Tip Tail

A New Chair

Jet on the Chair

Well, I took a risk and went out and got a chair. It’s not a new chair. In fact it’s about 20 years old. The lady said it’s be re-upholstered a couple of times, too.

I’ve been wanting a recliner since we moved our TV room upstairs. The room is too small for a couch, but we’ve really needed someplace else to sit. There are two of us humans in the house and sometimes we both like to sit on a chair instead of the mattress on the floor (yes there’s a mattress on the floor for the dogs, not a biggie. LOL).

Used furniture is always scary. Do you watch Big Bang Theory? Where they found the chair on the curb and something was moving in it? LOL that was a funny episode. So the chair is a bit dirty, hopefully I’ll get the gumption to find our little carpet cleaner and clean it up. But it’s in good shape and it’s comfy. It’s really pretty, too. The dogs were very interested in it when it came to our house. And it reclines, which I really super like! But it looks like it’s been well taken care of and it’s nice to have another chair in the TV room again. I’ve covered it with a sheet so that the dogs don’t ruin it.

Levi and the Chair

We can’t really afford a $500 recliner, so this will be it for a while. I could always wear some nursing scrubs when I sit in it. The dogs don’t care. It smells different but I’m sure it’ll take on our own house smell pretty quickly. Hopefully not by being peed on by Muffit.

Cynthia

November 21, 2011

Daily Posts

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Chatter

Understanding Tatum

Tatum At Dog Camp

When I got Tatum from Houston Collie Rescue back in 2007, I knew she was special. Though when I say special, I don’t mean she was exceptionally smart (though she is very smart) or would go far in dog sports, or would excel in anything I was going to do with her. No.. not in that way. Because she came from rescue, a hoarder with 70 collies running amok in her back yard. So right from the get-go Tatum had issues, and I also knew that in a way, they made her special.

She’s special because she is very timid when I take her outside, but she recovers really fast when she’s at home. She bosses the boys around, but what girl doesn’t? She growls at the other dogs if they get too close to her on the bed or on the couch. She’s a bit full of herself sometimes, and at other times she likes to be on her own.

Tatum is hard to quantify, really. She loves to do agility training, though at trials she’s not so sure. She doesn’t like people all that much, but she likes us okay, and will nip at us in her herding collie way to get us to play. And the louder we squeal, the more she likes it. I couldn’t place her in a home where, if she nipped, they would punish her or think she was doing a bad thing. Her nipping is for play, and she needs people who understand that, even it hurts!

She needs someone who understands her growling, too. It’s not aggression at all, it’s just that ‘stop touching me’ thing that even human kids do. She’s very picky with food, but she loves Tuna! She needed someone to build up her confidence and help her to accept people as good things, and as part of her life.

She’s not a dog that could be put in just any old home and be expected to adapt. She needed to understand people rules, in a good way, to build her confidence and help her live a happy life.

Some dogs are special and need special homes. When I met Tatum, I fell in love with her. I was afraid no one else would really understand her. And so we kept her. And we understand her. And we just adore her to pieces.

Tatum

Pretty Tatum

Cynthia

November 14, 2011

Tatum

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Tatum

Happy 12th Birthday Levi

Happy 12 Levi!

Today is Levi’s 12th birthday. Wow.. he made it! And he’s doing pretty good, for a 12 year old collie. I took Levi to the vet on Thursday last week, because he still is in pain once in a while and he worries me. He had lots of checks. They aspirated all his bumps (he has three, one is quite big), and they are all fatty. They took chest x-rays to check out his lungs because he’s been having a weird wheezy cough. None of the other dogs have it, so it’s not bordatella. He had full blood work, which came back good.

He’s been licking his bum, too, but he came back okay about that, too. He doesn’t do it enough that he’s red or raw. The vet said maybe he’s cleaning his own anal sacks. Which I guess is fine, though kinda gross.

So he’s now on adequan and rimadyl. I know rimadyl can be bad long term, but he needs some help with his arthritis. He’s also on duralactin and glucosamine. I still want to get him some acupuncture, too. And the other dogs are not allowed to push him over, or he spends the day on the memory foam toppers on the bed and sleeps. Because he gets sore. My poor baby boy. I just adore him.

Here’s a video of him doing agility from back in 2008. His weaves never were good. Maybe his back always did bug him, I don’t know. I hope not. But I didn’t force him, I just tried to make them happy. He did so good at agility, except for the weaves.

He loves his birthday pizza, so do the rest of the dogs!

Levi's Birthday Pizza

Going to Daisy Peel

Jet Flyball

Even though this is Jet’s flyball picture, we are going to an Agility seminar this weekend. Daisy Peel. Do you know her? I hear she’s really good, she follows Linda Mecklenburg’s training plans. So we are going to try her out.

I’m not a big seminar person. I don’t like them much… sitting around listening to different types of training that I may never actually do. But when Jet was having a bad weekend last June, I kinda panicked, and signed up for this seminar. After that trial, he started doing really well and now I’m not sure I’ll really get much out of it. And it’s supposed to snow tomorrow, and be cold, and it’s a 45 minute drive. UGH. I hope Jet’s not too cold, I’ll bring his coats and warm bed for his crate, but still I’ll worry. I don’t think I’ll be wearing yellow box sandals this weekend, I’m going to have 20 layers of clothes on!

So, if I have time, I’ll post about the seminar this weekend. Or next week, or whenever I can.

