Beach Photos

Lastly, here are some pictures that Anne (Ridgeback travel buddy) had taken when we were both in California for the AKC Invitational. We stopped at this beach on the way to the airport. Kira and Travis really enjoyed the sand between their toes and the wind in their ears. He sure is handsome! And he loves that bumper. It is his favorite toy of all time. When you put it in his mouth he runs huge loops around me for a couple of minutes and then he settles in for a game of fetch. I think he loves to run more than any greyhound I have ever met.

Cute tushies!!!

Food Poisoning!!!

Monday morning, the day I get to fly from California to Georgia, I wake up early not feeling well at all! I ushered Travis into the bathroom (doubles as a kitchen) and got him fed. Threw on some clothes and took him out for a walk. When I returned, Anne and Kira were up. I started to pack and put my things together. I told Anne I was not feeling well and that's about when I started puking my guts out. Luckily we had a couple of hours to get our stuff together since now I needed time to pack, rest, puke, pack, rest, and puke.

We checked out and brought our things to the lobby. Travis and I laid on the carpet behind the Christmas tree waiting for Anna and Mark (Anna's husband) to pick us up. We packed our stuff into Mark's SUV and packed ourselves and the dogs into Anna's SUV and headed for the a dog beach. I really wanted to give Travis the chance to run his little heart out before I packed him into a small crate for flying. He badly needed a good, hard run. I warned Anna to drive gently, but it didn't matter. I was going to feel sick no matter where I was. Being responsible dog owners, we had plenty of poop bags. Thank goodness because Anna would not pull over and let me hurl on the streets of a bad neighborhood..... so I bagged it instead. Feeling slightly better with my stomach completely empty now, we make it to the dog beach.

Travis ran his laps and had a good time. I know he would have loved to swim, but the water would have been too cold. Plus he's an east coast dog. Florida waves and lake ripples are nothing compared to Southern California waves and I was in no shape to save a drowning dog.

Off we go to the airport. We stopped at McDonald's for Anne. Eggs smell so bad when you are sick. Anne finally convinced me to drink some ginger ale, so we stopped for that. When we arrived at the airport, I think I kicked into you -just-have-to-do-this gear. We got our luggage checked. Anne duck taped our crate dollies and soft crates together so we would only be charged $100 instead of $100 each. Our crates were inspected.... and again they failed to notice my missing water bowls..... cool beans.

At the John Wayne airport, your crates are taken down to the loading area and then you walk your dog to the crate. This area is below where you are sitting while waiting to board. I think this works better because it reduces the human handling of your crate and you are the one bringing your dog to the noisy area and telling them its ok and this is where I want you to be. The really stupid thing is that you can't take any of your stuff with you. So if you are traveling alone, you would literally have to leave all your carry on baggage unattended by the front doors. Luckily, there were plenty of dog people there so someone was able to watch our stuff as we walked our dogs down. We walked them out to the loading areas where it was very noisy. I put Travis in his crate and then I duck taped all the way around a couple of times. I asked the man standing there if he was responsible for the dogs and he said yes.... so I handed him a $20 and told him to take good care of our dogs.

So back up stairs and off to the security line we go. About half way through, I'm not feeling so good again and I'm wondering if I can make it or should I get out of line. Well, I just barely make it. I also make a great discovery that you may or not find interesting, but ginger ale and water is very easy and QUIET to throw up. I did not want anyone in the bathroom stall next to me to hear. After that I was feeling a little better and was pleased with my discovery...... I know, I'm sorry.... too many details.

