Fairs – Demos Season!

I just finished my usual Labor Day Weekend fair “tour“.  Every year for the past 6 years I have done dog agility demos at the Scottish Games (www.scotgames.com) at the Altamont Fairgrounds.  This year Steve Capporizzo, the Channel 10 weatherman and local rescue dog champion, was back to emcee.  Last year he was notably absent, and it just wasn’t the same without him.  This is always a big event, there’s a big crowd there to watch agility; but also in general there are tons of vendor booths, food, drink, and clans/societies, and of course the bagpipe bands.  The weather was wonderful, and we had Border Collies, Shelties, Cairn Terrier, Golden Retriever, and even Scottish Deerhound to perform agility during the dog show.  We also had an unofficial show earlier in the day (a warm up, really, without announcing to the crowd, and open to non-Scottish breeds of dogs).  Any time you start running a dog over the agility course crowds form!

On Thursday, for the 5th year in a row (if my memory serves) I also held demos at Kids Day at the Columbia County Fair in Chatham (www.columbiafair.com).  This is a great local event, and we have 2 45 minutes shows each year.  The crowds were, as usual, large and appreciative, and other than the scary ferris wheel just 20′ from the ring that unnerved a couple of dogs and a brief outing by one dog to get some food a spectator had about 25′ away, all the dogs did very well and really entertained the crowd.

Thanks to all who helped me with both shows.  These are a lot of work for me to organize, get participants for, and haul/setup/takedown equipment for.  I really appreciate all of my friends and students to come out to help me put on a good show every year!

My Parents 50th Wedding Anniversary

The following was in the Berkshire Eagle last weekend:

Stalls Celebrate 50 Years

August 15, 2009

 

Marjorie and Ralph Stall

     Ralph and Marjorie Stall of New Lebanon, NY celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on August 15th.  They were married in the East Chatham Methodist Church on August 15, 1959.
     They have a daughter, Trisha, of New Lebanon, NY.
     Ralph retired from General Electric/Martin Marietta, as a senior Designer in 1993 after 37 years of service.  After retirement he worked part  time as a design checker for Advanced Power Technologies, first in Pittsfield and then in Schodack, NY.  Ralph is an avid golfer and plays almost every day at Bas-Ridge in Hinsdale, Mass, and has gotten two holes-in-one.  He continues to try for the 3rd one.
     Marjorie, formerly Marjorie Larabee, worked as a bookkeeper for the first few years of their marriage and then was a stay at home Mom and housewife.  Marge is an avid quilt maker.

 ===============================================================================

I am putting together a booklet for Mom and Dad, and if you would like to send me an email, I will include it in the booklet. 

I know some of you know them very well, others have just seen them loading equipment at trials, or Dad fixing things, or bringing me items at trials.  Or, some of you know of my Mom making that Teacup quilt for the TDAA nationals, or my parents making and bringing the food for my summer agility camp.

But, they do a great deal for me such as getting the trailer packed up, driven to the site, and unloading it, taking inventory of the ribbons and food after the trial is over.  Plus, they take care of my dogs when I go to my day job adn when I am away judging on weekends.  Anything you want to include is fine, either something you remember about them or just sending them good wishes.  Thanks in advance!

Trisha

Power Your Paws Seminar!

Oh, wow…  I had a blast on Monday doing the “Power Your Paws” seminar for filming by Agility Vision in Sandgate, VT.  What a lovely facility!  I was nervous; thank goodness it wasn’t presented live, so that they can edit out my pauses to look at my notes, and the times people were walking the courses and sequences.

I’m not a public speaker by nature; the first time I taught an agility class 10 years ago I was so scared I could hardly talk.  But I got through it, and realized the students were getting a lot out of my classes and hardly noticed I was nervous.  Then, by the time I started presenting seminars and hosting agility trials (try talking to 100+ people at once!), I was more used to public speaking.

But, speaking before a camera for all posterity brings a whole new level of nervousness out, or at least it did in me.  It also did for the 7 people taking the seminar (we kept the size small for filming purposes), as witnessed by their first course run.  After that run, we all loosened up and got to business. 

It was 6 hours of fun, lots of motivation and getting every bit of speed and fun out of each team.  I just found out the video will be available for purchase in a week or so (they’re working fast!), and they’ve just completed the trailer.  You’ve gotta see it – here’s the link:

http://vimeo.com/5099128

Let me know what you think after you’ve purchased and watched it, I’d love to hear your comments.

Trisha

Not enough hours…

I know, I know, I haven’t posted a blog in – what is it, 2 weeks??  Yikes!

