sometimes you just gotta cry

I am not a crier. Certainly not in public. Not even in my house. Occasionally in my car but that's it unless they are tears of rage.

This week I keep tearing up. Sad tears.

I have a very very happy low stress life at the moment so the tears are aggravating me even as they make sense.

It might just be a week of endings .... and I can't wrap my head around either potential one.

Spot On is holding it's last agility trial on Saturday and my heart is breaking just a little bit .... nah, a whole lot. Many happy memories, much learning, and lots of fun on the hill for me. All the dogs love the hill too, Taking great sadness and turning it to tragedy is the fact that Sally can't walk at the moment - so running agility in four days seems entirely unlikely. To not be participating is heart breaking. To see Sally so sore I am carrying her outside is killing me.

Just a blip on the map but a pretty sad blip right now no doubt.

The back door ...

There are many ways to tackle an issue
A straightforward, head on approach is my normal mode when dealing with people but I have come to realize more and more that with animals sometimes using the back door is much more effective.

By that I mean working on training problems indirectly can lead to faster better results than pounding away at an issue.

Let's take Thea as an example

Thea was occasionally afraid of most agility equipment - I was encouraged to lure her over and through way too much. (oh the price our early dogs pay for our errors). Until I found her back door I pretty much resigned myself to doing jumpers only - she might be afraid of a chute or a tunnel or a dog walk at seemingly random times. Then I found her back door - do things she is successful at, rev her to the moon, do the things she is good interspersed with the things that might make her leery ...   we got our teeter back, dog walk no issue, tunnels are never anything but fun now ....  if she even looks sideways at something in training - quick quick where's an aframe? then scary thing ... zooooooooooooom ... she's forgotten to be afraid ... we no longer do teeters in public as she's had too many flyoffs for me to think they are safe for her but otherwise apart from the odd dark chute the world is her oyster

Yen is, umm, a little excitable. She is loud and proud and full of life. If ever I thought there was a small dog that would never be loose around horses it was her. Last night we walked out to a field at the barn I'm teaching at and she came with us - puttered in the field while I taught. She had a great time - so did miss pony pants and so did I. We got there not by forcing her to be quiet and still around the horses but by letting her run far enough away that the horses paid her no mind. Horses were never exciting to her. She also had plenty of opportunities to practice her truly rocket recall with horses quite far away so when they were closer it didn't occur to her to not come.  She was truly perfect yesterday.

This is Harri (aka DUDE). When Harri arrived at the barn he couldn't be cross-tied. He couldn't be held for the blacksmith and he was quite hysterical. Rather than fighting with 1200 + pounds of horse I simply brought him into the barn every day, stood him in the spot I wanted to cross-tie him in momentarily and put him in a stall (also a source of stress). I'd putter away with a horse who enjoyed being cross tied and love on them occasionally walking over to pat Harri. I groomed him loose in the stall and was amazed at how quickly he started to settle and not walk away. Within two weeks he was quite content to cross-tie while I fussed away with him. The blacksmith is stunned by how calm he is every time he sees him (he had seen him prior to being at our barn). The other day I untacked Harri and left him in the cross tie spot forgetting to put a halter on him while I went in and out of various tack rooms. He had no reason to stand except habit and wanting more TLC. He stood like a super trooper.

Back door solutions sometimes just happen, sometimes they require a plan but they are always worth considering in a problem solving approach. (On reflection I probably use this approach with people too)

being responsible sucks sometimes....

I was SO excited last week.

I was going to have REAL agility to blog about tonight.

We were going to a trial -the girls and me - cruising down the road to our favourite venue and having a ball. Sally had 5 classes to play in - standards and jumpers and steeplechase. It was going to be fun. SO. MUCH. FUN. We've been working on our agility skills. Jumping, aframes, weaving- not everything we needed but enough that we were feeling fine. Yen was going to make an FEO debut and buzz around the ring making everybody chuckle. I was going to take pictures.

Yesterday was a very long day. I had kids at a horse show, lessons then my own riding. I snuck home mid day and took the dogs for a lovely not too long run at the farm. They ran and swam and had a great time. No big jumps, sudden yips or refusals to load into car. Everybody seemed happy. Left them to nap their run away and got back in time for another quick run. Sally got up stiff and WALKED out the door. Sally really doesn't walk anywhere unless on leash. Hmmm perhaps she was stiff. She sort of, kind of, walked out of it but then her right hind leg started taking little dotty steps - she wasn't LAME but she was far from right.

Could I have run her?  I'm going to say yes. I am quite sure that the adrenal rush of being in one of her favourite places doing her favourite thing would have had her looking sound as a bell. She still isn't sound tonight (we won't discuss what she thinks of being on leash at the farm). She isn't any worse but she is still slightly quicker across that hind leg and not even in her stride.