When I get back to my seat, I see that they are loading the dogs. I'm pretty sure I see that Travis is loaded. I definitely saw that Kira and Jane's puli dogs (another GA agility friend) are loaded as well. Both of their crates are more distinctive looking. Once on the plane, the flight attendant is suppose to bring the dog owners a confirmation ensuring the dog is on board. The confirmation is a little tag torn off from the paperwork attached to the dog's crate. It is torn off only after the dog is on the plane. Well, I am the only dog owner NOT to receive one. So I'm concerned, but not overly worried since I do think I saw him get on the plane. Overall, I was not too happy with how they handled me. I never did get convincing confirmation that he was loaded. They were not quick to keep me abreast of the situation. And they were going to leave without him if he was not loaded. Fortunately, he was on the plane. I strongly recommend sitting behind the right wing and watching for your dog to get loaded just so you know for sure. Unless you see it with your own eyes, you just can't be too sure. *** Also another dog flying tip - the compartment that holds the animals is not climate controlled until the plane is started. So if your flight is delayed and you are just sitting on the runway, you need to find out what temperature your animal is waiting in. I did hear about the unfortunate heat stroke death of an AKC greyhound in such a situation.

The flight was not full, so I was able to curl up into the fetal position on 2 seats for most of the flight. I think I may have actually slept a little since the flight seemed to go by quickly. I continued to drink lots of water. On the landing I got sick again and was not able to leave my seat. No problem, I had a poop bag in my pocket and I quietly handled my problem. Anne assures me that no one was the wiser.

Everything went fairly smoothly from there. The dogs took a good 20 minutes to get to the baggage area. Travis was wheeled out first with his crate on top of a German Shepherd's crate. Again he was a little whinny, but all in all I think he handled flying like a champ. I would probably fly him again if the need ever arose again. Stephen picked us up in Anne's van.

When Stephen and I got home, I was surprised to see that he had been quite the busy bee. The living room had been painted (one of those projects I never thought we would get to and now its done!). The Christmas lights had been put in the front yard, the Christmas tree had been set up, and decorations were ready to go. The guest room recently had a door converted to a window so there was some patch work painting to be done that was now done. The toilet had been fixed. Laundry had been done. The van needed some remodeling which Stephen did also. It was just such a nice surprise to see some really big projects knocked out. I always tell Stephen that nothing is sexier than dish pan hands :-). I am not a jewelry girl..... but I love to see the results of hard work. I also owe big thanks to FIL and MIL (father and mother-in-law) because they were responsible for the painting and had come out to give him a hand. Thanks, Dave and Betty!

Katie looked good. She greeted me with her usual calmness........ as if she'd seen me just a few hours ago. For the folks who love to be greeted with lots of love (obnoxious and excited behavior) from their dogs , Katie does not love me any less than your obnoxious dog loves you :-). She is just an absolute perfect picture of mental health. She is just a very well adjusted and extremely balanced dog. Obviously, Stephen had taken good care of her and she knew I was coming back. There is no reason for her to suffer or long for me while I am gone.

By now its about 9:30 PM. I call in sick for the next day, take a shower, and crawl into bed. I am so glad to be home.

Here is Anna and Travis and Anna and I.

Sunday at the Invitational

Oh, I forgot to tell this story from Saturday night. Travis is used to running laps everyday with his bumper (orange, plastic, float toy for retrievers). If you stick a bumper in his mouth and set him free, he will run laps for several minutes and then fetch the bumper until I tell him "that's enough". In Long Beach there wasn't anywhere for him to run except for in agility and each course lasts only 30-45 seconds. So Travis had not seen his bumper for a few days now. In front of the convention center there was a nice square of grass between the convention center and the fountains. Anne and I would often take Travis and Kira to this patch each night to go potty. Travis and Kira were doing their business off leash when all of a sudden Travis went crazy running as fast as he could. He tends to do very big loops (much bigger than this patch of grass), so when he hit the concrete I shrieked and yelled at him and he stopped dead in his tracks and came back to the grass. Last thing he needs is a broken nail. So he proceeded to do wheelie after wheelie on this small square of grass. I'd never seen him run like that before. Kira wasn't sure whether to join in with the psychotic greyhound or not. After a few minutes of tight circles, he was out of breath and had slightly less energy.

Sunday morning we were set to run early (around 7 AM). doG (Travis) forbid we actually wake up to an alarm.

