My Huckleberry Hound

Things keep rolling along this summer...work keeps me busy, though not as busy this year as it has been in years past. As a result, I can do some different things this year...like get out of my truck and hike more. Yay!

I hike to get to know my working area better, to look for bear sign and to check out how bear-foods are looking each year. One of the primary summer foods in this area is huckleberries...and I keep an eye out on how the berries are doing each year as they can tell me a lot about what the bears are going to do. I won't get into bears and berries here...so lets just say that when huckleberry (and other natural berry) production is good out there, my work schedule is pretty quiet.

Both people and bears alike search long and hard for hucks to pick each year. While this area of the state has excellent natural huckleberry production, good berry picking spots are coveted secrets...and I'm not giving any away here! On average, the huckleberries look pretty good this year and I look forward to picking them over the next several weeks...which is necessary if you want hot huckleberry pancakes all winter long, and I do.

Holly loves huckleberries (and thimble berries). Several years ago I showed her how to eat berries from the bush (which wasn't hard) while I was out huckleberry picking. So each year she goes with me to one of my berry picking spots where she can be off leash and eat berries to her hearts content. Unfortunately that usually means following me around lie glue and trying to eat each and every berry I pick...while I'm picking it. She gets some of them, but the rest get slobbered on while I tell her to bugger off and find her own stinking berries. Last year she was too injured to pick berries with me, so I'm looking forward to taking her this year...and also seeing what Danee thinks about all this berry picking nonsense. She's not really a fan of berries...yet.

In other news, I updated several of my previous blog posts about our shelter dogs...but I'll give a quick update on them here too. Cooper, the blind hound mix, was adopted. Susie, the coonhound, was transferred to a neighboring shelter as their area is more 'have a hound dog as a pet' community. Spud has someone coming to look at her tomorrow, but if they do not end up adopting her (keep your fingers crossed!) she will soon be transferred to different neighboring shelter that specializes in adopting out bully-breeds. In the last few weeks we've had 4 dogs adopted with another one hopefully being adopted tomorrow (that's pretty good for a shelter that has a 10 dog capacity). That will leave us just 2-3 dogs up for adoption...and while we have a mostly empty shelter, we'll be doing some kennel improvements. Whoot! It's so nice that these great dogs are finding great homes :)

Speaking of great dogs, have I shared how much I love this dog? Just sayin...

It's Summertime, summertime, sum-sum, summertime

Like always, summertime means my life pretty much is absorbed by work. It's all good though, I love my job. And it isn't just a job, it's a lifestyle, and I happily allow my life to be absorbed by my job every spring, summer and fall.

The dogs though? They are pretty unimpressed.

We are not amused

Summertime for others usually means attending training seminars, going to agility trials, training more, etc...but alas, not me. All my fun time, vacation time, and training time is planned for the winter...during my work down-time.

But despite working weird hours and longs days for 8 months out of the year, I still get the dogs out for plenty of walks and hikes...and I am thrilled to pieces that Holly is fit, healthy and really enjoying hiking again.

Look whose covered in thousands of sticky grass seed after a morning hike

Brush Me!

Nap time...

Going...

Going...

Gone

Time Rambles On

We've reached a new normal, and I love it.

Next week will be 7 months post TTA surgery and Holly looks awesome. She has no restrictions at all...she wrestles, runs, hikes, and generally beats the crap out of her body and has remained utterly and totally sound! Because of the spondlyosis in her back I'll continue to treat her for arthritis, and have chiro adjustments and acupuncture done every 3 months. It amazes me that her problems all of last year (mostly iliospoas issues) were all connected to her unstable knee.

Holly's favorite yard pastime...rolling on a dead worm

Little Danee is loving summer. Summer time means warmer days, and warmer days means the dogs get to stay out in the yard all day long while I'm at work. I am truly fortunate to live in a place where I can do this...leave the dogs outside all day in their fenced yard...worry free. Initially Danee didn't think it was okay to be out in the yard without me. But now she insists on going out after breakfast and spending the early morning soaking up the sun while I get ready for work. She hasn't mastered the dog door into the basement yet, so I have to leave the door open. It's nice and cool down there, and they have many comfy beds to sleep on down there when they decide to take a break from all the glorious sunshine.

Her favorite sun baking spot. Well, it was...until I planted strawberries in it!

