Cool Old Dog

I would really love to have this crazy, old greyhound (age 11) by my side. Katie would be so much fun to take to dog shows, class, and training sessions. I would love to enter her in practice agility run thrus at a reduced height, compete her in the veteran obedience classes, practice my heeling footwork, and feed her lots of treats. Socially, she is perfect. She would be so wonderful to.... blah, blah, blah.... I know you have heard this complaint before.

As you know, Katie has developed a phobia/fear of riding in our van, so most of the time she stays home. Well, I decided to make her go to my training field last Saturday to burn some of her energy. So here is a video clip of Katie practicing some of her obedience and agility. Rusty, but I am always amazed by how much they remember.

And then it started to rain and RAIN and RAIN! Well, I had already tortured Katie with riding in our van..... we were going to maximize her time away from the house. Rain or shine, Katie was coming home tired! Many greyhounds won't potty in the rain much less fetch a toy. Katie is just so awesome! I placed the camera under my agility table so everyone could see.

Remember Katie is 11 years old and had already worked in obedience and agility before fetching her toy. Just so much energy.

Rain Delay

Rain delays are for wussies! As some of you know, Georgia has been enduring an endless onslaught of rain. I have become a Doppler radar junkie. Last Sunday, I was getting my latest fix when it finally stopped raining. Yippee! I loaded the dogs and I headed towards my agility field. And then this started: Hmmmm....it is getting worse. But wait! Is that blue sky up ahead? Yes. It is blue sky! And it is clearing up! My Doppler radar reading skills are paying off.

Heck, yes! Less than a mile to go! This is perfect wearing-out-greyhound-weather.

Two minutes pass.......

Are you kidding me?!?!?

Well, I am already here! So I train anyway and I leave looking like this. Don't ask me why I have a dry spot or why I have a dry spot there. I have no idea.

Not the sexiest shoes, but my feet stayed dry!

And then I got to drive home! People, don't take pictures when you are driving in this kind of weather. Don't worry, I was barely moving.

Zanie Flyers

A typical agility trial prize is an inexpensive dog toy. Over the years, Katie and Travis have won countless toys and the hounds and I have become fond of the Zanie Flyer. The Zanie Flyer is a disc shaped stuffy toy with a squeaker. The greyhounds love stuffy toys and I love something I can throw some distance. The Zanie Flyer is the best of both worlds. With Travis gone over a year now, I noticed my Zanie Flyer supply dewendling.... down to 3 to be exact. Some are destroyed or lost. Others are thrown on roofs or behind the wall at the training building. No problem. I can just order some, right? WRONG! The Zanie Flyer has been discontinued! Oh, no! What will I do?*

Well, I tell my friends. I put the word out that I need Zanie Flyers. Pat, Diane, and Dena come through with handful of used Flyers from their personal stash. I am most grateful! And then Dena (who thinks I'm hilarious) posts my request on a Boxer Yahoo email list. People who don't even know me, reply to Dena's request. Asking for nothing in return, Beth from Virginia and Jill from Tennessee sent me their Zanie Flyers. And then best of all, Terry from North Dakota sends me EIGHT BRAND NEW ZANIE FLYERS! I could not believe it.

I just want to say thank you again to Pat, Diane, Dena, Jill, Beth, and Terry. I will take good care of them and put them to good use. I will not throw these out of reach!

*I know some of you will try to be helpful and Google "Zanie Flyer" anyway. Don't waste your time. I've tried to buy them from the sites they come up on and they are either too difficult to work with, grossly over priced, or they are discontinued, but don't tell you until you get to your shopping cart.

Body Slam

As summer comes to a close, here are some funny pictures from our last trip to the farm that I have neglected to post. Just a little reminder to those in Georgia that sometimes days are clear and the sun does shine.

Reagan is not very nice. You might think she looks sweet, but that is the face of evil. This is the "I-Am-Going-To-Catapult-Off-Of-You" warning expression. Reagan leaves me bruised and battered. It is an abusive relationship.