We were back in Ring 2 (pic down on right) to run Standard. In fact, 24" dogs were shoved off into Ring 2 for three of the four runs. This ring was surrounded by gating and was usually surrounded by people standing shoulder to shoulder all the way around except for the one side that had bleachers. Ring 1 (pic on left) had an announcer who read remarks each person had written about their dog which was really neat. Each side had bleachers, so you didn't have a wall of people standing ringside and the ring gating was covered with blue cloth so it had a solid appearance. In other words, Ring 1 was much easier to stay focused in. Regardless of how great Ring 1 was, we were running in Ring 2.

Generally, my biggest concern with Standard is that sometimes Travis misses the yellow contact zone on the upside of the dog walk. Its very easy for a big-strided dog to just stride right over and miss it completely. I don't do anything fancy. I just try to make sure we aren't running full tilt when we come to this obstacle. This was obstacle #2, so he easily got the contact. The rest of the course ran perfectly including weave poles and we finally qualified. I believe we placed around 8th out of 80-90 dogs, so I was really pleased with that.

Around noon, we were scheduled to run Jumpers........again in Ring 2. Again he missed his weave pole entrance. It was a fairly straight entrance, but oh well......... I did not like how I ran this course at all. I did most of my crosses from behind which created big loopy turns and had me standing there waiting for him to run past me so I could cross behind. It worked fine and that section of the course was clean.... but not pretty.

So that is the end of Travis' invitational story. Yes, it was an honor to be there, but I was disappointed in our performance. You can't win them all though. I'm so glad the trip doubled as a good chance to catch up with my best friend, Anna and I always enjoy traveling with Anne. Speaking of Anne........ Anne and Kira ran clean all 4 times and did go to the finals! It was so exciting. Her cumulative score placed her at 4th (totally awesome!!!) and she placed 8th in the finals. Unfortunately, she got in a hurry and missed the A-frame contact.

The finals were held in Ring 1 and since Animal Planet films the finals, the ring was transformed into a movie set. The lighting was intense..... very very bright. Plants were added as decorations. Camera people were stationed inside of the ring and spooked a couple of the dogs. They were literally in the competitors' faces as they finished up their runs. It was hilarious when a huge Great Dane named Bojangles ran. His handler walked into the ring and motioned for that camera man to "BACK, BACK, BACK". This big boy needs lots of runway space. Bojangles also had the biggest soft sided crate I have ever seen!!!!! That is a tall man's shoulder sitting next to it.

As we were packing up, we posed Travis with one of his former victims, Kelsi the sheltie. Kelsi was just a pup when she was strung up in the air with Travis attached to her tail and her head attached to a leash clutched by her mom, Deanna Gamel. Like all of Travis' victims, she was unharmed. I don't believe she knew what hit her and she has gone on to be one heck of an agility dog. In fact, she has competed for the U.S. World Team twice. They both have come so far.

Some of the other funny things you find at shows..... the men folk are bonding during a break in this photo. They are masters at carrying crates, bags, luggage, etc. and driving their agility ladies and pooches to and from hotels, venues, and airports. The funny thing is that they are all on small dog teams...... miniature poodle, sheltie, and chihuahua. I'm thinking "why do they need a man to carry miniature crates, miniature beds, and miniature dogs :-). I'm just glad that my Stephen was home to take good care of Katie and to make sure she continues her important rehab. Thanks, Stephen.

Steve Solomon of Team Teresa and Maggie the Chihuahua can literally sleep anywhere!

Did you know you could drink at dog shows? I didn't. I'd never seen a dog show bar before.

And this dog is suppose to be a Chow Chow (lower right). The AKC will allow unregistered dogs to obtain Indefinite Listing Privileges (ILPs or It Looks Purebred) to dogs that appear to be purebred. For example, Katie and Travis have ILPs since they are NGA GHs and not AKC registered. Its great because if someone adopts a purebred dog from an animal shelter, they can still participate in events. However, its kind of disappointing when AKC approves dogs that are obviously mixed bred. Training a dog such as a Chow is not an easy feat and its kind of sad when someone with a mixed breed gets credit for training a difficult breed of dog when it probably has something very trainable such as a golden retriever mixed in. Cute dog, but definitely not a Chow. Unfortunately, there were several dogs like this one.