Summertime also means a busy work schedule for me. Actually, it's not so much of a "schedule" at all since I'm on call to work as-needed, and I also put in a regular 40-hr work week. It means that some days are short, quiet and I get to spend a lot of time with the dogs. And other days, I work 14+ hours and, aside from popping in on the dogs to let them in the house or feed them, I don't get home until after 11pm...which pretty much summed up my life this past week. Unfortunately, the dogs haven't mastered doing laundry, making me dinner or cleaning the house while I'm gone, so weeks like that can be tiresome when nothing gets done while you are out working.

We are unimpressed with your work schedule...

If the pictures of Danee (aka Little Bit, Wee One, Small, Tiny or Short Stuff) in the planter or sitting next to Holly didn't give you a perspective on just how small she really is, here's a picture of her napping with Kya. Aside from her girth, Kya is a petite cat, weighing in around 9 lbs.





















And lastly, since it's Saturday, let me share some information for one of our long-timer girls at the Kootenai Pets for Life shelter. "Long-timer" as in she's been in and out of our shelter since 2010.

Meet Spud :)

Who knew Yoda played with toys?

Spud is a lovely Bully girl, but no one seems to want her. Our small town has a BSL (breed specific law) and bans any and all bully breeds in city limits. This has sown fear and mistrust in Bully Breeds here and it's unlikely that poor Spud will be adopted locally. I'm working on getting her information out to social networks to get her adopted out elsewhere, so please pass on her information to help her find a home.

She enjoys killing squeakie toys...in fact, she didn't want to give this toy up until I traded it for a hotdog...playing fetch, snuggle time and going for walks. She's one of our sweetest shelter girls. Admittedly, she's learned a few bad shelter habits...barking at people to get what she wants (Bark, Bark "Give me a cookie dammit!"), and entertaining herself by fence running. But she's a really bright girl and I have no doubt that these will disappear with the one-on-one time she'll get in a home.

Know someone who could help Spud? Here's her PetFinder information and contact information for the Kootenai Pets for Life shelter in Libby, Montana.

Shelter Dog Saturday - Meet Susie Q!

8/14/13: Update: Susie was adopted to a wonderful couple in Canada. Congratulations Susie on your forever home!

07/05/13 Update: Susie is one lucky girl...she was recently transferred to the Tobacco Valley Animal Shelter in Eureka, MT in the hopes that one of the many great people of Canada might be interested in this sweet, sweet hound. If you know someone interested in Sweet Susie, please contact the Tobacco Valley Animal Shelter here.

I've been feeling sad today. Sad because I really miss Casey. And sad because a friend of mine lost her elderly girl today. She was a wonderful dog and an exceptional therapy dog...always able to put a smile on kids faces :) My heart goes out to my friend. Young or old, losing your friend always hurts like hell. Rest in peace Kali.

So today, in Kali's name, I'm going to tell you about another lovely girl...one that really needs to get out of the shelter and into a home of her own.

Meet Susie!

Susie is a spayed, 5-yr old, purebred Treeing Walker Coonhound, and she is as affectionate as the description of the breed claims them to be.

Shelter life has been difficult for Susie. She doesn't much like being among all the constant action and noise. She'd sure like to be in a nice quiet home and have a stable life again. Her former owner kept her as an outdoor dog, so she was never taught to be housebroken. But she's a very bright girl and I have no doubt she'll pick up on the proper manners for living the indoor life very easily.
























Susie wants to be indoors or with people when she can. She enjoys walks, has excellent leash manners, and I think she'd make a really good jogging partner. She's proven to be great with kids and other dogs, however I'm uncertain what her feelings on cats are. Today my friend and I spent some time with Susie and getting some pictures of this pretty girl. She really enjoyed just spending one-on-one time with us...time away from all the other barking dogs, sniffing all the great new smells and just hanging out in the yard.

If you know someone who would be interested in Susie, you can find more about her on the Kootenai Pets for Life Petfinder page here, or go here to find other great dogs and cats that are in need of good homes.

Susie is up for adoption at the Kootenai Pets for Life animal shelter in Libby, Montana.

Kootenai Pets for Life is a non-profit, no-kill, all volunteer animal shelter whose mission is to help the stray and abandoned pets in the Libby and Troy, Montana area. Kootenai Pets for Life can be contacted via phone at 406-293-5735 or via email at kootenaipetsforlife@yahoo.com

Improving NADAC

Today is the Dog Agility Bloggers Action Day and the topic we dog agility bloggers have been given is "Improving Agility Organizations".