Please try to to imagine me with an awesome tan in the next two photos. I could not get a decent tan even if my life depended on it. Notice that my arm looks totally awesome though as I protect myself from the battering ram. Going to the gym pays off!

Reagan is a funny, but brutal little girl. Thank goodness she only weighs 52 pounds. I have never had a greyhound make me laugh so much. Reagan is hilarious.

Disappointment

So there was one disappointment to our otherwise perfect agility trial last weekend. Her name is Riley. Riley is typically distracted and always seeking reinforcement from her environment. She has been difficult to bond with. I think she would easily trade me for the next person to walk through the door. She makes me work hard for her focus and that is fine.
Although Riley was not competing, I still had a couple of goals for her. I wanted her to rest well in her crate, desensitize to all of the stimulation, train a little near the rings, work on that illusive focus, and to have fun. Well.... I can say that Riley did rest well in her crate.
On Saturday afternoon, there was a festival setting up near by. I was walking Riley around when some of the musicians began tuning up their instruments. I am not a fan of loud music, so I can tell you that this was not loud and obnoxious in anyway. Just a few random notes being played here and there. Riley turned inside out. She was not just scared, she was totally flipping out. I had never seen this side of Riley before. She was inconsolable and was just trying to get a away. Her Saturday was ruined....

....And so was her Sunday.

I took the girls for a walk along the path that travels around the park and facility. Riley had a great walk the prior morning, but on Sunday morning I noticed she was not herself and very nervous. She was very suspicious of every person we passed (normally she is very friendly with strangers).

Throughout the day, she continued to do worse. Back at the trial, she was still afraid of people and half the time would not take food. Her tail was tucked the entire time (see below). Despite a trial setting being very loud with a lot of background noise, Riley was hypersensitive to noises I never would have noticed.

On Sunday afternoon, I was trying to give Riley a chance to potty. Some distance away, you could hear an announcer for another sporting event. Again Riley flipped out, but this time her whole body was shaking. It was so bizarre and very sad to see this happy-go-lucky dog be so miserable.

Since then, Riley has been normal. It will be interesting to see how she behaves at the next agility trial at the same facility. I hope Riley does not have a repeat performance.

Kira's Retirement

I often mention Anne, my Rhodesian Ridgeback friend, in blog posts. Anne has a wonderful Ridgeback named Kira. Kira has been around for most of my agility life. I remember Anne getting Kira as a puppy and later competing along side Katie and Travis. We often traveled to shows together and I had the pleasure of getting to run Kira a few times on the fly when Anne had scheduling conflicts in other rings. We even qualified a couple of times.

Kira is very special. She is the 2nd Ridgeback to earn a Master Agility Championship (she is probably one of the first few to get a 2nd one as well). She competed at the AKC Agility Invitational in Long Beach, CA twice and even made it to the finals on her 2nd trip. I know Travis and I were glad to have Anne and Kira with us when we made our trip to California. All in all, Kira has been a super hound always defying the hound stereotype.

Kira is now 10.5 years old. Anne sees that Kira is slowing down and has some of those old age aches and pains. Kira loves agility and wants to keep going, but Anne knows that it is time.I have never had to decide to retire a super hound. I was not asked when Katie was injured or Travis became fatally ill. It just was. No choice in the matter. In fact, Teresa is the only greyhound I have chosen to retire and it was actually a relief. So we were all very sad as we watched Kira's last agility run in competition.

Kira qualified and placed third. We wiped our tears and enjoyed some cake. We will miss you at the agility trials, Kira. CH MACH2 Kennebec's Alchemy Alliance CDX JC FCh NF

Drool

I neglected to include this picture of Reagan weaving. I love it! On closer inspection, you can see drool! She is thinking about the big jackpot coming.

Travis often had strings of drool or foam flying out of his mouth. Notice the foam below.

