When Agility Makes Me Cry

I didn't get a chance to blog about it, but Arrow earned her final MXJ leg under my handling on March 30.

Some backstory: I have been showing Arrow for almost two years.  I ran her just for fun in a Jumpers run in June of 2011; I wound up with a blackened thumb, since I had no tugging experience, and we totally destroyed the course.  I had never run her before, but it was a lot of fun. I eventually began to run her in class and started to handle her at some shows. She needed two more MXJ legs to get her title.

She and I began to do pretty well in Standard, picking up a few legs, but Jumpers continued to be a problem.  With no place to stop and regroup, like a table or contact obstacle, I often wound up out of place, Arrow got faster and crazier, and bars inevitably came down.

We qualified ONCE in Jumpers in June 2012, but the dry spell otherwise continued, until this year.

I felt kind of silly, but I truly and honestly cried when I left the ring. I was more emotional after this agility run than I have ever been before. I think it was just the combination of working on it for so long and never expecting that it would happen this day, during this run, our first trial back of the year.
The real kicker is that Arrow went back out the following day and qualified AGAIN in Jumpers.  Two Jumpers Q's back to back?  After struggling for so long?  She would have it no other way.
Arrow has been an amazing teacher to me.  Handling Marge is really pretty easy; I point her in the right direction, and she goes.  Handling Arrow is another story.  Timing, verbal cues, arm position.. everything matters.  She always tries her hardest, but if I'm too close to a jump, the bar comes down.  If I take my eye off of her, she's 5 jumps away in an instant.  And if I call her in mid air?  She instantly folds herself in half to come towards me.. but takes the bar with her.  
Marge also really enjoys her company at trials - I credit Arrow (and Spirit) with teaching Marge to settle in just about any agility setting.  Marge thinks nothing of walking in to a new trial site nowadays.
Arrow is 12 years old. She is obviously in impeccable shape for her age. But, now that she has both of her Masters titles, she'll be running at a jump height 4 inches lower, in the Preferred classes.  It'll be easier on her body and our hope is that more bars will stay up.. though it does mean that she'll be running faster, so I'd better be prepared to keep up.
Her Preferred debut will hopefully be Saturday.  I'm being given quite a welcome to the world of showing two dogs at two jump heights - Marge's Standard class and Arrow's Jumpers class are running at the exact same time, first thing in the morning!

Photo by M. Nicole Fischer Photography

I am so thankful to have had this experience and am excited to start a new chapter!

April Agility Overnighter

This past weekend, Louie, Marge and I ventured to a brand new trial site in Pitman, NJ.  It was an indoor turf arena that I really liked.  The footing was great and there were some nice places to take walks.  I have reservations about trialing there this summer since the area where the agility rings are located is not air conditioned, but it was a really cool place for a trial.

Marge was very successful yet again, earning QQ #6 on Saturday.

There's not too much negative to be said about two qualifying runs, but I do think I could have tightened things up a bit and made my cues more clear.. like, for example, on the wrap at the end of the Jumpers run, where Marge takes the turn really wide because I did not cue the wrap at all.  Between these two runs, Marge came away with 26 more points, and reached a new high for number of points in a single run (16).  This Standard run was Marge's 9th MX leg.

Sunday, we were on the line for our MX.  But, I flubbed things up...


I sent Marge off course over the jump after the dog walk by rushing things.  I could have a) front crossed after the dog walk or b) shaped the turn like a rear cross.. instead, Marge did not read any change in direction of motion and followed my right arm to the nearest jump.  Bad handler!

We got things together in Jumpers later on Sunday afternoon.  That Jumpers run was my favorite run of the weekend.. from the bold lead-out to the many front crosses, I really like how we worked together on this one.  A few turns could have been tightened up, but to qualify on this course and earn 9 points.. I was happy with how things went.

And we had a great time when we weren't doing agility, too.  Though we missed Arrow, who had the weekend off, Marge enjoyed sprawling out at the hotel.

She also hung out and took walks with her best pal, Spirit.

