I was going to try and write something about the dogs and what I’m hoping for over the weekend, but I realise I’ve already kind of covered that.
So, photo post!
As usual, click on the thumbnails to see a larger version.
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Flickr
Monthly Archives: April 2008
Swimmers Turn and a Lack of Enthusiasm
I thought Dylan might actually be tired today, considering how completely nutty he was at training yesterday, but apparently not. Even more surprising, Kim also was not tired at all, and was throwing toys at my head last night whilst I was trying to sleep. Apparently my dogs are a lot fitter than I am!
This post was going to include one of the most boring videos of Dylan you would ever see, but in the end I couldn’t bring myself to edit it — it was that dull. We brought the spare box home from flyball this weekend with the intention of working on Dylan’s swimmers turn, and I got the box out on Monday evening. It was not a good training session for us; I did 10 or so reps and then called it. I filmed all our reps to check he was getting the action that I wanted him to, but Dylan was not motivated, and I couldn’t motivate myself to make it exciting.
The problem is that I find myself getting immediately frustrated as soon as we start. Mainly with myself, of course, because I can’t see why he can’t get it. Dylan has been working on his turn since last October (with 6 weeks off over Christmas) and has done thousand of reps. He can do this turn, he does 85% of the time. But I can’t get it 100% and I can’t understand what is different on that other 15% that makes him do mess it up so badly. And because I’m so frustrated I can’t get excited or relax, which rubs off on him.
I’m going to leave it for the rest of this week and concentrate on the agility competition this weekend (which I am so excited about!). I’ll think on it and probably have a chat to Julie, and then I’ll start again next week and see how we go. Wish me luck!
Flyball, Agility, youTube Magic
After all the chaos with Dylan’s box at Selby, I wasn’t entirely looking forward to training again! But (typical dog!) he was absolutely paw-perfect on his turns. Well, almost. 4/5 times he has a perfect swimmers turn, and then on the 5th run he does something entirely new and unexpected. It’s very frustrating!
I now have a box at home and the boy is in for some serious reps for the next month. We have a cracking set of Starters running at Middlesbrough (it’s practically a multi-breed team too!) and I won’t have Dylan letting them down with shoddy boxwork.
First outdoor show of the season next weekend, and it will mainly be training runs with Kim I think. Her Primary classes have 145+ entries, and I know there is some seriously high class competition there; Kim’s nemesis from last year’s winter series (who is now winning KC 1-7 Open Medium classes and is running at Grade 6) is back, plus the normal bunch of super-collies etc. Not expecting huge results! 3/3 Dogwalk and 3/3 Seesaw contacts will be our goal for the weekend.
And of course, all Dylan’s classes will be training runs, unless a super-nice jumping course crops up. We still haven’t mastered the seesaw properly so I’m resigning myself to pulling him from the agility classes. I hate having to do it but we just haven’t the access to a seesaw at the moment, and rushing him through for the sake of next weekend could potentially wreck his seesaw for the future, and I’m determined not to make that mistake! Luckily I know that EMDAC always have a practice ring with all the contact equipment, so I’ll spend a bit of time in there proofing his other contacts and working a little on his seesaw, and so he won’t miss out entirely.
Finally, who watched Britain’s Got Talent last night? How many of you were rooting for the amazing Kate and Gin to go through?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bt4kguLPTU
Not only did they have a fantastic performance, but Gin is part of the Live Wires flyball team that won the BFA Summer Championships last year. Multi-talented flyball dogs for the win!
Intermittent Lameness
I haven’t had much to blog about this week! So here’s a Mollie post. Whenever I mention Mollie it always seems to be in relation to injuries or illness, but she’s just that kind of dog that is completely fearless, reckless and apparently with a very high pain threshold. She’s also not the kind of dog who has taken to growing old gracefully; actually, she hasn’t taken to growing old at all.
Anyway, she’s lame again in her front right leg (or paw, I’m not sure). It’s mainly noticable when she’s getting up, she’ll limp for a few paces and then be off as normal. She’s racing around like a lunatic on walks and doesn’t appear to be really that bothered about it, just holding it up occasionally when she’s paused for a rest. She goes through this every couple of weeks/months, always the same leg, although not always the same injury. This particular issue has cropped up before though, and we originally thought it might be flyball-related, but the timing at the moment is all wrong. We haven’t done any flyball since Carlton Towers (Easter weekend) due to the weather, and she’s only gone lame this week so I can’t see it being a side-effect. It seems to be when she’s been out haring after a ball or a toy.
Mum and I have been reading up and scouring the internet for possible causes because we’re getting tired and frustrated with her! The trouble is we have no idea of her history before we got her at 5yrs old, so it could just be an old injury that is twinging in the varying weather we’ve been having at the moment. This is also the same leg she self-removed a nail from last year, and the nail has just grown back, so it could be that is feeling a little strange or irritated.
The only thing I can definitely say is that it’s not in her shoulder. Kim has had shoulder injuries in the past and this isn’t the same movement when she limps; I’d take a guess at her knee, if I’m honest. That’s a new one for Mol, if I’m right! She won’t be going to the vet unless it develops into something more serious. Mollie loves going to the vets but she’s been so many times that we know now whether it’s a necessary trip or one that can be dealt with just as efficiently and much more cheaply at home.
The dogs are all due in for their boosters and a check-up soon anyway, so we’ll discuss it with our vet then.
Agility Mental Block
I was at a small athletics meeting today (at the English Institute of Sport, which is such a gorgeous indoor track!) that our club held as part of the celebrations for the centenary year. I saw “our club” here, I’m not technically a member any more and at no point in my life have I ever been interested in doing athletics. But the club is 100 years old, and some of the members still think it’s 1908, and can’t use computers or electricity etc. So I volunteer and do the results, and catch up with friends and watch my sister doing her athletics thing.
That was a long intro for something entirely different! I got chatting with my lovely sister about her runs in the 60m Sprints, where she won both her heats looking very cool and relaxed, and 10m in front. At “proper” competitions (not just against her mates from the club!) she gets very nervous and tense before, during and after the race. I completely understand how she feels, because when it comes to Agility Qualifiers or Finals, I get exactly the same way. We both agreed that we need to sort ourselves out this summer!
The strange thing is that in normal competition classes, I don’t have a problem, and Kim and I stay happy and relaxed, and then go off and either make a horrible mess or win things. But when it comes to Qualifiers or Finals, I can’t kick it. I start over thinking everything, getting stressed, and Kim (of course!) picks up on it and either shoots off like a rocket and is uncontrollable, or refuses to play. It’s like I just can’t make myself believe that it doesn’t matter, which of course it doesn’t! But having that “Qualifier” sticker on the ring card just messes up my head. Incidently, Kim and I did well in a Qualifier, once, and came 2nd with a held contact, but we’d already qualified for the Finals through points, so I was planning on running it as a training round! This leads me to the conclusion that my problem is … my dog is too good. I know she could do relatively well in and qualify in most Qualifiers, but only if I can handle her properly. And putting the pressure on me!?
Strangely, that qualifier was also an early morning run. Despite how much I hate having to get up at 5:30 to go to shows, once I’m up and about I’m actually quite chirpy. By 2pm I’m bored and mardy, which is why I’m always so happy about my runs being first thing in the morning when any sane person would surely be thankful they get an extra hour in bed.