I just cannot seem to get the “necessary” things done (you know, confirmation emails for my camp, courses designed for future judging assignments, entries into the computer for the CPE trial in 3 weeks), let alone find time for this blog, which I love the idea of but at least for the moment isn’t at the top of my priority list.

Anyone out there have ideas for time management?  Or, even, ideas for what they’d like to see me write about that doesn’t take me an inordinant amount of time. 

For instance, I’d love to post more courses/sequences to critique how I look at and handle them these days using APHS.   I’d love to give updates about Lucy (who’s started some agility training, but is still having problems being left alone in a crate, which is the only safe spot where she won’t ingest something bad again).  I’d love to talk about my schedule of judging, trialing my own dogs, and hosting trials and camps.  But, oh, there isn’t any time…

Ok, enough poor me, I’ve managed to write quite a bit in just 5 minutes, haven’t I?

What that being said, I must get back to work at my non-agility day job…

Trisha

Hy Caliber Video

I have to promote these guys.  They have a great service – I’m trying to get them to come out and video for one of my trials this year, but they’re in high demand!

Look at this video taken of Jart on April 18th at BARK’s USDAA trial:
http://www.hycalibervideo.com/09-04-18-jart-sgmb

LIVE SEMINAR
In addition, I’ll be holding a live seminar on Monday, June 8th (after the CPE nationals) that they are going to stream to the web!  This is going to be “Motivating Your Agility Dog”, and will run from 11am-5pm with an hour long lunch break.  I’m going to have a small group (maybe 5 dogs) because that will work best for this format.  So, if you’re interested in this seminar, please email me and I’ll get you more details!  I’m so excited to be doing this; I know it’s going to be fun, as well as a learning experience.  I’m also happy that I will be able to get my information out to more people that would normally not be able to benefit from my seminars.

Lucy Update

LUCY

I wanted to get you a quick update on Lucy, even though this week I’m swamped with my CPE trial prep stuff.

The results came back and she does not have Lepto.  So much for that theory!  The liver failure was cauesd by was either infectious or toxicity.  My best guess is that it was all those toys she ate the first week she was here… you know, PVC/plastic hollow balls, squeaky toys, plush toys.  So much came out the other end of her, but perhaps some stayed in her.  And, I read that many of the dog toys on the market contain DINP, which is a chemical used to make hard PVC plastic soft and pliable. 

Here’s a link to the article I found about this:
http://www.theholisticoption.com/Default.aspx?ContentPageID=281

AKC and Mixed Breeds

Yes, I’m sure you’ve heard that AKC will soon “allow” mixed breeds to compete at agility events.  I, like many others, have no wish to do this; there are plenty of other venues out there that don’t discriminate against our All Americans.  I found this blog this morning and just had to share.  Too funny!

http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2009/04/akc.html

Leptospirosis and liver failure

This is an update on Lucy.  The title describes what we think happened, but I won’t know for sure until the blood tests come back on Tuesday or Wednesday.

On Friday I took her back to the vets; by last Thursday her appetite hadn’t returned yet, indeed it had gotten worse.  Plus, she was becoming more and more “disconnected”, seeming to not care about anything any more.  It was very sad, it felt like she was dying inside.  Felt way too much like it was with Sandy the last week or so, and even like Crystal at the end.

Well, it turns out that Lucy’s liver enzymes were high, indicating liver failure.  They put her on fluids (she had gone down from a weight of 36 pounds on Monday to 30.5 pounds on Friday), and other medicines to help bring the liver back.  She stayed all weekend at the vet clinic and they kept up her treatments all weekend.  Lisa (Dr. Wiggins) called me several times on Friday afternoon/evening and on Saturday – I was away at a trial, she said I couldn’t help her locally so I might as well still go, and I had to be there because I was supervising a new judge.  Every update over the course of the weekend  got better – improvement in her energy level (she had been disconnected, spacey, and very weak, all symptoms of the liver failure), and eating “meatballs” (canned dog food mushed into a ball) by Saturday.  On Friday afternoon another vet came in and did an ultrasound to verify it was liver failure.  We brainstormed to figure out what had happened, and on Friday night in between phone calls Lisa went to the clinic and did X-rays.  She wanted to see if she had injested pennies or other copper or metallic objects, as she had gotten into bags of screws in a bag on a shelf about 3′ above the floor a week before.  Well, that wasn’t the case, Lisa didn’t find anything on the x-rays.  But, the other likely culprit, other than toxicity (we couldn’t think of any other possible thing she injested that would’ve caused liver failure), is leptosporosis. 

