Running at Night and Cold Weather

Winter months are here and that means nighttime runs for the dogs and I.  There aren't sidewalks in our neighborhood and I'm fine with that because the asphalt is definitely friendlier to human and canine joints and feet, but it does pose an additional safety issue for us, especially at night.  We are more intimately sharing the road with vehicles than if a sidewalk were readily available.

I run for the benefit of my health and the health of my dogs, so naturally safety is a big concern for me.  Sharing the road at night with drivers you cannot see can be dangerous and stressful.  The number of people driving these days who are not focused on the task at hand, but rather a phone, or conversation or some other distraction has caused us to hop into a yard, or driveway on more occasions than I care to recall.  In an effort to make us more visible, I run with a headlamp and reflective vest.  The dogs have a blinking light on their collars which is very visible on the Siberian coat.

All my Siberians have had white legs, feet and most of their faces have been white with darker outlines.  I have always been able to find my dogs in the yard at night without flipping on the patio light; until Stetson.  He is as black as night with most of his white hidden on his underside.  His long hair absorbs the blinking collar light and you hardly even notice it is there unless I can manage to keep it around the side near is ear.  He is easy to miss in the yard and I often turn the light on to see where he is.

In an effort to make us more visible and hopefully safer, I purchased a reflective vest for him.  During our first run with the vest on it seemed that cars began to move toward the middle of the road before getting too close, which was a welcome change.  I still stopped in a couple of driveways to let people go by that either weren't paying attention, or they just weren't willing to give up enough space on the road for me to be comfortable with the remaining road.  Overall it was a better run than several we have had of late with fewer stops to let traffic pass.  I think the vehicle headlights are picking up the reflective vest on him before they catch my headlamp and moving over sooner. That is a good thing indeed.

New Vest

Reflective properties work

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The vest is lightweight and unlined, so it shouldn't heat him up.  Since we work pretty hard on the road, I didn't want to have anything that was going to add much heat to his body.  It's weather resistant, so it should work okay for us on drizzly nights too.

 

I've noticed that Madison's coat isn't as thick as it was when she was younger.  Her lack of undercoat coupled with aging joints and spine made me think she might benefit from a coat that had some fleece for extra warmth.  I found a pink coat with a reflective stripe on it and I hope she'll benefit from it on cold walks.

 

We always have called Madison "The Princess".  Her collars, leash and harness are in the purple/lavender family, so I was happy to find a Princess Pink color for her.  She's such a doll.

 

 

Both of these items were purchased at PetSmart.  The blinking collar lights were purchased from REI.

I believe life is what you make it to be, and although I'm not particularly creative, I thoroughly enjoy carving out my little piece of heaven where I find it.  It doesn't matter if I'm on the road or on a trail, if I have a dog next to me for the run, life just can't get better than that! 

 



Reflection and Dreams

It seems an eternity since I sat at the keyboard and put my heart and brain together on the page.  The year is drawing to a close and my emotions are mixed as to what I want my goals in 2014 to be.  I am unusually conflicted, but grateful, and amazed that I have so many options to choose from.  Balancing triathlon, road racing, agility and perhaps obedience is going to be a challenge; but I cannot say I have ever been in a place with this much opportunity waiting for me to seize it. 

2013 has been an outstanding year for personal goals and accomplishments.  I "smoked" my personal best in Sprint distance Triathlon in August.  A few weeks later I put my foot at the start line on an agility course for the first time in six years.  I won't ever forget standing next to my amazing partner Stetson, and shedding a tear of anticipation as I heard the automated timer say "go" that morning in Blue Springs, Missouri.  And so a new career between woman and dog was borne in that moment.  Lastly, I finished my fourth half marathon in October.

Some of my favorite pictures from this season of triathlon, road racing and agility follow.

Acworth Women's Tri August, 2013

 

Handsome guy practicing some start line "stays" at the Triune Agility trial in Blue Springs, MO

 

 

 

Mist on the lake and a wild turkey during an early morning run in September at Lake Jacomo in Lee's Summit, MO

 

 

 

 

 

AKC agility at Wills Park in October (Alpharetta, GA)

 

 

 

 

 

A cold fall run on Kennesaw Mountain this fall

 

 

 

 

 

 Recovery run at the Chattahoochee River just before the Athens Half Marathon 2013

 

Athens Half Marathon - knowing the finish line was doable even though I was still recovering from a strained hamstring...

 

 

Then the bottom fell out, I got sick. I crashed for five weeks. When I go down, thunder rolls.  I do nothing lightly and illness is no exception. The previously strained hamstring was healing; but my head, ears and lungs were fighting me for every second of my waking hours (and many of those I should have been sleeping) to find relief. 

