In The Year 2012

In just 9 days this year will be finished, over and done with. It's amazing how much you can actually cram into 12 mths when you start thinking about it :-)

For me this year has been quite the learning curve. Learning that not everyone's methods are always right for you and your way of learning. So you really should look for something else, because when you find it, it really does bring ALOT of benefits :-)

Learning patience...... yep I thought I had it, but this has definitely been the year to learn more :-/ Liryk's injury was the start, man that was a character building moment and a half! I'm glad we made it through to the other side and so far it seems she's come out non the worse for it. Edge has been my other "patience building moment" :-P Boys boys boys...... LOL To be honest I think I'm really, really spoilt with Liryk, it's almost like she's been here before and everything is just a refresher for her. Mostly I've been good in not rushing Edge, and it's been interesting to watch his ....sometimes slow progression, and that's been ok, I'm in no hurry...... but I'm going to admit it.......the weavers nearly made me pull my hair out!! ROTFWL!!! We're finally at 12 straight poles :-D WAHOO!! and have now gone back to work on his footwork. I'm not sure what it is that I do wrong, but both Liryk and Edge struggle to single stride using Susan Garretts 2x2, I thought it was because I focussed to much on the hard entries with Liryk, but I haven't done this so much with Edge and he's still got the same problem..... So that is our mission over Christmas... to attempt to get them both single striding :-D

We also discovered some new friends this year :-D the kind that pop up unexpectedly, but you just know are the type that will be around forever :-)

The other thing that has become really apparent to me is that I have a serious addiction to agility.... Yep this was the year to really clarify how much I really do love it! Funny how you want something even more, especially when you can't run your dog :-P I do get disappointed in our baby equipment, not just with the weesaw, yes I discovered our aframes are also tiny compared to the rest of the world!! but also the challenges it puts on our dogs, rather than the naive belief it makes it easier :-/ But mostly I'm happy that at least we get to play some sort of game....

Anyhoo! Merry Christmas to all, two and four legged in your houses :-D And hoping everyone has a super awesome New Year!!

Bye Bye Puppy :-(

Edge has just turned 15mths. And its so long to the super cute puppy that I had :-(

I really can't believe he's grown up already!! Into a very large, very cuddly gooey boy I might add :-D
He's loads of fun and I think the best thing about him is he doesn't take ANYTHING seriously. Everything is just one big party and I'm lucky enough to be celebrating with him ;-)
It's blowing my mind that he'll be able to compete in a couple of months.... do I think he'll be ready? Hmmm I'm not sure... I hope so :-D Even if it's just in jumping. THAT would be fun!
I love love love his dogwalk. I've worked super hard and even though I do still get jumping, I'm happy with how we're going :-)
I can't wait to see how he goes over the next couple of months as we start to do more things. I'm trying hard not to rush him with anything but sometimes I get a little excited :-D

Slack :-P

Okay I admit it!! I've been SUPER slack with updating my blog, it's kind of taken a backseat as my life feels like it's rushing by and before I know it it'll be Christmas and another year is gone!

So here's a quick run down of the last few months...

The Grand Prix has come and gone. And it was everything I had hoped it would be :-) I'm not sure there is going to be another event that tops this one. No REALLY! I went in with high expectations just from the comments of others and it even blew those out of the water!!

The indoor venue was mind blowing, 3 rings all under the one roof! And they even managed to get rubber contacts in time for the main arena :-D The courses are HUGE easily 8m between alot of obsticles really allowing your dog power :-D Add in the relaxed atmosphere and competitive people that are just as happy for you to win as you are for them, and it makes this event what it is.

This was Liryk's first trip away and other than blowing me off when we went to pick them up at the airport in QLD, she took it all in her stride :-D One thing she wasn't happy with, was the metal stairs and elevator but by the end she was racing up and down with the rest of them. She absolutely LOVED event, by the end of the 4 days she was as high as a kite tugging and dragging me into the ring :-D

 

This was my favourite run of the whole weekend :-D



 

 

 The week after we came back, I unfortunately had to put my 15 year old boy Jestah to sleep :-(

I'm sooooooo greatful that I had him for so long, especially when others haven't been so fortunate. And to know we did so many amazing things together and shared so many special moments it makes saying goodbye a little easier.

 

                                                               Jestah in his prime :-D

 



 



Liryk had her first attempt at Masters Jumping and came an awesome second!! Super proud of her efforts :-D





 

 



We fostered a baby German Shepherd puppy called Sir Walter for 2 wks, he was awffy cute!!!!