Success

Reagan's first agility trial was a success in many ways! Most importantly, I wanted Reagan to have fun, to enjoy the busy day, to appear trained :-), and to rest well between runs. We accomplished all of our goals and more.

On Saturday, we arrived early. I took Reagan, Riley, and Allie (the Katie trade) for a nice 30 minute walk around the park and facility. Reagan was cute and bouncy. Luckily, she had already had some positive experiences at Wills Park agility trials from the Travis days, so this was not totally new to her. Around 7:30 AM, she was officially measured* to be a little over 25 inches tall at the shoulder.

I purposely set up crates near the ring. I normally like to keep my greyhounds in my van where it is quiet, but using the van is not always an option. Therefore, it is important for them to also learn to rest in the middle of chaos. I also purposely walked Reagan and Riley separately throughout the day so they would understand that #1) they are not always together and #2) they sometimes have to remain crated while Mom and the other hound disappear for awhile. Reagan did great and she rested well.

Our first run was Novice Jumpers**. Reagan was perfect, very speedy, nailed the weave poles, and earned first place! Everyone was very complimentary. "I like your baby dog." "Looks like you found another good one." "Beautiful run!" "You have done a great job with her."

Our next run was MANY hours later. The curse of being in the Novice level*** is that you have to arrive early and you are the last one to leave. The plan is to get out of Novice as soon as possible.

Reagan ran Novice Standard** smartly. She remembered all of her contacts, did not have any trouble with any of the obstacles, and she again placed first!

On Sunday, Reagan's Novice Jumpers was messy, but she worked really nicely through the middle and nailed the weave poles again. It was one of those courses I would love a "Do Over". Reagan could have run it very smoothly. We did not qualify this time, but we had fun.

In Novice Standard, Reagan did very well and earned her 2nd qualifying score. Her only error was a refusal****. I believe she placed 2nd, but I did not stay long enough to verify. Look how cute she is (below) watching a run.

Here are Reagan's runs from Saturday and the messy Jumpers run on Sunday.

All in all, I could not be happier with the little monkey. I am thrilled she qualified 3 out of 4 runs and had such a fun time.

*Dogs are measured by an agility judge and issued a height card. For dogs that jump 24", this is simply a formality.

**The Standard class includes all of the climbing or contact obstacles (A-frame, teeter, table, and dogwalk. The Jumpers class has only jumps, weave poles, and tunnels.

***AKC agility starts with the Novice level. You have to earn 3 qualifying runs to move into the Open level.

****A refusal is simply running past an obstacle. In Novice, you are allowed a couple of minor faults as long as you correct your mistakes.

Debut

I am so excited that Reagan's first agility trial is tomorrow! I counted and I have not competed in about 440 days. That is a long time when you consider that I have been competing greyhounds in agility non-stop since 2000.

First it was Jes and Teresa. Jes (above) only competed for a short time before old toe injuries from lure coursing became a problem. Teresa (below) continued on, but tortured and humbled me so. My first trip to the Perry dog show in April (the largest dog show in the southeast) proved very successful. Teresa ran 7 times, qualified in 6 of those runs, and completed her Novice titles and 2 legs of her Open Standard title. She was perfect! I started to think about our upcoming events and calculating when we would reach Excellent level.... no doubt soon, right? FIFTEEN competitions later, Teresa finally earns the third leg of her Open Standard title. All in all, that Perry show was a fluke in Teresa's career. Just a little something to get me hooked on agility. Teresa was a funny girl.

Katie came along and was well on her way before Teresa retired. Katie was a dream come true. Perfection! The achievements came easily and I am still amazed that she stepped off the racetrack and 3 years later became the first Master Agility Champion greyhound.

The reward and ease of working with Katie was a huge factor in taking a chance on Travis. I had no agility hopes for Travis, but figured I would do what I could with him while I enjoyed Katie. Well, we all know that Travis' story ended with two Master Agility Championships. Not bad at all. So Travis had stepped in when Katie retired early from agility due to back pain in January 2005. It worked out though. I probably would not have done Utility level obedience with Katie if she had not quit agility.

