Beautiful Day for a Winter Run with Zac!

A busy work week, which included working Saturday, finally finished. Today, I promised myself I would take time off from the home office. Sun-drenched snow beckoned, and Zacky barked and jumped around, demanding to go for a run. I pulled on fleece long underwear, running tights and a light running jacket, helped Zac into his ski-joring harness, and off we went...Zac pulling in his little harness to get back to the house to see what Jeff, Abby and Zoey were up to.

I tugged him along, averting the oh-so-interesting sniffing spots as much as possible, and we schlepped our way on the trail to Bass Lake.

A few fish houses line the perimeter of the lake; it must be too early for them to be placed in the middle. We take a few steps out on to the lake ourselves, but our trail has ended, so we turn around and schlep back.

Trek to Bass Lake

Though it was grey, sleety with treacherous footing, Jeff, the Fearsome Threesome and I ventured to Bass Lake. We were rewarded. Four swans graced its placid surface.

testing from iPhone

Dogs and Dentists

It's been the year everyone gets their teeth cleaned. Abby got hers done in August, Zac got his cleaned and several extracted (ouch) in October, and I'm planning to have Zoey's cleaned in December. That will be a really nice Christmas gift that she, Jeff and I can all appreciate.

Though boring and expensive, having your dogs' teeth cleaned is important to their health. Dogs can hide pain so well, and so many things such as minute fractures, are not obvious during a manual exam. A dental cleaning can bring all sorts of issues to light, and they can be fixed.

I felt bad when I realized how I kept expecting Zac to catch discs when he had fractured molars. He's all fixed up now, and next year, he'll be a disc-catching machine.

Evisceration

A clear blue sky, trees turning gold and orange and sumac turning crimson. Sunshine warms my back, and its light filters through the leaves to the gravel path, revealing...a convoluted mass of some critter's intestines.

I stare in horror as Abby snatches it with her teeth. I jerk her leash and she drops it. I breathe. Then Zac rushes forward, and he too, snatches the guts. I jerk his leash and he too, drops it. I step back before breathing this time.

Carefully watching the dogs, I pull a plastic doo-doo bag from my pants pocket, pry it open, and using all the intestinal fortitude I possess, I pick up the intestines.

And so is life with dogs, midst so much ethereal beauty, a reminder of the yucky side of life.

09/25/2010 Leads and Leashes Disc Demo in Rochester, Minn

Rain pelted Southeast Minnesota earlier this week, causing flooding, bridge collapses and highway closures.  I analyzed weather reports and data from the MNDot site; I questioned making the two hour journey into this area for the Saturday demo at Leads & Leashes.

Saturday morning it was raining, though forecast to stop by afternoon. The highways and roads we'd need to take seemed clear enough, and so Jeff and I packed the Fearsome Threesome in our trusty dog-hauler and ventured south. Highway 52 was open southbound, though a culvert had washed away in the northbound lane.

The Leads & Leashes website describes the facility as a "Country Pet Store & Pet Resort." It's fairly new and the agility room where we'd be demoing has a nicely padded surface and plenty of windows offering daylight.

Our group, the Minnesota Disc Dog Club, had lots of members helping with this demo, so I was a bit surprised when Zac and I were slated to demo. Zac really doesn't do much in the way of freestyle under his most favored conditions. This demo was vivid reminder of how much indoor disc is absolutely not a favored condition. He wouldn't even walk out into the demo area with me. I then carried him out, tried throwing a roller or two, but he kept trying to run back to the usually despised crate.

Zac is not the most-high drive dog, and I was saddened by his stage fright. Although I hope he lives forever, I hear a refrain in my head..."when I get my next dog, he'll be confident, when I get my next dog, he'll catch everything..." It is a curse of performance dog people, I think. We desperately love our dogs as if they were our children, and at the same time, we know they won't live forever; we hope the next dog we adopt has all the athletic attributes our current dog may be missing. And we feel guilty.



Photo by Sean Silvernail

Abby and I Have Started...

Yes, we've started retraining (or more accurately, training) our hope-n-pray running dog walk contacts to a controlled 2 on 2 off (2o2o in agility circles). 


Control is not Abby's forte, but it is kind of cute to see her leap back and forth over the practice contact.  Occasionally she'll land on top of it and slide down into position, which she holds ever so briefly. I try to deliver the reward as quickly as I can, but she's zipped into a different position before that happens. 


She may get frustrated, but while treats are to be had, she doesn't give up. Got to love her spirit!

Relaxed Weekend with Dogs

I completely ignored any thoughts about doing some dog sport training or conditioning --- we did get out for a trip to an organic farm on Saturday and lovely walk to Eagle Lake park on Sunday.








This is going to be all about a few photos. Abby, the sable sun doggess, Jeff and Zoey cavort on the lawn at the organic farm. Zac and I are below.

Two photos from the Sunday Eagle Park escapade: To the right is Zac, nestled among some Indian Paintbrushes. And below, Zoey and Abby grace the verdure.

The rest of the afternoon, I raked and pulled weeds, while the pups relaxed between bouts of barking. All-in-all, a nice, relaxing weekend.

Dog Sport Frustration

Yes, I need to get a life; I'm feeling frustrated with dog sports lately, and I realize there are far, far more important things to get frustrated about.

But, here goes the ranting and raving...Abby is good at agility and she loves it. My bum leg is really holding us back -- she does not tolerate slow and poor handling so well.

Zoey has been a little nightmare dog at agility. She still gets freaky on the dog walk, and beyond that, she runs off when we are finished with our run. (Same issue when getting her off the disc dog field.) Given that she won't come when called, I don't feel that I can trial her.

