Gratitude

Kristen wrote a great blog on gratitude today, so I thought I'd follow suit.  I often feel like, in today's world, it's so easy to get caught up in every day life, always busy and running somewhere, having an endless list of things to do.  We can often lose sight of the things in life to be grateful for.  Even if it doesn't seem like it....

It's been a challenging two weeks with two of the older dogs.  Sammy has been having some bizarre muscle/neurologic/spine issues and today I am so grateful that her new cocktail of drugs has her feeling good again.  And Scout went in for a tooth extraction on Friday and wound up having very invasive surgery for a mast cell tumor they found.  I am hoping that it's low grade, for which I will be very grateful.  And I am grateful that the rest of the dogs seem healthy, even Chance the old man.

I am beyond grateful for my little blue merle spitfire.  To say she brings me joy is an understatement.  I've waited for this deep of a connection with a female dog for a while.  I have it with Rival, and I had it with Jive---who set the bar so very high.  I also have it with Chance, but he lives in a different world now that he's 15.  It's hard to explain though.  I love ALL of my dogs.  But I have very different connections with each of them. And my connection with Gyps touches deep within my soul, in the same way that Jive did.

It's hard for me to think back on Jive's premature death and have gratitude.  She was such an amazing pup, and she was taken from me far too soon.  But on the other hand, there's a number of people who wouldn't have their canine soulmates if she had not left this world.  And beyond that, I would not have a lot of wonderful people in my life had she not left.  If Jive was still alive, there would be no Rave, or no pups. Tonya would not have Dazzle and Deven wouldn't have Rumba.  I would not have Rival or Gyps either. Heck, I may never had met Rob.  Sometimes it's hard to understand why things happen, or find gratitude when the skies are dark.  But in time, all will be revealed.

I am especially grateful today for the homes that my little pups have gone to.  I know each of them is adored, loved and being given all the things they need in life to thrive.  I feel so very lucky to have found the perfect homes for the puppies and am VERY grateful for the regular updates from them all!!!

Jive, also a soccer ball aficionado

Jive

Gypsy 16 weeks and Jive 16 weeks

Thinking out of the box

I know I've said it before but I am completely, madly and crazy in love with my little girl.  She's just absolutely perfect for me, and for our pack.  Gyps is so much fun to train and even more fun to just play with.  Oh I just love sitting and playing with her!!!

Now, that's not to say she doesn't present me with challenges.  We've had issues with her potty training (all my fault), issues with her lack of self control when things don't involve her (again my fault as she's been the center of attention from the moment she entered this world!) and she has really challenged me by not being food motivated.  Rival was very similar at this age though and he's a chow hound now!

I posted on Facebook the other day trying to get new treat ideas, to find things she really likes.  She definitely likes cheese, thinks meatballs are okay, but there's nothing that WOWS her except ice cream!  Not even her meals really impress her.  After reading through people's posts and thinking things through more, I decided to get a bit creative.

Gyps loves her toys and loves the action involved in playing.  Most of the training I've done with food involves less active behaviors, and lots of shaping requiring her brain to really spin.  In between exercises, I always play with her which she just loves.  So I thought what if I bring the action to the food?  Voila!!!  A food motivated dog in the making.  I got super high energy just like I do when we play .  She just LOVED chasing me for food, getting a tiny piece when she caught up.  Doing some circle work, sitting in heel position after catching up to me and throwing pieces while she was moving.  I also did some luring which I haven't done with her, teaching her to spin left and right and she thought that was the bomb.  It was the most fun training session we've had yet.  And it carried over to the sessions we've had since then.  Yay!!!!

I still need to expand her selection of treats, because I'd like to use things that are more nutritionally valuable for her instead of tons of cheese!  So I am going to play around with some new things and see what else might work.

Boy does the girl like to PLAY!  And she's very clever.  She loves her pink soccer ball, and wants to play with it all the time.  So I started using it to reward her after she went potty outside.  Now she runs out, pees and waits for the ball.  If I am not fast enough, she'll even squat and try to pee again, staring at me as if to say "did you see me go potty?"  The I just sit on the ground and play with her for a while---she loves to chase and retrieve the ball and kill it as well by biting on it like made.  It's full of puppy teeth holes now!  She loves tennis balls too and we've had great fun making up new games in the evening with that.  I just an in awe of how this girl lives life---she has no worries, no cares and is just full of joy all the time.

