year. Excited to see what happens.

Does anyone happen to know the best technique for increasing general stamina with smaller breeds? Mostly, I've noticed stamina issues with my ashtma-hound chihuahua whilst hiking, jogging, etc.. Any tips?

Well I can die happy. Gusto had a clean, confident PSJ round and was well within the qualifying cutoff.

For the love of doG ring stress, STAY GONE!

Yay Gusto!

Has he been checked for collapsed trachea? That's the first sign I saw for Mia's CT.

YAY!! I'm so happy for you guys

Yaaay Gusto!

yaaayyyyyy!!!

YAY! Awesome news!


Kili has chiro and rehab appointments booked in 2 weeks. Hoping I don't have to take her down to Calgary to see a sports medicine specialist. Class next Wednesday... we'll see how she's acting with the jumps.

I had an animal communicator talk to her. It was interesting in general, but I don't think I got anything super enlightening as far as this back/injury/whatever situation.

And the rest of the day was basically just as good Nice, smooth, happy opening for Gamblers - at which point I stepped on the edge of my own shoe, stumbled forward, spun around, and managed to catch my balance just before crashing into a jump. And by then, Gusto just picked a jump rather than try to read my cues.

His standard run was also as good as I could have hoped. Zero stress, zero faults, didn't take the two off-courses I was worried about. Totally clean - and 0.06 seconds over time. Talk about second guessing every step of the course. There were a few points where easily *could* have made up that time (not had him hold his contacts so long, released faster off the table, not have checked him so hard at the possible off courses), but we got exactly what we needed out of the trial. I do need to try to figure out how to work on his speed; some of it I think will come with his increasing confidence, some will get better as he reads lines better, but I think there is more I can do.

I am just so, so relieved. The past 8 months have been a lot of work done on the faith that it was the right thing to do. The fact that he had zero moments of stress in 3 masters level runs and recovered easily from my flailing/stumbling was the reassurance I needed that we are on the right path.

His PSJ run:
[YOUTUBE]PdTvU1R2KBY[/YOUTUBE]