Another day of errands in North Conway with Chico on Monday, so we went to our favorite in-town walk, the Audubon sanctuary behind LL Bean’s outlet store.
The path was broken, or so I thought, but the tracks veered off and I never saw them again. Walking in loose snow is like walking in soft sand – work.
But so very worth it in the beautiful afternoon light.
If one can appreciate the stark, linear, beauty of winter, the season passes with less stress. Or so I have found.
Last week sped by with appointments that went entirely un-photographed, so I’ll try to use my sparkling prose to describe them*. Some were mundane and very boring for a dog – the human had a teeth cleaning and a committee meeting, others were all about him, but maybe not to his taste – we went to see the vet who is also an animal chiropractor and sometimes her treatments have been upsetting to Chico. This time he was really a hero about it all, he just stood there, giving the occasional little lip curl or once or twice pressing his side into me. The first time we saw Dr Amanda it was a non-stop flow of treats into Chico’s face and he still wanted to snap at her, the second time it was better, this third visit went much, much better. I put Chico on the scale and he weighs forty-four and a half pounds, which is about three or four pounds too much, so we both have to get more exercise. Amanda diagnosed the places on Chico’s flanks that he keeps biting at as little fatty tumors that are forming (he is almost ten) and they probably feel funny as the skin stretches.
I did a little shopping (boring for a dog) and came home with an inexpensive snow tube that I covered with a blanket until I find the right dog bed cover, and made Chico his own air bed (exciting for a dog).
He fits right in there and often chooses the tube bed over other sleeping spots.
Wednesday we met the builders at the Mill and looked at another set of drawings, which I liked better than the first set. I sent them to my kind and generous brother, an architect by training who, for the last twenty years, has been mediating conflicts and reading contracts to prevent conflicts down the road not practicing architecture; and he thought we were wasting space, so he made and sent some drawings to me over the weekend that I do really like. So I have sent those to the builders to see what they think about arranging my space something like they show. When I make some decision, I’ll share images.
On Friday, Dakota got his hooves trimmed, and I made Chico get out of the car. He has been pretty unhappy at the horse barn all fall. Between thinking he got chased by the horse in “the incident” last summer and the puppy that came last winter and is now both playful and twice Chico’s weight, the poor guy just doesn’t want to get out of the car at the barn. There was no puppy on Friday, the horse was secured in cross-ties and all I really had to do was keep the farrier company and write a check, so I made Chico get out of the car. Dragged him out, actually. We stood in the sun, while the humans chatted Chico had a treat every once in a while. I’m trying to rebuild Chico’s horse-trust and our farrier is a fun guy, so it is a relaxed situation; the goal is that Chico will again associate the barn with treats and good times.
On Saturday, we met a man at the Mill and he took away the oak table that the tenants had left behind. It was really neat: I sent pictures of the table to Habitat for Humanity, HfH posted the images at their on-line yard sale, this man bought the table from HfH and came to my house to pick it up. Everybody wins. Even Chico. The man’s pre-teen daughter was a dog lover and Chico let her pet him a bit; when I armed her with treats he would do some tricks for her. However, as soon as I settled, Chico was right on top of my feet and no amount of pretty talk would get him to move. When the furniture starts moving, Chico gets very clingy.
Onward to a new week and new adventures.
*Though I have noticed that my posts solely comprised of re-posting cute animal videos travel a lot further on Facebook than my “sparkling prose.”
We spent Saturday with six other handlers and their dogs, listening to twenty-three year old Anthony Clarke tell us how to improve our handling. This young man has been in the sport for eighteen years. Yup, he got his first dog and started doing agility when he was five. Saw dog agility on the TV and said “I want to do that.” Having parents who were dog trainers didn’t hurt, and he’s a natural athlete having played professional football (that’s soccer this side of the Atlantic) as young teenager. He’s also a good teacher. Thoroughly engaging too, or I might have remembered to pull my camera out at some point in the day to record him coaching a bunch of women (with one or two exceptions) at least twice his age. He certainly could have been my grown son, grandson were I from a tribe of early-reproducers.