 

During vacation on Hilton Head over Thanksgiving, four weeks into the illness, I began to feel better.  But the dry cough that kept me up at night, and resulting fatigue was only manageable because I was on vacation without the demands of maintaining a normal lifestyle and schedule. I went to a Minute Clinic on Wednesday this week because my physician was booked until next week.  It was determined that I had infection in both ears and sinus.  Thankfully my lungs were clear, but my blood pressure was at the breaking point of Stage 2 Hypertension.   I was prescribed antibiotics and given a stern warning that if my blood pressure wasn't normal in a week, an appointment with my primary care physician was immanent.  I have already been in touch with my PCP and am keeping them informed of my progress as I track readings twice daily.  Yesterday my readings were almost normal and just barely tipped the Pre-hypertension level. 

 

 

Hilton Head beaches will always be at the top of my favorite running places - it was the first time in weeks that I felt good enough to strap on my heart monitor and take Stetson for a run.  We didn't go particularly long, and it was cold with a strong wind, but I don't know of any run that ever felt better to me than this one.  I have a strong connection to this island, there is a part of my soul that belongs there.  Somehow, the surf and wind always find the places deep within me that need mending and they are able to sew them together once again. 

In the past two days I have bounced into recovery with the typical spirit and abandon that anyone who knows me well would expect.  I'm feeling good and looking forward to coming off antibiotics Tuesday so I can run with Stetson on Thursday, and hopefully be in the pool Friday morning.

As I begin to breathe freely, I believe I can start to focus on the goals for 2014.  What do I want to accomplish this year personally in road races and triathlon?  What do I want to accomplish with Stetson in agility and obedience?  Those answers will be resolved in the days to come and my plans will be laid.

Sweet dreams for 2014, I know not what they are today, but I am excited to take off on the journey to their fruition.  I have gained much in 2013 and I will not look back with any regret, but I look forward with dreams to answer.



Trial Ready

It is done. All that is left this week is to tweak the little things and load the motor coach to go.  Our first agility trial will be a week from today.  Holy smokes, the time has flown!

The following shots were captured from video taken of us on Saturday during a run through at a local club.  He is a delight to work with and I look forward to a long and successful career for us as a team!

Love the attention...

Panel jump to start and off to the chute...

 

 

After the chute, dog walk and a jump it's the table.

 

 

 

 

 

Table, tunnel and 12 weaves - awesome weaves by my guy!

 

The weaves were followed by a jump and the a-frame - what dog doesn't love the contacts :)

 



The lighting is bad, but you can see that I have a competent working dog next to me.  It will take us some time to learn how to work really well together, but wow have we come a long, long, long way in nine months!

We did three run throughs on Saturday.  The first one he had a cute case of the zoomies and I must admit I was strutting my stuff when we left the ring to hear people say things like "he sure was proud of himself!" and "he was really having a good time!!!"  Oh my, if they knew where we began they would have had the same tears as I - he has become confident in my leadership to let me lead him up a set of stairs, into an unknown building with three very loud fans blowing and dogs barking...  Confident enough that he let himself go and had a crazy case of the zoomies during our first run - tunnel, table, tunnel, table, tunnel, a-frame, tunnel, table.. and on it went for a minute or two.  What a dream moment, that is the run I wish I had on video :)

Boomerang

Stetson has been on fire this week.  He has given me so many high moments during agility and obedience training, that I don't think I can accurately recall them all at this minute.  Today was a hard road leading to a conclusion that probably did more for us as a team than any other individual training experience we've had to date.



The look of confidence

I had a reservation to rent an agility field this morning.  It was raining, but I decided to load up and go anyway because they also have an indoor area with equipment.  I thought if they didn't have indoor scheduling conflicts, maybe they would let me switch to use the indoor equipment.  The contacts aren't full height, but I knew there was a tire jump in there and I figured we could use the baby contacts to work on "two on two off" and practice some jumps (the tire in particular).  I desperately wanted to fix the nemesis from last week, the tire jump.  They generously let me trade.

There is a boarding facility in the building.  The room with the agility equipment is separated by a seemingly thin wall from the kennel. The noise and energy in the building was typical of what you have before morning feed in any kennel, very loud.  I immediately embraced the opportunity to expose him to this rowdy environment and ask him to work.  Showsites can be very noisy and I know that he strongly prefers a structured environment to chaos.