After the finals, Anna, Anne, and I went to Islands for some dinner. We shared some spinach dip, fries, milk shakes, and I also had a veggie burger. Walking back to the hotel, my stomach started to not feel so good. Anne and Anna were fine, so I figured that the veggie burger was not agreeing with me.

Anne and I had purchased a bronze boxer statue for Anna as a thank you, so I checked the gift shop for a thank you card to go along with it.......... no luck, they cost $7..... a little too steep for me. But I did find a Dr. Pepper, the first I'd found in days, so I was a happy camper............ but still not feeling so good. I finally went to bed hoping that I'd be feeling well by morning.

The Big Show!

Since Anne and I were already set up at the show site and we were not scheduled to compete until around 10 - 11 AM anyway, we set our alarm got 7 AM. I know, it is hilarious because there is no way Travis would ever sleep that late. I believe he dutifully awoke just before 4 AM again with lots of fidgeting. At 5 AM, I fed Travis in the bathroom and quietly put on my shoes. I decided to take him for a walk. I took him to the available grassy areas for him to do his business and then we just walked for a little while down the street. At one point there was a man was closing in on us with the loudest footsteps (yes, Stephen..... louder than my bare feet on our hardwood floors :-). I decided to face him and let him pass us (aren't you suppose to look your attacker in the eye or something?) and then suddenly the car next to us blinked and I realized that he was just hustling to his parked car. He's lucky I didn't unleash a violent greyhound on him (does anyone know where I could find such a greyhound?).


Travis and I sat in the lobby for awhile and I gave Stephen a call. It was fun to people/dog watch. So many different breeds in such a fancy hotel. Travis can always use more exercise (at well over 9 yrs old he still has more energy than any greyhound anyone has ever known), so I asked the front desk where the stairs were. They said that they would have to get security since they are on an alarm system. Never mind, we'll just jog back and forth on floor 11's hallway.


We snuck back into our room, but Anne and Kira were already up. We got ready and walked over to the show site. That is the reason we stayed at the Westin......... its simply across the street and you can walk there. With Anna's help to and from the airport, we did not have to rent a car or pay for parking.


We watched the 20 inch dogs run Jumpers in Ring 1. I like to get a feel for how the course runs by watching the slightly shorter dogs (20 inch dogs). It was a fairly straight forward course except that the weave poles entrance was a little tricky. No matter, I was able to send Travis to jump #2 while I positioned myself for a front cross on the other side of jump #3 (a front cross is when you cross in front of your dog, changing which side of the dog you are on). Travis went straight into the weaves no problem. Towards the middle of the course, we were to do a big loop to the left and come back through the middle for a tighter loop. This can make learning a course difficult especially when the course is just a sea of white and pink jumps. Of all courses, this is the one I had to get mixed up on. I started for the 2nd tighter loop and called him off of the correct jump. I quickly realized my mistake and fixed Travis, but the damage was done, we had a refusal. My heart sank. I hated to make such a silly mistake at such a big event, but sometimes nerves get the best of you. Travis had been perfect, so big treats for him.












At this point we were not out of it. 4 clean runs do pretty much get you into the finals, but it might be do able with 5 faults. I still had hope.














Today, the greyhounds showed in conformation at noon. I stood ringside to watch. My favorite was a male named DM Dots N' Dashes (see white greyhound photo). He immediately stood out at me because he was so well balanced. I liked that his chest was not excessively deep and his hind legs were not over angulated. I checked the catalog and found that he comes from lines that the breeders are concerned about performance and conformation. Not surprisingly, the judge didn't agree with my choice and chose a brindle male (handler is wearing orange) that was nervous. I think that temperament should come into play somewhat, but it generally doesn't in the conformation ring. I did like the Best of Opposite Sex (best female in this case). She is the brindle female shown by the woman in purple. I wish the pictures where clearer, but this gives you an idea.















Helen showed Lyric. The judge did pull her out in the final line up, but in the end she did not place.















We know which show person actually trains their greyhound :-). Go, Helen!

