Getting Ready for Competition

SUMMARY: What we're working on.

Monday: Don't remember.

Tuesday: My own Jumpers practice at Power Paws field: Rear crosses, serps, wide lateral lead-outs, long snooker-type lead-outs with a jump close to the dog, long runs where the dog will be very fast. Not knocking bars. When we're both still, focus on obstacle (Boost).

Wednesday: Sending in front of me across the yard to a tunnel (while I'm running). Both dogs send pretty good if I start from a stand-still, but when I start running (as in a gamble), my direction and timing has to be good if I want or need to stop and turn.

Thursday: Morning: Lateral "out"s for gambling.

Thursday class: Don't think there was an obvious theme. Some rear crosses, quite a few serps, lots of "you better not wait around; trust your dog and move!" kinds of things. One hard turn from a tunnel pulled to a jump, where Instructor Punmaster assured us that no dog all week had missed the jump, you know what runout-happy BC ran way out past it and never even looked at it. Sigh.

Today: Yesterday's practice showed that both dogs need work on lateral outs. Last night showed that I still need to work on pulling boost and not getting a runout. Limited time. Also have to pack for the weekend. And work.

Possible titles this weekend

* Boost MAD (one jumpers needed, two chances)
* Boost Standard Master (SAM?) (one needed, two chances)
* Boost Relay Master (RM) (one needed, one chance)
* Tika Nuthin'! Oddly, I always think that she's way behind on jumpers legs, because she was for so long. But now she has 18 gamblers, 19 each standard and jumpers, 23 relays, 29 snooker. Titling levels for each are at 25 and 35 legs.

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Much Better Today

SUMMARY: The title says it all.

Yesterday, the merest movement caused intense agony. For example, if I decided that I wanted to move my leg an inch to the right, I braced myself, gritted my teeth, girded my loins, grabbed the leg of my sweatpants to try to move the leg with my arm instead of using the leg itself, moaned or grunted or yelped in pain anyway, then lay back exhausted to decide what I could manage next. You can imagine that getting up to go to the little patient's room was quite an expedition.

Today I'm so much better, much more what I had expected from their descriptions. Knee is a bit sore and stiff, but I can get around, I can, say, roll over on my side with only a little agitation, I can even walk a little distance, cautiously, without a crutch if I need to do challenging things like move liquid from one place to another.

This morning I meandered out into the back yard (yesterday morning I wasn't meandering ANYwhere, thank you very much), traded one crutch for the pooper scooper, ambled slowly around the yard picking up poop, and then played a bit of fetch and did some agility with Tika and Boost.

Now, let's define "doing some agility"--another exciting episode in which I discover that the dogs don't understand what I thought they understood. I lean the crutches on the teeter (it's convenient) and step away a step. I stand facing a tunnel that's 20 feet away from me.

Picture the set-up: teeter is to my right, weaves are ahead of me and to the right of the teeter. Tunnel is U-shaped, one end straight ahead of me, other end 10 feet to its right. Line up dog on my left side. Put my left foot out straight towards the left end of the tunnel, hold my left arm straight toward the left side of the tunnel, face my shoulders and head towards the left end of the tunnel, and say "through."

The dog makes a u-turn in front of me and does the weaves.

Gradually we work our way to where the dog does the right side of the tunnel.

Finally, with patience, the dog does the left side of the tunnel. Lots of excitement and play (well, as much as I can manage without actually moving, protecting my knee all the while) and praise and do it a couple more times for reinforcement.

Turn in the opposite direction. Now the teeter is to my left. There's another u-shaped tunnel, left end directly in front of me and about 20 feet away, right end 10 feet to its right. There's another tunnel whose entry is ahead of me and to the right about 10 feet.

Line up dog on my left side. Aim foot, arm, shoulders, head towards left end of tunnel straight ahead. Say "through." Dog crossed in front of me and goes into the tunnel to my right.

Eventually we get them into the right side of the correct tunnel. And, finally, into the left side of the correct tunnel.

Yow. Something else to work on. Does it never end?

But on a more exciting note, I was sending Boost out through a tunnel and giving her an "out" to weaves, and she was making the entries and staying in! Progress has definitely occurred there.

So, anyway, I'm feeling much better today. Just woozy from the Vicodin, but calm and mostly pain-free. Life is good. Dogs are calmer today, after their exercise and brain work.

Yesterday was filled with gratuitous barking, Boost chewing on the Xmas tree skirt, dogs poking noses into trash cans, all those things that get active dogs turned in to the pound for doing because they're not getting the mental or physical stimulation they need. And I don't think I was out there with them more than 15 minutes max, so it really doesn't take much.

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