Stetson was worried about everything, entering the building, the dogs barking, dogs banging into the wall between us and the elevated voices of the staff doing chores in the kennel.  His brain exploded.  His ears were dropped, the pupils were dilated and glazed, his head was slung low and he immediately began offering behaviors to me that he felt certain I wanted; dog walk, tunnel, a frame...  Totally a stress reaction to the environment.  Of course I wanted none of that equipment offering with him in such a state.  What I wanted was for him to manage his emotions and focus on the task at hand.  I could not have created a better environment to help him gather his brain and decide to work, but he was really off.  He was not participating in the required connection between dog and handler well enough to get more than two obstacles completed without doing something goofy that caused me to "no" or "Stetson come here"...  It didn't take very long for me to realize I wasn't going to win this battle with agility equipment as his reward.  He doesn't have enough experience in this sport for the joy of doing it to soothe his soul like it does mine.  I put him on lead to keep him from roaming around while I pondered the situation.  I sat on a bench and absent mindedly put him in a "down" next to me.  I glanced over at him and he was intently watching me with his ears up.  Pupils were still gigantic, but his ears were up!  He understands "down", he gets that, in that moment he was performing to my expectation and he knew it.

I had my answer, he needs to do something he knows is right, something he knows I'm going to be thrilled with.  So I bounced off the bench, snapped his lead off, stuffed some chicken in my mouth, stepped away and called him "front".  He flew to a crooked front, but he flew so I straightened him out, asked for an around finish and took off in a fast heeling pattern.  On the first about turn, he wandered and his ears went down as a dog banged into the wall next to us.  I told him to "watch" and he was immediately back at my side with his focus solely on me and his ears up.  We finished with a couple of halts and then I took him to the tire jump.  Tire jump problems, who has tire jump problems?  They vanished as soon as his confidence was elevated!

Changing environments isn't something that comes easily to him yet, but I believe it will.  When he was being shown in conformation, a woman nicknamed him "the boomerang" dog because he always came back from whatever rattled him.  He gets rattled by these new things, and some days he gets rattled hard.  Learning to turn his issue into a working attitude was huge today.  We are light years from where we began only nine months ago.

His brain and the way he processes his surroundings will continue to challenge me to be a better trainer and partner.  I accept, I haven't laid down to a challenge in a very long time and he's worth this effort.  I look forward to our growth and smile on our progress!  I don't know if we will earn any legs in two weeks or not, but I know we will grow leap years in partnership as we continue to navigate the ins and outs of becoming a team.

 

 

 







Mulligan

Dave and I have golfed as a recreation for years.  A term used in the sport when a shot goes bad and you choose to "do it over" without counting the bad shot is "mulligan".

I am crazy emotional as we get ready to travel back home to Missiouri for a vacation in a few weeks.  Home means many things to many people, but for me Kansas City will always hold the piece of my heart devoted to the dogs of my life.  Dogs began in Kansas City for us with our first Siberian in 1988.  When we moved to Syracuse from Kansas City, and then back to Kansas City six and a half years later, that is when it all kicked in.  I became completely intrigued by dog sports.  Dog sports, agility in particular were my consolation prize for having left perhaps the best sledding area of the country outside of Alaska.  The craze for all things dog grew into a passion when we made that move.  The passion was snuffed out by seemingly tragic circumstances, and now, finally, the embers are ignited again with this new dog, and a new passion for sports with canine partners.

The shot that went bad for me was Magic - it was  October 28, 2007.  He had just turned seven years old.  I'd had him neutered a short time before and was seriously looking forward to running him once his hormones had run dry.  He was hot, he was honest, but he was hot and I was looking forward to a rich career with him as a neutered male who would be less interested in unaltered alpha male behaviour.  I believe we NQ'd most of the weekend, but he was quick and I thought we had a long road of green, and hopefully blue ribbons ahead of us.

Then it was over.  I packed up my bags that Sunday afternoon, headed home, unpacked and started my Monday morning.  The agility season was almost done, but my professional corporate career was in full throttle during the 4th quarter and we were heavily involved in preparing for our daughters' wedding.  The wedding was the most important moment of our lives, even for me as step-mother, it was such an amazing event and we spent our resources caring for the event as best we could. 

The year of 2008, I was taking my state insurance classes and exam.  It was an insane time, long days, longer nights plus a couple of weekends in classes.  On Sunday, November 9, 2008 I sat on the patio after one of those long classes enjoying a cool drink while the dogs played.  Maddie and Mira had repeatedly taken Magic by the neck and rolled him into submission.  He grinned bigger and bigger each time he regained his feet until this one final time when he simply rolled onto his stomach with his head between his feet. He was obviously not right and the girls were unable to stimulate him into moving from his prone position.  When I approached he yelped as he staggered to his feet and then collapsed again onto the ground.