I only participate in one agility venue, and that's NADAC. In Montana, there is only NADAC and AKC (and maybe 1-2 TDAA), and there are far fewer AKC agility trials than there are NADAC trials.

I guess I should give you fair warning that here begins a mini rant...

My choice to not participate in AKC has nothing to do with agility and everything to do with AKC as a whole. I don't, and won't, support the AKC. I would really enjoy participating in AKC agility...their courses look fun and I know my dogs would be thrilled to try different fun like lure coursing. But I won’t. I feel that if I participate in any AKC sport, I’m condoning other AKC practices that disgust me. The primary practices I can't stomach are 1) those related to setting breed standards with no regard to function (resulting in mutant dogs with health problems, 2) encouraging deformities that cause dogs to suffer health problems (i.e. brachycephaly, skin wrinkles, dwarfism, etc.), 3) breeding for color and allowing double merle crosses (they don’t call it a lethal color for nothing), and 4) surgically altering physical features for cosmetic reasons (tail docking, toe cutting, ear cropping) all to make a dog “prettier” in our eyes.

Those disgusting practices that have nothing to do with agility. But...until I can stomach ALL the practices of AKC, in everything they do and not just in the sports I want to play in, they’ll never get one cent from me.

End rant. Thanks...I feel better :)

Back to NADAC. I see many things that can be improved in NADAC...and some of them will cause me to start ranting again. So, I'll start with an innocuous one...we are overloaded with NADAC trials in Montana. Weird problem, right. But there are so many now that participation on any given weekend at any given NADAC trial is really poor. That's ridiculous. There are not many people in Montana...and obviously even fewer that participate in agility, much less NADAC agility...so how come we have so many trials? One of the rules NADAC has is that you can hold multiple trials in a weekend as long as those trials are no closer than 300 miles apart. Well that might be fine for places like California. But come on...this is Montana. I drive 90 miles just to do some real shopping and my closest agility trial (of either venue) is 110 miles from home. So, traveling 300 miles to attend an agility trial in Montana is nothing, and it's the norm here. When you have a NADAC trial in Missoula the same weekend you have one in Red Lodge (a mere 350 miles apart), then people are split between the two and participation at both trials is really, really, really small. Clubs are barely breaking even, much less making any money. I think NADAC needs to reconsider this rule to account for where their trials are being held and how many people in that (and surrounding) states are actually likely to attend each trial, instead of having this across the board rule.

NADAC prides itself on safety...but if they continue to make this venue any "safer" we will end up without anything but running over bars flat on the ground! NADAC seems to take the 'ridiculous' approach to safety. Hoops instead of jumps, forcing dogs over the age of 8yrs old to take one (if not two) jump height reductions (24" dogs 'jumping' 12" jumps), gates, and the latest and greatest is using barrels to do a 360' wrap instead of a jump, hoop or a tunnel. Sigh. I enjoy a good handling and distance challenge, and NADAC is a venue that requires both. But with the way things are going, you could hardly call it "agility" anymore. I enjoy using gates and barrels to fine tune my handling in practice and training...Holly enjoys figure-8 barrel races...but I don't want to PAY to play with them as part of an agility competition.

Holly wraps a NADAC Barrel

In my opinion, part of the problem...okay, maybe the entire problem...is because NADAC is run by one person. There are no committees, no discussion, no differing opinions, no asking the members of NADAC for their opinions and suggestions on rule changes, and no set dates each year that people can expect rules to be updated or changed by. One person decides what the rules are and changes them whenever she feels like it or the mood strikes her. It's frustrating. There are so many rule changes so many times each year that unless you are a NADAC junkie you can't keep up. Their rulebook/handbook is always out of date as a result.

And then there are the weird decisions (pick a topic, any topic!) that are made. They will be announced, the cronies will think it's awesome (they think everything NADAC is awesome though), other people will protest, she'll get defensive about the protests and then come up with even weirder reasons on why those decisions were made. Sometimes she'll just up and throw them out cause she got pissed off that she was being challenged...then she'll blame that it on us...saying that people hate change and that we shouldn't be a bunch of haters. Well, honestly. If you change the rules all the time without telling us what those rule changes are going to be ahead of time...and heaven forbid you ask the NADAC competitors for suggestions or opinions...what do you expect?!

