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.

TPLO Recovery

It has been Nine weeks since the surgery.

10 sessions on the Water Treadmill, Hot Tub with electro stimulation and laser therapy, and crate rest and leash walks have been part her recovery. She is doing amazing. Today was our final consult with Dr. Pam and she was impressed with how little muscle tone she has lost. She said that by summer we can trial in Agility again. Not sure if she would be mentally ready. We would have to train a bit before we get back running over obstacles.

The hardest part is keeping her weight at under 40lbs. She is 3 lbs over at this time. Her daily calorie intake should only be 400. I am off to the store to get more green beans as this will be part of her her diet plan until she looses those extra pounds.

Feeding RAW

Ryker eating his first turkey on Thanksgiving 2007

I have been feeding RAW for 2 years. I was happy with the food I was feeding my dogs, they liked it and I had no issues with allergies. Then on March 15th 2007 some of the foods of the same company were being voluntarily recalled.
Someone in the Ogden plant in Utah had cut corners and bought un-approved rice from China. No other plants were effected. At least that was the story that was told to the consumers. I have been thinking about feeding RAW for at least 4 years prior to this incident and this helped me make my decision to switch very easy. 70% of my dog training friends feed RAW and have been telling me to switch all along.
I did it cold turkey, no pun intended, and brought back the unused portion of the kibble back for a full refund. For the first 2 months I fed only chicken. Chicken feet, hearts, gizzards, liver included. I did not want their tummies to get upset and chicken the best way to help them switch. After about 6 weeks I added a bit of fish, then beef, then lamb, then turkey. It was challenging to give them enough skin and bone. Loose stools, more bone; harder stool, more skin. Here is a list of foods they get, salmon oil, coconut oil, olive oil, cottage cheese, pumpkin, green beans, spinach, carrots, bananas, apples, yogurt, eggs with the shell, anything I can get my hands on from beef, pork, turkeys, chicken lamb, fish. I have been offered lamb heads, but I am not brave enough to handle it. I am sure my pups would love it.
I stopped feeding raw chicken bone. Rylie and Raygen would swallow large pieces and on more then one occasion regurgitate them during the night. They still get bone, but it is crushed into pieces and blended into a paste. I used to feed raw meaty beef bones and lamb bones. I noticed Rylie had broken a tooth and that was the end of feeding larger bones, too.
This does not prevent me from still feeding them raw. I have never seen dogs go crazy at feeding time before.

WW Time Flies

Less then 2 weeks old

3 1/3 weeks old

6 years old

Rylie TPLO Update

The Surgery went well. My vet allows me to be with my dogs when they wake up. After an hour sitting with her I took her home. Spending the night is not an option for me or my dogs.
I have been lucky with my vets, as they allow me to make important decisions without making me feel bad in any way.
Rylie has been extremely well behaved. I have set up an x-pen in the living room next to the couch and an x-pen next to my bed. I keep her on a short leash when I take her out into the backyard to go potty. She gets to walk for about 5 minutes and then I put her back into the x-pen. I know she does not understand the new routine, but she doesn't mind. I take some time to open the x-pen and sit in with her and play some target games and a new trick that I will post on youtube when she gets good at it.
And as a bonus.... she pooped today. Nothing since Wednesday the morning before the surgery.
Phew, she was getting heavy hauling up and down the stairs.

WW TPLO Surgery

Rylie is going to have TPLO surgery today. I am hoping for the best.

Ouch!

Poor Rylie. I entered her in the AKC Agility trial the end of January, but decide to pull her entry. She is hurting real bad and it is not getting better. The cold is really taking a toll on her knee.I am not sure if she will be able to do any Agility in the future. She only jumps 12" in AKC. Which would not be hard for a dog that doesn't have an injury.I have been giving her Deramax for the pain. She is also on Adequan, but I don't see to much of a difference. It has gotten worse since seeing the vet. She is also on a ton of suplements. Makes me very sad that she is hurting so bad and nothing seems to work. She is still so young.

Rylie's Goals for 2009

I really don't care. I just want to play fetch.Mom said she would love for me to finish my RA title. I only need one more leg and the trial in March might be a good idea to enter.I will also try to get my NAP and maybe my OAP and OJP. My leg is bothering me sometimes and I can't do anymore Flyball.Herding sheep would be fun, but they sure aren't Cattle and nipping them is a big no-no.I love doing tricks and I will learn more tricks fur sure. Freestyle is my favorite sport.I also promise to continue to keep the peace. A home without peace is not good. Mom needs me to help.

