07 July 2013

USDAA weekend, a much better way to celebrate Fourth of July with no extra added explosions.


First of all, Gustavo won him some Snookers and Jumpers with awesome runs. He did a table in Standard, and got up on the teeter totter a couple of times with refusals, and a couple of times he just manned up and teetered like a big boy. He picked up quite a few Qs, which can be a rare occurance in our lives, and had some fun Masters Challenge runs.

Pretty much, those are the funnest things to run. I think those are our new focus. The other stuff is kinda, sorta, blah. Masters Challenge, way more funner. And snookers with the triple tunnel whirlpool of death. Those are good times, too.


His focus wavered in and out throughout the weekend, and by the end of the 2nd day his battery seemed pretty fried. I think he needs to stick with his more minimal class plan. I'm happy he could do some teeter totters, and even a table. He is very fun to run when he's going at top speed, and listening at the same time. I wish he could eat more protein. Dogs should be paleo. He's a wispy little vegan who gets a teaspoon of cottage cheese for a great big treat.


He didn't make it to the table in his other plain standard class. Because I went off course. I had 2 major mental disasters over the weekend, that was one. Way, way, way off course, to the other side of the earth. All the way to the giant wall where the White Walkers eat children in the snow. That was weird. And that was my first Game of Thrones reference. I am on episode 3. It's a little confusing. Many guys in beards. It was still a fun run.

The other was when I got moved up earlier in a run order, except nobody told me. I went panic running into the ring with multiple people yelling at me and me all deer in the headlights as to why. That run went pretty crappy because my brain got stuck on the yelling and I was unprepared. I was in a pissy mood for exactly 32 minutes afterwards because it was my friends that moved me without telling me. Then I was over it. Shake it off. Next time a crew of yellers start yelling at me, I'll be ready for them. Just you wait.

Otterpop won her gamblers. That's all she had to do. She ran fast. I keep track of her gamblers Qs. She has a lot. This is a fun thing to keep track of. I write them down in pen on various scraps of papers and throw them in a box. This is called record keeping. I ran her in Grand Prix, too, she was kind of blah about that one. I ran her sort of twitchy. She just likes gamblers. Maybe some Masters Challenge and I'll tell her it's gamblers.

It was a nice change to go to a dog show where we had more ups than downs. I don't know if it's a trend. Wouldn't that be a nice thing? I don't think I have enough good karma to ensure this. So we will get up early and go practice tomorrow. Like we always do on the Monday after a dog show.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Laura, gotta ask about Gus's vegan diet. What are ya feeding besides veggies? My old JRT is in remission from intestinal lymphoma and I've had to go vegan/veggie with her...lentils/barley...and cottage cheese. I just bought a bag of Nature's Recipe vegetarian diet to try. She won't eat eggs...still loves meat, but meat protein tears up her gut :-(

Congratulations on the snooker and standard. Zip totally sympathizes with Gustavo in regard to the teeter. Their strengths sound similar (ie snooker). Zip will never match Otterpop when it comes to gamblers. She is the QUEEN!! Signed, The Otterpop groupie from Kentucky

team small dog said...

Ugh. His diet is kind of a pain. It has to be VERY low protein. No meat. If I enjoyed cooking lovely homecooked meals for him perhaps we would both enjoy his diet more. This is pretty much what he eats.

Royal Canin Hepatic dry food from the vet
mixed with Natural Balance Vegetarian dry food.
Mixed with a Little Bit of Solid Gold Holistique Low Protein dry food (it has some fish in it. Just a little bit of this).

A little bit of cottage cheese in the morning.

Little tiny bits of string cheese for training.

A little bit of sweet potato but not too much (he likes sweet potatos, so do I. I bake some and then mash some up and put them in the frig and he can have a little teaspoon of this).

If I make some vegetables for dinner he can have some if they are SUPER OVERCOOKED beyond what people normally enjoy.

Some egg whites but not egg yolks. If I ever make eggs he gets a little bit of his own egg whites cooked up.

Fruits, if he liked them better. He doesn't really like fruit. Unlike the other dogs who are not vegetarians yet who love fruit for treats. If I am eating an apple they're all over it.

There are some blueberry vegan dog treats in a box with blue writing from zekes or zukes that I keep around. Everybody likes those for a good dog treat.

At dog shows I have to keep him far away from where people are stuffing delicious meats into their dogs for rewards. Or worse at the startline where they are stuffing delicious meats into their dogs before they run. We have to look out for delicious meats dropped in the grass.

Meats can make him go seizurey unless I get his medicines in him really fast. Like if he runs away at work and finds cat food.

He wishes he was not a vegetarian. But he's gotten pretty used to it.

Anonymous said...

saying you don't think you have enough good karma is a sure fire way to crash your mental game. as in, if you think it, it will be true. so i will say that i think you have plenty of good karma for anything life throws at you. after all, you are Team Small Dog.
valpig