Abby has been doing Rally, but walking in a straight line is difficult for her, as is sitting still and not popping into a down, when we halt. She doesn't really know how to stand on command either. When she doesn't understand what's being asked, she likes to run in a circle and bark to signal her distress. To be fair, I haven't worked that much with her, and I've found her antics more amusing then frustrating.

I've decided to mix things up a little for now, and maybe mix things up more later. I took Zoey to Rally today instead of Abby and Zoey did quite well. It's a very quiet class and more controlled; it may be what she needs now. And I definitely need to feel as if we can be reasonably successful at something!

I'm considering pulling Zoey from agility and perhaps running both Abby and Zac each week. Right now, they share a class and alternate weeks. Given how much Abby loves it, and I think we'd really improve as a team with more practice, this is appealing. I'm a bit worried about the bum leg holding up, though. I have a few weeks to think about this, and I need to be sure there's enough room in Abby and Zac's class first.

And, disc-dogging, with my poor throwing ability, is bringing its boatload of frustration as well. I'm not even going there today!

(Photo courtesy of Sean Silvernail)

Conditioning for the Canine Athlete

It was cold and rainy last night, and the sofa with its blankets looked inviting. Rather than give in to the pleasure of cuddling on that sofa, Zac and I ventured down to Agile Canines Training Center for a seminar with Lin Gelbman and I'm so glad we did.

Very knowledge and experienced, Lin discussed some of the injuries performance dogs may suffer. She analyzed each participants' dog. Zac stacked up better than I expected. His back legs are somewhat thin and weak; his front is strong, as is his core. He also behaved well; focusing on his salmon Zukes, while Lin examined him---what a plus!

After this analysis, Lin reviewed exercises and a basic six week conditioning program for our dogs, to be followed by a maintenance program.

Just imagine, in six short weeks, Zac can have buns of steel!

Howlarious!

Promptly at 1:00 p.m., Zoey threw her head back and howled along with the first-Wednesday-of-the-month civil defense alarm!

Zac had a productive day, too. He modeled sitting-by-a-door for an article I wrote for Factoidz.

Not too Dogged Today

It was warm and lovely today, or so I heard. Totally nose-to-the-grindstone working on writing projects all day, I didn't step outside until about 3:00 p.m. to chaperone Zoey and Zac in the back yard and pick up poo before Zoey did. Be thankful there are no photos of that!

On a more pleasant note, the dogs and I are getting geared up for an upcoming disc dog fun match. Which made me think....I should set myself some type of challenge so that I practice throwing plastic and freestyle routine moves. Anyone have any ideas?

Is it Really Monday?

I slowly scraped myself out of bed 23 minutes late and was informed, that yes, my alarm had gone off, and yes, I had slapped the snooze multiple times. Hmmm....I don't remember that....

Six a.m. Crossfit, though a full house with three new people, passed by in a fog. Can't quite remember what the workout was, but I'm plenty sore and the Rizzo leg hurts like hell, so it must

have been good.

Post-Crossfit, I buckled up the doggies and got everyone out for a walk. I think it was pretty uneventful, though we saw a grey egret and a white crane, or maybe I was dreaming.

Mondays are agility days. Zac and Zoey attended today. Zac was about as sleepy as I was, and we made a good team. I was not able to keep up with Zanax Zoey; she was sassin' back big time about it, too.

So, I'm fighting off a major urge to take a nap, and the sleeping Shelties, festooned about the floor and the sofa are doing nothing to dissuade me.

Zac Demands a Trip to French Lake Park

A windy, blue-skied day, cotton ball clouds drift eastward. Zac was anxious to get out and do something...anything, and proclaimed his anxiousness by barking sharply and incessantly.

Before Zac caused more hearing damage, Jeff and I took the fearsome threesome to Clifton E. French Lake Park and hiked the paved trails. It was early enough that the post-church crowd had yet to arrive, so the park was almost empty, offering few cars and cyclists for Abby to lunge and bark at.

Zac reveled in the unfamiliar environment, and marked his new territory with the enthusiasm of gold miner staking a claim. Zoey pranced pony-like, and was uncharacteristically quiet and calm. Ah, the small moments that carry us through the week.

One thing I wonder about...when Jeff is home during the day on weekends, Zac is so excited to get going and do something, but during the week, even though I'm home, he settles right down for a quiet morning on the couch...and if it's agility or obedience training day, he still makes it pretty clear he'd prefer the couch. A funny dog, for sure.

Photo by mrooczek262

After weeks of hobbling along like Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy, I was finally ambulating normally this morning, and decided to head to Golden Valley for a disc dog comp; which was part of the Animal Humane Society's Walk for Animals festivities.

Comfortable temperatures and overcast skies, the morning was perfect for disc dogging. Lucky for us, the disc-gods sent a wind that rivaled that in Colorado.

I tossed and Zac and Zoey each tried to catch during our first Distance and Accuracy (D/A) rounds. OK, I'm still a little rusty from the winter.

Freestyle frolics followed. I had Zac do a few tricks and then just tossed a few easy throws. He actually caught much better; he was warming up.

Zoey; who has a hard time trading discs, especially with other dogs around, did really well compared to our Oak Grove fiasco---she traded only a few seconds after being asked to, and we kept the routine going.

That would not be Zoey's last word though. A price was to be paid for cooperating during Freestyle. After her second D/A round, she refused to be peeled from the field until surrounded, with no chance to escape.

Good times, though and it was great to get out. And I'm now back to hobbling like Rizzo.