Sunday, August 29, 2010

Prayers and thinking about things...

First off, Zip decided that counter surfing while I was out working dogs was cool. Not only did she ingest a stick of butter but she also ate a bottle of Rimadyl :( 25 tabs of 25 mg. After making everyone barf using hydrogen peroxide, we figured out it was Zip :( So we ended up in Brainerd MN at the emergency clinic. Due to the huge overdose, she will most likely go into acute kidney failure and she will be staying at the vets office for the next few days :(

They will be flushing her system with IV fluids and deal with any issues that arise. If all goes well she SHOULD be just fine, no lingering issues and she will return back to her normal self.

This just makes me sick...and we have all meds in a high cabinet...never thought she would do that. So please think of Zippity Zoom, thank you. She is my heart dog...

So...to take my mind off things...I was thinking all this week. I think, if I want to really get back into herding trials I have some serious things to decide on. Mainly this:

Running contacts. I have enjoyed teaching them, love running with them even though I haven't gotten that totally figured out yet :) But lets be honest, they take a LOT of time and a LOT of work. Time that I could be putting towards working the dogs on stock. After you teach the straight dogwalk, you have to teach turns, after you teach turns, you have to work on lateral distance...after lateral distance...you get the idea. Then once you teach all that....you have to work to maintain it.... Which is a lot of time...again, time I could put towards working sheep... I also have to look at the fact that I have Gator, Klink, Lynn, Even and Zip working...5 dogs. And running contacts take that training time away from just agility...not to mention working sheep. Andy has one dog...only one...and it takes all his time working on the running dogwalk...he is really getting turns down well with Crackers, which is great...but 1 dog versus 5. It's tough...I think the running contacts are so much fun, so cool to watch...but the time that has to be invested is HUGE. Compared to a stopped contact. Will I have to choose to work dogs on stock and have 2 on 2 off dogwalks? At this time I am wondering if that is the case... But I would definitely be willing to give that up to get back into stock dog trials. If I ONLY did agility, then there would be no question in my mind...Who knows...for now I will continue with running contacts :) See if I can do both and be successful in both....time will tell I guess. Don't worry, Andy isn't going to put a stop on Crackers ever :)

And on a totally, well sort of, unrelated topic. Weaves :) We have gone back to the 22" weave poles to get the dogs ready for Regionals and USDAA Nationals. Klink adjusted just fine, Gator wasn't happy but is figuring it out :) And Lynn LOVES them :) She is swimming through the 22" poles, single stepping and really happy :) So I think I am going to keep her on 22" poles through the winter to see if she can just keep that one foot striding through. Gator and Klink learned on 21's and they swim the 24" poles just fine. The thought is, if all she does for a good long time is swim...then when she goes on 24" poles she will keep that same method. We will see :) For now it is good seeing Lynn happy and confident weaving :)

Wow....a pretty boring post eh? LOL

7 comments:

Laura and The Corgi, Toller, & Duck said...

but they're so pretty!!! I definetly see your point though, I freak out over finding time for just my one dog doing running.

Diana said...

Poor Zip. Well be keeping our fingers and paws crossed for you guys! Diana

Chris and Ricky said...

So sorry about Zip - paws/fingers crossed for her quick and complete recovery!

It would be awesome if you could keep the running contacts but it's totally understandable if you decide not to at some point.

Taryn said...

Hoping for a speedy and full recovery for Zip! So

Loretta Mueller said...

I know they are pretty...I love watching them, but in reality, the training of them is very time consuming :( If I JUST did agility it wouldn't be an issue...but also herding with the dogs, it creates alot of pressure on time constraints....ugh...

Rosanne said...

If you have to work hard to maintain running contacts AFTER they are trained, yer doin' it wrong. I NEVER, and I mean NEVER, work my running dogs to "maintain" because then they start to think. And that's the last thing I want.

Oh, and I don't use lateral distance either. Requires me to handle more creatively, but also makes my life easier regarding training and frustration. I cue extension by RUNNING, the dogs run. End of story.

Loretta Mueller said...

I guess I am still in the "training phase" and the "let see what they do at a trial phase". And the "how the F*CK do I handle that" phase...

Maybe that is a better way to put it? :)

How do you signal a turn then (say 90 degree turn off the dogwalk with a u-shaped tunnel trap at the end of the dogwalk...I would love to know :)