Siberians don't typically "bloat" but to my horror, all I could imagine was my dog was experiencing this horrific death before my eyes.  They had eaten less than two hours prior and they were playing hard, it had to be bloat...  As I knelt next to him, he never moved his head.  There was no doubt in my mind that we were in deep trouble.  As I scrambled to get myself redressed from my night clothes into anything that resembled publicly acceptable, Dave got the truck pulled up and the doors open so I could load Magic in.  Once he was securely crated and I started down the road, I called ahead to the emergency Vet clinic to let them know I was en route with a "possible bloat", estimated 15 minutes from their front door.  They met me at the door and took him immediately to triage.  I filled out the necessary paperwork and began my pacing, chain smoking, wait.  When the physician entered the exam room after her review of necessary testing results, she said "the good news is he hasn't bloated; the bad news is I can't find the right/left kidney (I don't honestly recall if it was the left or right), there's this mass over it that I'm not sure what it is..."  With that said we began to toss scenarios around in our heads. A kidney that had a large tumor could be removed, actually most of both kidney organs could be removed and life sustained.  There was hope.  We made the decision to move him to a specialist on the following morning for further testing...  Upon their evaluation, they discovered his lungs were consumed with tumors, the cancer they had seen on the kidney was perhaps the least of our concerns.  We were told we could probably take him home for a couple of weeks and be able to maintain his comfort, but that he had a very, very short window of time.  There was never a doubt in our minds that the decision to bring him home to his healthy, active pack of bitches who were accustomed to grabbing him by the neck and throwing him about as if they were actually strong enough to do so would be a horrid injustice to this magnificent dog who had given us so much joy in the past seven/eight years.  We in that moment decided to say goodbye to him and leave him peacefully with the assistance of the loving staff at Georgia Veterinary Specialists.  I will never forget the tears of the attending physician as she said "I wish others could be so selfless to their animals..."

I grieved. If I decided to write about grief I couldn't begin to imagine what it was that I felt during those times until it was experienced first hand.  I closed out the dog world. I closed out my dog friends.  I shut the door on so many things, people and activities that meant so much to me before.  There was no way for anyone to prep me for the intense pain I was about to feel.  My heart was beyond shredded, I think it was pulverized.  There were no more dog sports for me.  I was done, it wasn't that I acknowledged I was in pain; rather I just closed the door and didn't answer anyone who knocked.

Years later, I finally regained some interest in dog sports with Mira.  My unlikely partner.  She was the only dog I ever put away and refused to train because I had no patience to work with her.  She drove me to the point of madness with her continual need to question everything. She was so unlike a typical Siberian, much more tempered toward a retriever, she constantly needed affirmation.  But she unlocked the chains on my heart.  She broke them down, tossed them away and guided me back to a place of willingness to learn and grow with a canine partner.  Running was our thing.  We were made for each other, our strides were perfectly balanced and our drive for the run was equally balanced.

The day she was was taken suddenly by cancer, I vowed I was never going to lose myself to grief again.  I swore that I would stand up to this relentless pain and rise above it, stronger and better for the suffering.

Here is Stetson, my mulligan.  He is the answer to my shattered heart.  He has brought me back to a place that I can enjoy running again.  Also to a place of experiment.  I'm learning things I never considered before such as competitive obedience.  I am looking forward to herding and tracking.  I don't know exactly how, but we'll find out if he is a swimmer and if he would like to "dock dive" too.  Lastly, but not least there was a GSD named Freya who loved to have Dave throw the Frisbee for her; Dave has longed for that connection since those days long ago and I hope Stetson will be able to bring that home for him.  Why not try it all out together.  He is open and so are we, I no longer resist the mulligans in life, I have learned to embrace them.

 

 

Thank you for being my mulligan. You're bringing me full circle and then some...

 

 

Three Weeks to Trial

The morning sky over the agility field at The Canine Ranch

It was a gray morning in Waleska at 7:50 when we arrived for our hour of agility field rental.  The dew was heavy enough to soak through my shoes into my socks before I could get from the car to the field.  Thankfully the hard pack sand mixture on the field provides good footing for dog and handler, so we both are able to navigate the obstacles safely.

He has come so far since my good friend and trainer, Joan Meyer asked me if he'd be ready for the Triune trial (Labor Day weekend) back in March or April.  I decided to sign up for a class to see if he'd like it.  And so it began.  I can't believe we have only been training since April and here we are three weeks away from our first trial.

I took this little clip yesterday evening when I began focusing on driving him into the weaves after a series of three jumps.  It was fun to teach him to gather himself and accurately find the entrance to the poles.  He is a pretty jumper and he gains ground in accuracy every time we work. 

