Snowgility!

This is really hard!  It's slippery and all the added clothing makes it so hard to give directions.  I was really afraid that I might slip and poke my eye out on a jump pole.  That would hurt!  It was fun though and a really great work out.

Snowshoeing With Dhali

Dhali went on his first snowshoe hike.  When I first put the snowshoes on he looked at me like, "What do you have on?!?  Well, just make sure people know you dressed yourself!"

I was a little rusty and I fell down once.  You can't walk backwards, oh yeah, now I remember!  It has been a long time since I snowshoe-ed (showshoed? snowshoeed? spellcheck doesn't like any of them).  We didn't have any snow last year, so the last time I went snowshoeing was the winter of 2010/2011 and Tibby was the same age as Dhali is now.  And she wore the same coat!  Here she is Winter Water.  You will notice that she has about 200% more (fur) coat than Dhali does.  She had/has the thickest coat ever.  Dhali is sparse by comparison. 

It was about 7 F degrees (according to my car), not too bad.  The breeze off of the lake was cool, but when we got away from there it was a lot warmer.

    

We went about 2 miles farther than I wanted to.  The map made it look like the trail was a 2.5 mile loop.  Oh, yeah it's a loop.  You walk out to the end of the trail and then turn around and walk back.  It was a very nice trail though.  No one yelled at us and it was nice to be on a trail where we were allowed. 

 Back story:  One time we were snowshoeing and some skiers yelled/swore at us, because we were on the wrong trail.  It scared me for life.  Now I hate skiers!   

We met some skiers today on OUR clearly marked snowshoe trail and I was very polite.  They were complaining that there weren't any groomed tracks for their skis.  Yes, that's because the 8 MILES of skiing trails are over there.  But I didn't say that!  I just said "Hello."

I have a bunch of cute pictures from today's hike.  Dhali is so cute!  He's a good hiker too.  He stays on the trail and pulls me along!  He sniffed off the trail about 10% of the time.  That means I have to either stop and wait for him or try to get him back on to the trail.  So when he was going full steam straight ahead it was nice!  Tibby is about 90% of the time off the trail.  I like Dhali's percentages better - easier on my shoulders.  

We met 2 other people snowshoeing and Dhali was a good boy.  He passed them very politely.  

He started chewing out ice balls out of his feet about 20 mins. from the car.  We were hiking for 1 1/2 hours, so that's not too bad.  At that point I was wishing someone would come and pick us up!  I think he could use some shoes on his front feet.  The back ones didn't seem to get any snow at all stuck in them.  Although it was pretty cold, so the snow wasn't sticking to anything.

Daisy Peel Seminar

So phase 1 of adventure week is over!  We went to the foundation session of Daisy Peel's seminar at Cloud Nine Dog Training in Hopkins, MN. 

Way back in 2011 I heard that Daisy was coming to MN and I thought, "Wouldn't it be neat to take her online class and then at the end of that class attend her seminar and meet her in person?!?"  So yup, that's what we did.

Oh, yeah and maybe I should have read the fine (or not so fine) print that said the session was from 1pm to 5pm.  Hmm, yeah that's 4 hours!  That's a long time for a dog to work and not have a putty fried brain.  Actually, that's a long time for ME to work and not turn into a zombie.

Yes, I turned into a zombie.

I signed up to audit the rear cross session which started at 6:30pm, but I was toasted by 5pm, so we left.  I looked at Tibby, I looked at the clock and then I thought about the 2 hour drive home.  It wasn't a very hard decision.

Daisy is like a totally normal, average person.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but she's OK.  Not scary or whatever like I had read in a few places.  In fact when we first walked in I didn't recognize her.  She's smaller than I thought she would be!! :P  Daisy said she thought Tibby looked bigger than she thought she would be LOL!   

Ahh the internets - where size is only relative.

The Cloud Nine place was nice.  Kind of small and built like a split level maze type (fill in your own word I'm tired).  They are having a teacup agility trial there at the end of the month.  It would be the perfect size for teacup agility!  Really, it was nice and all the people were very nice.

There were only 12 people there (1/2 working, 1/2 auditing), so it was really more like a semi-private lesson.