Okay one exception.  She hates when I put her back in the kitchen or in her pen when there are other things going on.  She feels quite strongly already that she should be treated like a big dog and be given full run of the house!  When she's not involved, she just screams.  Of course I don't let her out until she's calm and quiet.  But the girl has as set of lungs on her!!!

Gyps has also figured out the dog door, sooner than I had hoped.  There are a bunch of stairs back there and I don't want her doing them with any frequency.  So it adds another level of management when she does have free time in the house.  I have to block her access to the dog door.

Such is life with puppies!  But I am loving every minute and it's flying by way too fast!

Aging

Chance at an agility demo in 2002

Apparently I missed that yesterday was a Dog Agility Blog Event Day and the topic was aging.  This is a topic very close to my heart and one I think about regularly.  Chance was my first dog as an adult, and my first performance dog.  I started doing agility with him when he was about 2.5.  At first it was just for fun, but we both enjoyed it so much, I started competing with him and he was pretty darn good and I got hooked. Chance is 14.5" tall and his lean weight is 32lbs. His structure is actually quite good but he's basically a mack truck!  For comparison sake, Rave is 19.5" tall and 35lbs!!

During those early years of doing agility with him, Chance went for walks a few times a week and played TONS of ball.  He was a retrieving maniac and I had a chuck it and indulged him for hours.  He was also about 35lbs at the time.  I never did body awareness exercises, strength training or endurance work with him.  I just ran him in agility and played ball and took a few short walks in a field every week.

Chance 2005

Chance 2005

When Chance was 6, he had a injury to his biceps tendon which sidelined him for about six months.  And when Chance was 8, I was out in my agility field working him in the early morning and as he came over the A frame and ran off it, I threw his ball.  As soon as he hit the wet grass, he cried and came up on three legs. The boy had ruptured his cruciate.  He had surgery done by a specialist in the hopes he could return to agility.  I was super diligent about his therapy and that's when I learned so much about conditioning and all the things I should have been doing with him from the start.  

Chance did return to agility for a brief while, but it was clear that he was just not sound.  After having his entire body xrayed, he was diagnosed with horrible elbow and back arthritis.  His hips still looked good, but he was also already developing arthritis in his repaired knee.  So I made the decision to end his agility career and we focused on rally and tricks instead, since he was a workaholic in his younger days.

Chance post cruciate repair 2007

Chance is 15 years and 4 months now (when you get to this age, months count!!!).  He's horribly arthritic, moves very slow and lives in a pretty constant state of pain.  He has liver issues, so cannot take NSAIDS so our options are limited.  He still goes for walks 3 or 4 times a week though at the farm, and while he moves slow, I do think the exercise helps him.  If I go too many days without a walk, he seems much stiffer.  Chance's parents lived to be 17 and 18.  I have no idea if his body can hold him for that long, but I am doing my best to keep him going with Adequan, tons of supplements, massage (he hates it!), and limited tramadol for pain.  He hates acupuncture and chiro work even more, so we don't do that.

But I live with tremendous guilt.  He's in the state he is, because I didn't know how best to take care of my canine athlete.  I would never through the ball like that for my dogs now, all that pounding into the ground really took it's toll on him.  And the poor little tank jumped 16" his whole career.  And I practiced with him at 16" as well, and we practiced a lot back then.  I just had no idea....

My mixed breed Sammy suffered from my ignorance as well.  She is 13 now, so I still had not been enlightened when I started doing agility with her.  She's pretty straight in her structure, but much lighter framed than Chance. She's 17" tall and I made the decision to run her in the Performance program in USDAA for her whole career, as I didn't see the need to jump her at 22".  So she only jumped 16" but I did way too much agility with her without keeping her body properly conditioned for it.  I had to retire her from full time competition in 2007 after she hurt her back at a trial.  Until this past May, she still came out for the occasional veterans jumpers run, but her eyesight isn't great anymore.  Her brain would still like to do more though! Her back is often sore, but it is soft tissue based.  She was xrayed about 1.5 years ago and there was no evidence of arthritis anywhere in her body, which I am so thankful for.