A couple of hours later, we ran in the Standard class. Everything went perfectly except for Travis missing the entrance to the weave poles. It wasn't a tricky entrance, but he simply skipped the first 2 poles. The rest of the course was perfect. With 5 more faults added to our tally, getting to the finals appeared very unlikely. It was disappointing, but maybe he will run well tomorrow.












At night we had the agility banquet. The food was a little strange. The salad came out and everyone appeared to have badly wilted iceberg lettuce. Anne didn't hesitate to put some of the brown leaves in her mouth. She decided it had been seared (I guess on purpose). I think I basically got a small plate of vegetables and rice for my $28. They could have at least given me some pasta. The best part was getting the #1 greyhound award for 2006. Yes, you saw it right.....2006. AKC is that far behind, but no worries. Travis is guaranteed to have 2007 as well. This time it was fun to pick up an award because they flashed a picture of Travis weaving.

Friday Set Up and Warm Up

Travis looks sweet, but in the mornings he is a jerk. He so looks forward to his morning meals and begins to whine early in anticipation. The alarm clock especially triggers the behavior. I think its almost to the point that he cannot physically stop himself...... its simply an annoying whistle with every breath he takes and I hate it. On work days, I get up at 4:30 AM and I simply do not have time to exercise him or wait for him to be quiet. Squirt bottles make no difference. It is just one of those things I have resolved to not solve. Now for the record, I will not give him food while he is crying... he does have to be quiet for at least minute. I can usually accomplish this at home by having him do sit or stand stays on the fireplace.... it sounds weird, but it makes him concentrate. Anyways, in CA with the 3 hour time change he was late in his schedule, but still very early for CA time ....... 3:45 AM. He'd start to fidget, wake me up, and then start to cry because I'm wake. I think I waited until about 5 AM to finally feed him.

I forgot to tell you yesterday, but I was so stoked to find chicken backs at a Ralph's Grocery store. Obviously, I cannot fly with raw food, so I figured I'd have to buy wings or leg quarters. However, it was great to find cheap raw food that Travis is used to eating everyday.

Anyways, once outside I find out that it is raining in Southern California where it doesn't rain. I, of course, didn't bring an umbrella or rain coat. The rain continued for the entire day. The big joke is that the big TV news story was "STORMWATCH". Can you believe that? A day of rain in Southern California calls for a storm watch. Too funny! :-)

Anna picked us up and took us to breakfast around 9 AM. We had planned to visit Lake Forest where I used to live, but due to the rain we decided that it did not sound fun. There was actually a regular onformation dog show (not yet the invitational) going on, so we decided to check that out.

All of the rings were carpeted blue and decorated with beautiful Christmas trees. Tons of vendors selling everything related to dogs surrounded the rings on every side.

At noon, agility competitors were allowed to set up. We had assigned crating and were allowed to make neighbor requests. This greatly simplified the process in comparison to past years.

I finally meet Helen Hamilton in person. She shows AKC greyhounds in conformation, agility, tracking, rally, and obedience. She and I have corresponded over the last year swapping agility and tracking advice. I so wish we didn't live 3,000 miles apart. She has put multiple TDX (tracking dog excellent) titles on greyhounds and I would love for her to help me with Katie's tracking and I would love to help her with agility.

Helen has a beautiful AKC greyhound named Lyric who has done very well in the conformation ring. When Helen heard that Travis was coming to CA, she quickly qualified Lyric for the greyhound conformation invitational, so she would be there to see Travis compete. She made us feel like stars :-).

Around 3 PM, AKC offered a FAST class. FAST is a new type of agility class that I've never competed in and I don't fully understand it. BUT it provided a wonderful opportunity for the agility folks to try out the mats, warm up their dogs, and practice on the competition obstacles. The best part was that with some limitations, you could pretty much design your own course. I mostly wanted to Travis to jump and weave since his main job is to do the weaves correctly and to keep bars up. So we started with 2 jumps to the weave poles. Travis missed the weave pole entrance skipping the first 2 poles. 2nd time in, he entered on the wrong side. Hmmmm.... this isn't normal. We continued with the course I had designed and when I came back around I decided to weave one more time and this time he nailed the entrance and weaved perfectly just before our time was up..... Good dog.

