Two Torturous Weeks

We're a couple of days in to this now, and Marge seems to be dealing pretty well so far with her limited activity protocol.  She is spending lots of time in her crate by choice.  I think she's actually enjoying having it up on the main floor.  When not in her crate, she mills around the house pretty calmly. She is on a muscle relaxer called Robaxin, which may be helping our cause, as sedation is a possible side effect of the drug.  Still, I wonder if after a week or so, she'll start getting stir crazy!

I, on the other hand, am not dealing with the situation as well as my dog is.  I am really missing her! The weather has been so beautiful the past couple of days and it plain old sucks that I can't take her for some long walks.  I'm trying to make sure that I spend other types of quality time with her instead, like sitting outside with her or brushing her.  We also practiced "watch me" and "touch" today, since they are two behaviors that don't really require any physical movement.

I also worry about how much deconditioning will take place over the next two weeks - muscles very quickly begin to atrophy when not being used, and thought two weeks isn't an extremely long time, I still think it's significant.

My final worry is how well my family will continue to adhere to our protocol.  My dad took Marge for a short walk today, and though it was only a short walk (within our time limits), I can't really know for sure how fast or slow he had her walk.

As you can tell, I'm worried all around, as I tend to be with anything involving my dog! The next two weeks cannot go by fast enough.

In the meantime, here is a picture of Marge and Arrow sitting by the cornfields in Quakertown, PA last weekend.  Hopefully I'll get a chance soon to write about what may have been Marge's final agility weekend for a little while.

Rally, Rehab, Reflection

Prior to this whole shoulder-iliopsoas fiasco, Marge finished her Rally Novice title (finally) in AKC Rally.  If you recall from her past rally days, most of her time in the ring was in APDT Rally, so it took us quite a while to finally finish the RN title that I knew she could get if I was willing to spend the money on the entry fees!

We had a Rally trial at our training building last Friday night.  Marge has trained very limitedly in Rally over the past year and a half or so, so I'm very happy with our 4th place and score of 97 for her third qualifying score, despite the fact that she is trained through Rally Excellent.

Here's Marge with her loot.. including an adorable stuffed walrus that I can't wait for her to be able to play with.

Perhaps most exciting about the night was the fact that a whole bunch of my Novice A rally students went in to the ring for the first time - and qualified!  I've been teaching dog training classes for a few years, but nothing has made me more proud than helping these teams get in to the ring.  Here I am below with all of my Rally newbies :-)

As for Marge's first night on a restricted schedule - she's doing okay so far.  She had no issues sleeping in her crate, and was loose in the house earlier today with access to her crate (and lots of pillows blocking her favorite spot on the couch).  Luckily for me, she seems to be seeking out her crate to sleep, so I'm pretty confident she won't jump up on the couch, especially with the pillows there to deter her.  Still, when no one is home for a long stretch of time, she'll probably be crated.

She gets to go on two 10-minute leash walks a day, which I'm sure is going to help both of our sanity a little bit.

When I am home, she is glued to me.  The next couple of weeks are going to be all about my life revolving around my dog and her care - which, honestly, isn't so hard, since my life has pretty much revolved around her since I brought her home.

I AM worried about starting school again on Tuesday, since I'll be gone for many hours at a time a couple of days a week and will have to rely on my family members to make sure Marge gets out of the crate but doesn't break precautions.  I'm hoping that my classes will end early and that I'll have some time in between to stop home and check on things.

Her limp is not completely gone yet, but seems to have improved, so hopefully we're on the right track and will be move out of the resting phase on August 30.

Hopefully, there will be a lot of learning from this experience - not only learning from a veterinary/rehabilitation standpoint, but also an adjustment in attitude, too.  Because of how mostly normal she is now, it is so easy for me to forget that this dog, 5 years ago, growled at any one who approached her, could not function in a variety of settings and sure as heck wouldn't be comfortable sleeping in hotels or RVs or near other dogs and people.

At this point, she has both of her Masters titles in agility, several Rally titles, and an obedience title, too.  When I started this journey with her, I never expected any of that. She never owed me a damn thing to begin with and certainly owes me nothing now.  Every time I go in to the ring with her, regardless of the result, I need to remember that.  Yes, I have goals, but my biggest goal needs to always remain, first and foremost, letting my dog have the fun that she was denied during that year of puppyhood that she spent locked in a crate.

Hurt

My sweet MargeDog is hurt.  Last Monday, after playing really rough and then laying in a crate for a couple of hours, she came up gimpy on her left front leg.  She seemed to work out of it for the most part, but I didn't do too much with her the next day in agility class, just as a precaution.