Sammy at Fair Hill 2006

Sammy at Fair Hill 2006

Life is a journey, and hopefully we learn with each experience.  All of my dogs, competing or not, are very fit now and I try to keep them all at a lean body weight.  And my competition dogs are super fit.  Tying into my last post, it's all about balance.  I don't jump them too much, once they are trained.  I am careful not to do tons of A frames (and I always teach a running A frame now).  And I don't over train weave poles.  All of their tricks also work in proprioception, strength training, stretching and balance.  I don't let them retrieve too much and when I do throw a ball, I tried hard to make it so they catch it on the bounce. Or catch a frisbee while striding on the ground.  I am so glad they like to swim too, as that's probably the best exercise for their bodies.  So I try to keep them physically and mentally balanced.  And I also make sure they get enough rest too.  The dogs would love to stuff every day, but sometimes they need to let their bodies just rest and recover, just like we do.

Rival has mild hip dysplasia and to this day (at age 5.5), he's yet to take an off step.  I attribute much of that to how lean and fit I keep him.  Hopefully his career will be long and he stays sounds well into his golden years. My young dogs have Chance to thank for their good care and bodies.  Aside from being just an incredible dog, Chance has been my teacher in so many ways, I am so grateful for all he's brought into my life.  Every day I get with him now is such a gift, and I will do my best to make sure his days are as comfortable and happy as possible.  

Chance 2011

Balance

For me, life and dog training are all about balance.  I was thinking about this quite a bit this past weekend when Rob made the observation that Gypsy seemed to be getting very herdy with the other dogs.  And she is--she eyes, stalks and chases them.  But she is a border collie pup!!  I don't think it's unexpected, especially given Rave's herding tendencies, that Gyps likes to herd the other dogs.  That said, I've only allowed her to continue doing it because I am still completely in the picture.  Gyps will look at me, respond to me and even play with me during these games.  I know that right now, she'd still rather tug or play with me than chase them.  I test it regularly to make sure.  But I also see value in letting her run with the big dogs, she's gained tons of speed, muscle and proprioception from playing these herdy games.  I love what I see her doing with her body.  But I never let her overdo it, of course.

I made sure this weekend on the beach to balance out letting her herd Rival and Rave with playing recall and retrieving games with her.  And I got the best possible outcome, I watched her pretty dismal retrieve turn into an incredible one in just a few days!!!  Gyps became entranced every time I picked up the ball, hoping that maybe it was her turn for a throw.  I loved seeing that enthusiasm, and I matched mine to hers.  In no time, she was bringing the ball back to me in the hopes that it would be her turn again.  Which it was a lot, much to Rival's dismay, because I really wanted to reinforce it.  She also loves retrieving in the water as well, though I am very careful around the surf as she's still so small.  But she just loved retrieving in the sound.  And digging very big holes in the sand to bury, then find, the ball!

I am struggling with some thing new this week.  She doesn't seem to have an off switch all of a sudden.  She's always been high energy/drive, but it seems to have gone off the charts the last week or so.  I didn't do much formal training with her for 5 days, so maybe she needs more of that.  But she does need to learn to just chill out when nothing is going on.  She's still been confined to the kitchen/dining room when we are home, but I am going to have to start working hard on crate training during times when we are home to work on the off switch.  One thing I've always appreciated about Rave is that she has boundless energy and could go all day long, but she has an amazing off switch that I didn't need to teach her.  

Gyps just doesn't get that into chewies, bones or kongs for very long, so she's hard to appease when bored. Rave and Stash do a nice job of playing with her so she has that outlet along with all that I do with her.  But she wants more!!  I need to reel her in before she thinks we are supposed to go, go go, all the time. She should have been exhausted at the beach, but after a power nap she was ready for more action!!!  

And at 13 weeks, Gypsy remains fearless.  She jumped right on the paddleboard and enjoyed going for a ride.  She especially enjoyed trying to bark at and bite the paddle as I moved us around!  She had me laughing so hard I could barely keep us afloat.  Like a smart pup, she figured out quickly that falling off and getting back on were no big deal.  We also took her kiteboarding with us one day and she was just awesome at the campground where we kited.  She was great off leash, was able to play and retrieve with lots going on around her and wasn't afraid of the big giant kites.  She's just such a cool pup.   And she totally fits right in with our lifestyle.