Pocatello AKC Agility

October 1st -3rd we visited Pocatello for an Agility trial. There were many firsts. Raygen got to run in F.A.S.T. Novice preferred and earned his NFP title. One of his runs was 13.41 seconds, with 59 points.
Although he decided to end the run by leaving me for the tunnel who had the time at the end, I like the fast time in which we accumulated 59 points in. Running contacts can definitely take many seconds away form the runs. 
Rylie earned her first Excellent STD leg. She had a lot of fun in JWW however she ran past jumps and weaves is not something that gets her Q's. She was sore on Monday and I have decided that Agility may just be to much for her and retire her to pursue K9 Nosework and also go back to some Freestyle training.
Ryker got to run again for the first time in 13 months. Even though we did not Q, his times were mind boggling. I had some late cues and he was already on to the next obstacle when he realized what I actually asked of him. A spin 'cause he is waiting for me to tell him where to go, knocking a bar 'cause I am cuing to early are only some minor errors I need to iron out somehow. I am hoping that I have his weave entry cue figured out. His problem has always been collection before the weaves, actually the lack of collection. He did get some nice weave entries when I cued weave collection. We will see in future trials.
My motto was run as fast as you can, give him the cues he needs, run like you train with Stacy and the HELL with being afraid. I had more fun running fast and not cuing then running to Q. In the future this may change or not.
And then there was Rydge's first ever trial debut. I had him entered in FAST and JWW. As I entered the ring the first time and took his collar off he perked up and looked at the course. It seemed that he was a bit unsure, but exited at the same time. His first run was JWW and he did everything I asked him to.
FAST was way hard for him. Leaving me five feet to take a jump is sure harder then doing it at home. His second JWW runs was much faster, which I like a lot more. I entered him not expecting to much, but getting Q's as a reward feels nice.
Looking forward to the next trial.

Ryker Limping part two

Live has changed since Ryker started limping last year. I have been religiously following my vets advice to continue him on the Water Treadmill and laser therapy.

He loves his water treadmill hour so I did not mind taking him. However his condition did not improve. He was good for a day, then got worse on the next. Then I asked the rehab therapist if I should take him to see the chiropractor. She said that "Why try to fix something if it isn't broken". I did not know what to say. Have they not been listening to me? At that moment I felt I have been used like an endless money bag. I decided to see another vet to retake the x-rays. Remember the original diagnosis was: " ..... evidence of left hind limb hip dysplasia, with mild OA present along the dorsal rim of the acetabulum." " The lumbar spine shows some LS sclerosis which could be indicative of L7 S1 instability."

Well, this vet did not find anything wrong with Ryker's skeletal system. He prescribed some Previcox for him to take for a week, than another week of leash walking only and then, he said, I should be able to start training him again. I felt a bit numb as his words seemed unrealistic. Remember he has a bad hip and spine and some pills won't fix that. Well, they did. I have not seen any lameness since this day. The vets diagnosis was that he may have a mild pinched nerve that gets aggravated sometimes. Seems to make more sense with the symptoms he was showing.

Ryker is hurt....

..... and we don't know what it is. I took him in for x-rays and was told he had some mild hip dysplasia. I was also told that he had some mild scoliosis in his lower back. I had two other vets look at the x-rays and was told they were of mediocre quality and there was no evidence of hip dysplasia.

I also had him examined by another vet in Salt Lake City. Ryker was not lame at the time and the vet said his gait was beautiful. He also confirmed that he does not have hip dysplasia. He did some leg stretches with Ryker and confirmed that he was uncomfortable stretching his left leg.

He recommended to give him some crate rest and to keep him on the leash to avoid running and jumping. The following week I met with Anita our acupressure massage therapist and she also recommended to keep him in on crate rest for 4 weeks. I have seen very little improvement. Sometimes Ryker comes out of the x-pen normal and other times he keeps his left rear leg up and hobbles around for a few minutes. It is very disconcerting not knowing what is wrong with him. I am not planning on doing anything with him until he is fully healed. I would rather keep him as a healthy pet than to enter him in any more Agility trials. My plan is to let him rest until the end of February, than sign him up for some underwater treadmill sessions. Maybe he will be ready for the USDAA trial in April, but I am in no hurry and will be ready to wait for as long as it takes.