Anthony would set up a course, we’d walk it and run it as though at a trial or run-thrus – the best way we could figure out; then he’d bring us all into the ring and talk about the handling decisions we’d made and how they impacted our dogs. Then we’d walk the course again to practice some of the “moves” he’d suggested, and then each of us ran it again with our dog and got Anthony’s attention to help us correct places that were not working so well for us. And then he’d gently say, “And now, go do it from the beginning.” And it always worked better that time. The word on the street was that he would run us to death, so I was prepared to gasp, but it wasn’t that bad. Though my left hamstring might say otherwise, I’m alternating hot and cold as I write this.
For me one big message was about taking my time in certain places. I was not much of a runner when Chico and I started this sport, and he was a younger dog, so (I realize) I am left with the feeling that I always need to run as fast as I can, and that really isn’t true now. I’m faster and more skilled at getting to the right place, and Chico can work at a little more distance from me now. Plus there’s this whole, he’s not always motivated and engaged at trials thing, that slows him down. Maybe it is happening because I have been unclear on course at trials. That run back in July that was so good was all about connection, I even wrote about the amazing and continuous connection (read that here).
Anthony also pointed out something that I’m sure I have been told before, but wasn’t able to learn at the time I was told it: when the dog comes out of a tunnel, they can’t see super well for a fraction of a second, so making sure the handler has eye contact with the dog or making some sound to let the dog know where she is, keeps the dog from slowing down and looking around to figure out where to go. A moment of eye contact allows you to direct the dog better. “Connect and redirect” was Anthony’s phrase.
Another interesting this was, maybe because it is printed on my checks that way, I became Anne for the day. I’m usually Annie unless I am using my photo ID for something. It was different. Made the whole thing feel more like primary and middle school, when I was Anne for a while before a teenage reversion to my childhood nickname of Annie. What that has to do with Chico, I can’t say, but what’s a blog for but musing in public?
Here’s a picture of Chico, just to pretty up this post.
His face isn’t quite that white, the contrast between sun and shade makes the cheap camera over expose that part of the image. Or I am in deep denial.
So one day last week, before it snowed, Chico and I went for a walk up the river from the mill, getting to know the neighborhood a little.
It was a cool day, but not cold, and Chico led the way with confidence.
Look at that happy tail.
This log has some neato mushrooms on it.
And this recently logged tree is making a comeback in a big way.
About two dozen little sprouts. Maybe one of them will become a big tree someday.
It was so much fun, so nice, I even took selfies of us.
Chcio’s came out a little better. Now that we’ve had a foot of snow, the next time we go out there it will be on snow shoes. Since there’s a fair amount of slash (branches and stumps from logging) on the ground, it might actually be easier to explore on top of a layer of snow.
The three buildings of dog activities over five days that are the Thanksgiving Cluster take place the weekend before Thanksgiving. There’s agility, obedience, and breed. Breed is what one associates with Westminster – dogs prancing around the ring looking pretty (Oh, my friends who do breed, please don’t be offended). And some of the breed people make even the most indulgent agility trial-ers with their big class A motor homes look like small fries. Check out these rigs:
The aft section, where the door is open, is full of stacked dog crates.
And here’s another.
Yup, there’s some big money being spent in that part of the dog world.
Chico and I participated on Sunday and Monday. On Sunday there are still lots and lots of people and activity, Monday was much smaller.
Sunday afternoon. It’s a big arena, with four agility rings and a few hundred dogs and people.
Crates and dogs everywhere. You can hardly see rings 3 and 4 in the background.
For me and Chico, the challenge is not the courses, I look at the maps and know we could do them at Julie’s arena. It’s about tuning out the rest of the world and tuning in to each other. The bigger the show, the more distractions and the bigger the challenge. Though this is SO big that there’s actually a lot of room to wait with your dog and not feel crowded while you do.
I have no video, but right afterwards I could remember most of all five of the runs we had over two days. That’s a sign that I was present with my dog. We came home with our first qualifying run in Time to Beat (we had a refusal at the weave poles, but refusals don’t count in T2B, you just add time to your run), my class mates who watched our runs said we did a good job and looked nice. There were mistakes made, and no Masters level Qs were gotten, but if the overall message of our work was “Pretty nice” I’ll take that.
