We had a hard day at the dog show. Not as hard as Mary, though, who's dog ate a toxic mushroom and got very sick. She was rushed to the vet office, and they are patching her up good as new without liver damage. Mary was very lucky lady, just one tiny mushroom can be that dangerous. Deadly. Compared to Mary, my day was great because I have basically healthy dogs at home with me tonight. Get well soon, Ariel!
My dogs came out of the carnage relatively unscathed if one uses the toxic mushroom scale. Although Otterpop's left hind leg was dragging pretty badly and I pulled her out of a couple runs. She did have a pretty good gambler's and pairs, and I suspect shouldn't run much tomorrow. Her leg looks like it's tied on to her body with a piece of string when she runs right now. If you hold her frisbee or a tennis ball or stick, I think that trumps the pain. A run without a toy, dangly leg shows up and that's that.
Sorry about that, Otterpop. I think running around on 12 hr shifts at the ranch may be taking it's toll.
Gustavo had a hard day. He's had a hard few weeks, life has been a little bit too stressful for the Dude. Probably attending a dog show and going to work on the same day was the last straw. There was unfocused drifting away, and slamming on of brakes to stare at tarps dangling in the breeze. Running away on a startline to eat his pal Luka's meaty bones. I abandoned ship and pulled him out of the ring on a couple of runs although he did like the tunnel gamble and had a nice pairs run with no freakouts.
We will return to compete again tomorrow. Several people that know my dogs asked me today, "What's wrong with them? They don't look like that in class or when you practice."
This is very true. We work hard when we practice to run like champs, and today was definitely not a champion day. There are physical things wrong with my dogs, that's for sure. But I don't think it's right to use that as an excuse. It comes down to I just haven't been able to step it up as a trainer that can prepare dogs for the competition ring. It's just the way it is right now.
We did the best we could today, but that just wasn't very good. But there was no way I could be sad about anything that happened out there in the ring today. Not when Mary's dog is still at the vet on an IV, getting the mushroom poison out of her system. All day I felt lucky to have all my dogs happy to spend the day with me. Maybe we will quit competing, maybe we won't. We certainly won't stop doing agility, all of us like it too much for that. And that's definitely a good thing.
3 comments:
a very good thing ... and I can only add that I'm betting the work move is just a little stressful and exhausting for you too
congrats on the successes of gambles and pairs! have fun tomorrow!
Amen, amen, amen, and thank Dog that Ariel should be home soon.
I'm glad Ariel is going to be ok.
As for agility - it's what I do with my dogs to have fun. We want to compete and do well, but my livelihood (or self-worth) isn't tied into winning, so if something doesn't go right, no problem, we'll fix it and move on.
It's those 'hanging on by the seat of your pants / about to loose it' runs that are the absolute most fun! Q or not!! So Team Small Dog keeps running and keeps going for championess - all us dog teams are out there with ya!!!
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