I believe that NADAC could benefit from having a committee that reviews changes, prior to there being any. And there should be just one or two FIXED dates per year where those changes...of which we would be notified of those changes ahead of time...would take place. And the rule book would be up to date. And there would be a list of changes that were instituted during each year.

I don't think I'll even mention the awards they give out...because they don't give them out. I requested one of Holly's awards TWO YEARS AGO and I still haven't received it. Why offer awards if your organization can't afford to buy them and mail them to your competitors?

I will end my ranting to say this...the folks that participate in NADAC in Montana are THE reason I continue playing in the venue. I don't have a competitive bone in my body...not against others and certainly not against myself (I have goals, but that's different). The people here are some of the most supportive folks I've ever met. There is always a kind word, a fun conversation or a pat on the back to be had for every person at the trial. I go to these trials to lend a hand, socialize, catch up with people I haven't seen in awhile, cheer on other peoples successes, and have some fun playing and hanging with my girl. And for the most part, these people are there to do the same. I rarely see people visibly frustrated with themselves or their dogs, and so far I've rarely witnessed anything that even resembles unsportsmanlike conduct...much less people being a bunch of asshats in or out of the ring.  I am truly grateful to be trialing among such a great group of people.

Holly has suffered injury after injury for 3 years running. I'm just happy we can still play the agility game at any level at all, much less care about Q's or being competitive. If you've experienced a dog with multiple muscle injuries and one that has gone through surgery to the point you're pretty sure you'll never play agility again (much less any dog sport) then you know how it feels. The Q's don't matter, and when you get one it feels like a gift. Having quality memories of the fun times we've had together...enough to last my lifetime long after my girls are gone...is what matters most.

Regardless of my NADAC opinions, I really am grateful to have a fun venue (yes I believe that NADAC is fun) that Holly and I can play in...even with all it's frustrations, quirks and weirdness. No venue is perfect. But what is?

Shelter Dog Saturday - Meet Cooper

07/05/13 Update: I got word from the Humane Society of Western Montana that Cooper was adopted today! Congratulations to Cooper's new family! 


Today, I'm starting a new series of posts that will be dedicated to my local shelter dogs awaiting their forever homes.

Kootenai Pets for Life is a non-profit, community volunteer run, no-kill dog and cat shelter.

Not a single one of the wonderful people who care for these animals gets paid. They are all 100% volunteer run. They do an awesome job of caring for these animals, but things can get overwhelming at times, and during those times, they have a difficult time finding enough time in their days to work at getting dogs adopted. Most of the time they rely on people finding their dogs through their PetFinder page, or by simply walking through the door and meeting one of our wonderful dogs. The problem is we are a small community...our town has a population of less than 2,500 people, our county has only 3 towns, and the population of our very, very large county is around 18,000 people. We are rural and sparsely populated. And then add that many of our residents are low-income, we are at an all time high for joblessness AND our town has a Breed Specific Legislation...a ban on any and all breeds that are a bully-dog/mix.

With this ridiculous BSL in place, having 3 wonderful Bully mixes at our shelter is a challenge. These 3 poor girls...Spud, Gweeda and Maggie...have been living at our shelter from 1 to 1.5 YEARS! Isn't that crazy? They are great dogs...but because they look like "pit bulls", no one in our community is interested in them.

We even have one dog that has been living at the shelter for 7+ years now...a sweet hound named Scooby. After his owner died, none of his relatives wanted him, and one else did either. He's no longer up for adoption, but we don't even have foster home resources here so that this old man (around 15 yrs old I think) can live out his days in a loving home.

I'm on the computer all the time, so I offered the shelter my services to be their online media coordinator and contacting breed rescue groups and other shelters that might be able to help our dogs find homes.

The shelter has done a great job with the resources they've had, and I'm hoping to continue that by offering up fresh ideas for their website, PetFinder page, and Facebook page. I'll also be helping them implement some training for their dog volunteers so that they can help train the dogs on life skills that can reduce shelter stress and help get them adopted.


So... Please meet Cooper.

Oh, Hey! I'm Cooper :)

Cooper looks like a coonhound mix....and the current guess is that he's mixed with an Australian Shepard. Cooper is about 1.5 yrs old and his owners turned him into the shelter in January because they were moving.


He's a sweet boy, loves to be loved on, loves to be outside and explore all the smells of nature...and he is also blind. He's been blind since birth so being unable to see is no big deal to Cooper.