 

Three weeks before she had already been diagnosed with Coccidia, which she had before I adopted her, so why not the possibility that she had gotten lepto before I got her, too?  She had been vaccinated against it 3 weeks ago, but not before I got her, so it could be a pre-existing condition.  She’s currently getting meds for lepto, and has bounced back very quickly, which leads Lisa to believe that that’s what caused the liver problems.

I went to visit her this afternoon, and to my surprise (because yesterday Lisa said she wanted to keep her another day or two), Lisa said she could come home with me!  She was happy to see me, wagging her tail and had so much more energy than when I remember how she was on Friday (very sad, indeed, her state on Friday).  Because of the likely lepto I can’t let her potty in the dog yard with the boys because it’s contagious.  Apparently it can be spread by urine or also if enough contact is made between dogs.  Anyway, about the pottying thing, it’s a pain as the dogs are used to going in and out when they wish through the dog door.  The boys can use it, but not Lucy!  And she’s peed about 3 times in the 2 hours she’s been home (part of it is because she has drunk a lot of water, which she needs), so I have to put her on leash and take her out the front door to an area where the other dogs don’t go (except when we go down to get in the car for a ride somewhere).

 

She’s tired now, all this activity!  I gave her a couple meatballs of food which she gobbled up (glad she has her appetite back!), She had a little nap, and is getting her strength back and getting back to her normal happy self very quickly. 

 

One step forward…

I’ve had Lucy for about 3 weeks now.  She’s settled in nicely in the home.  Jart and her love to play, and Buddy tolerates her, and sometimes even seems to like her!  Wow…

I have seen her become more comfortable, and then start to get into trouble: chewing up all of the rubber toys, eating pieces of them as well as tearing apart squeaky soft toys, and getting into food in the pantry and bags of misc things on the shelves (not always food).  We’ve “puppy-proofed” places and things she might get into, and now watch her very closely. 

The problem is most likely that it’s time to give her a job!  Although, part of the reason is that she still is hungry and I’m still trying to put weight on her.  It turns out she has Cocchia, an infection somewhat like worms, and easily treatable.  This is likely the reason that, even though I’ve been feeding her 3-1/2 cups of food a day, she hasn’t been gaining weight and was trying to getting into food on shelves and the like.  She’s on meds now, and we were forced to totally clean up the poop in the dog yard and back yard, quite a task since nothing had been done all winter!

What have I done for training?

I have done hand touches, she picked up that very quickly.  We’re also working on stay and down (she has sit pretty well down).  And, of course, recalls.  I’m still trying to get her to go potty on command, a necessity when we start trialing and take it on the road.

She has done a few jumps, and put her paws on the dogwalk and A-frame, but I’ve only asked her to do a few jumps, nothing else official yet.  I was going to start agility training this week, but we had a bit of  a setback over the weekend.

I took her to the Y Agility USDAA trial in CT on Sunday.  She got to hang out in the crate in the van and came in a few  times with me to get used to the atmosphere in the place.  She loved it, as she loves both people and dogs – I had trouble as she wanted to greet every dog and person that came close!  I gave her a hollow bone with the Kraft Squeeze Cheese in it, and she loved it; it kept her busy when she was in the crate hanging out.

On Sunday, I had some private lessons on Stephentown.  I brought all the dogs with me.  She seemed a little lackluster as the day wore on, and vomited on the way home.  That night she was clearly not feeling well; she ate dinner, but didn’t want to play or run around.  The next morning she vomited again after eating only half of her breakfast.  I took her to the vet in the afternoon, and she vomited a couple of times on the way there. 

 

We figured out that she had gotten some old cheese (wow, the expiration date on the can was June 2007…. such a bad Momma!!…), and had a reaction to it. 

Now, lest you think I’m a thoughtless and bad Momma (really!), let me explain a bit more.  I had had this tube of cheese in with the dog’s travel food container for at least 3-4 months.  I thought it had come off of my parents pantry shelf before that, but I now think it was actually an older can of mine that I hadn’t used for years.  I used to often fill hollow bones with cheese (I called them cheese bones!), for Buddy, Sandy, Crystal, when travelling in crates or in hotel rooms.  I haven’t done that for years, so when I got Lucy and saw that she loved bones, I knew she’d also like something stuffed in them to keep her busy when I wasn’t around.  I checked the cheese when I squeezed the cheese into the bone on Saturday – it smelled fine, looked fine, and I even took a bit myself so know it tasted fine.  I just never thought to check for an expiration date.  You know, many items like this have a very long shelf life.  Well, lesson to me, always check just to be safe!

