Todays Secret Word Is...

RUNNING DOGWALKS...so whenever you hear or see that word you must scream and jump up and down like they did on Pee Wee's Play House. Um-Kay?

WARNING: Lots of sailor talk...I used little *'s to make it seem all unicorn and rainbowish...more PG instead of R rated...I tried...

I took Lynn to the barn this evening, the cold finally broke enough that I could work her. It was a BALMY 14 degrees! WOO HOO!

Thought she might be a bit rusty, a bit crazy, but what she did was NOT what I expected.

Those of you who have been reading the blog know that Lynn has a running dog walk (I will abbreviate it DW from now on). And those of you also know the roller coaster of emotions one goes through during the training process...it's the closest one can get to actually being bi-polar and OCD at the very same time...and I worked hard to get it, she is VERY consistent, will hardly EVER miss one. EVER...so...

I did a DW (well Lynn did the DW)...she went into two on two off....WTF?!?!!? I have NEVER done that with her. Ever. OK...weird...moving on...

So I did another DW...and she stopped..right in the middle of the damn thing..I had to coax her down and off...Oh.MY.GAWD. She wasn't scared or anything...just stopped...and wasn't sure what I wanted...

Then she had several jumps off the contact...seriously?!?!? 2 weeks without a DW and it all goes to sh*t in a handbasket? I am so screwed. So I went back to throwing the toy as she was running...got a couple "decent" (which is code for totally sh*tty and I wouldn't normally reward them) DW's...done.

So I did other things partially because she was failing and partially because I was going to do the Minnesota thing and "ignore the problem"...

Loretta hates "ignoring the problem"...as in LOATHS it. I like to march up to the problems house and kick it right square in the groin. Get the problem conquered and over with. But with Lynn, she likes me to ignore things at times, she must be a true Minnesota native...and so...that is what I have to do...she is like my little math nerd, complete with pocket protector. VERY capable of letting loose, getting wasted and taking her top off while dancing on the bar at the end of a long night of partying...but normally...she wears her pens and thinks about math equations. And the more you focus on a problem, the more she thinks...and the more she thinks...well, it ain't good. Thinking on a running contact is SUPER DUPER BAD. They MUST RUN. I have worked hard to teach Miss Nerdie Pants how to party...and she hasn't over thought something in a LONG TIME. So that also weirded me out a little! So...I went against my core of being and ignored it...well sort of.

My way of ignoring it is to freak out a little bit...read that as A LOT. And then I go into thinking mode...not good either in my case. What if I lose the DW every winter because the times we can get on equipment are shotty at best due to the cold f***ing winters? What if Lynn loses confidence and it is RUINED....and I have to retrain it? Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t!

Thank goodness her A-frame seems to be just fine...nothing makes that get messed up....whew...BUT WHAT ABOUT HER DW!!!??!??!?! AHHHHHHHHH

Yes..right about now, Susan Garrett would be telling me that challenges happen to make us grow as a person or some crap like that. I DON'T WANT TO GROW, I want Lynn to stop doing stupid sh*t on the DW!!!!!!!!!

BREATHE LORETTA, BREATHE...

So I said to myself "self...chill...go teach...worry about it later".

So I did (well I really had no choice in the matter as my student came...why do they always show up when I am having a crisis!?!? :p)...and I taught, and I let it go (my students ROCKED by the way. I LOVE it when they kick the courses a** that I set up...AWESOME.)...and then went back to Lynn and her b*stard DW.

And apparently she had decided to take off her top and live a little...and ran all her DW's just fine...I guess during her time in the kennel she figured out the pocket protector wasn't helping her running dog walk...good girl Lynn.

Klink and Gator rocked it...gotta love the older dogs ;) Couldn't leave them out of the post.

Now it will probably be another 2 weeks before Lynn is back on the contacts again...and I am sure you will get another post JUST. LIKE. THIS. ONE.

I am going to go have a glass of wine now...and if I had some pot I might consider smoking it (never have in my life...how lame am I)...but then again...with pot you get the munchies, which I don't need with the whole weight loss goal...probably don't need the wine either. NO. I NEED THE WINE. BAD.