No U-FLI Nationals

UTB Flyball Team BOD has decided not to go to U-FLI Nationals this year. A few team members where very angry at the decision. Other than the BOD nobody knows why this decision was made. Frankly, I am to sick and tired to care, maybe I will have some feelings about it later. I canceled my hotel reservation and made peace as much as I can with whatever is happening or going to happen. Can't let this get me down. Great news is that Ryker really doesn't care. He is as happy as a clam. Ready to go play and fetch a toy or swim in the pond or jump over jumps or just sleep. Sure helps when the world keep turning and nothing really matters. My happiness is my dog happiness. Maybe I am trying to hard?

Ryker earned his AAD and more

This weekend we were entered in the Wasatch USDAA Agility trial in Farmington. We took Friday off since it was the day we got back from C-Spot Win Camp. I am glad I did. I got home at 11pm Thursday evening and the dogs wanted to run around the yard for a while before going to bad.
So, Friday was a slow day, doing laundry, watching the yard getting watered and visiting frinds at the trial.
I decided not to run in all the classes. I split up Ryker and Raygen. Ryker ran in STD Advanced on Saturday and earned his Std title and AAD. Now we can move up in all future trials to Masters classes. Way to go Ryker!!!
Raygen ran in Snookers and Jumpers. I took an off course in Snookers, it was such a nice course. Jumpers was really cool. He Q'ed in that.
On Sunday I had Ryker in Masters Gamblers and Advanced Std. Gamblers was really confusing me for some reason. I ended up taking advice from G and Ryker earned 3rd place. All three dogs that placed were withing 0.50 seconds of each other. Way cool!
Ryker's Std run wasn't as pretty as I failed to see the "serpentine" challenge that included a teeter. The approach to the second jump and teeter was totally wrong and he took an off-course jump. I realized that only after I watched another competitor handled it like a serpentine.
I was so focused on getting Ryker through the Gamblers course that I totally forgot that Raygen was in the same class. I had no plan for him when I entered the ring. For his running style the course was a good one to just run as fast as I could and let him take whatever was in his path without much handling and get the minimum points. Even though Jim Basic was drilling us with some "panic" drills, I messed up and did not take my time getting Raygen set up to get a nice Gamble over the first tow obstacles. He is such a Velcro dog. BUT he got the points.
Also, great news, my battery charger cable has been found, thanks G, and I can finally charge my camera again to take movies and pictures again.

WW Flash Moy of Spunk

Ryker's GGGGrandad Flash Moy of Spunk aka Flash

1994 ONYX

1996 NAFA Hall of Fame

WW Kyla Moy

Ryker's GGGGrandma

U-FLI Nationals

Perfect Pass.... Ryker is going from left to right, Zoe is coming from rigth to left

This is at full speed, both dogs.

We had a great weekend in St. George. The weather was very nice. Not to hot and a bit of rain. We were safely in an air conditioned building. All the dogs including Chocolate was with me. Seems like a lot, but they were very well behaved and I had enough downtime to take them out and play with them.
The great news is that Ryker and his teammates Qualified for the U-FLI National in Nebraska on September 25th-27th.
What a great adventure that will be!

Happy Birthday Ryker !!!!

You are the most amazing dog.

I want you to live forever!
6-11-05

WW Phantom

Ryker's Brother Phantom

WW Hughes

Ryker's Brother Hughes

WW Otter

Ryker's Brother Otter at the Beach in San Diego

Ryker in the news

Border collie Ryker weaves through the agility course during the Front Range Agility Club Dog Agility trial at the Ranch-Way Feed Indoor Arena at The Ranch on Saturday. The two-day event features different courses and events for different skill levels for dogs and their handlers.