She seemed fine the rest of the week, so I ran her at agility on Thursday and then at the trial this weekend.  No weave pole or contact issues.. and she was running really fast.

This Monday, I noticed she was lame when she got up off of the couch. She seemed to work out of it somewhat, but not completely. When it continued in to Tuesday and today, I decided to get in the car and take her to a canine PT.  My regular vet knows nothing about soft tissue injuries.. so there was no point wasting time and money going there.

As it turns out, she's having spasms in her left shoulder (one of her Teres muscles, to be more specific). Her iliopsoas (hip flexors) are also ouchy.  Basically, her body is telling us to slow down... let her rest.

For the next two weeks, Marge will be on very restricted activity.  No running or jumping.  Leash walks will be limited to ten minutes, twice a day. She'll also be sleeping in a crate instead of on the couch (since she isn't allowed to jump up on the couch).  We'll also be doing some shoulder and back stretches.

She won't be running any agility for at least a couple of weeks.  We had some trials lined up for early-mid September.. those are likely a no-go.  Early October is a better bet.

She'll be re-evaluated on August 30.  If I do a good job keeping her quiet these next couple of weeks, we may be able to start her on some exercises then to get her back in shape.  One activity she might be partaking in is the underwater treadmill.  That should be interesting..

She was decently well behaved while she was there.. a bit wriggly, particularly when she was being lasered, but she was in no way aggressive, just extremely scared.  My poor girl.

I'm really sad that this is happening because I hate that my dog is hurt.  I also can't help but wonder if I could have prevented it with more proactive treatment.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that Marge can get back to normal after a couple of weeks...

Bad Energy

Agility trials are stressful places.  People often forget basic manners because they are so focused on what they're doing with their dog.  In my experience, it's not uncommon for someone to walk away mid-conversation, let a door slam on someone behind them, or cut the line while waiting for course maps or armband stickers.  Some of it is pure rudeness, and some of it is the result of inattention and stress.

A certain level of crazy is to be expected at an agility trial, and to get mad at all of the things I've mentioned above would leave a person in a full-out rage at any trial they attended.  However, this past weekend totally exceeded any level of bad energy that I've encountered thus far.  It was one of those weekends that left me feeling really discouraged and disillusioned with agility. And I HATE when that happens.

Every year, this trial has been a particularly noisy, close-quartered trial. I knew that when I entered, but because I had been there before (and Marge had run successfully there before), I thought nothing of entering. This year, however, it seemed infinitely worse.  It started in the parking lot (where there are barely enough spots for the number of cars at a 990-run agility trial), continued to the crating room (where people took up extra space by laying down more mats than they needed to), and reached its peak near the rings.

There were some administrative issues with the trial -- people being entered in the wrong classes, stewards using the wrong gate sheets for a class -- and I think it made people go crazy.  There was so much rudeness and franticness that it made the trial very unpleasant.

The dogs definitely felt it.  I saw dogs that hardly ever have any major issues really crash and burn in the ring.  My own dog was not immune to it, either, though I think that at least some of her issues were caused by me getting miffed about all of the craze around me rather than worrying about handling her.

Our first Jumpers run we really blew.  My handling was poor and she was high as a kite.  The Jumpers ring seemed to be the epicenter of all of the commotion.  I didn't think much would faze Marge, given the fact that the ring is comprised of walls on 3 sides, but I was wrong.

Our second run, Standard, we qualified for 17 points.  It was actually quite a nice run.  17 points is our new high total for MACH points in a single run, so I was really happy with that.

The next day, our Jumpers run was one of the worst we've had in a while.  Someone snapped at me prior to my walkthrough and I was really angry about it.  For a few seconds, I thought about confronting the person but I decided it wasn't worth it.  When I got in to the ring, it started out well enough, but then I didn't call Marge enough on a turn, so she took an off course.  Then I FORGOT the course, which led to more off courses, and finally, she took more straight lines instead of making turns. It was bad and it felt horrible.

Our Standard run was a bit more of the same.. it started out very well, but a hard line after the chute to the weave poles did us in.  Then, she sorta semi bailed on the teeter, though I don't think the judge called it. Then, I gave up, which lead to another off course.

I'm upset that the environment was what it was and I'm upset that I let it get to me.  I need to learn to worry only about having fun with my dog and tune everything else out.

