After a LOOOONG hiatus, I am back. I want to get more active online again, and I think this is a good format to do it. So keep an eye on out for future developments.
The current news — WE ARE GOING TO WESTMINSTER TOMORROW!!! Ticket, Trek, and I are flying to NYC for the weekend to compete. It’s such a fun, electric event — I can’t wait! Two years ago Ticket made the Finals, ultimately finishing 3rd, and it was one of the highlights of her career. We will be trying for that again, but most of all will enjoy every second there.
Ticket, 3rd place 16″ Finals
And May means–Team Tryouts! I’m really looking forward to taking Trip this year, and I feel as prepared as we can possibly be. I have a dog who is running great–fast and happy, and who understands pretty much everything I want of her, as long as she gets the right information. Will have to really focus at Tryouts to make sure I’m making the correct handling choices for her, but I’m excited. I really thought that after skipping last year, Trip was done with Tryouts, but with everything that has happened with Ticket, I decided to move forward with making this TRIP’S year. So excited!!!
If you’re interested in watching Tryouts at home, AgilityVision is once again offering livestream. It’s a great product, and helps support the team.
Ticket has not been forgotten. 🙂 I have been continuing to work on strengthening and conditioning, and I can finally SEE the difference in her. While she still has more muscle in her “good” leg, her surgery leg is really coming along. She’s starting to look pretty good jumping 12″, so I’m going to bump her up to 16″ on short sequences and see what she looks like. But I could definitely see the difference between today and what she looked like a few weeks ago in terms of her jumping. It really is all about strength. I’m hoping to remeasure her leg in about a week and see where we are at, but I definitely see the progress.
Hope for many happy developments this month… 🙂
Double Q Double Blue ice cream for a superstar 🙂
I don’t even know where to count from anymore. It’s been 21 weeks since Ticket’s first surgery on her right knee, 8 weeks since the second. She’s doing GREAT! Working really hard on the underwater treadmill and at home, and responding the way we want. Today, we measured her thigh muscles to see where we’re at, and I’m pleasantly surprised. That’s what happens when you have low expectations. 🙂 6 weeks ago (2 weeks after her second surgery), she was at 23cm. Today, she was at 25cm. For comparison, her normal leg is 28cm. So, definitely making progress, which makes me happy.
She’s cleared to start some easy agility stuff, though I’ve been surprisingly slow to do that. I’ve done two set point drills, which she handled well. I’m going to lower my contacts, to make sure she knows where that back leg is. And I guess we’ll start working on straight line exercises, and see how she does. My current goal is a trial in 6.5 weeks, but there are a lot of “iffs” in that plan, so we’ll just have to see how she does. But all in all, I’m very encouraged, and think she’s going to be back soon.
In Trip news, she ran FANTASTIC last weekend. The best she has looked in MONTHS. I just don’t know why. Likes the location, no pain, moon and stars aligned…who knows. But it made ME happy to see her so happy. Going to try to maintain that moving forward. We’re going to the USDAA South Central Regional this weekend, and then in two weeks, a local AKC show. 2 weeks after that–International Team Tryouts in Minnesota. Booked my flight today. I’ve been working hard on International-style coursework, which Trip manages with ease. Really looking forward to testing her on those courses.