They gave her shots and pills to take home, and she is now on a plain rice and chicken diet.  She’s eating better, but after 2 days is still not fully back to normal; she has some of her energy back but is still not eating with her normal gusto (and doesn’t like her regular food, only that good chicken will do!).  She has started to play and chase Jart just a bit, but I don’t want to do any training yet with her until she’s back to normal.  So, I continue to read about foundation training stuff I want to do with her, and think about which obstacles I want to start her on (tunnels are next!).

 

I Love Lucy

Yes, I got a new dog, the one I posted about a few weeks ago, and yes, I named her Lucy!  Thanks for all of your name ideas.  A few I was thinking might  be good, but nothing really seemed to fit her; a day after getting her, I just needed to give her some name.  I for the first time looked at one piece of paperwork that came with her adoption papers, and this piece of paper was her surrender form.  She was surrendered to a Georgia high-kill shelter on 1/30/09, a guess of one year of age, no reason given for surrendering her.  The name on the form was Lucy.  I tried it on her to make sure she didn’t hate it (i.e. hadn’t been abused or anything), and she seemed nonchalant, really didn’t even seem to know the name!  So I decided that Lucy it was!

She has gotten along fine with Jart – playing with him the instant she arrived, pretty much.  The neat thing is that Buddy does not hate her!  At times, in fact, he seems to almost like her, which is really rare for him.  He put her in her place a few times the first week as she learned what was and wasn’t allowed, and about Buddy’s preferred spots and habits.  Every time he growled or nipped at her she backed away and sat down about 10 feet away, waiting for things to calm down.

She has a lot of energy, never seems to get tired.  She pretty much stays out of trouble, although she did get into some food in the pantry one night and relentlessly chews apart the soft and rubber chew toys.  She is still a little underweight, but I think she’s been getting into food a  bit because of boredom, not hunger.

She is super-smart, as has shown from the little bit of training I’ve done with her.  So now I have to get on the stick and keep her mind busy!

New Dog? Yes!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I’ve simply been swamped. 

Thanks for all of your advice in my new dog search.  I have found a potential dog.  However, I need your help – I need a name for this dog that will looks like she will be mine soon (I’m just waiting on the paperwork final ok). 

I went to visit her last night in Kingston, and brought my dogs along.  She is such a sweetie – friendly, loves everyone, not overbearing, just a joy.   Veronica (Princess’s foster Mom) had a front living room where it was just me and her and the dog.  Well, actually, because I had to park a side street away, I brought Jart right away, knowing he wouldn’t have a problem.  Despite Jart being nervous in a new place, and darting under the coffee table several times when someone moved or talked, he was playing with her and getting along fine.  Veronica (the foster Mom) brought her dog down, too, an Affenpinscher (what a cute, but rare, breed this is!), and all 3 played for awhile.  Then she offered to put Jart in a small crate in the corner of the room so I could go get Buddy. 

When I got back with him, and edged open the front door, Buddy and Princess (her temporary name) were nose to nose!  Buddy was fine, didn’t seem to mind being face to face with a strange dog, and in fact he didn’t seem stressed at all as I closed the door for a second and fed Buddy so that Veronica could get Princess away from the front door.  I then came in again, feeding Buddy treats, and Princess walked over to us again.  They circled each other a bit, then I wanted to remove Buddy for a minute and praise/reward him, but Princess wasn’t on a leash and kept following us.  Again, Buddy was calm and seemingly unaffected and not threateneded by her prescence.  Veronica took her over to the corner of the living room, and I gave Buddy a few minutes to acclimate without Princess right next to him.  I then let him go back over to her, and spent the next 5 minutes or so alternately letting them interact (sniff, circle, stand next to each other) and moving Buddy away and treating both of them.  Twice Princess got too close to Buddy’s face (I think she wanted to play) and Buddy curled his lip at her.  She appropriately backed away, and wasn’t overly bothered by it. 

Buddy was reaching his limit (i.e. he was getting tired of holding it together in a new place), and I wanted to end on a good note, so I got ready to take him back to the van.  Just as I was telling Veronica my plans, Princess came up beside Buddy and put a paw on his back, wanting him to play.  I felt him tense up and I picked him up as he started to growl to tell her off, and I kept holding Buddy while Veronica gathered Jart up so we could walk both dogs together back to the van.

So, now, I am waiting to see if I’m approved to be Princess’s new Mom, but in the meantime, I need to think of a new name for her.  The foster Mom is calling her Shatzi now, but I don’t want that name, either.  I need a name that’s unique, comes out nicely on an agility course, and that fits her.

Any ideas welcome!

Here’s the link to her Petfinder listing:
http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=13033461&mtf=1