Did I likely make the right call for the long term? Of course. Would Sally have made the same call? I doubt it. No, there is no doubt - she would have run her heart out and her legs off.  So sad to be the adult today.

Down is Out

The AAC board just passed a new rule for tables - that any position works. No more downs required.
The table is only in starters and advanced standard but it is certainly a difficult obstacle for many. It is a control spot - the dogs have to steady slow down and think. I have had my share of table issues with both Brody and Sally - Thea has never been asked to do one in a trial setting as her body is not designed to allow her elbows and chest to be on the table at once - and I suspected a judge would crowd her to see if she was down or not. (The fact she is no longer asked to do strange teeters due to flyoffs and she doesn't weave very well has quite a bit to do with her not running in standard classes too.)


Does it bother me to not run Thea in standard classes at AAC? Nope. Not at all. Working very slowly on our CPE level one point title has been a blast. I keep thinking I should teach her to weave a little bit better - she'd probably love steeplechase! Playing in other classes - jumpers, gamblers, snookers- is tons of fun - she rarely trials but when we both enjoy it/ Do I think AAC should change for tiny dogs? Honestly? No. I knew the rules when I got Thea her number, I knew it wasn't the ideal association  for her (mainly due to very long chutes back then and teeters) but I knew we'd have fun playing in it occasionally. And we have.

When Brody first started in AAC the rules had recently changed - more standards at Starters and Advanced were needed and I can clearly recall the complaining about having to do more tables. Brody  missed the odd standard Q, a couple thanks to sliding off the table when we hit it full speed, once because he wouldn't do a down on a table that turned out to be quite hot and a few other glitches. I certainly didn't mind saying goodbye to the table as we headed into Master land but I appreciated the challenge of the table in the same breath.

Sally brought a whole new level of challenge to table work. Her desire to PLAY agility made the table frustrating for her. She will down and slowly lift up and then go down again. She will bark her frustration at having to stop sometimes. But working on table has been a great game for us. She can slam into a down on a wobbly picnic table with little issue at home. Table is fun! When Sally worries there hasn't been enough agility she jumps up on a table and stares at me from a down. She has a deep build that makes a full down tough sometimes - I have, truth be told, wished she had hairy elbows more than once. But, it never occurred to me that she might not have to "earn" the same advanced standard qs as Brody did to advance to masters level. I'm not sure I like it. She didn't have to earn a team q to progress either.

Rules for safety make sense to me. Changing rules because you are listening to members is a good way to grow an organization but I am sorry Sally hasn't had the chance to run more advanced standard classes in the past year (umm none since her Q in the fall) and earn her way into masters with the lovely down I know she knows. Yes of course I could and may still ask for the down but somehow the table changes with this.
I so  hope this isn't the start of dumbing down AAC agility. On one hand I hear people say the courses aren't challenging enough and see many more strange things on course maps -an on the other it's too much to ask a dog to lie on a table for 5 seconds when aroused ... [Photos aren't loading tonight - hopefully tomorrow!]

Happy birthday Sunshine ...

both big T and Sally celebrate today

Sally is 7,  Big T a little older (Sally's littermates also have birthdays today of course - below you see her sister Sophie)

both are so so good for me

and to me

both keep me active, help me be positive, motivate me to do things and are just generally good souls.

It's their birthday but somehow I feel like I get to celebrate too

We Are All Human ...ALL of us, even Susan Garret

SG posted a video of two spills Swagger had on the warm up day at Ontario East Regionals. They weren't fun to watch - in one clip he wiped out as he came blasting off the dog walk in the other he lost his footing as he took off for a jump and somersaulted through it. In both cases he jumps right up and is, as far as I can tell, ready for more. She clearly states that spills like this are why she hates doing agility in the rain. But she needs to do agility in the rain. If she's representing Canada and flown half way around the world and it's raining she has a responsibility to run. (She also has a responsibility to keep her dogs safe - and I am quite sure if she knew conditions crossed from unpleasant to unsafe she would pull them no matter where she was).

Conditions and equipment weren't unsafe in this case. They were wet and unpleasant and Swagger is a young dog who doesn't let a little something like wet grass slow him down. He may have learned a valuable lesson about how to keep his balance on Friday. I am sure SG will be doing more rain work with him this summer too.  SG is an athlete who knows her dogs are athletes. She keeps herself in good shape, working with a trainer, paying attention to what she eats. She does the same for her dogs. 

