Highs and Lows

The last 3 weeks have been both terrible and wonderful in the lives of our dogs.

Just prior to Easter saw the start of the roller coaster as out beautiful goldie Tammy stopped eating. When a retriever stops eating it is an immediate cause for concern so we rushed her to the local vet. At first we suspected a blockage as the dogs had been in the bin the night before and there had been some chop bones in there. However when she still wasn't eating 2 days later we took her back and discovered she had high calcium levels. A retest confirmed the worst and we raced off to Perth Veterinary Specialist to speak to their oncologist. They wonderfully stayed open late for us and took her in for a night of IV treatment and scans. We had been prepared for the worst (lymphoma) so were much relieved when they discovered a parathyroid problem - a problem that could be fixed with surgery!! She was prescribed calcium treatment,  and after another couple of nights in emergency later in the week while they got the right drug, we took her home to rest and gather strength for surgery.
Thinking everything was going well we returned for her checkup only to have a swollen lymph node discovered in her neck which would require tests before surgery could take place.
Then it got REALLY bad... the dreaded word - lymphoma :( Instead of surgery Tammy was admitted for more tests including a bone marrow test which was to provide the diagnosis we dreaded - Tammy has Leukaemia. Pretty much the worst diagnosis we could have gotten.
DEVASTATED - doesn't even come close to how we are feeling. Tammy has had one dose of Chemo and today we return to make decisions on what path we want to take from here. Sadly there are no options that will give us long with her and there have been plenty of tears shed.
Tams has been Graeme's faithful companion for nearly 10 years and they share a very special bond. They have competed in both Obedience and Agility together with her Agility career sadly cut short by a couple of dodgy knees (I really wish I could have seen her compete). Whilst she has only been 'my' dog for a short time we have also developed a special bond - she is our 'brat dog' full of mischief and fun - the only dog I have ever know to break her tail by wagging it too hard!! Last week we were due to become registered as a Therapy Dog team - our special thing to do together, and in 2 weeks we were going to take on the challenge of Rally-O, she would have been brilliant at both.
For now we are enjoying every day that we have with her. I am lucky to have been on holidays so we have been taking trips to the park together and yesterday we went for a walk with all of Tammy's doggy friends to Nedlands foreshore. Tammy was so happy to be out, rolling in the beach sand, swimming and playing with her friends. It was a special time for all of us. I think she is loving some of the special privileges - specially cooked TammyTooStew for meals, carrying her squeaky ball everywhere with her and best of all - being allowed to rip apart soft toys without getting in trouble!! She will always be our special brat dog who we love to bits :)


On to the highs
With such an emotional couple of weeks we really hadn't focused as much as we probably should have on the State Trials last weekend - and in the morning trial it showed! Between 2 of us and 4 dogs we didn't have a single pass. We came painfully close in a number of runs, but close doesn't get you into finals. The afternoon trial was a different story. Selby was soooo close again in Open Jumping and then went on to have 3 amazing runs and make finals in Excellent Jumping, Excellent Agility AND Open Agility, Maverick made the Open Jumping final and Cade the Novice Agility final (gaining his title in the process)
Sadly we divert briefly back to the lows - Amos unfortunately had an accident during the week and dislocated his knee. Although he had a good attempt in the morning trial he pulled up sore and had to withdraw from the rest of the States and will now be rested for at least the next month :(
Sunday saw the finals and a VERY nervous handler. Excellent Agility was up first and Selby backed up her performance from Saturday with a lovely run to finish in FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!! I have a STATE CHAMPION!!!!!!!
Open Agility was also a great run but unfortunately I lost contact with her out of a tunnel and we missed a jump - my fault entirely. Was pretty cool to be up against 'the big kids' in a final and we did finish in 8th place which I'm really happy with.
Final run for Selby - Excellent Jumping. Another fantastic clear run :))))) This time second place to the incredibly fast Liryk and Megan.
No luck for Mav or Cade but was still amazing to have 3 of our dogs in finals.

My little puppy is a State Champion and State Runner-Up but the BEST part of the weekend by far - Tammy was able to be with us for both days, wagging her tail and carrying her ball everywhere she went :)

Happy 4th Birthday Selby

On Sunday my gorgeous puppy turned 4! It wasn't much of a celebration as I wasn't too well, but she did enjoy a pig's ear along with the other 3 pups and got a nice walk around Lake Gwelup. It's hard to believe that I've had her for 4 years already but when I look back at what we have achieved together I'm pretty proud of my little 'Quokka dog.'