Agility, Jet, Seminar

The What Behind Obedience

Since I’ve been thinking about obedience a lot lately… I’ve realized there is a lot more to it than just training the exercises. The exercises themselves are really not all that difficult… some are more so than others. Go outs are tougher. Articles are tricky. Drops on Recalls as opposed to flat recalls are an issue. But seriously, teaching a dog to do all the exercises isn’t really all that difficult. The difficulty rests in getting good, happy, motivated work… Continue reading »

Cynthia

October 21, 2011

Uncategorized

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A Flyball Weekend Coming Up

Well, it’s time for Jumps N Jackpots, the biggest Flyball Tournament around here for the year. Should be fun. Chase and Jet are both start dogs on their teams. I do love being start dog, even though I really don’t know why. Makes me feel important, I guess… LOL, even though other positions are just as important, if not more so. I wonder if there will be any pop displays at the tournament. Sometimes there are some limited vendors, which is nice, I like to shop for dog stuff.

This video is from practice last week. A team mate was running Chase, as we wanted to make sure the dogs had recent experience running beside another team.

The boys really do love it. Though it takes a lot of time for me to do flyball, so I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to continue with it next year. Especially since Jet is doing so well in agility, and I’ll probably be focusing on him and getting a MACH. That’s my life goal, get a MACH on a dog. Hopefully he’ll be the one!

Oh, and Levi is doing lots better, yay! He’s recovered from his latest fall and he’s walking fine, jumping off and on the bed. Hopefully he’s not going to die anytime soon.. dang I still worry.

Cynthia

October 19, 2011

Chase, Flyball, Jet

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Chase, Flyball, Jet

Levi Hurts Again

At CampW

Yesterday the dogs were running out the back door and Chase bumped into Levi, and Levi went down. He couldn’t get up on his own so I lifted him up. Unfortunately, since then, he’s been in pain again. Walking with a bit of a roach back and very tentatively. I don’t want to keep putting him on prednisone. But I did give him some of the trazadone today to help him feel better. It’s time to really get serious about this. He’s already on Glucosamine, but I’m going to call Cottonwood Vets and ask them about Adequan, as Dr. Hennemen said that it could help him. I’ve also ordered some Duralactin for him.

I’m also going to look into getting him acupuncture on a regular basis. Unfortunately my schedule is really messy right now, since we are transitioning to five day work weeks, but at the same time I have time off the next couple of weekends because of flyball and then agility. But I’m going to make the time for my Levi, as he means the world to me and I want to give him everything I possibly can to make him feel better.

Levi did so good at camp… but really he is fine, if he’s not pushed over, if his back isn’t twisted. That’s where his pain comes from. The arthritic bridge in his spine. He’s my heart and soul, this boy. I wish he could live as long as me. He’ll be twelve in just under a month. He still has to have some good years ahead of him. I’m thinking of looking into Reiki as well.

Maybe the cooler weather will help him, maybe it will hurt him, I’m not sure. Fortunately we don’t have any metal buildings around to keep the cold in, if that’d make him worse. My boy… I want him to get better. Even though I realize he is on the downward slide of his life now.

Jet’s Third Double QQ

Jet's Ribbons This Weekend

I’m thrilled, Jet got his third QQ today! The Samoyed Club of America is having their National Specialty here in Utah, and they are nice to let all breeds compete this weekend. Aren’t the ribbons just cute? I really like them.

Yesterday Jet did awesome, but on the Standard course he took an off course jump that I wasn’t expecting. He was going pretty fast and so I didn’t mind. He did Q in JWW yesterday and picked up 4 MACH points. He also Q’d in Time 2 Beat, which is being a pretty fun class for us, and really just for fun.

Today he Qualified in Time 2 Beat in the morning, took first place and got us 10 more points for the T2B title. So far he has 5 Qs and 42 points. He needs 15 Qs and 100 points for his T2B title, so we’ll keep doing that for fun. I am not doing FAST with him since I haven’t trained distance on him.

This morning we got our Standard Q in a really nice run. The judge is Dan Butcher and his courses are actually pretty hard. Yesterday they were super hard, today they were not quiet as hard but still difficult. Lots of off course traps, lots of turns and side changes. Jet got 15 Speed Points in Standard this morning, which I think is the most he’s ever gotten in one run.

His JWW run was good too, he took first place and got 9 speed points. Wow, how cool is this, actually tracking QQs and speed points! First time in my life, after 8 years of agility. I’m still thrilled and grateful every day that Jet, my little Danish-Swedish Farmdog, is doing so well at agility!

So this puts him up to Three Double Qs and 70 speed points towards his MACH. At this rate, maybe we could have a MACH by the end of next year… dang! How weird would that be!

I use this free software, Agility Record Book, to track his runs. So far he has an 85% Q rate in JWW in Excellent B. And a 50% Q rate in Standard in Excellent B. Not too shabby. The software keeps track of all his points and QQs and Qs and percentages. It’s really nice!

Yesterday it was cold and rainy… originally they were going to have the trial outdoors, but moved it indoors because of the weather. I’m so glad! I would have needed some nice heated gloves if we ran outside. Today wasn’t too bad, sunny and warmish, but still I’m glad we were indoors. Don’t have to set up a tent, or worry about weather, or mess around in the cold.

So I’m thrilled at how well Jet is doing. We don’t have another AKC agility trial until January, which is a bummer. We have an ASCA trial the end of this month, though, which should be fun.