She is NOT a weekend warrior who only runs in the rain if she paid an entry fee. Her dogs work in all conditions, on varied surfaces and they need to. Should she have pulled Swagger? No more than any other dog there should have been pulled, perhaps much less than many should have been. I wasn't there. I was an hour away thinking "Yuck today is gross I am glad I am not playing agility today". The trial hosts have lots of experience with agility and I haven't heard a whisper that they thought about stopping the event. 

Were there other dogs there that maybe should have been pulled? I'm going out on a limb here and guessing yes - there were probably dogs running there who shouldn't have been running no matter the weather conditions. Urban dictionary suggests a weekend warrior is "a person who holds a regular job during the week which restricts their ability to party/go on trips/partake in awesome activities, and thus plans epic weekend adventures to compensate."  in terms of agility I worry that weekend warrior dogs go to class/training once a week and get leashed walks once or twice a day with little opportunity to truly build fitness or muscle memory for the obstacles we expect them to do.

 It's pretty hard emotionally to withdraw from any competition. You've paid your entry (not cheap for our sport), changed your schedule, perhaps traveled a long distance and then you realize  you shouldn't be there. Peer pressure is likely going to come into play. I have heard people say "she doesn't look that bad" and "maybe he'll work out of it"  to people with a sore dog. Nobody wants to be the one to say "Why would you run that dog now? You may do irreparable damage if you do". Being negative is no fun. We have huge demands placed on us to "suck it up" "be tough" and "get the job done".  Pulling out runs counter to all of those things. Last year when I had to withdraw from Regionals to work I felt enormous pressure to do it all somehow  - and that was actually physically impossible!

I totally get why people want to play - and I think they should play. I also believe that they should not cast stones without a good  hard look in the mirror.  There is a very big difference in asking "Why didn't you pull your dog?" and "You have completely lost my respect" (just one of a slew of frankly hostile comments on the SG video). We are all human. SG made the same choice everyone else did on Friday. Swagger fell, twice. With games and sports comes risk. Would I be terribly upset if it had been my dog? Yes. Was SG upset? It sure seems she was. Was Swagger upset? Not so much - he won the gambler's class yesterday and was second in standard. I have every confidence that SG will get him the best care and work out a solid plan of action to help him recover from any trauma (physical or mental) he may have suffered and learn to deal with varied conditions better. While she may be sorry she posted the video I am glad she did. It's provoked conversation and thinking - and perhaps more weekend warriors will actually think and withdraw from events when it's in their and their dog's best interest, rather than simply tell other people what to do when they aren't even present!

Sure hope Swagger and SG are ok!

when it goes south ...

Do you yell? Go deathly quiet? Cry? Laugh and forget about it? Does your response ever upset you? Upset people around you? Upset your dog?

Does it depend on how badly it goes? Is how you react creating a BIG PROBLEM? (for you, others or your dog?)

Does your reaction depend on how important the thing is? By that I mean if a rule is wait until a door is open before going through it and another rule is don't counter surf - do you get more upset over whichever rule matters more to you? Or is a rule a rule?

Is an incident treated the same way no matter who is around? If dogs are not supposed to jump up on visitors is the reaction stronger if they jump on some people?

Is your approach positive or punative?

Yelling is ineffective and it also makes me feel horrible. I don't think I'm alone in that. Not yelling has a really positive impact both for you and for those around you. (Kids, spouse, dogs, whoever!)

Mistakes happen, they are a learning opportunity. Sounds so easy. So hard to truly internalize tho.

There is a woman at the barn I ride at - quite a nice rider generally - who has a terrible temper. A temper bad enough I won't let her help me bring horses in. If one of the youngsters stepped on her, or stopped and stared at something I honestly don't know what she'd do. I do know she loses any semblance of self control when things don't go according to plan. It's quite sad as she's quite a lovely person otherwise.  You have all seen the agility dogs who make a mistake and drop and cringe; perhaps leaving the field or otherwise taking action (that usually doesn't include agility). I often wonder why things going wrong upsets them so badly. I don't see handlers melt down angrily but it seems that the dogs are sensing things going wrong sometimes... or perhaps they just worry things might go wrong?

Tension, anywhere in the team, is not constructive or helpful. Challenges are one thing and pushing your team can be a huge rush but it is important to work through what you will do if things don't go according to plan. (And yes I truly do believe visualizing and expecting success is a worthwhile component to the mental game of sport!) Figure out how you are going to deal with things before you have to. That way it's much harder to provoke a reaction  that isn't intentional.

One of the nicest things I've heard lately was a comment on a dressage test about what a pleasure it was to watch Nelly and I as we were a happy team. Nice eh? I'm still glowing!

And do keep in mind the errors aren't personal. Your dog isn't trying to be BAD, or to get you, or to make you crazy - honestly! Once I really understood and internalized this my frustration level dropped.