Being at our shelter was a challenge in navigation for Cooper, and tough on super sensitive ears. So we contacted the Humane Society of Western Montana in Missoula, MT for some help. They have an awesome training program already in place and a kennel situation that will be easier for Cooper to navigate.



Last Monday I drove Cooper the nearly 4-hour drive to Missoula, MT. He crated wonderfully, was very relaxed and slept the entire drive. In all, he was a superstar traveler.

You can find updates on Cooper at the Humane Society of Western Montana's Facebook page. He is doing great working through their Paws Ahead training program and is officially up for adoption.

If you have the room in your home and heart for a snuggle bug like Cooper, please contact the Humane Society of Western Montana for how you can give Cooper his new forever home.

Reaching That Milestone

Six months...we've reached six months post knee surgery and Holly looks fantastic :) So fantastic that our chiro/acu vet didn't think she needed to be seen again for 2-3 months...in fact she called her my "perfect dog". Okay, so she was pandering to me...whatever, I'll take it!

And...wait for it...I'm letting her do agility.

While training Danee, I've let Holly do some agility in the yard and she's been looking great. We had my one and only "local" agility trial ("local" as in the closest at 2 hrs away) last weekend, so I loaded up the girls and we went for a few hours. I volunteered, caught up with a few people I haven't seen in months, socialized Danee (who did super awesome at handling her first trial atmosphere), and I let Holly run in 3 classes...Regular, Tunnelers and Hoopers.

Chilling out at the agility trial

For those not familiar with agility lingo...or for that matter, NADAC agility lingo...Regular is a class in which courses are made up of all obstacles...weaves, A-frame, jumps, hoops, tunnels, and dog walk. You have to run them in order and you dog must perform them without faults in order to earn a qualifying run...aka, a "Q". Tunnelers is a course made up of all open tube-like tunnels. It's what we call a "games" class and it's lots of fun to run. Hoopers is another games class. It's a handling challenge and is a course made up of all hoops that dogs simply flat run through. Sounds boring right? Yeah, I think so too...but Holly seems to like it.

Even though Holly is an Elite dog (there are 3 levels: Novice, Open and Elite), I ran her in a Novice Regular class because Novice only has 6 weave poles in it. I'm not totally convinced that weaving doesn't bother her back, so I didn't want our first run to test that by asking her to do 12 weaves. She ran in Elite Tunnelers which only means she needs to run faster than the lower levels to "Q". And she ran in Open Hoopers since she didn't have all the qualifying runs she needed to run in Elite...she does now though!

Here are our 3 runs, full of mistakes and all. After 6 agonizing months, I'm just super thrilled that she's able to play agility at any level at all. Life is too short to care about how well we did or didn't do. She had fun, I had fun and that's all I care about :)

Enjoy!

Our next agility trial won't be until October...hopefully Danee will make her agility debut, Holly will be fitter than fit and my handling won't be so rusty by then.

Sun Yourself Sunday

A special appearance by my neighbors dog Fenway. He's pretty sure I should just let him in.

Best Buddies, a Confession and a Problem

Holly has always been comfortable around Danee, but lately the two of them have become actual friends.

Normally I'd be filled with glee over Holly actually enjoying another dogs company all the time...but Holly's feelings towards Danee provide a bit of a conundrum for me.

Confession time. When I agreed to take Danee I knew she was sweet and would be a pretty easy fit for Holly and the cats. I also knew that her personality doesn't really mesh with mine...she's lovely, but she's just not my kind of dog at all. But I wanted to keep her out of the shelter and also work on fixing some of the habits she's learned over the years. I figured that if things didn't work between us I'd find her someone that appreciates all her and all of her smallness. That said, I also promised myself that I'd keep her for at least 3 months...time enough for her to adjust so I can get to know her real personality.

Those 3 months are almost up and I still don't feel that differently towards her. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with her, she's a joy to teach, she's a superstar at agility, and she "fits" into the house...even the cats like her! And she's easy...super easy...like 1000 times easier than living with Holly, or Casey, or any other dog I've known.

Sadly, I can't help feeling "meh" about her personality.

And here's my problem...Holly adores her. That's really saying something. Holly is very picky about her friends. My plan was to find another dog this upcoming winter. For years I've had my heart set on a heeler or heeler mix. But if Danee stays, that can't happen...I will not do 3 dogs. And if Danee left, that next dog might not be a great fit for Holly, or the cats, like Danee has been.

