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!!!

9 Years Going on 1

If you know greyhounds, you know that greyhounds are generally energetic in short bursts and many are more than content with a 45 second sprint around the yard or a 20 minute walk. When I teach greyhound obedience classes or private lessons, I always suggest no exercise and no meals at least several hours prior to training. The reason being that it is easier to train a hungry energetic greyhound especially when a one hour class can be a very long time for the average hound to work. However, Katie and Travis like to break the rules. Katie is steady, methodical, and can work forever. Hound people will often avoid doing lots of repetitions of the same exercise, but Katie can do the same thing over and over if she is getting paid for her efforts (with food). Travis, on the other hand, can be a bit hyper. He can feel a bit out of control, but he's extremely responsive. He is kind of like driving a Ferrari. He's fast and responsive, but you have to be careful not to over steer or you will end up in a ditch. He's much faster than Katie, but he too can work for a very long time. He tends to get winded and hotter than Katie, but he is ready for more with minimum breaks. Both are 9 years old and their energy levels continue to amaze me. Tonight, we attended an agility class. As a warm up, I played fetch with both of them prior to class until they were sufficiently winded and trotting instead of galloping. It may not sound weird to someone who owns a different breed of dog, but I would never have done that with Jes or Teresa and I would discourage all of my students from doing the same. 10 minutes of fetching and most greyhounds are done for the day. Forget doing any training after that. After fetching and agility class, Katie and Travis aren't even tired. Travis is still game for wrestling and attacking dog beds. They both would be up for more training, a hike, or more fetching games. I don't believe I have ever found their limits. So while their energy level is annoying on cold, rainy days at home...... I really do appreciate their abnormal greyhound endurance.

For the Love of Agility

Travis was extra whiny this morning, so he had to do a sit stay on the fireplace. Doing so, forces him to concentrate and stop crying.

Yesterday and today, I went to an agility seminar with Stacy Peardot Goudy, Elicia Calhoun, and Karen Holik. For some reason, we do not get a lot of agility seminars in the southeast it seems. Of course, the weather was miserable today. We were outdoors, under cover, in a dusty arena. Man, it was cold and I was wearing just about every article of clothing I had.

I came to audit and just observed the training since I'm pretty happy with Travis' agility skills and at age 9 I do not plan to make any major changes at this point. But, I have finally admitted out loud that I am looking for my next agility/obedience greyhound hopeful. I'm both apprehensive and excited. I haven't started from scratch in about 6 years. I cannot believe it has been that long. Katie and Travis could not have been any more perfect than they are. I truly could not have started with any better raw material than those 2 greyhounds. I only hope that I will be so lucky with my next choice.

So at this time, I am trying to get organized. I need to get my baby agility equipment replaced and repaired. Brush up on the latest agility training techniques and determine how I want to train the weave poles and contact zones this time around. Is there anything I wish I had done differently with Travis and Katie? Is there something missing from their skill set that I would like for the next greyhound to have? All important things to consider.

I'm very picky when it comes to choosing a competition greyhound. One time I called the foster home of a greyhound that was suggested to me and she told me that the dog was nervous initally in the house, but settled after awhile. I knew immediately that I was not interested because I needed a greyhound that didn't have to settle..... I needed a greyhound who immediately owns the place and struts right in. Training a greyhound is hard enough and I do not want a dog that has any fear issues with people, dogs, or environment. Extremely, food motivated is another important trait I cannot live without. I also want a high prey drive, so I will only be looking at non-cat safe dogs. So wish me luck on my hunt!

Perfect Hams

Katie has finished her physical therapy program of walking on the water treadmill. She was evaluated and measured again. All of her reflexes have improved and only a small part of the neurological deficit is still evident. Dr. Filer said she could improve for up to 6 months and the physical therapist says you can see improvements for up to 2 years........ so who the heck knows. I think just getting back to being a dog is the best thing. She is back to running and fetching her toy. She is doing some backyard agility including small jumps, tunnels, the A-frame, weave poles, and the teeter. I have seen her fall down a couple of times, but it has been no big deal. Also, her hams where remeasured and they both were 17 inches around. 7 weeks ago the left one was 15+ inches and the right one was 16+ inches. So I was very happy to see that they had increased and evened up.

Katie Update

All this talk about Travis, its time for a Katie update. Katie is doing well. No earth shattering progress to report, but I do think that the "twist" seen in each step of the left leg is a little less than it was. I think we will be breaking down her ex-pen in the kitchen soon. We are starting to give her more freedom in the house and on the hardwood floors. The concern is that if the dogs take off running through the house, I could see Katie slipping or falling since her reflexes are not what they used to be. We can pretty much control that except for the unexpected doorbell ring which happens a couple of times a year. I might have to retrain her (or all of the dogs) response to the doorbell. The physical therapist hates hardwood floors for all dogs. She sees lots of injuries due to hardwood floors. So she couldn't really give me an honest opinion about Katie on slippery floors........ she simply prefers that no dogs have access to slippery floors.

Katie is allowed to be loose in the yard now. That can be a little scary. I have not seen her try wheelies yet, but she has bolted and she can look very awkward. I think she forgets there is a slight limitation there. I hope she is smart enough not to engage Travis like she used to. She generally controls the games and handles Travis very well. However, he can be very overwhelming for just about any other greyhound. For now I will supervise and see what happens...... ready to jump in if necessary.

My goal is to be able to do backyard agility with Katie. Agility is fun, its great exercise, and its a way for her to earn treats. We are allowed to start doing some of that. She's doing some little jumps and two 24" jumps on accident... whoops! She looked great though. We have done tunnels, weave poles, teeter, and A-frame. After 3 or so years of obedience and no agility, she remembers everything and is having a great time. I noticed the other day that she is extremely awkward doing right circles. The weakness in the left leg is causing her to swing out and to get her hind legs tangled up. I'm going to be working on that to see if we can improve it.

Muscle tone still looks really good. From behind, her hind legs look even and well muscled. It has now been 3 months and I think I would say she is at 90% now.

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.