Posing with her QQ loot:

Our efforts this weekend boosted us to 2 QQs, 6 Qs, and 68 MACH points on the year.  Over all, Marge now has 6 QQs, 9 MX legs, 19 MXJ legs, and 235 MACH points.

We'll take next weekend off, then head out for one day of outdoor trialing in Willingboro, NJ the following weekend.  I hope our good luck and solid teamwork continues!

Where We Stop, No One Knows!

This weekend marked Marge's return to the agility ring after a nearly 5-month hiatus from trialing and a 6-week break from heavy agility training (due to my surgery).  It seemed like we were destined for a rough weekend, especially considering that Marge has not seen a contact obstacle since November.  Seems Marge had other plans!

Saturday

Standard was up first on Saturday.  The course was tricky, with a weave pole entrance that everyone thought was very challenging.  The rest of the course had wonderful flow. Marge ran the course beautifully, but missed the weave pole entrance.  I was originally going to pull her out of the poles and have her re-start them, but because she was so determined and moving so quickly, I decided that it wasn't worth it to risk demotivating her for a run that would have been an NQ either way.

I think I should have slowed down more and perhaps shaped the weave pole entrance as you would shape a rear cross.  I think our fault here just came down to lack of experience with this type of challenging entry.

We did have a successful Jumpers run and scored 9 points.  This was Marge's 15th Masters Jumpers leg. I really liked this run, particularly the cross behind the weave poles.  It's such a cool skill to show off :)

Sunday We were wildly successful on Sunday.  Once again, Standard was first; once again, we smoked the course, only this time, we qualified for 14 points.  I was thrilled with the way she moved around the course. This is Marge's 8th Masters Standard leg, which means we only need two more for our MX title.
My instructor did point out that she thinks I released her a bit too quickly on the A-Frame; you can't see in the video, but she was adjusting her stride to hit the 2o2o and I released her before she could even get in to the position.  To avoid missed contacts, my instructor wants me to hold her a bit longer. I also think that I ate up a lot of time because of how slowly I crossed in front of the teeter; I think I could have chopped a second off of our time by doing that more quickly.
Later in the day, we qualified in Jumpers for 10 points.  This course was a lot of fun.  Marge was a little pokey in the beginning, as she seems to often be at the beginning of a Jumpers run, but then picked up speed later in the course.  It was fun to be able to layer the jump before the tunnel and to do so successfully. New totals: 5 QQs, 8 MX legs, 16 MXJ Legs, 200 MACH points! And, in our quest to qualify for AKC Nationals, Marge now has 33 of the required 500 points, 3 of the required 20 Q's, and 1 of the required 4 QQ's!  If she keeps running like this, we may have a shot at it. The nicest thing is how happy Marge looks in these videos.  I think the time off actually did us some good.. Marge was very happy to be out trialing and her performance reflected that.  It's hard to believe that 3 years ago, at this very trial, Marge made her Novice debut. Stay tuned for next weekend, when we try out a brand new indoor sports venue.  Hopefully, two more days of shows yields some more great results!

Day 1681

Once again, life has gotten in the way, and I've missed the official MargeBlog anniversary of January 21.

2008

When I first created this blog, I had owned Marge for only 207 days.  I had known her for only a week longer than that.  Though I had developed some sense of her personality, I still had so much to learn about her.

2009

I didn't know how resilient she would be. Her (quite frankly) shitty upbringing did not predict the dog she would become.  She is social in a very specific way... she isn't over the top about it, but once she loves you, she loves you.  Unless she is playing with her friends, running agility, or impatiently waiting for dinner, I find that she seems to carry a certain aura about her.. of calmness, of loyalty.

2010

And yes, I maintain that she does, in fact, have a sense of humor.

2011

Marge will turn six this year.  Though still a young dog, a few gray hairs adorn her chin.  She will not be here forever. I try to savor every minute with her, since she is a gift that I intend on appreciating as fully as possible.  After all of this time, I still can't take my eyes off of her (and my boyfriend can attest to that!).

2012

Here's to life, love, MargeDog, and the future!

2013

The Devil Within (My 4-Inch Cyst)

I am possessed.

I have a mass in my abdominal cavity the size of a grapefruit.

