We don't have to shoot him!

Just kidding, we'd never shoot him anyway of course. In case you didn't guess yet this is an update on Squirt (I think I mentioned he was lame again, right?). Anyway he had a lot of swelling in his bad knee but that improved over the weekend but I noticed also that he was holding up the opposite leg a lot. I got the vet out today-she found an abscess in his foot. Yeah-a good diagnosis, easy to treat and something he will fully recover from. Of course I'm gone and Jerry will have to change the bandage but I have recruited him some help so should be just fine!

Back to work

The dogs that is. They get half the week off while I am away working, but today they were all back at it. Legend did a great open routine and then on to work some agility. She's getting much better at moving out away from me both in a straight line and moving away laterally. But we still struggle with discrimination. I can usually use a false turn to get her to take the closer obstacle, but often I can't get her to go "out" and take the far one if her mind is already made up to take the close one. But we will keep at it.

Lyric is working on maintaining her obstacle commitment while I move away or ahead of her. I kept pulling her off the jumps at the trial so I know that we need to keep working on that. I am also working on making her do the weave poles without help. She needs to learn to find the entrance while on the run and go through without me guiding her. She did pretty good today. I had to stay close by, but I tried really hard not to move my arm and give her any hints. It slowed her down but I'm sure she'll speed up as she gains confidence again. After all, there is a treat at the end.

Zodiac worked on tracking but he seemed to be doing a lot of wandering. I think I need to go back to short straight lines for a while with lots of food on the track, just really enforce the basics. And I need to do it more often. I've been a little lax on the tracking with all the agility coming up and trying to get Lyric ready to trial.

And Squirt is really lame again. I talked with the horse vet. She thinks he may have just broke another bone chip off in his joint. Poor guy. He's on rest and bute now so we will see how he does over the next week.

Oh, and here are some trial pics.

More Trial Videos!

Here are a few more videos from the trial this weekend. Legend's video is a regular run Lyric's is a jumpers run. I have some photos I will try and post later.

NADAC Day 2

The girls had a great day two of the trial. Lyric Q'd in all three of her runs today! Her tunnelers and jumpers runs were picture perfect and her regular run was pretty good. She had so much fun running-she was just adorable. I should more video posted later in the week and probably some pictures.

Legend had a super day, qualifying in four of six runs. She got her first elite tunnelers leg and was four seconds under time which means she was really moving. Those elite tunnelers course times are really fast! Then she picked up an elite Regular leg (missed the discrimination in the other regular run). She also NQ'd on a tough open chances course. Next she had a nice run in novice weavers to finish her title. Finally it was on to elite jumpers. I knew it would be tough to get her to make course time at the end of a long weekend but I pushed her as hard as I could and we got the Q! What a good girl!

I have a few months until Lyric's next AKC trial and we will be focusing on proofing weave poles and understanding weave entrances better.

Lyric's First Q

Today was Lyric's much anticipated agility debut and it was great. She got a Q in her very first run (see video) in Novice Regular. We also ran jumpers but I got a little too ambitious in trying to get distance and pulled her off a few jumps. Then we ran in Touch and GO and she took the tunnel instead of the dogwalk. This surprised me a little because she loves the dogwalk and it was closer. But overall I think it was a good experience for her. She had a lot of fun, didn't act nervous or stressed or distracted and was running like a little whirlwind.

Legend had a decent day. She missed the weave entry in Regular round 1, Q'd in round 2, over time (1.5 sec) in jumpers, off course in tunnelers and sort of a disaster run in Touch and Go with Cheri-but got the discrimination nicely!

Tomorrow is another day!

Interesting blog

Susan Wynn is a veterinary nutritionist and holistic practitioner who writes a good blog about nutrition and other subjects. She also lists any pet food recalls on her blog. I put the link to her blog, Pet Health and Nutrition, over in my blog list. But here are a few of her good posts on grains for those who have concerns about grains in pet food.

http://vetnutrition.blogspot.com/2009/05/are-grains-all-bad.html

http://vetnutrition.blogspot.com/2010/03/grains-2-not-as-allergenic-as-you.html

Hope you find this helpful!

Does this make me a farmer?

This was all waiting in my garden when I got home today. It looks like there is a lot more coming!

When it rains...

...well you know the rest. After a slow spring I'm suddenly very, very busy with work. Unfortunately very little of it is near home so I'm spending most of my weeks getting to know the state's highway systems. But on the plus side it means I'll be able to pay the entries for all those later summer and fall agility trials coming up! And I'm getting to meet a lot of people and see a lot of different clinics. But still, I think I'll be pretty content to take the right job when it comes along and go back to a "normal" life!

On the dog front our local NADAC trial is coming up and you know what that means! Lyric's first trial!!! Plus I'll be busy working the trial and and helping set up and making raffle baskets, and transporting equipment and...and...and...

So basically I should arrive back home just in time to have a very busy weekend. But it should be fun!

Urine Screening

In the past we have talked about routine blood testing. Today, we will discuss a little about routine urine testing as it often goes hand in hand with blood testing.

Although it can sometimes be a challenge to obtain a urine sample from your pet, it is a very important test, especially in older pets. It is ideal for your vet to evaluate a urine sample on your pet at the time of his or her annual bloodwork and exam.

Urine screening can help the doctor identify systemic diseases such as diabetes or liver disease as well as disease more specific to the urinary tract.

Routine urinalysis can help identify signs of bladder infections, inflammation, and crystals which may eventually lead to bladder stones if left untreated.

Urine testing can also tell us if your pet has protein in the urine which can be a sign of many different disease processes. We can also evaluate the concentration of the urine-this lets us know how well the kidneys are functioning and gives us clues as to if your pet is drinking abnormal amounts of water.

Check with your vet to see when and how they would like the urine sample obtained. For most routine screenings a "free catch" sample is just fine. But if there are specific concerns the doctor may want a more sterile collection method or first catch in the morning for example.

As promised

Here are some of the flowers I have blooming right now. I had a cute collage of some of my veggies too but apparently there was some technical difficulty with that one. I don't have time to investigate it now so maybe you will have it next week. I know you can hardly wait for that!

Home!

Legend and I finally made it back home after almost 2 weeks on the road! Now all I have to do is get all my laundry done, bills paid, mail read, trial entered (of course), errands run, and gardens tended before heading back to work again on Friday!

I was shocked when I looked at my fruits and veggies this morning. The little baby plants I left behind are now HUGE! The vining plants are out of control and everything has lots of blooms or fruits already forming. I even picked some raspberries this morning. I have some peas that look big enough to pick but I'm not sure how big they are really supposed to get so I may wait a bit. And I have flowers blooming like crazy all over the yard. It all seems to make up for the one house plant that died while I was gone. I also have one knock-out rose bush that doesn't look to good but I was thinking of taking them out anyway.

I'll try and get some pictures tomorrow but today it looks like rain. And as you can read I have more important things to do than take flower pictures for my blog. I know...what can be more important that blogging?!?

Back where I come from

This week I'm working in Coumbia for a friend. A paying friend! It has been a pretty full week too. We have had some busy days at the clinic and even stayed late a few nights.

Plus earlier in the week I went out and visited with our friend Nancy, who is the breeder of our pigs. I even got to see Touchdown's mom-still going strong at age 16!

Wednesday night I took Legend to obedience class at our old dog school. It was really good for her to be in that kind of situation plus we got to see old friends. We were going to go to agility tonight but after working late I decided we should get ice cream instead. That adventure led us downtown and for a little walk around campus.

Tomorrow it's back to STL for a bridal shower and more work. Then finally back home on Tuesday.