   

 

And to consume the rest of my the time...... Edge is now old enough to play with weavers, the aframe and a couple more jumps :-D Sorry no video of Edge but I'll put something together soon! I can't believe he'll be old enough to be measured next month and will be able to compete in 3mths! Not sure if his boy brain will be ready though, but he's loads of fun to play with :-P

 

 



We're back!!!! :-D

OMG the excitement is almost indescribable :-) The joy at being able to run Liryk again is something that I just can't put into words. Three months has gone and we had the all clear to jump in and compete, I have to admit though, I was just a little nervous, especially running her in agility.

Last weekend was her first weekend of competion. I just had her entered in Excellent Jumping on the Saturday to see how she went. OMG it was like we picked up where we left off :-D SUCH a great course for her first one back :-)

I checked her over that night to make sure she didn't seem sore anywhere and decided to run her the next day in agility and jumping :-)
She's SUCH a buzz to run!
In the morning we just had one bar in both agility and jumping. The afternoon she gained her last pass in Novice Agility!! Whooo hooo :-D

                                                                                                                                                                       

She has this weekend off, with another visit to Deb Nook on Monday to check she's pulled up okay and whether or not she will be right to run in 650 at the ADAA States next weekend. I'm pretty confident all will be fine, just like having that reassurance from the expert :-D

The other news is......

It's the baby dog's birthday tomorrow!!! OMG!! I can't believe he's one already!
Seriously this year has just flown by.
I'm SUPER happy with where he's at, especially his running contacts :-D

Week 7 for Liryk and Edge's Running Contacts

Week 7..... WOW I can't believe it! 7 weeks ago it felt like I'd never reach this point with Liryk and now we're here I look back and it feels like it's flown by!!

We're now at the point where it feels like we're getting somewhere :-D

No more horrid halti!! That's been replaced with her favourite harness, because low and behold we want to encourage her to pull, so that she's giving her hamstrings a workout. This is great news for Liryk as anyone that knows her, knows pulling is pretty much her specialty!! :-)

There were great results from her second ultrasound last week, showing the initial torn area had reduced in size by 2/3rds, with no scare tissue evident and leaving an area of just 6mm by 3mm left to heal. This has meant that restrained recalls and recalls up hills have been added to the regime. And ......OMG...... sooooooo excited about this next bit!!!!!! This week she has been allowed to start jumping a straight line of jumps on 300 height :-D wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! not sure who's grin is bigger Liryk's or mine :-D

The other exciting news that has come out of Liryk's rehab, is that I've been focusing some more on Edge's running contacts :-D I'm really happy with how they look at the moment and I'm going to say I think I like his better than Liryk's at this point. This video was taken a couple of weeks ago. The first one is a bit high for my liking but all the others I LOVE!!!

I've also started him back on turns. We had a break for a few months as I really felt he wasn't mentally ready. We're just on the flat at the moment, but it seems just giving him that break has really helped and we've progressed another step :-) My plan at this point is to keep the d/w at this height until I've worked his turns on the d/w to the same point and move up from there...... though it is just a plan and knowing how much I detested turns with Liryk I'm going to leave that flexible :-P

The Joy Of Rehab

Thats what I'd like to be telling everyone, that I'm learning so many new things about rehabilitation....poohey! Liryk and I have come to the conclusion that it's CRAP! I ask you, how can there be joy, in no playing tug, no running, no jumping. I'm going to be honest and say I'd like to pop in quite a few swear words at the frustration that Liryk and I are experiencing at the moment!!

I thought having the patience to train a running contact was hard. Well apparently I hadn't quite learnt my share of patience, as this current expedition seems to be challenging my in inner calm.

I've been reading quite a few of people's blogs, that have had dogs with the same injury as Liryk. Most seem to think the rehab as been more painful on them, than their dogs. That their buddies are quite happy just doing 10 min walks. Hmmmmmm yeah Liryk is definitely not one of those dogs. She's pretty much disgusted that I insist on sticking that awful halti on her, that she hasn't seen since she was a puppy. Not to mention that she can't believe none of the other dogs seem to see all the birds that SHE can see but can't get to on our "controlled" walks.

The upside is we're now at week 3. So her exercise has been increased to 3x 15min walks, she can now do cavaletti work, stairs and slight inclines. Next weeks physio appointment will hopefully bring with it some fun stuff like the hydrotherapy treadmill :-D And the end of her electromagnetic pulse therapy three times a day. Though I do believe she actually likes this bit! She nearly always falls asleep while having it done (as you can see) so it must be soothing for her.