Here's some pics from the early days

Selby's First Obedience Round - CDD - Second Place and a Q 11 June 2011

The Perth Obedience Trial was our first 'for real' Obedience trial (and the only one we will do before the nationals next week)

I was so happy with Selby. It was a cold windy day and Graeme and Maverick were working in the next ring so she was a little distracted. Scoring an 89 she lost all 11 points in the healing which I must take the blame for - I was really nervous and don't think I gave clear enough signals, woops.

On the positive side check out the Stand for Exam! I was terrified having Frank as judge as he tends to stand over the dogs which can be quite intimidating for them, however Selby was a star and stayed still throughout and got a perfect score, as she did for the recall and stays :) Overall she managed to get her first pass AND placed second.

The day was mostly about me getting ring experience and learning the judges calls. Getting through a whole round makes me feel much more confident about the Nationals next week. I have no real expectations for the trial, but it's nice to know that she has completed a trial and had a pass before we go (she can do it)

Hopefully the ash cloud will be well and truely gone and it will be smooth travels and a fun trip over to Queensland

Obedience - Not in a Million Years!!

I have always vowed "Obedience isn't for us... Don't like it... It looks boring... Selby (and I) would be hopeless at it... I'm NEVER going to do it"

And then .... 97/100 at her first trial last weekend!! Amazing how things change!

So what happened to my vow? Graeme was planning to take Mav to the Obedience Nationals in Queensland in June and asked us to come too. Before I knew it flights were booked - only problem - Selby had NEVER done anything that resembled obedience in her life!! A couple months of mad training later, along with the realisation that it would probably be better to actually get into the ring before we rock up at the Nationals, and she was in her first trial. It was a members comp at Northern Suburbs which seemed like a nice 'safe' go at it. I can't say I have ever been that nervous at an agility trial where once you get into the ring you don't have time to feel the nerves. I was so impressed with Selby's healing and she got all her positions (we need to straighten them up a little but she couldn't even do a stand 2 weeks ago so I'm not complaining)

One thing I learnt is that it is probably a good idea to know the rules BEFORE you go in the ring. I lined up for the recall with Selby sitting beautifully at my side expecting the judge to say "leave your dog" instead I hear "forward" ... "What? I have to go forward first?" Short discussion with judge then I step forward and woops Selby isn't really with me and misses the sit :( There go our 3 marks. She did do a beautiful recall though so again not unhappy with her - totally my fault.

On to the stand. My little tactile defensive dog that has only just learnt how to stand is not ready to cope with being examined as well so we opted for the 30 second stand (the judge thought I was crazy and given that I had never practiced more than about 10 seconds she probably wasn't too far off) I was amazed that Selby completed this exercise successfully and would go through to the stays without being DQ'd. The stays TERRIFY me!

Stays, along with the exam, would be the main part of obedience that has stopped me from even considering training Selby for trialling. She really doesn't like being touched and is very possessive of her personal space. Leaving her to sit amongst other dogs that she doesn't know - NEVER in a million years! Turns out she was just fine, although she is a real sticky beak and spent the whole time looking around for what mischief she can get into. I had been advised to give her the "evil eye" if she looked like getting up - which would be fine if she ever made eye contact with me!! The 1min sit and 2 min drop felt like an hour but even with Maverick working in the next ring she didn't get up Yay!

We finished the day with an amazing 97 which I'm thrilled with (shame there were also dogs that got 98, 99 and 100 so she only placed 4th)

Obedience Nationals here we come!!!

My Beautiful Puppy

Friends

Selby Agility 29 Nov 2010 - Including first pass in Excellent agility

Selby Meets the Sheep and Excellent Agility

After finally finishing my teaching prac a couple of weeks ago we headed to Albany for the agility trial there and a weeks holiday. (Thankfully we had the best holiday as the trial is hardly worth mentioning)

All the dogs had the best time as we stayed on a farm with a lovely yard and went for many walks discovering the beaches of Albany and Denmark.

On the way home we stopped off at a friends farm in Kojonup for a night. They had 8 4 week old puppies which were just lovely to play with (I wanted to sneak 1 home with me) They were all so cute!

Selby's highlight of the visit was getting to meet the sheep! She has never seen sheep before so I was curious as to how she would react - as you'll see in the video she had a ball. I totally amazed me that she knew what to do (kind of) purely by natural instinct. I don't know a lot about sheep herding but apparently it was not bad for a first effort. Selby couldn't get enough of it and would have loved to have had another go, but we had a long drive and a trial to get home to and I didn't want her to be exhausted before we got there.