Group IV Terrier Club, May 22nd - 25th

This weekend we attended a four day AKC Agility trial in Sandy at Lynnleigh Farms. Even though I do not enter the FAST class, it was a very long 4 day weekend. All classes are run by category starting with Excellent, then Open, then Novice. It makes for a very long day for dogs and humans if the judge is not efficient. This was the case on Friday and Saturday. Course changes took a bit longer then we were used to. Judging for us on Sunday and Monday was Lisa Potts. The pros were her speedy course changes, fun and fast courses. The cons .... she had a very negative opinion about Poodles in Agility and made it known to everyone. It was very unprofessional and untrue.
Raygen earned two more legs in each class. On Sunday we had a perfect run in JWW, until third to last jump, he spotted a dog he seemed the urge to greet and jumped the fence instead. I called him back and finished the last three jumps. I chose to scratch his runs on Monday.
Ryker's best run was on Friday morning. I felt we were connected. He got into his weave poles both times on Saturday since they were set-up to get a front cross before them.
On Monday he was running for another handler in JWW. It was a very fast course and I was amazed as how much speed he is capable of.
Rylie, Ryddick and Chocolate were hanging out under the tent and got to go on walks around the Farm. We also practiced some socializing with a kid and got to meet lots of people.
In conclusion... I will not enter any of my dogs in a four day trial. I need to train weave poles with Ryker and lots of fun, fun, happy Raygen time. It is OK to say hi to a dog, but he needs to wait for me to send him to say hello first. Maybe some Ruff Love?

WW Bo-Tyne Copper

Ryker's Grand-Dad

Copper

I am stumped

At this time I am stumped as how to help Ryker with his Weave Pole stress at trials.
He has the best weave poles at home. As soon as we go to the training yard he will not take them for at least the first time. It all started out by him not getting the entry at which point some well meaning trainers suggested to pull him out as soon as he gets in the wrong way. Oh, boy was that a big mistake. It was getting so bad that he completly ran past them like they were not even there? He would always get them the second try. On Thursday he ran passed them, both in STD and JWW. On Friday he actually got in, in STD and JWW, even though it was at the second pole. Saturday was a bit of a mess. I was way to close to the triple and my hand was over the jump to point it to the weave poles. He lightly bumped into my hand, before taking the weave poles the correct way.
Well, in JWW it was extremly difficult to get him in. He first ran passed the weaves, then refused them two more times. Even though it did not seem as such a big deal that he bumped my hand, it had a very negative effect on him. My plan at this time is to let him take the weaves all the way through, even if he takes them the wrong way and continue with the course.
I have got to get his confidence back. Moral of the story, when getting advise think it through as how it would effect your dog. Pulling Ryker out as soon as he hit the wrong entry has taugth him that he should avoid the weaves.

WW Flash Kruger

Toy Crazy Blond Bombshell

Ryker's Dad

Pueblo, Colorado 2008

WW Tuff's Jewel

This is the only picture I have of the boys' Mom, all wet from swimming in the pool.

Ryker and Ryddick's Mom

USDAA Loveland, CO

We had a great time in Loveland Colorado at the FRAC USDAA Agility trial.
The weather was a mess, though. we got there OK and settled into the Hotel and by the time Saturday came around it was bad. High winds and drifting snow. At one point I though I was going to get blown away while I was out with Ryker. He surely did not enjoy it either.
Needles to say he did not get the exercise he needed to be able to give me some nice runs.
I am happy to say that he did not knock a bar all weekend. He earned first place in Snookers in his class. I walked a hodge-podge course and while watching other dogs I decided to change our strategy and it sure paid off.
I have Raygen entered in only three runs, one of the was Performance National Qualifier and out of 60 dogs only 19 Q'ed and he was one of them. He did very well.
Coming home was a mess. We ended up staying in Laramie for the night and headed home the next day, arriving in Layton at a bit after 5pm.
It is good to be home. I actually missed Utah weather? ICK!

WW Time Flies

Ryker 2 weeks old

5 weeks

2 years