Watch Dog

Late last night Rylie was sleeping on one of the dog beds in dining room. She woke up and while still laying in her bed started to bark. She must have heard something outside, since it was an alarm bark. It usually is a cat or other dog barking so I told her to stop it and she did. A few minutes later she barked again. I picked her up and put her on the couch next to me so she would stop. She cuddle up to me and went back to sleep. This morning I found out why she barked.

All five chickens have been killed by what I assume where Raccoons. I was so furious. They took 3 of them and left 2 behind, dying of their injuries. Not even taking a bite out of them. These are not cute little raccoons you see in a Disney movie. These are nasty, dirty, sick looking creatures.
Talking to our neighbor this morning, they got into his garage and ate his cat and dog food.
I had a talk with Rylie this morning and thanked her for trying to let me know my chickens were getting murdered. She barked and me and ran to get a toy.

Retirement from USDAA

I decided not to run Rylie in 16" Performance USDAA and pull the entry. She only needs one Standard and one Gamblers leg to get her PD1, however she really is uncomfortable jumping at that height. I tried at the last Club practice and she ended up not even wanting to do the weave poles. The title really doesn't matter to her. I will still run her in AKC 12" preferred and try to get into Excellent. We will see how she feels.

Teeth Cleaning

Went to the vet to get Rylie's teeth cleaned for the first time ever. She will be 6 years on January 17. Her teeth are in really great shape as far as stains and tartar is concerned. Brushing her teeth when she was on kibble and now feeding Raw has helped keep them clean.Since she was under anesthetic, i had the vet take some x-rays of her right knee and it looks like she has some arthritis in it. Back in 2005 she had an injury she got during Flyball. We put her on Adequane shots and some pain meds for when she runs around a lot. I decided to retire her from Flyball and only jump her 12" in AKC Agility. I will try to finish her PDI USDAA title at 16" in December.

Retirement from Flyball

I took Rylie to the vet today to have her teeth cleaned and to get some x-rays done to check out why she is limping so much.
About four years ago she hurt her knee and the patella was luxating. The vet at the time put her on an anti inflammatory and it fixed the problem. Apparently there was already some damage done and she now has some arthritis in her knee. We are giving her adequane shots twice a week for the month and then when she needs it. I am going to officially retire her from Flyball and only run her in Agility at 12". More walks instead of endless fetching in the yard is going to be our routine from now on. And more Freestyle!

Box Turn

It has been almost a year since I stopped training Rylie in Flyball. Here is her boxturn at last weeks practice. She loves to play Flyball. So back to regular practice we go.

http://s365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/utbphotos/box/?action=view&current=rylie2.flv

PKC Agility 9--27-08

After a very long break (Jan 2007) from Agility trialing, I entered Rylie in the PKC trial for one JWW and one STD run in Nov Pref 12".She did great! I was calm while running her and not to worried about making time, since this was preferred and we had pretty much all the time in the world. She placed first both runs and earned her Novice STD Preferred title. I am very proud that she was able to stay with me and not go crazy.

Off The Wall

I took this Video in April and finally got around to post it. The growling in the background is Ryddick chasing Rylie after she runs to get the ball. Her turn is nice and tight and her head is down when she lands.

Weaving

ASCA Trial August 2nd and 3rd

I was very happy with Rylie and her calm manner at the trial site. She gets exited about being with me and did some nice obedience with me. We also did some Freestyle , which she love the to do more then anything. Even though I used lots of treats while training her she will work for just being with me.

Sprinkler

My dogs love to play with the sprinklers. Rylie however really gets soaked from head do toe. She bites at the water and then turns her body into the sprinkler. She does this dance in front of the sprinkler. She seems to enjoy it very much.

Swimming

Saturday we went to Huntsville to have a herding lesson with Ryddick and Raygen and I took the opportunity to take Ryker and Rylie to let them go swimming. She won't go swimming on her own, but is eager to fetch the ball out of the water no matter how far I throw it. In CA we went to the a very secluded beach twice a week and I really miss going with the doggies.

Considering Trialing

Rylie got to go to Huntsville with me and the boys. She usually stays home with Michael, but I thought I'll give her a break from the heat and let her go swimming in the pond, which she loves to do.I decided to run her a bit on the Agility course, too. First she barked at me, but then ran the course real nice. She is and has always been a Velcro dog. She never goes further away then 4 feet. But she did good. Her weaves are great, she runs the contacts and she only has to jump 12 inches in AKC preferred. ASCA does not have a lower jump height option unless the dog or handler are seniors or the handler is a junior. USDAA she would have to jump 16" in preformance. In DOCNA she could be entered on Select at 12". I really like DOCNA.