I haven't talked all that much about Groovy lately and that's because she's been going through a bad period. Since about February she's been really scared of stuff again. We had highs and lows in Feb and March but April and May were just full of lows and "just OK". In April she did really well one day at a disc dog competition however the next day she freaked out completely. Other than agility class I made a point to not take her anywhere major to kind of let her brain reset. In May Jack tried taking her to that same park the competition was at but with no one around and she couldn't handle it at all. In agility class she did OK but not great. The past several classes I've had to pull her out of her crate in the car to go - but she does OK once we are there. I started to get really concerned which prompted me to do some research online about homeopathic treatments for dogs with fear and stress. One of the first things I read about was supplementing with Vitamin B complex. I recalled hearing that from a woman on a aussie health list a long while back and so I thought I'd give it a try. It's something I had around the house already and it's water soluble so why not. Groovy's been on it about 3 weeks now I think. Whether or not it is the reason for our recent progress I'm not sure but I do have a different dog on my hands lately! I've noticed more confidence around the house... she wasn't getting spooked by noises in the yard as easily. Two weeks ago when our friend Allison came over with her dog Kicker that we were dog sitting she did really well with her being here. This past Friday our friend Chris came over to practice disc with Jack and Groovy did really well with him too - she even played frisbee WITH him. Saturday I took her to Sally's house and she got out of the car right away, walked in like she owned the place and was happy to greet Sally and Kathryn. She's only been there once and that was a year ago. She played disc with Jack in Sal's yard and did a little agility too! On Sunday we had a fathers day gathering at my mom and dad's and since my brother and his kids couldn't make it I decided to take her along. She did pretty good. She warmed up to my sister right away, to my brother in law after a while and sort of warmed up to my teenage nephews later on. The big win of the evening though was that she'd play the entire time. Sure she was eyeing them up suspicious of their next move but she'd chase frisbees and balls that they'd throw. She begged food from them and did tricks for food during dinner. She just wasn't all that sure about them when they moved around but overall did really good for not knowing them at all and the behavior I saw was more typical of aussie adolescent angst that I've seen before.
So... hopefully this is a new leaf we are turning over. I know I've said before it's 1 step forward 2 steps back with her but this sort of feels like maybe we are doing 2 or 3 steps forward and maybe 1/2 or 1 step back. We shall see...
In other good and related news her disc drive has increased A LOT over the past 1-2 months. Jack is REALLY enjoying playing with her in the yard and she's got some neat moves they are working on (some of which can be seen in the video I posted the other day).
So hum, burn incense, pray and keep your fingers crossed we continue heading the right direction!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Aging friends...
Tali is such a good girl... she's a completely different dog than when she arrived here. Gosh I guess that was... 5 years ago or so! I swear she had been punished for putting toys in her mouth before getting her because everytime I'd pick one up around her she'd turn her away from it - very much an avoidance behavior. Now she's a disc dog and a pretty darn good one especially if one factors in her beginnings!
At the end of May Jack and Tali competed at Freedom Weekend Aloft in South Carolina. They were already qualified for Freestyle but we like the competition and wanted to get Ruckus qualified in toss n fetch so we went. Rucky did get an alternate spot so that was cool. Tali and Jack just did OK. I think they finished in the top 15. Certainly not either of them's best but not horrible either.
Last weekend we competed at Florida States. Jack and Tali finished in 11th in freestyle for the 3rd time at that event I think - they placed 9th in toss n fetch. Again not their best but not horrible. Jack messed up his opening and closing but the middle was really nice. My encouragement and recommendation to Jack was that he had all summer to figure out his routine and get it down pat so that he and Tali both would know what to do whether it was hot or cold, they were nervous or not. He's got a routine but he's constantly tinkering with it. That's admirable because you want to push yourself to be better but with two big competitions coming up in September it's time to get the sucker nailed down.
With all of that said though Jack started going back and looking at Tali's freestyle videos from years past. A few lessons learned there! 1 - They have both come a long way. 2 - Jack has improved a lot. 3 - Tali has slowed down a lot and doesn't get near the height she used to. That last tidbit is kind of depressing... I mean yes she is getting older and that's to be expected but she's only 6. Her athleticism scores haven't gone down - in fact they've gone up over the years but I suspect that is because she is more focused, drivey and accurate now than she was before. While she may not be flashy and big air she can catch almost any toss with any spin at any angle practically and turns on a dime to adjust for them. It was just sad to see though how much more conservative she is now with her speed and height. We knew her speed was down because she's not getting to the 2nd disc on several of his 2 disc throws lately but we didn't really realize how much slower and we didn't remember that she had height at one point. I guess since it was never big air we didn't notice. Overall in the larger scheme of things this is not a tragedy and it's something Jack just needs to adjust for, but it just is no fun when you first start seeing signs of aging on your dog. She's still got a long life ahead and plenty of playing time to come (God willing) so we aren't freaking out or anything... just adjusting to our little smack of reality we just got. She does have that one bad hip and that could be a factor as well. A trip is planned for the doggy chiro sometime in July and who knows... maybe we'll see a new dog after that though she doesn't seem to be in pain but you just can't ever be sure with dogs. In any case in another 3 months we'll have 3 veteran dogs in the house... with that said though Ruckus seems to be doing great (he and I placed 4th in intermediate TNF last weekend!) and Mickie is hanging in there and plays toss n fetch in the yard most everyday. Most folks wouldn't guess that they are 10 and 11 years old.
