Ticket is doing GREAT 5 weeks after TPLO. Rehab appointment this morning showed no swelling of her knee despite increased activity the previous week, and her muscle mass on both sides is essentially equal. YAY, so happy about that.!
Today, she did 15 minutes on an incline on the underwater treadmill, and while still not liking it, walked well. This week, I’ll continue increasing her walks a bit (we’re currently at 20 minutes twice daily), and if we’re doing the treadmill at home, add incline there to work her hamstrings more. Sadly, no hills in Houston, so we have to improvise. I’m also going to add weight onto her back for her “limbo” exercises — essentially like holding hand weights while you do squats.
I also realized that I need to do something with Ticket to mentally stimulate her. She’s getting physical activity now, but it’s almost worse as far as her “going crazy.” So, I plan on free shaping some tricks. I just need to think of things that aren’t too physically demanding, and I admit I’m drawing a blank. Typically everything I shape has some relevance to agility–I’m not a big “tricks” person. Will have to give that some thought…
Here are some videos of Ticket doing the treadmill this week…
What’s this? An actual blog update about, gasp, an agility trial? Whooda thunk it? Sad to only be showing Trip, but I doubt she thought so. 🙂
So, we had two days of agility in Hitchcock, and Trip was great. She ended up going 4/5, with all 1st place runs — Standard and Time to Beat on Saturday, and Standard and JWW (for a Double Q), on Sunday. Her only fault of the weekend was a dropped bar in a deep part of the course in JWW. She was “off” that run, not really running like herself, though I can’t put my finger one exactly what was going on. She did well on a somewhat technical Standard course on Sunday, making it look easy.
I also ran Lyly this weekend, and she ended up going 3/4, also with all 1st place runs. That was her last QQ to qualify for Nationals in Reno. Not sure if she’ll be going, but at least it’s an option. We ran very well considering I haven’t even seen her since July.
This wasn’t a large trial, so we’ll have more competition next weekend, in Crosby. AND Time to Beat both days, which I’m really enjoying. I’m not a huge fan of FAST, though my dogs do well in it, and I DO like it for young dogs and getting more practice time in. But with Trip, she’s earned all the FAST titles I care to (MXF and TQX), so I just don’t ask her to do it anymore.
Ticket came out to the show on Sunday to visit and hang out. She was dragging me around and obviously happy to be around agility. At least, until she realized she wasn’t actually going to get to DO any agility. Then she was pretty pissed. I’m planning on bringing her both days next weekend just to get her out of the house, walking her around, and keeping her mind busy. She is getting crazier and crazier at home, despite her increased activity level. I admit, I’m not doing the greatest job keeping her mind stimulated. I could be teaching her tricks or something like that, but once I spend all the time on her rehab, it’s hard to find the time to do something else.
Anyway, here’s Trip’s video from the weekend. Enjoy–fast and clean runs to you!
I gave my first agility seminar this past weekend, for LCCOC in Baton Rouge, LA. This is my old club where I trained when I was in vet school, so I knew most people, and it was a nice, laid back atmosphere. Nice way to get my feet wet. I really enjoyed it, and I think everyone was able to come away with something new. The first day was the “Novice” Day, and covered motivation and driving to a remote reward (and how to use that as you begin to sequence), acceleration/deceleration drills, and contacts (running aframe with stride regulators, and the 1RTO stopped contact). The second day was the “Advanced” Day, and we talked about independent 180s and 270s, serpentines, push throughs, and course analysis and decision making (where to cross, which way to turn). The last involved double box work–always great for handling skills.
I actually had some other topics planned as well, but just didn’t have time to get to them. I wanted to make sure I had too much, rather then too little, and I definitely did that. That helps me a lot for the future in being able to focus more on fewer topics. I definitely could have worked more drills on different concepts (accel/decel, serpentines, double box work). Who can’t use more double box work? 🙂
The weather was fantastic–very lucky since we were outdoors. One BIG bonus was the club had a portable mic that I was able to wear. Not spending two days yelling was a welcome surprise. It also helped everyone hear what was being said to the person working a sequence. I think that helps everyone stay involved instead of being distracted by other things–I know it’s hard to focus on someone working when you can’t figure out what’s being discussed.
All in all, I’m very pleased with how it went, and hope to be able to do more in the future. In particular, I’d like to be able to do half day workshops about specific topics (like accel/decl), close to home. I really don’t have the time (or facility) to teach group classes, but workshops, and privates/small groups is right up my alley. Definitely makes me feel like I’m a more “accomplished” handler, for whatever that’s worth. 🙂
Thanks to Michele Fry and Cheryl Warren for the photos!
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