this past weekend rah showed (for the first time ever) outside in akc obedience... yeah, nothing like being almost 6 years old before you make your akc obedience debut outside.
the funny thing was, it wasnt that bad. except for the almost 90 degree heat (we were 5th in the ring, so we avoided the high heat and saturday was the nicest day of all of them, had an almost breeze) of course. i kept him and cherry (Who came to socialize and play - two of my favorite judges - betsy baird and phyllis broderick (whom you may recognize from my photo of rah's second leg!) have littermate springer pups that are 5 months old and they came to the show, as well as her fake littermate bc drake and they all got to play - anyway i kept them in the car with the sun shades and they did great, it was nice and cool and much nicer than any crate in the shade would have been! we were out of there by 11, and that included me staying to watch kathy show secret. i was actually done by 9:19 :)
s ironially all rah missed was an article. which isn't surprising, since he had lost all his confidence in articles outside after his craptastic training sessions the week prior - including some very unintentional heavy pressure at the pile including terry's feral cat and many other things. but doing everything else was nice - and just means we can show outside too. not sure i like that...
time to go to work. here's hoping we don't lose power again - which has happened about twice a day for 4-5 hours at a time each day. not so fun.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
still here...
still here, just haven't been doing much.
rah showed last weekend in utility b. he did everything. but on directed jumping, he took the wrong jumps. don't get me wrong. he took them BOTH. so most people didn't realize we had NQ'd but he picked his first jump and picked wrong - i sent him to the left and he went to the right - so on the second jump i sent him over the wrong jump again just to get him to go to the left. which is good because he was so wound that he took off on the go out without me actually, but realized that i hadnt sent him and actually ran backwards back to my side two steps and sat down shaking waiting to run out. i could tell right then that this exercise was going to be an exercise in (lack of?) restraint. and sure enough, he turned, sat, and almost took the jump immediately - he got right up and almost jumped but sat back down and backed up to his go out spot probably because i almost yelled at him in the ring and the look on my face was one of absolute shock!, but he was focused on the wrong jump from the start.
this is becoming very frustrating for me and im starting to lose hope. i dont know, maybe it would be easier if he didnt understand or know what he was doing. i could almost make more excuses for him then, that he doesn't know his job. but its like every trial we are at, there's one little thing that i don't know how to explain, one teeny little thing (sometimes outside of my control). which i know is obedience in some respects - but the dog is so heavily trained and proofed, but im going broke showing the dog and its not coming together. i havent even been to training much these past two weeks because im getting frustrated with him and its not his fault, but im truly just getting pissed off. everyone else and their mother have UD's now on their dogs - and half these dogs are nowhere near as proofed or trained as rah, and DONT understand their job as much as him, but they still get the job done in the ring - but rah wont or cant in the ring. he's trying to do everything so exceptionally fast that he's not slowing it down enough to think about what im ACTUALLY asking him to do, instead of what he thinks he needs to do. he's having fun doing this, but having fun doesn't get UD legs. the judge was laughing at him so much in the ring and i just wanted to ask her to STOP because it just makes it worse for him - all the laughing just makes him put on more of a show and get stupider because it encourages him. and everyone just keeps telling me to stay calm and don't encourage him and i try so hard, i know i need to be a better handler.
he's entered this weekend, but its outside and it's been raining for 40 days and 40 nights - so im not hopeful that i will even get to show because the forecast has thunderstorms that day and i wont show him in a storm. much less jump him at 28 on wet grass.
sorry for the whiney post. i know all this is, is whining.
rah showed last weekend in utility b. he did everything. but on directed jumping, he took the wrong jumps. don't get me wrong. he took them BOTH. so most people didn't realize we had NQ'd but he picked his first jump and picked wrong - i sent him to the left and he went to the right - so on the second jump i sent him over the wrong jump again just to get him to go to the left. which is good because he was so wound that he took off on the go out without me actually, but realized that i hadnt sent him and actually ran backwards back to my side two steps and sat down shaking waiting to run out. i could tell right then that this exercise was going to be an exercise in (lack of?) restraint. and sure enough, he turned, sat, and almost took the jump immediately - he got right up and almost jumped but sat back down and backed up to his go out spot probably because i almost yelled at him in the ring and the look on my face was one of absolute shock!, but he was focused on the wrong jump from the start.
