21 days and Fur be Gone

We are going on 21 days of rest. I can't believe we are 3 weeks into this. Time is moving right along.

It is also that time of year. Time to turn on the pool solar and expect Tazz to go for a dip now and then. Time for him to get hot and not want to do any agility. Time for Vici to get out her shears and pretend she knows what she is doing and shave the turd (I say that with love in my heart). Today was day one of spa day. The shears came out, the bath was taken, and the first phase of "get rid of a bunch of hair" is complete.

This also means that I have stiff little hairs stuck in my clothing that will poke me for months!

Although most experts agree that the long sheltie hair should keep a sheltie cool as well as warm, Tazz just doesn't agree. In addition, when swimming, his hair is an added weight that just isn't fair to him nor our pool filter...so off with his fur!

It takes me a number of sessions to "get it right." I will say that this first one is better than most. New shears have helped greatly. Who would have thought.

The Dreams of the Insomniac

Last night was a busy night. Woke up every two hours. At 4am, fell asleep and started dreaming.

I was building a fence at a park. Had driven there with 3 other girls. My agility friends were building the fence, I knew pretty much everyone although I will tell you some people there I don't know in real life. It was an iron fence, but we seemed to be installing it like cyclone fencing (putting the posts in then stretching it out along the posts...but when finished, it was an iron fence with sharp arrow tops). In the center of the park there was a lake with some ducks.

After work for the day was done, there was some sort of "border crossing" that we had to cross to get to the house where we were staying (like going from state to state). It was my best friends mothers house (but I've never seen my best friends mothers house so it was a made up house). We could see the border from the front porch and the park with the fence beyond that.

Day two of fence building, it is late at night and I get close to the lake at the park and I realize that I can turn into a Killer whale (I know, I know). My friend comes and tells me it is time to go and we walk up the hill, cross the border and start to organize our stuff to get in the car to drive home. As we are laying out our stuff, I say we need to hurry cause the bad thing will get us.

We all start to run around bringing our stuff out of the house and lining up our things on the ground outside the car. I continue to get distressed that we are not moving fast enough and tell my friends we have to hurry "it" is coming.

Then all of a sudden stuff starts flying, people start screaming, things start crashing (very horror movie like) and here comes this guy around the corner and he is coming for us.

I'm thinking, "If only there was water I could change into a Killer Whale!" Then I woke up.

Perhaps I should not read Sci-Fi before going to bed.

15 days and counting

It's been 15 days since we received the iliopsoas strain diagnosis. We are surviving. Days actually seem busier, even though we are not doing agility. Structure is the word of the day.

One of the areas I've been working on (even before she was hurt) is trimming nails. She is a sensitive one and nail trimming has not been my forte'.

No more! Now we are getting better with patience and training, Fin is getting her nails trimmed up nicely. You can see from the video we still have a long way to go.

• When we first started, all I could do was hold her paw.
• Then I would hold her paw and pick up the nail trimmer but not touch her with it.
• Then I would touch her with it, but not trim a nail.
• Finally I did one nail, barely taking anything at all.

Always I say, "yes" and give reward for "not pulling back." If I get any relaxation, she gets a jackpot. I love the "look away". It reminds me of when I go in and have blood drawn, I sit there quietly and look at the wall.

Each session I always start at the beginning, just holding her paw, gradually increasing my criteria on the same foot until I trim one nail. It can take a while, but I figure I have all the time in the world.

Here's a bonus video of Rocky. Just a fun training session of him picking up a dumb bell.

Lazy Days of Spring

Work is very busy. Pretty easy to do crate rest when I'm so busy working. Everyone sleeps all day anyway.

The weekend was beautiful. Was visited by my sister and her girlfriend. Great B-b-que (well ok the gas grill ran out of gas and we had to broil the chicken/salmon in the oven). Good salad. GREAT conversation.

This week in the Blog, I'm going to focus on the clicker work I'm working on.

One area is nail trimming. This is a very embarrassing area for me. I've not done a good job and hense the dogs are not easy to trim. I am proud to state that as of today, I am able to trim all 8 nails of Fin with no issues at all. Maddie is very close, Tazz is getting there, and Rocky still needs a little work (video will come).

I thought dinosaurs were extinct.

At the vets office he said, "It feels like Fin has pulled her illiosaurous. I'm like, "illio what arous?" He said, "well, like a groin pull.

The good news is that although initially the injury presented as a knee issue, it is not the knee and with lots of rest and a planned rehab, she'll be back at it. The bad news is this takes a long time (like 6-12 weeks of long time) and can reoccur.

There are few resources out there that talk about iliopsaos strain:

• Days of Johann
• Clean Run Article by Sherman O. Canapp, Jr., DVM
• Life with Big Dogs

I've pulled her from all upcoming trials. At this point she can only walk on leash. The good news is that Dr. Sams has said that walking up to 2 miles slowly is ok. Some dogs can't walk at all so catching it when we did is a good thing.

I'll work with a PT professional to put a plan in place and hopefully when we next see Dr. Sams he will give the ok to start back at agility.

The Team has a Boo Boo

No agility for a while.

We went to see the Dr. and he said scary words.

Our first inclination is to put our heads in the sand and run around in circles. Denial is a true emotion.

Right now I'm assuming it is a bruise. Good news, is we found some soreness in the knee. Bad news, we found some soreness in the knee. For now we'll cancel the eye appointments. The problem is probably not the eye. Looks like right knee.

There is still joy in mudville. Fin doesn't think there is anything wrong. Ice and rest until we find out more.

No chasing around the yard. Probably we'll play lots of mind games. For me this will involve clicker training more tricks. For her it will involve driving me crazy with questions like, "can I run now?" "how about now?" "running yet?" "Ok to run?" "Soon running time?" "Hey can't I just run for 30 seconds?" etc.

Patience. Not one of her strong points.

For sure, agility in the future. Once we figure this darn thing out.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Zowza it was raining yesterday and last night.

Totally unexpected.

Also totally unexpected was the results from this past weekend. Tazzie was the star!

Don't be thinking I'm playing some kind of April Fools. I am not. Tazzie did REALLY well. Sunday was his best day in many years. He FLEW through the course not hesitating on any pieces of equipment. He was da' man! Ok, he really didn't fly, but for Tazzie he was super speedy and accurate and even placed 3rd in Excellent Standard. I'm hoping some of his runs were caught on video so I can share with the world. It was a proud day for sure.

Fin on the other hand. Ya know how on American Idol when the judges say, "Gosh, you really look beautiful tonight..." You know that is the kiss of death. What we got was , "Wow she is really fast ..." Let's just say it wasn't our shining moment. Fin is off to vets to rule out physical issues (eyes and body work) for her behaviors. Basically she is continuing to go around things, especially double and triple jumps.

Once I rule out physical issues, then it becomes a training issue.

When are you coming for a visit?

I have the most beautiful bathroom floor EVER!!
Ok, don't pack your bags yet. There is no toilet. But the floor is AMAZING!

April Fool's

For April fools I left a facebook message letting everyone know that I am moving to England for six months. Surprisingly, I fooled alot of people. It was fun.

For the blog I went in and randomly grabbed some photos.
Fin, obviously hating the experience of dress up.

Great picture of Maddie and Rocky on the deck in front of the pool.

Why I have a photo of my workspace stored on my computer, I have no idea. Notice the bone dog bed, the alieve, and the lovely wood floors I installed 4 years ago.

This is a photo from my backyard.

This photo really cracks me up. This is Tazz sleeping under my messy desk.