After arriving home via a Boddington to see an old student of mine (so great to catch up with him and his family) we quickly unpacked and then repacked the car and headed off again to a trial. I was amazed at how well Selby ran in both Excellent Agility and Excellent Jumping (the Open Agility was ok but she decided she had done enough contacts for 1 day). The night got off to a great start with our 1st pass in Excellent Agility on just our 3rd attempt Yay Selby! We finished 1st in 500and 2nd overall. In Jumping just 1 bar came down :( but it was such a smooth run and I enjoyed both runs so much.

2010 Royal Show Part 2 - A great day!

Week 2 of the Royal saw our most successful run of the show (after a Snooker effort that doesn't bear mention)

Novice Gamblers was our last 'roll of the dice' for this year's show. Whilst we have had 2 passes in Gamblers before, they have not been the smoothest of runs. So the plan this time was to pick a course and stick to it no matter what happened - I get very confused if I decide to go back and fix obstacles so there would be none of that! As it happens Selby had a fantastic run that didn't require any changes of plan. She got 3 out of 3 contacts (not brilliantly but compared to jumping off miles above the colour the way she has been lately they were great) and even threw in a few jumps of her own to get some extra points! I only planned up until I had completed the weaves a 2nd time thinking that then I would be near the gamble for the closing. Turns out 45 seconds is a really long time!!!! we had plenty of time to do some extra bits whilst we waited for the whistle to go. There was a heart stopping moment as Selby ran towards me after the tunnel in the gamble but thankfully I was expecting that this might happen and had planned to spin her around to get her over the last jump if needed. Yay she went clear and got her Novice Gamblers Title - her 3rd title for the year!!

As games are not played often there are a lot of much more experienced dogs in Novice still so we had to wait to find out if she had placed. Turns out there were 7 qualifiers with my little puppy topping them all!!! What a great way to end our 1st Royal Show.

2010 Royal Show

This weekend saw us compete in the Royal Show for the 1st time - hard to think that this time last year we hadn't started trialling yet!
Saturday was an early start off to the teams event. Looking specky in our new shirts team Xtreme was ready to take on the rest.
Selby joined Maverick, Phoenix and Chuckles to compete in both Jumping and Agility. Phoenix got us off to a great start with a clear round in jumping (no pressure on the rest of us)All the dogs had pretty good runs but sadly not good enough tho place.
In the Agility comp none of the dogs ran clear, but with only 6 faults between them all we were amazed to find we had placed 3rd!! - Not bad for a bunch of newbies taking on far more experienced teams :)
I accidentally entered Open Jumping so we gave that a go in the afternoon. Sadly I did a front cross that just kept crossing (yep - a very dodgy move) This resulted in Selby taking the spread from the side and running through it like a channel. The crowd thought it was really funny, I was just plain embarrassed! Despite my dodgy handling I was really happy with the way Selby ran - she did go where I sent her after all!
Saturday was the Obedience trial so Selby had a day off while I went along to watch and see what obedience was all about - maybe one day we will give it a go (maybe).
Back again yesterday for Agility and Jumping. Novice agility started really well but Selby sadly took a wrong entry into the tunnel and then blew her contacts - something we really need to fix soon. Excellent jumping was also a really good run with just 1 bar and deciding not to take one jump. In both runs Selby had great drive and her run home in the jumping was great so I am really happy with how she is going especially as we nearly had to pull out of the trial as she was lame a couple of weeks ago.Back next Saturday for the games and hopefully a clear round!

Selby AD

Selby turned 3 on Saturday and celebrated by finally achieving the 3rd leg of her Novice Agility Title at yesterday's Midland trial. It was a nice flowing course for her so I was just worried about her contacts- she got them both! Yay! There's a few things that need working on but not going to worry about them today - just going to celebrate my clever puppy no longer being a novice dog :)

Selby's 1st run in Excellent Jumping

Mikeshe

A Day of Highs and Lows

Last Sunday was a day of emotional highs and lows with my beloved pets.
We set of early for the days trial in Rockingham and as it was raining hard I wasn't too concerned when Mikeshe (my cat) wasn't waiting on the front porch for breakfast - if she's not there it normally means she is in the roof taking cover, she's certainly never far away. Anyway - car packed ready for trial and a road trip with friends to Margaret River, dogs loaded, no Amos this weekend as he wasn't coming away with me but I did have Maverick in tow as he had been staying with us and was off to Jules' place for a few days.