On Friday night, Anna, Anne, Helen, and I had dinner with Sheryl Bartel, her husband (Chris Mott, I think), and Kathy (Helen's golden retriever friend). Sheryl is a board member for the AKC greyhound parent club (Greyhound Club of America). I am currently trying to become a member so it was great to get to know one of the board members better. The board votes on the membership application and it helps if some of them actually know you.

Leaving Atlanta

Stephen drove Travis and I to Anne Jone's house at 6 AM and we transferred all of my stuff to her van. Anne competed Kira, the #3 Ridgeback in AKC agility in 2007. Anne has the bigger van and can fit all of our stuff, 2 dogs, and 3 people easily. Stephen drove us to the Atlanta airport.

We each had an airline kennel and a dolly for it to ride on, a soft sided crate, and some luggage. As soon as we got out of the van we were immediately told by some woman that the dogs had to be in their kennels in the building that they could not walk indoors on leash for fear that a child may pull their ears. Okay, do you really think I would allow a child to do that? So we basically took off in the opposite direction and entered the building a few doors down so she could not see us. We were then immediately greeted with "your dogs will probably have to be inside the kennels while inside the building". Probably? We said ok and continued on our way. At the check-in counter, we got our paperwork taken care of and paid $150 one-way for each dog and another $100 each to ship the dolly/soft crate combo. Such a rip off! I also learned that Delta assumes you put the 2 required bowls in the crate. Number 1, I definitely do not want my dog fed. Number 2, I do not want water put into a bowl so that later it can be spilt on him and his bedding. Plus the bowls take up space. So I had the bowls in my bag just in case, but never had to get them out. Finally a large woman came by and demanded that the dogs be put in their kennels. We finally relented. The kennels were taken to an inspection area where the dogs were taken out of the crates while the crates were inspected for explosives and so on. We then loaded them back up, Travis' crate was duck taped for extra security, and a Skycap came to get them. We tipped him $20 each and told him to take good care of our dogs.

Animals are suppose to be loaded last. We chose our seats because they gave us a perfect view of the dogs being loaded. Sure enough, as soon as I got to my seat, I could see both crates, and saw each one being loaded. So we were satisfied that each was on the plane. A short time later, a flight attendant brought us our conformations that the dogs were on board.

The flight was no full so we were able to spread out, but it seemed to take forever. We arrived safely in Orange County, CA around 11:00 AM. The dogs come out of a raised chute. I let Travis out of his crate so I could put the crate down on the dolly. We were again immediately scolded and warned that we could be ticketed for having dogs out of crates. We thanked her for letting us know and continued doing what were doing. Travis seemed just fine. A little whinny and definitely not tired (is he ever?). We could not check into the Westin until 3:00 PM, so Anna (my CA best friend since age 14/15) and her husband, Mark, picked us up. It took 2 small SUVs to carry us and all of our stuff. We went to Anna's parents' house and let the dogs hang out inside, play in the yard, and Anna's mom provided us with a yummy lunch. Travis went crazy running circles on the typical postage stamp sized CA lawn...... he's definitely not tired.

We checked into the Westin at 3:00. I thought it would be busy, but it was super quick an easy. In fact, the whole trip thus far had been so seamless and simple. The room was big and very nice. At $154 a night, it better be...... way out of my usual Motel 6 price range. The bed was very comfortable and very WHITE. But we were being charged another $75 for a pet cleaning fee, so I let Travis sleep on the bed. The bathroom was nice and the shower had 2 shower heads. I'd never seen that before.

The Health Certificate

In the dark of night, we met in the shadows to complete the deal.......... Travis' health certificate. Dr. Lou Avant and I met at Wills Park at 6:30 PM yesterday. She is not my regular vet and is just weeks away from opening a brand new animal hospital, so we met at a half way point we were both familiar with............. Wills Park... where Atlanta's agility trials are held. It was kind of funny.... we felt like we were doing a drug deal or something. She quickly looked over Travis and gave me the paperwork she had already filled out. Payment for services rendered will be a souvenir from the Invitational.