 



Today when I introduced the tire jump to him he picked it up pretty quickly, until I included it in a sequence of jump, jump, tire.  All of a sudden he lost it, obstacle fail.  I haven't figured it out just yet, but I think it is his association of the obstacle to the activity.  Up until today, the act of jumping is typically associated with something that has bars across it.  I think the tire jump just looked so different to him, that he didn't pick up the jumping through it action.  Somehow, I'll  have to figure out what I need to do with this problem by the time we get back out to the field next Sunday. The solution will come, it's a small train the trainer issue. 

 

I am challenged in working with him in all venues (herding, obedience and agility) by the way my brain works.  I am a thinker, often times I'm an over thinker.  When my mind begins to race to contemplate a problem that we just encountered, or a handling issue or learning curve point for me, he loses focus and begins to offer whatever is handy that he is pretty certain would be right, regardless of whatever may be going on in my brain.  At once such moment today, he trotted off to the dog walk and struck a pose while he waited for me to get it together.  I couldn't resist the photo opportunity.

 

Voluntary dog walk while he waits for me to figure out a handling problem

  

I wanted to work poles with him, but they had twelve setup and I had wandered over to see if they could easily be separated into six .  Again, I was taking too much time to think when he walked up behind me, entered the poles and gave me twelve.  He missed a couple toward the middle, but his entrance and exit were really nice.  Of course I wanted to know if that was a fluke or not, so I setup a sequence and sent him to the poles and to my delight he gave me twelve without missing any.  So, I moved my sequence around so he came the other direction to the poles and he nailed them again, not once but twice more. 

 

It is fun to be at this place where you run into a snag, look at each other and figure out how to make it work.  Love my boy!

 

Race Pictures

The race pictures are out and the story they tell is sweet.  They will give some special memories as time and other races pass me by.




It is finished, I met the goal of not resting at any of the kayaks
 

There are tears in my eyes in the above picture.  I have worked so hard to learn to swim and have been so determined to become a triathlete who is competent in all three sports.  This was a gigantic step for me.  In the following picture, I've already looked at my watch and know that I am only two minutes off my goal pace. By now, my mind has already raced forward to Lanier and I've begun setting my time goal for the swim, there is no longer doubt...



Have seen my watch and am happy with my time

The photographer had nobody on the bike course and I am really sorry that I have no pictures from that leg.  It was a phenomenal ride.  By the time I got started on the bike my confidence was beginning to soar.  Then I began finding women ahead of me who had passed me in the water.  I began to chase and take over some younger women.  It is a great feeling to know that you can regain some ground lost on one leg during the next.  All my bike training has been done on a spinner at the gym, so to be close to my goal time on the bike gave me another emotional boost going into the run.

I expected to spend the first mile walking on the run because I hadn't focused much on bike to run bricks.  It was kind of assumed that my quads and hamstrings would be in a gripe session for a bit once I got out of the saddle.  To my surprise, the legs were working much better than expected and I began a slow jog earlier than anticipated.  I never picked up a pace better than a slow jog though, and it cost me dearly in my overall finish time.  Had I been properly prepared for the transition, I would have easily taken back all the lost time in the water and hit my overall finish time goal.  Easy fix, just have to train smarter these next six weeks before Lanier.

It was fun to have people at the finish line I knew, but I had no idea Dave would be there.  I was headed down the chute and checking out my time on the big board when I hear his voice from the sidelines.  I am tearing now as I recall the moment.  Several nights this week when I've closed my eyes, I have heard his voice excitedly calling my name from the side.  His support and love never ceases to amaze me.  The first picture below shows my delight when I heard his voice.

The thrill of hearing Dave at the finish!





Trial and Error

 

Thinking things over...

We have been together for nine months next week and we still are figuring each other out.  On most days things work well and I am left with a sense of accomplishment and even pride when the day is finished.  We really have come a long way, both of us, and I must never be tempted to forget how fragile we were in the beginning.

Wednesday nights are obedience class.  I love obedience and he loves it more.  He is honest and hard working, yet patient enough to ignore my novice obedience training errors.  I like being prepared for class, so Tuesday evenings are almost always "refresher" nights of the skills that we have worked on that week.  Tonight I decided to wrap up some training we've been doing on fronts, finishes and halts mixed with some heeling and a few signals.  It was awesome.  He was good, really good and I was learning how to communicate with him to achieve a straight finish and halt without luring him with bait.  I was pumped when we were finished.

Next up was agility.  We're three weeks from our first competition and I am hoping to be at the point that I can zone in on a few weak spots while working our strengths to finish the final preparations.   To my dismay, he was all over me tonight, there was no focus on the obstacles.  I couldn't get him to leave me alone and look forward.  Well of course not, I had just spent a tremendous effort in reinforcing his "attention" to me during our preceding obedience training.  He was just applying what he'd already been rewarded for to the task at hand.  My self talk was going something like this "all I want is a NA, NAJ title in AKC toward the versatility title...that's all I need and I'm done with agility..."  Yikes, that was the talk of someone who was ready to put a dog away and not work them in the sport anymore.  Not my typical response to challenge.