Unfortunately, Katie and Travis' birthdays are only separated by 5 or 6 weeks. If you always want to be competing, it is best to space out your dogs by a couple of years so they are not retiring at the same time. In 2007, I knew that I really needed to find a youngster. Katie and Travis were 9 years old and retirement was imminent. But we were traveling to Ohio, New York, and California to compete in some big events. Travis especially, was on such a roll. When would I have time to train a youngster?

Katie abruptly retired on October 10, 2007. Obviously, adopting another greyhound during Katie's rehab was out of the question. In early 2008, I was finally ready and in steps Reagan. In my perfect world scenario, Travis would have been retiring anytime after now. But that is okay. Maybe the break was needed.

I checked my records and found out that I have not competed in Novice level agility in nearly 6 years. It will be fun and I am looking forward to it!

Oh! It is 9-11 today. Just want to say that I am so thankful to live in a free country. I am so thankful for the military efforts and to anyone who has given his or her life in the spirit of freedom. I would not be able to play these silly games without being free to do so.

Tastes Good

That is so adorable! Reagan helps Polly Profile with her shoe. Before Polly Profile Doll left, I thought it would be fun to see how well Reagan and Riley liked small children. Turns out, they like them a lot!
Riley wonders how you get this dang wrapper off! Riley and Reagan say that babies taste good.

Polly Profile Doll

Profiling the new greyhounds is one of my volunteer jobs for Southeastern Greyhound Adoption. One of the questions we strive to answer is "will this greyhound do well with small children?"

Recently, the other profile volunteers and I attended a Sue Sternberg seminar. Sue has developed a series of tests for evaluating the temperament of shelter dogs. We have modified the evaluation to suit our environment and use it to profile SEGA greyhounds.

One of Sue's tests include introducing the dog to a doll that cries and makes noises while sitting on an adult's lap. In most cases, you receive no feedback, but occasionally a dog does give you feedback worth noting. Positive feedback would consist of the greyhound getting close and showing curiosity, but is gentle. Negative feedback would be a greyhound that responds with prey drive. Scary, but a possibility. Definitely something you would like to find out ahead of time with a doll. Some would say that a dog responding with prey drive thinks the doll is a toy. Well, that is not what has been seen. Even the most toy motivated dogs are responding to a doll with curiosity and interest, but not with their mouths. I will let you know how it goes with the greyhounds.

Initially, we recruited Polly Profile Doll from a local school. Polly's prior employment was to deter high school students from getting pregnant..... I can tell you it works for 33 year olds as well. Polly came with her own manual, keys, and memory. If Polly was mistreated in anyway, she stored the information so she could tell the teachers later. It was imperative that she not be dropped, that her head was supported, and she was regularly breast fed. Yikes! Thank goodness she was came with a pseudo nipple. If there was a maternal bone in my body, it was now broken.

Used as greyhound bait was probably not included in Polly's programing, but I am sure she would have been displeased and would have tattled to someone. Authorities would be knocking on my door. I honestly did not have the needed experience to take care of Polly Profile. I have only held 2 babies my entire life. The first one puked on my shoulder (he graduated college recently) and the second time I was tricked into it (thanks, Paul).

In the end, I decided that Polly was just too sophisticated for profiling greyhounds and I returned her. I almost lied saying that we got new carpet and she was not potty trained, but I decided to tell the truth and admit she was just too complicated for our purposes.

Mass Destruction

Brittany, I would like to tell you that the girls were nice to the wonderful stuffy toy you gave us a several months ago, but they were not.

I tried to introduce them slowly, but finally decided that they would just have to work it out. **Warning** The following video may not be suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

Riley and Reagan do not share toys or play together. There is an uneasiness there. But the giant wienie dog toy really was great for them to share without realizing it.

Don't worry, Sientay. The toys that Dino gave to us are not being left out. They are suffering similar abuses.