It was a wet and wild morning but managed to stay fairly nice during the trial. Selby's day got off to a brilliant start when in her 1st run of the day she got her Novice Jumping Title!!!! WOOOHOOO!!! I thought she had been called for a refusal early on and lost a bit of touch with her coming through the tunnel so was surprised to hear 'clear' called at the end, but hey, we got there and I was stoked! (and she came 1st Yippee)

Contacts remain a problem in the ring so we blew both agility rounds but gave Excellent Jumping a go in the afternoon. This was probably one of the best courses I have run with Selby and she just got one refusal and dropped the last bar so I was really happy. In the Open it was just 1 refusal! Overall a really good day....

And then it got bad ....

Just after my last run I picked up a missed call from my flatmate. Sadly it was to tell me that Mikeshe had been run over and killed. I just couldn't believe it. She is the world's most timid cat and never ventures more than a few feet from the front door - I have certainly never seen her near a road!! I was absolutely gutted. I have had Miki for 10 years and whilst she was shy around other people she has been just the loveliest cat with me (and she could fetch better than any dog I have ever owned)It was really hard to continue on my trip south for the week and having to rely on my flatmate to bury her was really difficult.

I have just arrived home from my trip and it's going to take a long time to get used to not being greeted at the door by my beautiful kitty :( I have Maverick back for a few days and between him and Selby am sure to get plenty of cuddles but I'm just really going to miss my favourite putty cat

Selby Learns the Seesaw

With 2 passes in Novice Agility it is time to learn the seesaw. I was a bit worried about teaching this to Selby as I didn't know if she would like it. No need to have worried - she LOVES it! This video is of only the 3rd time I have had her on it and so far I am really happy with how it is going. If the seesaw is set up and I am not paying attention Selby runs out and just does it on her own!! As much as I don't want her taking off and doing her own thing, I am stoked that she likes it so much :)
So far we just have it on 1/2 height and it will stay there until I am really happy with her speed and end, then we'll start raising the level. Will be quite happy if she stays in Novice just a while longer so we can perfect it, I don't want to rush what is looking like being a great piece of equipment for us.

Crash Tackle.avi

Don't pay too much attention to Selby's run - it wasn't very good. Watch the bottom right of the screen for the great crash tackle of the 4 yr old pitch invader! This was taken when we traveled up to Geraldton recently

Agility Selby Novice Agility Leg - 13 June 2010

Agility Amos 19 June 10 - Title

Happenings Since Nationals - and Amos' Jumping Title!

Since the Nationals we have had a few trials - both in and out of the ring! Selby continues to knock just 1 bar in most jumping courses but has really found some drive which is exciting. Her jumping at Northern Suburbs was oh so close - just went round the broad as she was travelling so fast. Sadly in her Agility runs she has decided that she doesn't like contacts and regularly jumps off of them. This doesn't happen in training so is quite hard to fix. We have been working really hard and with some extra training on Monday nights she is starting to get it again.
The ACWA trial saw her get her 2nd pass in Novice Agility and 1st place YAY - her morning run was a lot better, she just missed the contact. The pass was a bit shaky but she got it so I am stoked :) Now we just need 1 more in Jumping and Agility to get titles
Unfortunately a mishap in the newly paved and supposedly safer backyard led to a cracked claw. She spent a day at the vet sedated where they cut it off and she once again became a buckethead! Poor thing did not take kindly to the forced rest that was imposed. Sadly she has had to miss the last 2 trials but thankfully we were able to get her entries refunded which helped a lot with the vet bills. No trial this weekend so she will have to wait an extra weekend - can't wait to see how she goes at Rockingham - possibly will have to deal with a loopy excitable dog but should be fun. We go on from there to a few days in Margaret River which will be great.
Amos - Amos' owner Andrea is working offshore for a few months so he is on a little 'holiday' with friends and loving it! I get visitation rights for training and trials which is great - I miss having him around (except for the snoring)
He is such a great little dog to run but struggles with Double Header trials and tends to sleep most of the afternoon. At Northern Suburbs he took out 1st place in the morning Novice Jumping - a great trial to win as he came away with a massive bag of dog food which will keep both dogs going for quite some time. We thought he got his title when he went clear in the afternoon. Sadly (and my fault for kicking him in the head as he came through the tunnel) he missed out by 0.4 seconds.
We made up for it at Gosnells the next week with a fantastic run to get his Novice Jumping Title, backed up with another clear round in the afternoon just to prove it wasn't a fluke.
So Amos won the 'which dog will get a title first' race and will now have to start tackling the Excellent courses - not sure about him but will be interesting to see if I'm ready for that! Hopefully Selby will join him there soon.
Videos coming soon

Nationals 2010 Selby Novice Snooker