When I finally finished a successful sequence with a little drive, I ended the session with a jackpot for him.  It didn't take but two minutes of complaining to Dave to realize that I'd followed an intensive handler focused activity with an obstacle focused activity.  For Stetson, a pattern of only a few minutes or sequences quickly becomes "etched in stone" behavior.  My initial take away from this was very  short sighted - I have competition in three weeks, therefore, I'm going to deal with the situation by arranging my training around the issue.  In other words, I'll work obstacle focus skills before handler focus skills until after our first trial.  Something tells me I'll not be able to lay down to the challenge.  I'm betting on myself that I'll have figured out a way to work through this in the next week, but for tonight, I'm planning on giving myself a break on this one. When the day does come that I decide to step up to the challenge, we will both be better competitors for it.

 

The Journey

I have heard it said that true pleasure and satisfaction in your goal destination can only come in having enjoyed the journey.  This afternoon I sit at my laptop thinking about how much I've enjoyed the preparation for the Acworth Women's Sprint Triathlon tomorrow.  I am naturally reflective about the beginning of this endeavor, this path if you will, and how many intersections I've come through.  Sometimes I changed direction onto new roads leading me to ever more new places.  Places I either didn't want to go, or didn't realize I would enjoy if I were to go there.

Mira was my first Siberian who didn't have a "show" career of some sort.  We dabbled in conformation, but I really dislike the game and it was easy for me to decide her long loin and pink nose weren't worth the money it would take to finish her.  I didn't relate to the way her brain worked for agility, she questioned everything and it drove me mad after working with drivey Siberians all the years before.  She is the only dog I ever put away because I really didn't enjoy working with her.  Movement on the other hand was a different story, she was a lovely mover and she was light as a feather on her feet.  Those two things made her a fine running partner.  And so it begins, my love of the run.  My love of running with a dog for pleasure and health.


Pretty mover, even in a tracking harness

She never tired of the trail or road.  I learned to trust her to find the solid path on rocky terrain and gently snake around corners and debris.  I built my confidence with her next to me.  I learned how to support myself and a canine partner on both the road and trail.



Always ready to go

  After she was taken by cancer so suddenly in November, I stated "she was the wind beneath my feet" and I will always feel that way about her.  Stetson came into my life so quickly afterward that there were days I barely had time to think about the robbery that had just taken place on my soul.  He has been an open book and I have learned to open myself up to both dog sports I thought I was finished with years ago, and dog sports that I never considered before.

He is a willing partner in all that we have taken on together.  His open heart and willing attitude have given me the courage to step outside of my comfort zone and take some training and push myself to be better than I've ever been. I've challenged myself to condition for this triathlon more thoroughly than I have before.  I hired a coach and have decided to beat the fear of open water swimming that has previously held me to the end of the finish line.  I'm not sure this drive would not have come out for me had I not been forced to turn myself from a shredded mess into a thriving person in the blink of an eye.

 

This race is to honor you buddy. Thanks for showing me how to open up, let go and let in.

 

Travel Preparations



Madison has handled her age very well, at thirteen and a half, she still has a "can do" attitude!

Dave and I are headed out to Missouri in the motor coach soon for vacation with the dogs.  We will be gone for eight or nine days.  It's the longest trip we have taken the dogs on.   For the most part, Stetson and Maddie travel really well.  However, with age, Madison has a huge deficit in depth perception, along with a little dementia.  Combine those two things with the typical geriatric hip and shoulder stiffness problems, and travel can become uncomfortable for her quickly.

Navigating steps or curbs is a huge challenge for her and creates a stressful environment when we travel in the rig because there are two external stairs and two very steep steps inside.  Every time you leave, or enter, you must use these four steps.  Some days she's fearful of the steps while others she just tries to launch into "la la land".  You never quite know which dog you'll get on the other end of the leash.  It can be scary to manage, so we've learned to keep the harness on at all times to give us a "handle" should we need it.  The stair challenge becomes even more difficult when we are unlucky enough to land in a lot that has a slope off the front of the rig and we have to use the leveling jacks to significantly raise the front end - that can add a good six inches to the already daunting entry.




The final challenge is the steepness of the stairs - the first step into the coach is almost to her chest; it can make for a sore dog over an extended trip

I believe we have two separate challenges here.  First, I cannot remove the entry steps from the coach, they are what they are so I'll have to condition Madison to be able to tolerate the climbing.  We'll begin with getting walks in regularly, regardless of the heat.  It will help her endurance tremendously.  I'll support her further with stretching (as much as she will tolerate, she's my hyper sensitive to touch dog).  I'll also will work on strength training to help support her shoulders and core, which are going to have to pull her up.  I will also work with our Veterinarian support team from Union Hill to make sure I have the right type of medications and alternative support on board.