"Lucifer," as I have been not-so-affectionately calling this beast, was discovered on an ultrasound less than two weeks ago.  I had some acute pain in December and, although the pain never resurfaced, I wanted to get things checked out before I went back to school.

And it's a good thing I did.

After the ultrasound came a whirlwind of doctor visits that landed me in record-breaking time at my grandmother's surgeon. He, although probably over-qualified as a top-notch gynecological oncologist to address what I have, graciously agreed to see me and will be removing the mass on Friday.

Surgery?  SURGERY? Ensue panic.  I've only had surgery once, and it was to remove a superficial-but-large mole from my back.  I've had general anesthesia, but I've never been through the whole true surgical process and I am scared silly.

It is most likely a very large ovarian cyst.  There is no current worry about it being anything more serious than that.  However, it is so large that the ultrasound could not detect exactly where it is coming from.  Rather than put me through more testing, which may or may not be conclusive, the surgeon is going to figure out what it is while he's in there (via a diagnostic laparosopy). The surgeon is ridiculously confident that it can, in fact, be removed laparoscopically and that I will be able to go home the same day.  I like his attitude and hope that he is right.

Really glad that he took me - I only want the best.  I know THREE women who had their reproductive organs taken out by him, which makes me feel better, since 1) they lived to tell about it and 2) this is hopefully just a stinkin' cyst.

Though I didn't have pain all along, I now have bouts of dull pain that comes and goes, a slightly swollen belly, and tons of general discomfort (some of it real, some of it psychosomatic, I'm sure).  I'm living in sweatpants. I haven't worn jeans in a week.

I cannot WAIT for this to be over.

It has messed up school (since you have to bend and twist and do all kinds of physical work in Physical Therapy school), riding (I'm not allowed to ride until something like a month after it's gone), and agility (I'm not allowed to run, either).

It's a huge bummer.

Anyway, I just thought I should post about this.  I'd much rather be posting about the Fearful Dog Seminar that I taught, but I reckon I'll have lots of time for that while I recover.

Just spare a good thought my way around 9:30 on Friday morning, when I'll be rolling in to the OR for my exorcism.

Sand and Sandy

Marge loves the beach and it's no secret to anyone.  Some of my favorite photos are of Marge running with her tongue hanging out of her mouth up against a ocean blue backdrop; other times, I pose her on sand dunes or rocks.  You've all seen the pictures before.

Since Hurricane Sandy, the beach down the block from my house has been closed.  Quite honestly, under normal circumstances, the closure might not deter me from sneaking a walk in here and there.  However, it is in truly horrific shape, with debris all over the place, so it's closed for good reason. Despite Marge's best puppy dog eyes, I haven't given in and will not cross off of the asphalt on to the sand.

This meant that we missed some traditions - like walking on the beach on Thanksgiving, or in the days before New Year's.  It stunk.  The hurricane itself was bad enough, but the fact that it continues to impact our community and limits our leisure activities so many weeks later is frustrating too.

Tired of walking or throwing a ball in the slightly soggy, still-dirty athletic field across the street, I loaded Marge up in the car and took her to another park that I knew was open.  I thought the sand would be off-limits and expected to simply stick to the paved walking trails.  However, we were in for a very big surprise!

Marge painted the moisture from her nose all over my car windows and weaved back and forth in the back seat, whining her head off.  She had missed having fun with me just as much as I've missed having fun with her.

The sand was loads cleaner than I expected.  It was littered mainly with sea shells, which my sister aided me in arranging in to the letters of Marge's name.

Onward we walked, disappearing from the crowds.  I unclipped the leash but called Marge back to me when this sight appeared in front of me, a solemn reminder of why we were here at this beach, rather than our own, in the first place.  I knew it'd be a prime sniffing target and so did not want to let Marge near it.  This poor vessel has been sitting here, sand-lodged and unclaimed, since the night of October 29, 2012.

That wasn't the only sign of Sandy.  Take a look at how more than a foot of sand has simply been shelved away from the coast.  Marge thought it made a great way to jump up and down, but it kept collapsing under her weight as she neared the edge of it, as you can see in the far right side of this picture.