this is becoming very frustrating for me and im starting to lose hope. i dont know, maybe it would be easier if he didnt understand or know what he was doing. i could almost make more excuses for him then, that he doesn't know his job. but its like every trial we are at, there's one little thing that i don't know how to explain, one teeny little thing (sometimes outside of my control). which i know is obedience in some respects - but the dog is so heavily trained and proofed, but im going broke showing the dog and its not coming together. i havent even been to training much these past two weeks because im getting frustrated with him and its not his fault, but im truly just getting pissed off. everyone else and their mother have UD's now on their dogs - and half these dogs are nowhere near as proofed or trained as rah, and DONT understand their job as much as him, but they still get the job done in the ring - but rah wont or cant in the ring. he's trying to do everything so exceptionally fast that he's not slowing it down enough to think about what im ACTUALLY asking him to do, instead of what he thinks he needs to do. he's having fun doing this, but having fun doesn't get UD legs. the judge was laughing at him so much in the ring and i just wanted to ask her to STOP because it just makes it worse for him - all the laughing just makes him put on more of a show and get stupider because it encourages him. and everyone just keeps telling me to stay calm and don't encourage him and i try so hard, i know i need to be a better handler.
he's entered this weekend, but its outside and it's been raining for 40 days and 40 nights - so im not hopeful that i will even get to show because the forecast has thunderstorms that day and i wont show him in a storm. much less jump him at 28 on wet grass.
sorry for the whiney post. i know all this is, is whining.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
rahs one year post-stem cell check was today and all is awesome-sauce. so that is good news. he's currently holtered so we wil have those results soon.
all i want for his 6 year bday next month and my 31st is a UD :)
berlin is resting and today i have a consult with a vet friend of mine who is an acupuncturist/physical rehab person who will look at her and mercury and try to discern the source of their random pains.
hopefully for berlin shes just sore. this past weekend she took a slip on the turf at hatfield and landed pretty much on her shoulder while running. i can see how she's sore - combine that with the balls to the wall approach my entire house has towards playing with each other and i can see that lending itself towards being ouchy.
rah is entered in a show next weekend, and im entering him outside at the end of the month (WHAT??). im pulling berlin from all her trials this month.
some thoughts coming as to showing these beasts coming... lots of stuff formulating in my head. the puppy is good but crazy. and updates once i know what carrie says about whitey and blacky.
all i want for his 6 year bday next month and my 31st is a UD :)
berlin is resting and today i have a consult with a vet friend of mine who is an acupuncturist/physical rehab person who will look at her and mercury and try to discern the source of their random pains.
hopefully for berlin shes just sore. this past weekend she took a slip on the turf at hatfield and landed pretty much on her shoulder while running. i can see how she's sore - combine that with the balls to the wall approach my entire house has towards playing with each other and i can see that lending itself towards being ouchy.
rah is entered in a show next weekend, and im entering him outside at the end of the month (WHAT??). im pulling berlin from all her trials this month.
some thoughts coming as to showing these beasts coming... lots of stuff formulating in my head. the puppy is good but crazy. and updates once i know what carrie says about whitey and blacky.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
while this should be a happy post, about how berlin had a good weekend at the agility trial - got her first open standard leg, blah blah blah - instead its sad because she's on rest and she's injured somehow and she's being pulled from everything for the next month. where rah bit her last month he hit her patella and there's chronic changes that we're hoping rest will bring down the inflammation (but its mostly just cosmetic in the odd look to her knee at this point, since it doesnt seem to actually bother her, ive just noticed the swelling), but she's also got random pain???? somewhere in the left front and we can't pinpoint it - she had an orthopod and a neurologist check her out, and thursday the physical rehabber will check her out and see where we go from here. it started monday morning and got worse throughout the day. she's drugged up on the couch next to me and ive already started emailing to pull all her entries...
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