Secondly, we have the visual problem.  To manage her vision deficiencies, Dave is installing LED lights on sides of the stairs which should help her at least be able to see where she needs to go.  Then we purchased a ramp that we can use to take the outside steps out of the equation all together.  My challenge with the ramp is that she has always loved to jump a contact zone in agility - so I'm actually going to train it like a dog walk contact with the target at the bottom.  My hope is this will keep her from "launching" into never never land at the bottom and crashing. The ramp is a great piece that folds, only weighs about ten pounds and has a really super duty skid proof surface on it.  It is sixteen inches wide, so I'm not going up or down it with her, but I think I can walk sideways up the stairs next to her, with a grip on her harness to make sure she doesn't attempt to leap up or down.



Starting out with a low incline to teach Madison the concept of using a ramp




 

This is the goal - hopefully she will learn to navigate the ramp and eliminate two of the stairs that seem to work on her shoulders and hips.

New Equipment in New Places

My plan has been to take Stetson to a new place once each week to work with agility equipment so he will be adequately "socialized" to various working environments, turfs and equipment by the time we trial over Labor Day weekend.  This past  week, I rented the agility field at The K9 Ranch in northern Canton, Georgia.  The field is really nice, and is very secure with a solid, gated fence around the perimeter.

He had a great time.  As soon as I let him off lead he found the teeter and expectantly took it, looking for the target at the end.  So far, so good.



Teeter Volunteer

He learned about the broad jump, which was a total no brainer for him, I said "go over" and he launched across without thinking twice about it.  I also introduced the panel jump to him.  As soon as I put the panels up, I sent him over and he never hesitated.

The only area we really had an issue with was jump sequencing.  He was just zoning out as if he didn't understand what "over" was, or maybe he couldn't see a jump in front of him until he ducked around it at the last minute. Whatever the source of the problem, he clearly wasn't tuning into the command "over" and that it meant for him to jump the obstacle.  I decided to capitalize on what he already knows and use that to accomplish the jump sequences.  He knows "go" from our work in obedience with the stanchion and learning "go outs".  Not only does he know it, he's fast, fast, fast on the "go" command for "go outs".   I stopped calling "over" and began calling "go" - when I did this he began to get some obstacle focus and very quickly we had a five and six jump sequence going.  Fun stuff!

Here, he's happily resting on the table while I reload bait.









When I released him after a challenging jump sequence, and went to get a drink for myself, he gave me a voluntary Aframe with a lovely target search.















I am so proud of this dog.  We started out eight months ago as strangers.  He hadn't lived in a house as a pet/companion dog before.  I personally haven't seriously trained a dog other than the Siberians and their learning habits are very, very different from a herding dog.  Both of us needed to learn to bond far beyond the boundaries that either of us had ever stretched ourselves to before.  He came into our home assuming that someone here would be in charge and worth his trust and confidence, while I assumed that he'd eventually get over his insistent need for everything to be the exact same routine day after day after day.  We were both right.  The results continue to bring me to a place of gratitude as I close my eyes on another week and dream of the days to come.
 

Closing in on Goals

Today is July 14th.  The Acworth Women's Triathlon is three weeks from today.  The next event will be the Triune Agility trial over Labor Day weekend which is Stetson's debut in the ring.  My second, and last triathlon follows on September 29th.  That's the rush.  Later this fall I'll have the half marathon in Athens, Georgia and Stetson will be entered in at least one more agility trail.  It's become a very busy time of training, planing, and more training, then tweaking the plans and yet more training.

This week I decided to pull Stetson out of group agility classes.  Because he patterns quickly and doesn't appreciate a change of scenery, I thought I'd be better served by training him at home and then renting time once a week at one of the many facilities locally that offer their equipment for use by the hour.  We can fill in on weekends with run throughs at some of the clubs who hold regular run throughs to further support him by getting him used to an environment that will be similar to a trial.

I typically wouldn't put this much effort into socializing a dog I've trained since puppyhood to the environment, except that we have been together only seven months and I want him to know that we can, and will work in any location on any eqiupment.  The other factor that I have been considering is that we're driving the Motor Coach to Missouri for this first trial.  So we'll be on the road for over a day and sleeping in the rig...which he's not really used to either.  We'll arrive on Saturday and I should be able to go to the trial to spectate a bit that afternoon which will help him desensitize to the environment.