Marge also checked out a buoy that was supposed to be stationed off shore, but instead lay paralyzed  on its side in the low tide.  It startled her a bit, but with some coaxing, she went to cautiously check it out.

That was it for Sandy imagery - at least until we drove over to the marina portion of the park and saw a handful of boats leaning up against the piers, damaged and unusable.  My phone battery was starting to die at that point, so I have no pictures of that sad sight.

My favorite photo from the day is this one.  Every once in a while, those smart phones can take a really nice picture!

It had been far too long since our last beach excursion and I was so happy to see my dog running in her favorite environment again.  I'm going to make sure that it happens again soon.

Chasing Nationals

Agility folks: your thoughts, please!

2012 saw some subtle but definite changes in Marge's running style in agility.  Still plagued by random slowpoke runs contrasted with blazing fast runs out of nowhere, one thing that has gotten more consistent is Marge's overall performance.  Unlike 2011, Marge qualified in the Standard class several times.  The teeter and table became less of an issue for her. She also boasted an even higher Q rate in Jumpers than ever before.  These two things considered, this meant that we stood a pretty good chance of picking up some double Q's at trials.

Marge finished the year with a total of 4 QQ's, 167 MACH points, 7 MX (Standard) legs, and 15 MXJ (Jumpers) legs.  Of that tally, 3 QQ's, 141 points, 6 MX legs, and 12 MXJ legs came in 2012.

AKC Nationals are coming to the East Coast in 2014.  2013 will be the qualifying year for the event.  Nationals only come this way every 3 years, so I figure that if we are to ever go, 2014 is probably our best shot.  (Marge will be nearly 10 years old next time it's here, in 2017.)

Qualification information for the event has changed; to qualify, you now need 4 QQ's, 20 total legs between the MX and MXJ classes, and, get this.. a whopping 500 MACH points.

Clearly, I know where our problem lies.  With a decent amount of showing, Marge can easily reach 4 doubles and 20 total Q's within a year.  But 500 MACH points?  I'm not sure she can do it.

I oscillate back and forth between wanting to make a try for it and brushing it off as too difficult.  The problem lies in that if I truly want to try to qualify, Marge's show schedule will need to be beefed up considerably.  That would be the only way to even come close to that amount of points.  To put things in perspective, Marge showed about 25 days (equivalent roughly 12 weekends) this year and only scored 141 points.  She'd probably need to show closer to 40 or 50 days to amass the points needed, assuming an even higher Q rate and even faster runs than she had this year.

I have basically decided this: to not decide just yet.  Marge will be entered in at least four days of shows in February and March.  She will probably show another four or five days in early April alone.  She could come out swinging and rack up a hundred-plus points right from the get-go.  Or, she might slug along with a high Q rate but not enough speed.  There really is no telling with Marge.

 Based on how well she does in the beginning, I will decide if a bid for Nationals is viable for us.  If it is, and I see that she is enjoying an increased trial schedule (which I happen to think she will enjoy a lot), then I will continue.  If it's not, or I see that Marge is not enjoying herself as much as I'd like, then I will enter the same amount of trials that I have in years past.

There are other questions surrounding an appearance at Nationals, should we even qualify.  For example, if it conflicts with my or Louie's school schedule, then there's a good chance that we won't be able to go.  There's also the money issue, since increased trialing for qualification purposes is a financial strain I'm not sure I can afford (and Nats entry fees are not cheap, either).  Lastly, there's the issue of whether Marge will be comfortable in a setting like the AKC Nationals, where multiple rings are running and loudspeakers are on and people are all over the place.

But, the joy of getting to trial with my dog more often, and the thought of realizing the feel-good story of scared-dog-becomes-agility-champ, are definitely two motivators for me.

My honest prediction is that we won't make a try for it and will settle on a different, less lofty but still respectable goal (like working our way back in to the AKC's Top 100 Mixed Breeds list, or finishing our MACH within the next couple of years). But, it doesn't hurt to dream, and I'm not pushing a run for Nats outside the realm of possibility.