Maybe I'm just feeling that loss of that dream and unconsciously blaming Danee for it? Has anyone else felt this way about a dog that showed up in their life...a dog that they didn't get to choose? Am I just looking a gift horse in the mouth? Am I being an idiot?

Anyway, she's not going anywhere until I figure out how I feel...which will probably take several more months. Who knows, by then maybe Danee will have totally won me over like she has Holly.

All that aside, we are totally enjoying spring and all the outdoor fun that comes with it.

Look who is no longer hiding from the camera

 

Did you hear that? Ground squirrels are calling me!

Bonus picture of Raj. How could you not love this face?!

Wordless Wednesday: Hello?

Over the Hump?

Holly's past the 5 month post-Sx mark (21 weeks) and it seems like she's reached a new milestone. I've seen no general muscle stiffness or soreness at night in almost 2 weeks! I'm hoping it means that she's finally gotten over that hump of being sore while getting those muscles and her body back in shape.

Why are we standing still? More running, less talking...

The girls have been enjoying our spring weather, and with it a new 'game'. Sadly I have no video that goes with it (more on that later), but it's a hoot to watch. My neighbors field is about 40 acres big and it has nothing in it but my agility equipment, a few trees, grass, weeds...and ground squirrels.

For those of you not familiar with ground squirrels, they look a lot like prairie dogs...and also like them, they live in large underground colonies. They are only above ground for a few months out of the year, and they started coming out a few weeks ago. While the many holes they make provide the dogs with an exciting array of new smells, the really exciting thing is the single sentries that "Peep" their warnings to other squirrels in the colony that danger is about. Each new "Peep" sends the dogs flying off in a new direction in the useless hope of catching one above ground. They are doing A LOT of running.

And Holly has rediscovered digging. She's dug multiple trenches in the hopes of getting closer to just one of those squirrels. There is no real chance of that, but she's getting some great exercise in the process. I pretty much just sit in the middle of the field and watch em go. They want no part of me while they are 'hunting'...aside from the yummy hunks of cheese I reward them with for checking in with me every so often.

Aside from all of this being great fun and awesome exercise, it's something I have to allow because the squirrel colonies surround my unfenced agility/treibball field. And if I want either of them to actually learn to pay attention to something other than squirrels while we are out there, I have to teach them when they are allowed to hunt, and when they are not. So the process of turning on and then turning off this game begins.

It gives a whole new meaning to the quote "Squirrel!" from the movie Up, doesn't it ;)

Meanwhile, I continue to fight with my camera, the crappy editing software it came with, and YouTube. I adore my point and shoot Cannon camera...it takes lovely pictures and really nice video. However, the video it takes is in MOV. format...which is a Mac product. I have a PC and use Windows. The version of Windows does not have a program that can edit MOV files. And the movie editing software that came with the camera really, really sucks. Editing is extremely limited, and compressing or creating smaller video files totally ruins the quality of the video. But large files take FOREVER to load on to YouTube...we are talking hours here, and my internet connection is not slow.

What I would like is to purchase software that will convert Quicktime (MOV.) video files to Microsoft friendly files (WMV.) so that I can use my regular Windows video editing program to edit and upload. My problem is that while I've looked for something to purchase, I don't understand the software program languages and options they talk about enough to make an informed purchase. Can any of you offer some suggestions for me?

And because no post is complete without pictures...here's some from the last 2 weeks of hiking and playing in the yard.

Badass Terrier pose

Die squeaky toy, die!

Totally Zen

Two bumps on a log

Yard Games

Holly's doing her part to get in shape after so many months of down time. The goof stole my sneaker while I was lying in the grass (decompressing), and soaking up the sun in the yard after work yesterday.

I'm sure the video is cute only to me, but I'm sharing it anyways :)

Please ignore my goofy 'dog' voice...I was trying to get her to take off running with the shoe like she had been doing minutes before I turned the camera on. What is it about animals and cameras? The second you turn one on they immediately stop whatever cute thing they were doing!

Anyway, she thought she was so funny sneaking up, grabbing my sneaker and making several laps around the yard before rolling around like a goof with it. It's a pretty regular game. If I'm forgetful and leave dirty shoes on the porch, I nearly always find one of them out in the yard later. Funny thing though, she never steals shoes inside the house.

Enjoy the sun if you've got it...we got one cold but sunny day yesterday, and now we're back to nearly frozen and wet for the weekend.