A lot of thought and planning goes into things with the dogs, but I've seen really solid hard working dogs fatigue or startle at a new noisy environment and I want to give him every chance I can for success from his very first show.  I should define success here:  happy, working dog.  Period.  That's it.  I love green ribbons, and I think they are especially pretty when presented with a blue one, but I'm being real here; we're a green team and I want a long happy career together.

This week I've focused him on heeling, recalls and halts for obedience.  I know I've forgotten some of my homework from class, but we'll make it up next week.  I'm working him on six weaves with wires during our agility sessions and he's become reasonable with it.  I added a jump yesterday to give him something to focus on.  He's not a great jumper, and I'm glad I've figured that out early.  He doesn't worry about dropped bars, so I'll have to put the time into ground work and some more rear end awareness training.  He'll get it, he always does.

I was touched yesterday when he "offered" weaves to me while I was setting a bar on the jump.  Magic was a crazy weaver.  In his novice days, he went off course a few times to weave.  Thanks for the fun memory Stetson, Magic was an awesome dog.  My boy continues to fill me with giggles, ahs and just plain happy times.

Regarding my personal training, the decision was made this week that I'm not putting my sneakers on for less than three miles between now and the half marathon.  I'm beginning to head back out on my own if Dave and I take the dogs for a short jaunt to get my extra time or mileage in.  The effort will pay off come October 20th.

In triathlon, I had a great open water swim clinic this week and have scheduled two additional one-on-one sessions with the coach that lead the clinic.  I need the experience in open water, the rest of it will come as long as I keep my schedule in the pool during the week.  Tonight I'm planning on a trip to the gym after dinner to get an hour spin in - I'm hoping that one concentrated hard effort per week in the saddle, combined with the three runs and three or 4 swims will be sufficient to hold my legs together on the bike and then follow through with a strong finish on the run August 4th.  I'll know soon enough if the plan is good enough to carry me through the Lake Lanier training too.

Merger

Today has been a nearly perfect day in my opinion.  I took a run this morning with my best bud Sandy Carman, after which Dave and I ran a few errands, had lunch out and then returned home early in the afternoon.  I took Stetson out to work obedience and agility in the yard for the first time in a couple of weeks.  The rain and gooshy conditions have been relentless around the Atlanta metro, so today was a hell or high water day for me - we were going to do something outside together.

We began by working on "go outs" and then some "directed targets".  He just had the fastest "go out" and he gets so excited for any kind of brain work.  "Directed targets" went pretty well, but he tried to break his stay a few times - again, he's fast, fast fast and that I want to continue to reward and build on.  I finished up our obedience work with some "recalls" and then "finishes" both around my back, and also with him bouncing up to my left hand, then pivoting "close".  When we finished with obedience I moved onto the weave poles.

The eyes of focus

He likes agility, but it's not the same level of drive and determination that I see in him for obedience, so I decided to use obedience as our entry to the less interesting weave pole training.  Again, we haven't had the opportunity to use the poles and wires for a couple of weeks - so he really had some issues with 6 poles.  If he'd consistently slipped under a wire or jumped a wire and if it were the same side/pole...I would have been able to fix it pretty quick, but he was all over the board today.  I finally stopped him and put him in a sit so I could think this through.  I decided that the catastrophic results I was getting were simply a green dog that hadn't seen poles enough to really understand them, and then what he did know, we hadn't rehearsed for almost fourteen days.  Fair enough; I pulled three poles and the wires that went with them dropping the set to three.  He quickly skipped over a wire, so I raised it; then he ducked under it, so I lowered it - after those two attempts, he did it perfectly, so he got a small jackpot party.  We repeated the process a few times "on side" (dog entering poles from my left side) and he continued to navigate three and was able to find the entrance from some vairation in angle.  Then I moved "off side" and he was successful again twice.  I put the other three poles back with their wires and he got it right every time for many repetitions both on and off side.  I finished him with a big jackpot on the patio and some good hard rubs.  When I opened the back door for him to go in, he turned and trotted back out to the poles and stood staring back at me, clearly ready to work some more.  I put him up anyway, I choose to say when...and control the work environment as best I can.  But wow, I could get used to this!

Tomorrow is a run day for us.  Hopefully he'll be able to go out with me for awhile on the road, but who knows what this weather will do.  Regardless, I am enjoying the merging of my triathlete and runner lifestyle with some dog sports.  It feels good to have this much balance, although negotiating time between activities can be daunting at times. 

My calendar is a nice mix of Agility Trials, Sprint Triathlons and a Half Marathon this fall.  It has taken some planning, serious priority setting and even saying "no thanks" to some offers that would confict with either my training or his; but now that I've got myself on a schedule of sorts, I am enjoying the mix beyond my wildest dreams.