We have one more trial next weekend, then we're taking a break from trialing for about a month.  I'm really looking forward to it.  We didn't really have any long breaks this year.. we didn't trial every weekend, but we trialed at least a couple weekends out of every month.

I'm also just about giving up on our goal of qualifying for Nationals.  With under 200 points out of 500 needed, school starting in 2 weeks, and only a few months left in the qualifying period, it just doesn't seem realistic.  I don't have the money, the energy, nor the desire to trial every weekend with Marge.. and I'm not sure she desires to trial every weekend, either. So, I think it's time to alter our goals some and just think about getting that MACH and having fun at our own pace.

Over all, Marge has 8 QQ's, 15 Masters Standard legs, 25 Masters Jumpers legs, and 365 MACH points.  We're getting almost to the halfway point.. so that's pretty cool!

Here are Marge and Arrow with their ribbons for the weekend.  Arrow had a really nice Jumpers Q on Sunday.

Master

It took nineteen tries before we qualified in Excellent Standard.

It was always something... usually a teeter bail or table refusal, but occasionally it was something completely random, like a bar down or missed contact.

Then, after that long dry spell, Marge earned her AX title in November 2011 with three straight Q's.  Then began her Excellent B/Masters Standard career.

And finally, though we've been plagued with many of the same issues - she still hates that damn teeter - Marge earned her MX this Sunday in a 16-point run at my dog club's agility trial.

Her best buddy Spirit also earned her MX on the very same day.  We had the two girls pose together with their pretty giant ribbons.

Not much else of note happened the rest of the weekend.  Marge picked up 12 points in a Jumpers run, but all of our other runs were NQs.  The courses were very hard.. a couple of them almost too hard, if you ask me.  That, coupled with a few communication issues between Marge and I, put us in to a slump for the weekend.  
But, we still had tons of fun.  Marge hung out with her friends and got to play agility.  And that's what matters most!
Our new totals: 6 QQ's, 263 MACH Points, 10 MX legs, 20 MXJ legs.  For 2014 Nationals, we have 2/4 QQ's, 8/20 total Q's, and 96/500 MACH points.
We're taking a couple of weeks off (including no agility at all, not even class, this week), before gearing up for FIVE weekends straight of agility starting on Memorial Day weekend.  It's the most agility we've ever done, but I think Marge can handle it.  It'll be a big push to get some of what we need for Nationals before things quiet down for the warm summer months.
 I wouldn't do it if she didn't love it!

Nearly Wordless MayDay

(From our walk on the weekend.)

A Mistake A Piece

Team Marge's successful streak hit a bit of a bump yesterday, when both members of our team had one mistake each.

Our Standard run was Marge's first run of the day (I had already run Arrow in Jumpers, where we took one lonely bar down).

The course was tough, with some questionable obstacle approaches and a really hard end line.  The qualifying rate was very, very low.

Our run started out fine as we passed our first big challenge, a flip in to a tunnel, without an issue.  We continued until we reached the teeter.  Marge barreled up it and then leaped from the center.  If you watch the video closely, you can see the judge tilt her head, probably thinking about whether to mark it a failure or not.  I'm not sure if Marge had a foot in the yellow contact zone at the end of the board or not.

The table came directly after the teeter.  Great, a place to stop and regroup... or not!  Marge hopped on the table and hopped immediately off.  And that's what we NQ'd on.  A table fault.  UGH.

The rest of the run was okay... not wonderful, but okay.  Marge keeps coming off of her A-Frame prematurely, which I do not like.

Then, in Jumpers, I was confident that we'd at least pick up some points, since we wouldn't walk away with a double Q on the day.  I guess I was too confident.. because although we worked beautifully together for the rest of the run, I pulled Marge right off of the #5 jump when I called her name too soon.  UGH.  Bad handler.


It's hard not to be frustrated by small and seemingly tiny mistakes like this now that we're working at such a high level and running so darn well at trials.  Of course, I am still proud of our efforts, but I know that I need to be more careful to avoid things like what I did in our Jumpers run. We'll be back out in 2 weeks for three straight days of trialing, where I hope to finally finish off that pesky MX Standard title, pick up a bunch of points and maybe a double Q.

We had a great time at the trial despite our mistakes.  Marge got to see some of her friends and made new ones, too. Look at this adorable Finnish Spitz puppy that Marge met at the trial.  He's owned by a friend of mine, who competes with one of her other Finnish Spitz.  Marge typically does not do well with puppies, but she was infatuated with this little guy and actually let him climb all over her while she was flat on her side!  Can you believe it?