I want to say this in the nicest way possible, so please don't get offended:  Because I'm new to dog sports/agility/dog training I some times feel like I'm entering a new culture.  Have you ever been to a foreign country or high school???  It's like the first day of high school.  I try to soak everything in and figure out what these people are about.  So not only is the agility information new, but all the social stuff is too.  Like should I walk past you with my dog, if your dog is tugging or should I wait?  Is it OK to pet your dog if it comes up to me?  Or why would someone bring a dog they don't live with, but are planning on training and the dog's actual owners also are auditing, but they don't train the dog?  Confusing stuff.  :P

So anyway, Tibby did awesome.  She was CrAzY.  If she could have bounced off of the walls she would have.  Focus?  Not so much.  But I'll take crazy Tibby over scared Tibby any day.

My hand was actively bleeding 5 mins. into the seminar.  I think Tibby got a little ketchup with her hot dogs.  yuck! hee hee hee.  She has sharp teeth! 

She actually worked for 4 hours.  Right to the very end.  AND she played with her toy.  No issues, except that she wanted me to run around with her and actually play.

Of course, there were breaks for Daisy to lecture.  But for Tibby the lecture parts were the worst.  It took her 3 hours to remember that she had a delicious lamb stuffed Kong to lick in her crate.  So yeah, I crated out of my car and she barked.  Until she remembered the Kong and then she was quiet, but of course then we were almost done.  She also sat with me for part of the time.  I had a 2nd Kong and she licked that. 

Daisy would have us break up and practice in different parts of the room and then she would come around and watch us work.  By the 3rd time of doing that I stopped working until she came around to us.  First of all, Tibby would do it perfectly until Daisy came to watch and then she would get too excited to pay attention.  Second of all, I was getting tired and I thought Tibby would get full pretty soon with all the treats she was getting!  Third of all, I didn't want to practice it wrong a bunch of times.  So some of the time we sat on the (nice cushy mat) floor and watched the other teams.  I learned from that too.  It's interesting seeing a lot of dogs and handlers doing the same thing.  And yup we were all at about the same speed.  Everyone has a different issue, but we all have issues :)

I took some notes, but they would require a lot of back explanation.  If you have the Foundation Jumping book by Linda Mecklenburg - then you know what we covered at the seminar.

Things I thought were interesting (and new to me):

The cue to the dog to jump is the handler's motion towards the jump or location to the jump.

Building value for jumping - Dog should see a room full of jumps as a million opportunities to be rewarded.

Handler ahead of dog - forward cue

Handler behind dog - turning cue

Indirect eye contact - forward cue

Direct eye contact - turning cue

Example: weaves - indirect eye contact - forward cue

Dogs have to be trained to follow arm cues - this is not instinctual

Steer a dog with motion - motion is instinctual to dogs

Obstacle name = forward cue

dog's name = attention cue

She said none of her dog's know direction cues like right, left, ect. 

She said with a novice dog she would run them to where she wanted them to go instead of trying to use arm cues or directional cues.  They will get them evenutally, but it's easier to use your motion to move them around the course.

AND it's offical:  Daisy said I was very calm.  And that Tibby needs me to be less calm.  More rewarding with my voice. 

She said Tibby is a party girl.  Like a bunch of times. 

Ok, ok.  I'll try to be more of a party girl with Tibby.  But I was tired!  It was a loooong time to be training!  I don't have the stamina of Tibby.  :P

I think I was doing pretty good for the first hour or so giving Tibby verbal encouragement.  She does like it a LOT.  But after a while......

Tibby highlights:  She did one jump back and forth (boring) for 8 mins.  We worked our way around the room at different jump stations - Tibby did from 12" up to 16".  By the end of 8 mins. I was tired, but Tibby was still offering to jump the jump.  Back and forth.  Without me moving at all.  So all the work was Tibby's.

At the end of the seminar we did a little sequence of 1 jump wrap to a tunnel to a 2nd jump wrap.  Tibby did it and I think she read my cues pretty well :)  And that was after 4 HOURS of working! 

OH YEAH  and PS I had the wrong size treats AGAIN!!!  Every time I go somewhere they are either too big or too small.  Last night I spent an extra hour (around midnight) cutting Tibby's treats nice and small.  Then today Daisy said we should have big treats - like a cheese stick!  Or a hot dog!  Seriously I can never win.  Daisy would have liked the treats I brought to Jane Killion's seminar and Jane would have liked the treats I brought to Daisy Peel's seminar, BUT I can never get them at the right seminar!!!

So to re-cap if your couldn't tell with all my whining:  Good time, Tibby did great, Daisy was nice.

Had A Little Snow

We got some snow last night! 

