So unfortunately, Trip is still “not right.” She ran GREAT at USDAA, going 6/6 with all 1st places, and finishing qualifying for USDAA Nationals in Colorado. The following weekend, we ran one day at an AKC trial in Conroe. Standard was, as always, brilliant. JWW, she was slow, her jumping off, and she eventually just stopped. I stayed for Time to Beat to see how she would do when looking at another “standard-appearing” course, back in the Standard ring. She went to the first jump, stopped, and wouldn’t take it. Her ears were down, her face was stressed, and she just broke my heart.
I thought about, and went back through months worth of videos to see how she was running. Prior to June at the Monroe trial, she has never shown signs like this. After that show, we diagnosed her with some nerve pain in her neck (later on, I remembered her getting her head hung up in the chute in class the week before that Monroe trial, and I assume that was the inciting cause). Trip was rested on medications, as well as acupuncture, and she ran 3 trials in July, August, and September great, with no problems. The unwillingness to run in JWW started in October.
I really feel like this is a recurrence of her initial neck problem, so I’m going to try treating for that again, and see how she responds. It is definitely possible that there is a mental component as well, and it’s very hard to sort through. When I do bring her back to agility, I plan on lots of short, rewarding sequences. If there’s one dog that doesn’t need to run lots of courses, it’s Trip. I’m not sure what my plan for her is when our trial season starts back up in January–I just want her back and healthy before AKC Nationals. We are entered, and this year, we’re in it to win it. 🙂 So, I will be trying my best to err on the side of caution.
On the opposite side, Ticket is doing great. She is running like a crazy dog, so thrilled to be back and playing agility. She is doing full-height equipment, though I’m doing some more work with the aframe lowered that has more to do with my desire to improve her aframe contact then her inability to do it at full height. I do tend to lower the jumps towards the end of a training session. I’m still working on the strength in her rear end, and I’m overly paranoid about dogwalk approaches. But it appears she will be ready to go for her first trial back in January. I’m trying not to have any expectations for those first shows back, and I am definitely concerned that she will be SO high that she will break the rules and we’ll have to leave. You just never know. Right now, I’m just focusing on the happiness of having my fun-loving blue girl back in the ring, and am waiting for that moment when my perfect girl Trip is back there and really WITH me again, no matter what the outcome of the runs is. I would happily take a scribe sheetful of faults if it meant Trip was running out there having a blast.
Cherish every moment with your dog–you never know when life will get in the way…
So, Ticket is almost at 10 weeks post surgery. She continues to amaze. She’s been running/sprinting in the backyard (her favorite sprints involve the ChuckIt), with no ill effects. I’ve started some Salo jump grids, where I have noticed what appears to still be some weakness in her rear. Or maybe not weakness, maybe just difficulty going from complete flexion of her knee in a sit, to powering off that knee over a jump.
So, I went back to more strengthening exercises. I’ve been doing sit to stand exercises, and work on the peanut ball, to try to strengthen her rear and core muscles a little better. I’ll try some grids towards the end of the week and see how she looks. Video is a wonderful tool for this, since it’s really hard to figure out what’s going on in the moment. Ticket did her first piece of contact equipment ( a low teeter) today–thank goodness she remembers her 2o2o. I’m planning on introducing her to a low dogwalk this week (to make sure she knows where her back end is and it’s not slipping out from under her), and also restarting her on the aframe, also at a low height. I plan on doing quite a few reps on the aframe over the next several weeks prior to resuming competition, since I never really got it where I wanted. Hopefully this step back will help her. I’m also planning on adding some straight-line drills this week–accel decel, maybe some lead out pivots.
My goal is to have Ticket up to full-height equipment, and on full-height jumps by the middle of December, so we have a several weeks before her first trial to work on handling and getting our groove back. I expect to run courses at a lower height for a bit at first, since she won’t be used to that, but hope to move her up quickly. I don’t like doing a ton of jumps at lower height.
So far, Ticket is right on schedule. I’ve been lucky that she’s had NO setbacks in the entire post-op period. She’s never ended up lame, though I do think I’ve managed to push her to the point of fatigue on that leg, which is ideal in controlled amounts. It’s scary to add back real agility though. I still won’t let her run in the yard with the other dogs. I try to stop her every time she and Trip want to zoom around the house. Doing anything outside on wet grass is a big NO. I know she’s not made of glass, and at some point I have to just let her be, but I can’t help trying to protect her as much as I can. At least for now. I’m sure the more we do together, the more confidence in that knee I’ll get. SHE has complete confidence in it, and doesn’t understand why I won’t just let her do what she wants. 🙂
On an unrelated note, Trip has her first show in several weeks next weekend. Her first show after the dental cleaning/extraction and rest. It’s USDAA, so I entered the tournaments and a couple of other classes. The other classes are for fun only–hopefully Trip will fly and prove to me that whatever was wrong with her is a thing of the past. I just want my happy little girl back. 🙂 Hope that will be the case…
Ticket finally earned her freedom. After 8 weeks of crate rest and rehab, the bone in her right leg looks healed, and she gets to be turned loose. Obviously, she can’t just jump into everything at once, and I’ll have to ease her back into agility. First up–sprints! And she is thrilled to be able to chase the ball again. It’s a little nerve-wracking to watch–I can’t help but be terrified everytime she slams on the brakes. But so far, so good–no lameness or soreness!
Mardi is also doing well. She’s done great after surgery, and I’ll take her staples out tomorrow. Looks like she’s suffered no ill-effects, so we got very lucky there.
Trip seems to be on the mend. I haven’t been doing much with her until this past week, where we worked a couple of short sequences. She was flying. I don’t know if that’s because of the now-missing tooth, because it was cold, because she’s had two weeks off…too many variables. But, I was happy with how she ran. The real test will be the USDAA trial we’re doing in 2 weeks. I care about GP and Steeplechase, the other runs are just fluff. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep her happy and motivated, and running like the champ she is.
Here’s a video of Ticket when she was turned loose in the backyard for the first time. She just epitomizes JOY, and I love to see her like this.
