updating both blogs right now... ive been remiss with both of them. had lots of time to think about both of them in the past week or so :)

berlin is currently at animerge getting her spay and gatropexy on :) actually, she's already out of surgery and recovering- i already saw her post-op and she did fine, already standing and drooling her head off.

the recovery is going to be KILLER - she's on FOUR WEEKS of rest. four weeks because my dogs are friggin psychos and too active for the normal beast so it will need to be twice as long as the average dog to make sure she heals well (the pexy, not the spay) to make sure it takes. the surgeon was very glad i was pexying her because she said her chest was very deep for her petite size, so i was right to be concerned for bloat - especially for her activity :)

rah is doing great - more about that in his cardio blog. no adverse side effects right now from the stem cells, he's chipper and as annoying as ever.

training training training....

agility last night was our first time back at class in 2 weeks or so. ive done some work outside working serpentines, weaves and weave entrances (ignoring off sides since its been a problem for us lately - my new theory - ignore it if its not working!) and outs. she did awesome!!!! and i was really happy, but entrances need some work - so i spoke to my trainer and she made that something we worked on in class.

class this week we first started with entrances and shaping them - gave it a new word (i used "get in" for my memorys sake - but i can change this to "weave" i think since technically i tell her "go weave" and then have her continue with a "go go go go go " ... think that over kim) and the biggest change was i put three poles up instead of two, to make it clear she was to continue forward instead of curling back to me once she got the click and that worked like a charm to continue her forward momentum. VERY clear for her - then we had a short sequence with a jumptunnel to JUST a weave entrance - did onside and off side and she was very nice - NAILED off side!!!!!

then we did sequences - the one i remember is where i did a lead out pivot past two, then sent her through the tunnel and after the tunnel i did a nice rear cross over 4, sent her to the weaves - it worked well. she never thought about going into the weaves past two, or going straight to the jump instead of into the weaves after 4. i was also afraid she would miss the first tire since she actually was staring at me NOT through the tire because of where i had to be for the pivot... but it worked perfectly. very nice.



she did awesome - read the lead out pivot perfectly, read the rear cross just right and nailed the weaves great and was fast and accurate - i need to stop waiting and watching her though!!! and RUN PAST THE LAST JUMP!!!!!!!!!

worked her in open too since she will be out of class for so long - did some heeling and she was nice, but then i got tired - and then the cough came (bronchitis is cleared but i had a rattle come back by the end - im so out of shape!) and when i stop pushing she stops giving) - but its me, not her) but she tried and i do understand that if she's not going to bring it, i need to be the one to bring it. i really do. i just need to be the one to be able to bring it.

did some work with the broad jump, and then we broke...
started retrieves, and the db landed near annette's kids. and berlin said no. and i said yes. and she said no. and i said yes.

and then my trained came over and said YES. so berlin learned an ear pinch last night. and she got what we meant immediately - she clearly understands what a retrieve is, and i understand she doesn't love kids - but they were no threat and i wasnt putting her in danger, i wasnt asking of her anything she doesn't understand or wasn't physically capable of. i was asking her to pick up a db from within 3 feet of a child that she's MET before. and she said no. that, to me, is unacceptable. so she is now going to be force fetched to make it clear that this isn't an option, to say no to me.

rah - worked on his SFE and moving stand - he also did the SFE in novice class :) ha ha just popped him in there. never did signals with him because he did go outs so long. nothing spectacular nothing hugely wrong. gloves showing small steady progress. brought his stand back to basics - staying close, rewarding basic attention on me and not looking at the judge - had all the kids, lydia, ellen, hope, and many others touch him and rewarded STARING at me (allowed a tiny bit of foot motion) and want his eyes drilled into me - the more he looks at me, the less he will ever notice the judge coming up.

he's entered in a match this weekend - has two utility entries in june.

berlin is on four weeks of rest - this will kill me.

ill post more in the cardio blog... and i should update about rah's and berlin's runs at the maryland trial -- but today is rah's 4 year got day.

im on the verge of tears and so stressed and worried about the procedure.

im trying to stay positive. really i am.

a trip to maryland... part 1 (rah's utility debut)

so i said i would post about maryland - im exhausted so i might not get to the entire show but ...

the show was a lot bigger and busier than i had imagined it would be -i thought it would have been a quieter venue for rah's utility debut. i almost died when i realized go outs wouldbe towards a walkway and not a WALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the stanchions were WHITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we were next to a freight door entrance to the ring....

i was so nervous for rah's utility debut - haven't been that nervous with him in awhile, and it showed - because i really screwed us up!!! i am solely to blame for the most part!!!! as soon as we set up for heeling/signals, she says forward and i... go FUSS! (DAMNIT!) i didn't realize that it wasn't an NQ though, because i was kicking myself and thought the entire run was gone at this point - which is another problem because at this point i should have just kept working the class and go from there, but i "gave up" and screwed him - because the verbal at the start was apparently just handler error and points off. but i didnt give him the right wait signal after the stand and he walked in on me... no signals, NQ for real.