It's pretty deep, but Tibby can walk on top of it, because it is so wet and packs down easily.  Last night I got up at 4 am and let Tibby outside to potty.  She just walked out and it looked like only a couple inches of snow.  Um...yeah it was a lot more than that!  When I tried to go to work at 6:30am I couldn't get out of my driveway.  I called my Dad and he gave me a ride.  Otherwise I would have been very late.  Only a few of the roads were plowed.  Where the plow had passed through was actually worse, because they left huge drifts on the street.  The sand truck got stuck, in one of the plow drifts, in front of my house while I was waiting for my Dad!!! 

GIANT snowball (pawball)

Tibby washed the kitchen floor for me :)

Flyball Practice With Videos

We went to our first flyball practice tonight.  It was fun.  Interesting.  Loud.  LOL!  That is the first thing everyone said when they met us, "Oh, it's your first time?  Well, it's LOUD!"  I think Tibby had a nice time.  We took little breaks to go outside and walk around.  She was eager to get back inside, so I think she must have liked it.....even though it was LOUD!  I think I may have lost a little bit of my hearing AND I already have poor hearing!  If/when we go next time I will bring earplugs.  2+ hours in there was a little too much LOUD.  It was fun though.

~

I don't think we will become serious flyball players, but it would be fun to do every once in a while.  With Tibby's heart condition, I'm not sure if it is a good idea for her to be SO excited for such a long period of time.  With agility we can run for a minute and then she can rest and her heart rate goes down.  Tonight her heart rate was super, super fast the entire time, so over 2 hours.  I think she would eventually get used to it, but it still seems like it might be hard on her heart.  Still, I think we will do it again.  It was exciting to watch!

~

She would, of course, have to learn how to retrieve.  And how to retrieve under pressure.  Tibby can retrieve.  I taught it as a trick, but she doesn't think it's very much fun.  However, she will do it if I want her too.  The things I liked about flyball that we could use for agility - 1 working around other dogs and still focusing on the job   2 - retrieving a ball.  Tibby loves her ball, but it would be nice if she would bring it back.  3 - Fast jumping  4 - Did I mention working around other dogs and people?  Very important.  And something we have had trouble with in the past.

~

IF YOU ONLY WATCH ONE VIDEO - PLEASE WATCH THE 2ND ONE - TIBBY IS REALLY FAST!!

The first time (in the first video) Tibby ran away from me every single time.  They eventually had every one leave the room, but she still ran away from me.  I think she was trying to get out of the door.  The noise, the new building and all the dogs barking was a little overwhelming for her.  Also, I didn't have a very good reward for her.  As Loretta always tells me - If Tibby is running away then the reward isn't good enough!!

~

After they trained all the beginner dogs (which I didn't get to see, because they had us sit in another room) they had the more advanced beg. dogs run and then the team ran.  Whoa!  They were fast!  It was fun to watch!

The last video is Tibby watching the other dogs running.  The other new dog is in the video too - behind Tibby, it's brown and white.  I thought it was funny, because for the first time ever Tibby wasn't the loud dog barking.  In fact, she was pretty quiet the entire night.  At the very end she felt comfortable enough to start barking. 

~

There were a LOT of Tollers, a couple labs, a LOT of border collies, a chihuahua, a Welsh terrier, a jack russel terrier and some other ones maybe.  There were a lot of dogs and I missed some when I was taking Tibby outside a couple times.

~

Then they did the new dogs again.  The other beginning dog had left, so it was just Tibby.  She did great!  I had cheese and that was DEFINITELY rewarding enough for her.  She was a monster trying to eat the cheese.  She was fast and did a great job jumping.  She also did fine putting her legs up on the box and pushing off.  She was very focused on me and the cheese.  Good girl!

~

 It was a very fun night!!

The Results

Good-ish news.  YES Tibby has a heart murmur.  BUT it isn't life threatening and it shouldn't affect her quality of life at all.  The valve between her right atrium and right ventricle doesn't close completely, so a little blood washes back into the atrium when her heart pumps.  She has the same problem with the valve between the right ventricle and her pulmonary artery.  So TWO faulty valves.  The cardiologist said she should live a normal life and just to keep an eye out for any changes in her behavior during her life - coughing, lethargy, lack of appetite.

The cardiologist was surprised that the murmur wasn't discovered before Tibby's spay (almost a year ago), but she thinks Tibby was probably born with this heart murmur.