This weekend we’ll be doing a workshop with Anthony Clarke – he’s young, he’s quite the rage right now, he’s on tour in the States, and the Agility Club of NH has booked him for two days of seminars. Rumor has it that there’s a lot of running in his seminars. Sounds interesting.
A few weeks ago I posted about Chico getting his P2 Jumpers title. I actually have the video of that run, if you’d like to see it.
Not blindingly fast, one really close to off-course (and I bet if I go back and look real close I will be looking at the jump I don’t want and unconsciously sending Chico there), but we were connected enough that I knew at the end of the run that it was clean.
In Standard, we didn’t qualify, and there’s a pretty big miscommunication on the jump before the A-frame, Chico is supposed to come around the standard, not jump the jump in the other direction -my fault – what’s cool is that the rest of the run is actually a better run in some ways:
Chico is a total sucker for the “Go get ’em!” trick. Is it mean? I love to see him run.
What a great picture of both of us, looking all athletic and stuff.
http://www.pbase.com/lesleylou/image/158307459
The trees and brush are down, the logs stacked, and Chico and went to take a look the other day. Actually, Chico went to take a sniff, I went to take a look.
The lefthand edge of this lump of ledge is a property line. They tree guys cleared brush and trees to expose the ledge. and they are filling in the gaps with chips from my job and other jobs in the neighborhood.
Here’s another angle on it.
I love that crazy twisty pine. The area in the foreground was the garden, and will be again.
Here’s a panorama of the “yard.”
More drawings from the builders the first week of December (I do wish that the estimates guy wasn’t taking Thanksgiving week off, but he is entitled to a life).
Chico and I are spending Sunday and Monday at the Thanksgiving Cluster, an annual and major conglomeration of dog events (agility, obedience, breed) at the Eastern States Exposition (The Big E in local parlance) in Springfield, MA. It’s about as big as a trial can get, so lets see if Chico and I can tune out the hubbub and tune in to each other and run the courses we’re given.
Sorry dear readers, it has been over a week since the last post. Chico and I have been busy with agility and living life, I’ll try to recap.
On Saturday, we spent all day (like, 8AM to 6:30PM) at Julie’s, as participants in a marathon agility session/seminar. I think we did six different courses that day, all of them at maters or international level. Julie critiqued each run for all eight of us. Well, by 4PM, it was down to six of us. Then, because by some small joke of the universe, I live closer to Julie than any of her other students, Chico and I let everyone else have a crack at the last course before us so they could start their long drives home, and it was suddenly 6:30 and we were, in Julie’s words, “the last ones standing.” We were all wrapped up in the seminar (you can learn a lot from listening to what Julie has to say about someone else‘s run), so no pictures, except this one of my map.
It was blank when I got it, the equipment never moved all day, but we ran these different courses. Triangles is one course, circles another, squares a third.
Biontology is a therapy that some people have used for dogs with seizures, one of the seminar participants practices and teaches the technique, so I got some info for Jimbo because Chico’s friend Buddy, in California, suffers with seizures.
Chico and I had a blast at Julie’s all day Saturday, then we went to a trial the next day and had three runs that were, to be charitable, mixed. We couldn’t connect, Chico refused the same jump in two runs, in the third, he stopped after the tunnel to scratch himself – he hasn’t done that since early, early days in the ring, he stood barking at the dog that ran before us long after that dog left the ring. In the words of one classmate, it was a hot mess. Except, there were a couple things that were really tricky and we got them. So, onward through the fog.
The tree cutting is done. I’m trying to find a home for the old cabinets and an oak dining set, so I took some pictures for Habitat for Humanity.
I told them the table and chairs are available, but the dog is not.
This week is also passing fast, Wednesday was spent with a friend from high school days who was in the area for the week and free that day. What fun for the humans! We didn’t really do much beyond eat, talk, and laugh all day.
I met with the builders who are doing my renovations to look at the first round of drawings for the house. There’s a lot I thought I said that didn’t make it into the drawings, so I hope to see them during round two, in a week or two.
On the nature front, these guys have been showing up in the front yard almost every morning this week.
And now we’re off to rent the arena at Julie’s for a half hour so I can practice the skillful placement of rewards. So there.
Can I Bring the Dog? 