articles - beautiful on the first article, 1 point off. second article (leather) he went out, searched the pile and smelled the right article but did the thing where he sniffed the right one and picked up the one next to it. not sure what happened - he sniffs with an open mouth and im not sure if its because sometimes he goes too fast and isn't paying attention? but other times he can separate two articles that are stuck together... the GOOD news is that 1) his fronts were VERY NICE here and 2) his pivots were MUCH better - i did a normal right pivot for article one and mixed him up with a left pivot for article two and i got two sits out of him. i had no attention on either pivot - that is bad. of course, getting the wrong article on #2 is also NQ.

gloves - walked him over across the ring, we had glove one. set him up and he was bright and happy, asked him if he was hungry for gloves :) i pivot him to glove one and its right into the freight door. but it didnt matter because he didn't have his head up on the pivot (notice a theme?) and he had already picked his glove - but it was glove 2! i looked at him and he raised his head to me, so i dropped my hand and indicated glove one - he drops his head and looks at one, so i send him - he goes halfway to one, then veers off back to two - bad dog! i stay put and he comes to front, doesn't want to give me the glove back. but he DID bring the glove back!!!!!!!!!!!!! and it was a perfect front. so that was a nice change - he at least did the pivot, did the retrieve and did bring it back. need to definitely work these pivots.

moving stand - happened very oddly because the judge was kinda in the middle of the ring waiting for us? and she had me stand rah where she was, so she was the "Target" and rah just couldnt resist walking towards her - we've never trained that, and when she saw he was going to step in towards her, she backed up - except rah kept walking as she backed up so he couldnt "freeze". NQ!!!!!!! bad blue dog - she was joking its because she has a blue border collie :) i asked if she wanted to trade, since my blue dobe loved her. huge training issue here. at least he wasn't afraid of the judge. not really an exam, he got major pets in the ring since he ended up leaning on her. not exactly what i wanted him to get from that!

lastly, go outs. please god, lets do something right! i have him mark his go out spot and he's locked on... the judge asks me if he's ready and he almost takes off... she says send your dog and again he almost takes off. i send him and he goes out... gets to his turn spot 1-2 feet from the gate and starts to hesitate but DIDNT turn, just slowed - we're in the ring (but NQing... i wasnt sure if i should have turned him?) so i opted to turn him there - he would have turned on his own had i not done it - but it was a PERFECT STRAIGHT GO OUT! she says bar and i almost send him over the high - the crowd gasped when he jumped because he's such an over-achiever. over and time for the last go out - set him up and now he KNOWS where we're going... send him and he's even faster the second time, turn him because he's on a mission and he SPINS and its perfect and he's directly in front of me. send him over the other jump and he's flying, perfect front and finish! lost 1 point on the directed jumping total!

so, all in all - utility was a bust but we had some really good things. definitely things to work on though!

coming soon -
rah in open (heartbreak) berlin in prenovice (superstar) and rally (too long of a day, but rah's first RAE leg)

a return to APDT rally

we haven't done APDT rally in pretty much exactly a year - one year ago last weekend rah finished his ARCHX at the k9crazy trial in NY! so this was our return :)

ill post more details later from maryland still, i know i owe you guys that -- right now i have to go do some laundry and rest a bit.
11 runs, 8 placements, 4 first places (they ran out of blue ribbons, so we're missing 3!), 2 seconds and 2 fourths, and one NQ. finished one title - mercury's RL1.

Berlin got two RL2 legs, one RL1X leg
Mercury finished his RL1 and got one RL2 leg
Rah got one RL1X2 leg, 2 legs towards his ARCHEX and 2 legs each towards his RL2X2 and RL3X

not bad!

maryland update

home from the dobe specialty. good things happened and not so good things. im disappointed in myself for how i handled things most of all, not in the dogs themselves because the dogs really did try hard for the most part. we really only walked away with rah's first RAE leg with a QQ in rally Adv/Ex B. ill update fully tomorrow when im not exhausted and feeling better but right now im beyond phelgmy and congested (showing 6 times in a building called the cow palace, all within 4 hours of each other, is probably not the best for your bronchitis and by the last 2-3 runs - all of which were within 10 minutes of each other, i had a REAL hard time breathing and i was coughing up stuff which was gross). conveniently i had 4 hours in the car on the ride home to let my lungs rest.

now i sleep. tomorrow i work, then birthday dinner 1.5 months early with the family and sunday we show. hopefully i will be better for the dogs.

all we really have to say about last night was that it would have been a qualifying utility run.

and at this time tomorrow morning we will be in timonium MD preparing to enter the ring for the first AKC utility ring time of our lives. ever.

argh! what am i doing?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??

our new glove method seems to be working. taking the only thing rah loves more than gloves and retrieving :)

dear rah pretend you've been trained in utility and retrieve a glove and bring it back to me ok?