Jumping off the walls....

All these flyball people have been teaching their dogs to do a swimmers turn off the wall. It's supposed to help with form and speed.

Dylan already has excellent form. He is slow, however, coming off the box. I think part of that is because he is waiting for the ball but I think our team may be vamping up the box with new, faster plungers or whatever they are called.

Last night I tried the swimmers turn on the wall with Dylan. Thus far he is getting two paws up really easily. I think it would be easier with him if I had more space though. I really need to find a better place to work with him but my house is so small there isn't a good space with a soft landing.

I want to work on the ball to tug switch off. I am sure I can teach him if I work hard enough but often times it's difficult for me to find the time to do it. Every time I think about it, he is either injured or I am just too damn busy!!


Here is a pic of Marley turning on the box. I don't have any of Dylan! That's my old flyball team's logo (we are proud members of Thunder Paws now!) but it's a good example of the swimmer's turn! In a tournament they can't use any props like you see in the pic but both my dogs have been trained with and without the training props so their box turn is always nice at tournaments.

My crappy car!!

I woke up this morning and got ready for work. When I went to leave, however, my crappy car was completely dead. No signs of any power at all! I couldn't lock the doors!!!

I had to call someone for a ride to work and got here late. My mom just brought me this jump kit and dropped it off to me. My old friend from work is nice enough to give me a ride home - even though it's completely out of her way. I thought she still lived downtown but I guess she's moved since we last talked!!

All in all it made for a crappy start to the day. I'm just happy to have some family and friends that will help me without being too upset or put out. Hopefully it will start up tonight and I can take it to get the battery tested. It died on my Saturday but I have been driving it all over the place the last few days without any problems.

I want a newer car. Mine is old and has 180K miles on it. Plus people keep hitting it so it's getting all banged up. I just don't want to pay for a new car so I guess I won't be getting one anytime soon. I probably should start saving for one though since mine is gonna die one of these days. It seems it's just one more financial issue for me to stress over.

Surgery Went Well

The surgery was successful. I guess they had to really stretch that muscle to get it back in place so it will be tight and Paul will have limited movement in that shoulder for a while.

I've been amazed with how well he has seemed to be feeling though. He's been up and around and seems to be doing okay. I think the pain meds help of course but I am glad that things have gone so well.

Using Iodine to toughen pads?

Dylan is constantly wearing out his pads. I talked to my holistic vet who recommended painting iodine on the pads then patting it right off a couple times a week to toughen his pads. I'm really happy to know that something so simple should work.

She also said that part of the reason he has big problems with his pads is because of the length of his dang nails? His quicks are SO long and I can't cut them very short. I've been trying to dremel train him but haven't worked consistently with it for the last few months. We need to get back on it and work on it every day so that I can start dremeling his nails down.

Canine Chiropractic? Acupuncture for Dogs?

It really does exist. And it really does work. We spent this afternoon at the veterinarian's office where my darling Marley got one hell of a chiropractic treatment. I've never seen her flinch so much. I think she's really been hurting. The vet said that going so long between treatments combined with the rough winter we had has probably made her pretty stiff and sore. That's why she reacted the way she did to the Chiropractic treatment today.

She's had acupuncture in the past and it usually relaxes her. We generally have to hold her up to keep her standing once the needles are in. Today, she cried a couple of times when the needles were put in. It made me cry too. In the long run, it's for the best though. I hope she knows it will make her feel better overall.

I'm wondering if it may be time to have her x-rayed again. This is one of the x-rays she had done a year ago. It shows her shallow (dysplastic) hip joint and her vertebrae that are too close together.

It's so painful for me to have a broken dog. I feel badly that she's in pain and not able to communicate to me what she would like. I could drug her up on NSAIDs the rest of her life which is what a traditional vet would recommend. Or I can choose to try this homeopathic route. So far, I think it's working. I just need to make sure to get her in more often and keep stretching and massaging (something I have really slacked on the last few months). I can tell when she is really sore but sometimes I can't tell if she really feels well or she feels pain but not enough to actually display it. I wish she were able to talk to me and tell me her pains and her wishes. She's got a long life ahead and I have to make all the decisions for her. I have to just believe I am doing what is best and anything is worth it as long as it makes her feel better. I'm happy to have a wonderful homeopathic veterinarian who has a huge impact on her health and well-being!

Surgery is coming!

Paul found out today that he needs to have surgery ASAP. So it's scheduled and happening Wednesday. Two days to prepare is not much.

He wrecked on his mountain bike a few weeks ago and tore his pectoral muscle completely! It all sounds so painful! I guess the orthopedic surgeon want's to fix it right away.

I'm glad my work is flexible and it was easy for me to schedule time off on Wednesday and Thursday. I was also able to make arrangements with my P/T job to go in late on Friday. Usually Paul helps me fridays to get my dogs out during the day. I work both jobs and it's a really long day for me and for them. I don't think he will be in any condition to be worrying about my dogs that day.

Should make for an interesting week. I just hope the surgery goes well and he can make a quick recovery.

Flyball Practice!!

Dylan is still injured and so he can't go to Flyball. My friend was busy with her other dogs at Agility so I took her border collie. I can't believe what a good boy he was!! He rode so nicely in his belt in the car that I forgot to take him home. I realized he was still in my car when I was driving up my street. Good thing my friend lives close so it wasn't too much backtracking to take him home.

It's really interesting running a different dog in Flyball. I'm so used to Dylan who I have to really work to get him back so he doesn't over run the runback. Chase was such a good boy and ran right to switch off from his ball to the tug. Boy can that dog tug too! I couldn't figure out his command to drop the tug so I ended up just dropping it because when I dropped it he would do the same LOL. I finally understand why some people wear gloves to tug with their dogs.

I really wish I could get Dylan to switch off to a tug. I need to work with him but every time I think about it he is injured and can't really be playing rough. I'd like to to get Dylan turning on the wall too. His box turn is already pretty nice in form but he could sure use a bit more speed!! Hopefully he will get better soon and stay healthy so we can train some Flyball!!