~

It was an exhausting day - for both of us!  I got up at 4am and we were on the road a little after 5am.  We hit some bad traffic, but made it to the hospital 45 mins. early.  Since we were so early, I took Tibby for a little walk and then we went inside the hospital.  My overall impression of the U of M Vet Hospital is that it is really dark.  Everyone was really nice to us (and loved Tibby, said she was so cute), but the place is really depressing.  The hallways (floor/walls/ceiling) are dark brownish-grey and there aren't any windows - at least in the areas where we were.   

We were there for almost 3 hours, so I had a lot of time to look at the brown walls!

~

First of all, after we checked in at the reception area and walked a long, long way to cardiology/radiology, a tech with 4 med students took us into a tiny exam room.  Yes, there were 6 of us humans in a tiny room with one Tibby.  I think Tibby felt pretty special - until the thermometer came out.  Tibby has Never, Ever had her temperature taken.  Maybe they took it before her spay, but I didn't see them do it.  Maybe they waited to do it after she was asleep! 

This is Tibby during the whole process:

 "Hey! You are the most awesome new people I've ever met!  My name is Tibby!  You are great!  We are going to be best friends!  I love you all!  So AMAZING!  This is the best day EVER! Yes! Super-de-duper!"

*insert thermometer* 

 "WHOA!! HEY!  I DO NOT KNOW YOU THAT WELL!!  PERVERT!  PERVERT!   HANDS OFF!  BACK AWAY!  AGH!  MOMMY!! THEY'RE TOUCHING MY BUTT!  MY - BUTT!  WHY!?!  THIS IS THE WORST DAY EVER!!!!" 

 She was screaming like they were killing her.  It was kind of funny, just because she was overreacting so much.  Although....if some stranger touched my butt I might freak out too.

~

When the doctor came in, Tibby was an angel and held perfectly still for 5 mins. straight while the doctor listened to her heart.  Not a paw moved and she didn't make a noise.

~

After that we went out to the waiting room again to wait for Tibby to have chest x-rays taken and then the echo cardiogram.  While we were waiting Tibby did tricks for treats.  Lots and lots of tricks.  Then they took her for her x-ray.  Then she came back and did more tricks.  Then she went for her ultrasound.  Then I waited and waited and waited.

I was really surprised how excited Tibby was to eat treats and do tricks.  She was super focused.  Usually she won't eat treats at the vet, because she is too excited.

~

After the ultrasound the cardiologist talked to me again and told me the results.  Then we went home.

Tibby came home and got a nice big bully stick in her crate.  She tried to talk me into letting her eat it on the carpet, but rules are rules, so she ate it in her crate.

All these pics were taken after the Great Thermometer Incident of 2011. 

;0

One side.

This is where they shaved Tibby for her ultrasound.  They said she was a very good girl and they didn't need to sedate her at all.  I thought it was funny when they were taking her for the ultrasound the tech said, "Now we have to shave a little of her fur off.  Just so you understand - is that going to be OK?"  Like having some fur shaved off would be the deal breaker, "Absolutely not!  I drove 3 hours and took a day off of work, but you are NOT shaving my dog!  No matter how critical the results of this ultrasound might be to my dog's life - we are leaving!"

I actually said, "That's fine."  LOL!

And the other side.  She has little spots!

Now I'm going to take a nap with Tibby.  What a day!

Long Walk - Part I

I went on a long walk with Tibby today.

A friend and her dog, Zoe, came along too.

It was fun!  The pups played and played and then played some more.

We walked for 4 hours!

The whole point was (other than giving the girls a nice walk) to find 5 geocaches.

We searched for 4 and found 2.

I guess we'll just have to go back and find the other 3.

My friend and Zoe looking for the first geocache.

"Can I eat you?"

"Hey!  Were'd she go? I was just kidding!"

"Ha ha!  It's opposite day! I'm gonna eat your ear!"

Zoe's cute little tail.

Go girls! Go!

Tibby.

I really like this pic.

"Let's go!"

"Yeah! Let's go!"

It was such a nice day.  Warm in the 60's with a slight breeze.

Is this Minnesota?

"We are running away!  Hurry up!"

Zoe's tail again.

Zoe's tail a third time!

Zoe!

Two scent hounds.  LOL!

"Here we come!"

Check out Tibby's mustache.

She found some mud.

Zoe, "I'll go across first, 'cause I'm older and braver."

Tibby,  "Your not that much older!"

Zoe, "Yeah, but I'm braver!"

Flying dog ears!

Run Zoe!  There's a lion chasing you!

Tibby looks so evil in this pic. :P

Tibby, "I think I should go back now."

Tibby, "Yeah, I'm outta here!"

To be continued...................................