 

Thankyou to everyone that continues to send good thoughts and wishes our way, I'm sure it's working!!

May 2012

Well I never thought one month could possibly be jammed packed full of so many things and so many highs and lows.

And it all began with an email :-) "Would you like to upgrade to business class??" OMG OMG OMG!!!! YES :-D

So the extra long flight that started my journey to the World Agility Open in Belgium began in style. I've never flown business class before, but having blueberry pancakes for breakfast, and a fully reclining massaging chair is something I strongly recommend if you get the chance :-D

I was really excited landing in the UK. I couldn't wait to meet up with Jules, as well as meeting her host dog owner the lovely Lara and her border terrier Magners. Not to mention that I was counting down the hours till I got to see wee George again :-) 12mths is a long time between greetings. I even forgot how small he is, especially since I've been around my gigantor kids LOL

After picking up George we really spent very little time sitting still. We had a fantastic training session with Angela Rogers on the Mon. And she helped us hone our skills to the different handling styles of our dogs. I don't think I even noticed the freezing cold and the rain it was so much fun! This is DEFINITELY the way a training session should be!!  So thankyou thankyou thankyou to Lara for organising it, and to Angela for giving up her day to help us :-D

Tues was a 3.30am start ..... and we spent all day in the car making our way to Belgium. Thank goodness for Starbucks!! :-D Mmmmmmm iced latte!!!

Wednesday we had a 2hr training session in the afternoon at the De Warre Equestrian Centre. Wow what a place!! And it was so great to catch up with most of the team again :-D That night we experienced true Belgium dining and thankfully Pettrick was there to decipher the menu for us!! I'm not sure what I enjoyed more, the look on Jules' face when enquiring about what white asparagus would taste like, only to have the chef take some off someone else's plate with his fingers and give it to her to try!!! ROTFWL!!! or the waffles with ice cream and chocolate sauce :-D

Thursday was another early morning start to check in and have our dogs vet checked and measured. Then onto our super quick last training session, before our one and only free afternoon that we spent lazing in the backyard enjoying the sun. It was just what we needed before the competition started the next day.

The Australian Team :-)

Friday and Saturday were jammed packed full of runs :-) It still blows my mind that we get to compete with some of the worlds finest handlers and their dogs. This year I did feel the absence of my own dogs more than I did the year before. And I'd REALLY love to have had Liryk there to play with. But I felt extremely lucky to be running a dog like George, he is SUCH a superstar and his amazing joy for agility is infectious! Just check out his big grin on course!! :-D










We had some fantastic runs over the three days, we even had a close medal opportunity, but got a penalty on the 3rd last obsticle the Aframe :-/ But I think most people had those "if only" moments :-)

The last day of competition was the best for me I think. The finals of all the runs were being held and the atmosphere was fantastic!! The courses were super fast and as much as I love competing I also LOVE watching. The connection of some of these handlers and their dogs and the ability to look like one at such high speed is electric and inspiring! One of my favourite runs with George was the final run in Biathlon. The course was fantastic and you could just go hell for leather. We didn't go clear, but I didn't care, George and I had the BEST time out there and we ran our butts off :-D

With the closing ceremony came the rain and not long after that, came the news that Liryk had been injured :-( A rather evasive email left by my husband to say she was lame and now on strict crate rest and anti-inflammatories.... My brain went into overdrive and I didn't get much sleep Sunday night, waking up at 4am Monday morning with the departure of the rest of my housemates, I stayed awake and jumped on the internet to try and get more information about how bad Liryk actually was. An email from the vet that saw her, as well as chatting to the other vet via Facebook braced me with the crappy news that Liryk may not be going to the Nationals in 2.5wks :-( 

To say that the flight home was long, is an understatement! I'm so glad that I shared half of it with Karen and Colin :-) They definitely helped to keep my mind off Liryk and to make the journey home drag a little less.

To cut a long story short she's out of competition for the next 6-8wks with a grade 1 tear of her illiopsaos muscle (a muscle in her groin)

The bruising that came out on the inside of her leg :-(

I'm thankful that she isn't lame and doesn't appear to be painful and I have my fingers crossed that she will make a full recovery. I'm definitely disappointed that I've spent two years working towards such a big event, let alone not being able to cheer my friends on, or meet new friends and see their dogs in action. Thankfully there is still the Grand Prix and we will now work towards that :-) In the mean time we have weekly accupunture and physiotherapy visits with Deb Nook and Carmel Keylock. A follow up ultrasound is booked at the end of the month to check how the muscle has healed and hopefully ....... fingers crossed.... we get to start doing some agility again :-D