Dogs and Spring Blizzards

Two weekends ago I helped some agility club members work through a NADAC-style course during our regular weekly practices.

There is a trial coming up next month and they wanted to practice some of the different challenges that NADAC has compared to the AKC-style courses they've been running of late. There was just a few of us, but everyone did really well and had a great time. With all the tunnels and contact discrimination's, it was a fun, fast course and we ran it both directions. No one was ready to attempt layering the dog-walk (in either direction), but hopefully I'll be able try it with Holly one day.

Since I'm still not working Holly in agility (more on that below) I took Danee to club practice. I live very rural, have only 1 neighbor and we rarely see people/dogs while we're out walking or hiking, so I'm taking every opportunity I can for her to have positive social experiences. She's doing great, and I'm wishing now I had remembered to ask someone to film her playing at the arena. She went over the A-frame a few times with glee (it was her first time on one), RAN the dog-walk twice, ran through a few dark, curvy tunnels, and in general had a fun with it all. I have no criteria for any of the obstacles yet except for speed and fun. She hasn't shown even the slightest apprehension when it comes to the obstacles but I haven't shown her a teeter or chute yet...and probably won't til mid-summer.

Also new to Danee is toys. When she showed up, she thought it was cool that toys squeaked, but had no idea what to do with them. It's been super cute to watch Danee learn that squeaky toys are fun.

Last weekend I traveled to a friends house in Idaho to help her and another club member with some agility training. And true to "Spring in Montana" form, I drove through a mini blizzard on the way there. In just a few minutes the snow piled up on the road and you couldn't see the lines. But 15 miles later, the sun was out and the roads were dry. Funny weather we have here.

Fun with spring blizzards

At Mia's house we worked on how to teach obstacle discrimination (particularly when a tunnel is next to a contact), what you think your body language is saying and what it's really saying, on "go on", and teaching one of her dogs to DRIVE to the obstacles. Maryjo working on figuring out how to show her dog what she wants and how to effectively reward her. They did great and I even got Danee out to work in a completely new atmosphere. And of course, I ran into a new issue...which actually was a great one. Danee has been nervous about greeting new people, so I'm constantly handing out cookies and asking people to feed her a cookie without leaning over her, touching or petting her. Clearly it's working because she spent her first few minutes off leash going from Mia to Maryjo demanding a handout :) But I got her working for a few minutes after she realized that cookies were not going to be dispensed. Afterwards, we had a wonderful lunch together, went for a gorgeous walk (Mia has THE most beautiful mountain and creek views) and then I took Danee shopping at some farm stores (more socialization) before heading home...where I ran into more rain and mini blizzards.

Holly is fast approaching the 5 month mark post-surgery and today she had her monthly chiro and acu visit. Actually we were close to 6 weeks since her last acu appointment do to some scheduling problems, and it showed. But in all, our vet was really pleased with how her back felt and knee looked. We talked a lot about how I felt Holly's recovery progress was going, and I shared some of my concerns...her crappy sit, the uneven knees when she lies down, etc. But my vet was no where near as concerned as me about it all. After all, Holly is not lame, she walks, trots and runs very evenly, her stride looks perfect, her muscles feel mostly even. Not to mention she's still the stretchiest and most bendable dog she's seen that has 6 vertebrae trying to fuse together. She sees a lot of dogs post-knee surgery and nearly all of those that have had only one knee done are asymmetrical. She thinks Holly falls into this category. Her advice...keep her back as healthy as possible, and stop being such a ninny and let her be a dog again. She reminded me that I could do PT with Holly til I'm blue in the face, and she could STILL blow the other knee. In her opinion, if it's going to go, it's going to go. Yes, there is a lot I can do to strengthen the heck out of her...and I am doing it...but in the end it's her body that will decide if the other knee gives out, not me. So I guess at some point I'll have to let my anxiety go. Buuuut...I'm not ready to "let it go" just yet...maybe in May, after we hit the 6 month mark?

Even though I'm an anxiety drive mess over knee worries, she is still having plenty of fun. She loves to retrieve so we made up a new yard game to play...I toss out all the yard toys and she retrieves them one by one and puts them back in the toy bin. I have some video, but YouTube is taking FOREVER to upload videos tonight so I'll have load it later.

Meanwhile, we're enjoying spring...which means snow one minute and rain or sunshine the next.

Waiting for the sun to come out and melt the darned snow