Below are some pics from the last two competitions... we love that Tali girl! Next weekend... DACOF (agility)! We are running on our own team this year - Good-Dog Sports Victorious Secret! It's Sal, Bev, Sarah, Gary, Brenton and Kathryn. Should be a lot of fun!!
At the end of May Jack and Tali competed at Freedom Weekend Aloft in South Carolina. They were already qualified for Freestyle but we like the competition and wanted to get Ruckus qualified in toss n fetch so we went. Rucky did get an alternate spot so that was cool. Tali and Jack just did OK. I think they finished in the top 15. Certainly not either of them's best but not horrible either.
Last weekend we competed at Florida States. Jack and Tali finished in 11th in freestyle for the 3rd time at that event I think - they placed 9th in toss n fetch. Again not their best but not horrible. Jack messed up his opening and closing but the middle was really nice. My encouragement and recommendation to Jack was that he had all summer to figure out his routine and get it down pat so that he and Tali both would know what to do whether it was hot or cold, they were nervous or not. He's got a routine but he's constantly tinkering with it. That's admirable because you want to push yourself to be better but with two big competitions coming up in September it's time to get the sucker nailed down.
With all of that said though Jack started going back and looking at Tali's freestyle videos from years past. A few lessons learned there! 1 - They have both come a long way. 2 - Jack has improved a lot. 3 - Tali has slowed down a lot and doesn't get near the height she used to. That last tidbit is kind of depressing... I mean yes she is getting older and that's to be expected but she's only 6. Her athleticism scores haven't gone down - in fact they've gone up over the years but I suspect that is because she is more focused, drivey and accurate now than she was before. While she may not be flashy and big air she can catch almost any toss with any spin at any angle practically and turns on a dime to adjust for them. It was just sad to see though how much more conservative she is now with her speed and height. We knew her speed was down because she's not getting to the 2nd disc on several of his 2 disc throws lately but we didn't really realize how much slower and we didn't remember that she had height at one point. I guess since it was never big air we didn't notice. Overall in the larger scheme of things this is not a tragedy and it's something Jack just needs to adjust for, but it just is no fun when you first start seeing signs of aging on your dog. She's still got a long life ahead and plenty of playing time to come (God willing) so we aren't freaking out or anything... just adjusting to our little smack of reality we just got. She does have that one bad hip and that could be a factor as well. A trip is planned for the doggy chiro sometime in July and who knows... maybe we'll see a new dog after that though she doesn't seem to be in pain but you just can't ever be sure with dogs. In any case in another 3 months we'll have 3 veteran dogs in the house... with that said though Ruckus seems to be doing great (he and I placed 4th in intermediate TNF last weekend!) and Mickie is hanging in there and plays toss n fetch in the yard most everyday. Most folks wouldn't guess that they are 10 and 11 years old.
Below are some pics from the last two competitions... we love that Tali girl! Next weekend... DACOF (agility)! We are running on our own team this year - Good-Dog Sports Victorious Secret! It's Sal, Bev, Sarah, Gary, Brenton and Kathryn. Should be a lot of fun!!
The photo above was taken by Steven Donahue at Freedom Weekend Aloft - thanks Steve!
Freedom Weekend
Florida States 2010
Also, one last thing - BIG congrats to Gary and Fergie for winning Florida States!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Groovy Disc Doggin'
Here's a video of Groovy and Jack practicing last night. She's really doing very well with her disc skills! Now we just have to get her to be brave enough and willing to play the game in front of other people!
Groovy Disc Doggin'
Groovy Disc Doggin'
Friday, June 4, 2010
CPE Nationals
June 25-27th Tali and I attended CPE Agility Nationals in Kissimmee, FL. We had a fun time hanging out with some agility friends during and after the event! I don't attend agility trials that require an overnight stay all that often. There really is no reason to since there is so much local agility and we travel for disc dogging quite a bit. This competition was drivable but our friend Andrea offered to share her room for the weekend and Tali and I took her up on it! That was really nice to only have to drive 10 minutes to the event and back. Razzy (Andrea's BC) wasn't thrilled to share her space with Tali but Finnegan (her Papillon) was very happy to hang with us. He's such a cutie... I definitely have to get a Pap someday!
As for the actual agility portion of the weekend... we had a lot of fun and did quite well! 7 out of 9 Q's and 1 placement in standard! Tali ran very well in that environment and she and I had a fun time just hanging out with each other - no other siblings attempting to steal time away!
The event was really well organized. We got a GREAT goodie bag when we arrived - LOTS of good treats and some toys. Shopping the vendors was a lot of fun too!
Overall I give the weekend a big thumbs up! I doubt I'll go again next year - I believe it'll be somewhere WAY up north but I'm glad we got to go this year!
This is a picture of Tali during one of the down times at nationals - like I said - she was quite happy there! We'll be attending DACOF at the same location at the end of June - I'm looking forward to that quite a bit!
As for the actual agility portion of the weekend... we had a lot of fun and did quite well! 7 out of 9 Q's and 1 placement in standard! Tali ran very well in that environment and she and I had a fun time just hanging out with each other - no other siblings attempting to steal time away!
The event was really well organized. We got a GREAT goodie bag when we arrived - LOTS of good treats and some toys. Shopping the vendors was a lot of fun too!
Overall I give the weekend a big thumbs up! I doubt I'll go again next year - I believe it'll be somewhere WAY up north but I'm glad we got to go this year!
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